What's on the JSBA Tech Test? 西西's pre-exam notes

“What’s on the Tech Test?” 西西’s notes start by setting it against the Badge Test. Levels 1 and 2 test whether you can tell apart the various board-control techniques and use them skilfully. At Tech 1, the slope gets steeper, the snow is whatever the day gives you, the speed has to be high, and moguls are added.

This post puts two of 西西’s sources side by side. One is a teaching note on how the Tech Test differs from the Badge Test, and on the heelside and pressure in medium-radius turns. The other is a Threads post on the sequence of moves in the Tech Test, from the straight run to the first turn.

This post is for you if you:

• have passed or are preparing for JSBA Level 1 and want to take on the Tech Test next
• want to know how the Tech Test and the Badge Test differ in what they look for
• reach a steep slope and want to push your speed to the maximum before you have even started the turn

First, to be clear: what follows is 西西’s personal notes and experience, not JSBA’s official scoring sheet or standard. For test events, slopes, scoring and entry requirements, JSBA’s official notices are the authority. 西西 holds Tech Test 1; for the certifications, see 西西’s profile.

How the Tech Test differs from the Badge Test

First, separate the tracks. As KAKU sums it up, the Badge Test has 5 levels and the Tech Test has 3, and the two tracks prove different things; see what JSBA certifications prove.

As 西西 sums it up, JSBA Levels 1 and 2 focus on whether you can tell apart the various board-control techniques and use them skilfully. For what makes Tech 1 hard, 西西 lists four things:

• Steeper slopes.
• Any snow. You have to ride bad snow well, too.
• High speed is a requirement. 西西 sees high speed, a clean turn shape and precise board control as the focus of the test, more than whether you stay locked in a carved groove the whole way.
• Moguls are added. The note says only this much, and this post doesn’t expand on it.

On difficulty, 西西 once used a comparison: if JSBA Level 1 is 4.5, Tech 1 is 7, Tech 2 is 9 and Tech 3 is 10. This is 西西’s personal sense of it, not an official grading, and it says nothing about pass rates.

Setting it against the instructor exam makes the difference clearer. In notes on the B-level instructor exam, 西西 says Dynamic doesn’t need much carving, because carving easily pushes the speed too high; the instructor exam looks at skidding under control. See Part 1 (in Chinese). At the Tech Test, high speed is the starting premise instead.

Key point: As 西西 sums it up, the Badge Test looks at whether you can use the various board-control techniques; Tech 1 asks for a clean turn shape and precise board control on steeper slopes, in any snow, at high speed.

Your level shows from the first turn

On Threads, 西西 wrote: at the JSBA Tech Test, your level basically shows the moment you make your play turn. “Play turn” is 西西’s wording in the original. Going by the order 西西 lists, it means the first turn after the straight run and edging; below, it is called “the first turn”.

The reason is that the Tech Test is deliberately held on steep slopes. So while you build initial speed in the straight run, you need to set up, in advance, the body frame you will have at the turn peak (the apex of the turn).

Be patient, and wait for speed, edge angle and external force to arrive on their own.

西西

The sequence 西西 lists has three steps, each with a “not this”:

1. Straight run: lower your centre of gravity and build a stable stance frame, rather than standing straight and stiff.
2. Edging: relax your shoulders and press down lightly and gracefully, rather than gritting your teeth and forcing the board up on edge from the start.
3. First turn: control how much the board skids and how fast you enter the turn, rather than pushing your speed to the maximum before you have even entered it.

Read the two sources together. High speed is a premise of the Tech Test, but in 西西’s sequence you build initial speed and set up your frame in the straight run, then wait for the speed to arrive on its own, rather than pushing your speed to the maximum before you have even entered the turn.

Key point: Set up your turn-peak body frame during the straight run; stay relaxed when you edge; on the first turn, control the skid and your entry speed.

Medium-radius turns: heelside, pressure and support

西西’s notes say the Tech Test calls for medium-radius turns, with a turn shape much smaller than at Level 1. The notes contain three details.

On the heelside, use your ankles. To make the heelside turn come round faster, 西西 writes, you need to use the strength of your ankles: just as you enter the turn, swing your ankles outward while pressing against the front foot’s highback, quickly changing the board’s direction of travel. The prerequisite is getting the board on edge first.

In the same notes, how your gaze turns on the heelside and the toeside is already covered in toeside gaze when carving steep slopes, so it isn’t repeated here.

Applying and releasing pressure. As 西西 sums it up, in high-speed carving you apply pressure to control speed and release pressure to accelerate. So if you build up the board’s flex at the deepest point of the C-shaped turn and release it as you exit, you can change edges quickly.

Where your weight sits also divides the work: weight toward the front foot makes it easier to adjust direction, and pressing the back foot makes it easier to accelerate. 西西’s suggestion is to use this principle to adjust how you shift your weight at different stages.

For where in the turn to apply pressure and how the speed changes, 西西 has a separate summary; see the upper and lower arcs of a turn. The two come at it from different angles, so this post doesn’t merge them into one rule.

The board must keep supporting your body. 西西’s understanding: in long-radius or short-radius turns, at whatever speed, the board must keep supporting your body. If the board runs away and your body can’t keep up, support and control disappear together, and that is treated as a sign of lacking control.

Key point: On the heelside, change direction quickly with your ankles, but get on edge first; build flex at the bottom of the turn and release it on the way out; keep the board supporting your body the whole time.

Who this post is not for

• Riders who don’t yet have consistent carving and basic speed control: read stalled edge changes and edge angle first, or start with JSBA snowboard Level 2 to Level 1 (in Chinese).
• Anyone looking for a standard answer to “what score passes the Tech Test, and what slope angle”: 西西 doesn’t give one, and this post won’t make one up.
• Anyone who wants to learn moguls: the notes only mention that Tech 1 has moguls and say nothing about how to ride them, and this post doesn’t expand on it.

If you want an instructor to look at your carving, see the Snowboard Progression Lesson on the courses page; to sign up, you need to be able to link turns consistently. For 西西’s background, see 西西’s profile.

The first three parts of this series: the JSBA B-level instructor exam (in Chinese), JSBA snowboard Level 2 to Level 1 (in Chinese) and how to keep your JSBA instructor license (in Chinese).

This post is compiled from 西西's teaching notes (how the Tech Test differs from the Badge Test; heelside and pressure in medium-radius turns) and 西西's Threads post of September 2026 (the sequence of moves from the straight run to the first turn). "The first turn" is the editors' explanation of the original "play turn", based on the order 西西 lists; "the apex of the turn" is a literal gloss of "turn peak". The gaze section of the same notes is already covered in Carving Lab, Part 6, so this post links to it rather than repeating it; moguls get a single sentence because the notes don't describe how to practise them. The comparison with the instructor exam comes from Part 1 of this series; the number of levels in the Badge Test and the Tech Test comes from KAKU's summary. The difficulty comparison is 西西's personal sense, not an official grading. 西西's views are a personal position, not JSBA's official position or standard; test content and rules may change, so JSBA's official notices take precedence. SnowWind is a JSBA-certified snowboard school (certified at Asarigawa Onsen). Information checked on 11 November 2026.