There are eight colored belt levels in Tae Kwon Do: white, yellow, green, high-green, blue, high-blue, red, and high-red. After high-red comes 1st Dan (degree) black belt. There are 9 levels of black belt.
Belt tests for yellow and up occur twice a year. New students may test for white belt after roughly 4 weeks.
Each belt level has it’s own set of techniques. This page provides a general guideline of what each rank should know. The actual learning process will vary from student to student based on individual skills. The only things that are always the same are the forms and sparring techniques.
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new student | front | middle punch | low | front | Chun Gi | |
| back | high punch | high | inside swing | |||
| cat | low punch | outer palm | outside swing | |||
| ready | front punch | inner palm | side | |||
| sitting | roundhouse | |||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| white | fighting | back punch | knife hand | axe | 3 steps: 1-4 | Chun Gi |
| twist punch | double outer palm | sliding side | Tan Gun | |||
| jab | double outer knife | sliding roundhouse | ||||
| single knife hand chop | double knife hand | sliding axe | ||||
| reverse knife hand chop | double low knife hand | sliding inside swing | ||||
| palm strike | single outer knife hand | jump front | ||||
| jump axe | ||||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| yellow | spear finger | front | back | 1 steps: 1-4 | Do San | |
| horizontal backfist | double inner palm | hook | Suh Kang Il | |||
| alternating back | ||||||
| back kick forward | ||||||
| sliding hook | ||||||
| front side | ||||||
| front round | ||||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| green | Won Hyo ready | ridge hand | skip-in side | 3 steps: 5-7 | Won Hyo | |
| lunge punch | skip-in round | 1 steps: 5-7 | ||||
| vertical backfist | jump side | |||||
| jump round | ||||||
| double round | ||||||
| double side | ||||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| high green | sweep | 1 steps: 7-10 | Yul Gok | |||
| jump back | ||||||
| jump hook | ||||||
| flying side | ||||||
| front hook | ||||||
| jump 180 front (+rev) | ||||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| blue | Choon Gun ready | high belt strike with punch | high cross | jump turn back | 3 steps reverse: 1-7 | Choon Gun |
| high belt strick with chop | low cross | jump turn hook | ||||
| hook punch (choon gun) | reverse roundhouse | |||||
| hammer fist | jump 180 round (+rev) | |||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| high blue | Hwa-rang ready | double lower inner palm | jump turn inside swing | 1 steps reverse: 1-10 | Toi Gye | |
| x block | jump turn outside swing | Hwa-rang | ||||
| mountain | jump 180 side (+rev) | |||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| red | tornado | HapKiDo: 1-5 | Suh Kang Ei | |||
| jump double front | ||||||
| double front | ||||||
| Rank | Stances | Hand Techniques | Blocks | Foot Techniques | Sparring | Forms |
| high red | triple front | HapKiDo: 6-10 | Choong Moo | |||
| split | ||||||
| jump double round | ||||||