Examinations

What a grading examination actually asks for, transcribed from the official forms with every named technique linked to its page. Find your grade below, then work through the form section by section. The form in force on the day is always the authority: where a page here disagrees with the paper in front of you, the paper wins.

The syllabus a grade sets is a separate thing from the paper it is examined by. For the techniques required at each grade, see the grades section.

British Judo Association

Examinations examining for a single grade, with the marks needed to pass each
Examination	Pass mark	Maximum	Sections
1st Dan Competitive Examination	238 (70%)	340	5
2nd Dan Competitive Examination	326 (72%)	450	5
3rd Dan Competitive Examination	420 (75%)	560	5
4th Dan Competitive Examination	519 (77%)	670	5
5th Dan Competitive Examination	624 (80%)	780	5

BJA Kata CertificationLevel 1 60/100 · Level 2 65/100The kata examination every BJA dan grade promotion requires alongside the skills assessment, and the one part of a promotion that is examined on its own terms: one named kata for each grade, certified at Level 1 on the competitive pathway and Level 2 on the technical one. It need not be taken on the same day as the skills assessment, or in the same year.

No longer sat

Forms a federation has replaced, kept as a record. Every certificate already awarded was awarded against one of these, so they answer what an older grade was tested on. Do not prepare against them.

Competitive Dan Grade Skills ExaminationReplacedBritish Judo Association · January 2020The examination of the scheme the BJA introduced in 1982, built on 67 techniques, and replaced for promotions from 1 January 2026 by the Competitive Dan Grade Scheme, which examines one set of twenty Kodokan techniques per grade and is transcribed here as a separate examination for each of 1st to 5th Dan. A candidate who had completed this examination by 31 December 2025 keeps it. This page is the record of what was sat until then, and of the syllabus older certificates were awarded against; it is not the form to prepare against for a current grading.