BIS Skills 6

Not checked yet. The requirements on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

Almost nothing in Skills 6 is a turn on its own. The exercises are written as clusters (a rocker into a mohawk, a rocker into a choctaw, a 3-turn into a loop, a counter into a mohawk), and the guide has a page for some of those pairings and not others. Where it does not, the exercise lists the elements the cluster is made of and says so.

Before 01/10/2026 two elements were new here, the backward inside counter and the loop. Since then the counter arrives a level earlier, in Skills 5, and the loop is the only new element. It is unlike everything around it. A loop stays on one foot and draws a small circle inside the lobe without changing edge or direction, so it is the only thing in the syllabus assessed almost entirely on what it leaves behind on the ice.

October 2026 adds a bracket into a counter, and a second skating exercise carrying an ice-coverage requirement written as a percentage of the rink. That percentage is a fair summary of what separates Skills 6 from Skills 5: the turns were already there, and now they have to travel.

It is also where the test starts gating something else. British Ice Skating’s published championship requirements for the 2026/27 season make Skills 6 the minimum for entering a national championship as a Basic Novice, alongside a National 4 in technical and components. The Skills tests and the National tests are two separate ladders and a skater climbing towards competition is on both.

Exercises

1. Backward rockersBackward inside and backward outside rockers, each followed at once by a mohawk, on both sides.
2. Backward inside countersBackward inside counters, each one leaving into an open mohawk, repeated across the full ice surface.
3. Backward inside loopsFrom a stationary start on both feet: a forward outside 3-turn and, on the same foot, a backward inside loop.
4. Rocker choctawsBackward inside rockers into closed choctaws, three to a lobe, with a change of edge between the sides.
5. Skating exerciseForward 3-turns run through a change of edge into a closed choctaw, and a 3-turn into a cross roll, across the full ice surface.
6. Bracket-counternew 01/10/2026A forward inside bracket and a backward counter in one cluster, on both feet, entered from crossovers.
7. Skating exercise 2new 01/10/2026Backward inside 3-turns into forward outside rockers, on power crossovers, covering at least three-quarters of the rink.

Elements

Every element its exercises call for, gathered from them.

• Right forward inside mohawkRFI to LBI: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
• Left forward outside mohawkLFO to RBO: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
• Left backward inside rocker-mohawkLBI → LFI → RBI: 2 turns on two feet.
• Right backward inside rocker-mohawkRBI → RFI → LBI: 2 turns on two feet.
• Right backward outside rocker-mohawkRBO → RFO → LBO: 2 turns on two feet.
• Left backward outside rocker-mohawkLBO → LFO → RBO: 2 turns on two feet.
• Right backward outside crossoverRBO to LBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
• Left backward outside crossoverLBO to RBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
• Left backward inside counter-mohawkLBI → LFI → RBI: 2 turns on two feet.
• Right backward inside counter-mohawkRBI → RFI → LBI: 2 turns on two feet.
• Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
• Left backward outside edgeLBO: the left foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
• Left forward outside three turnLFO to LBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right forward outside three turnRFO to RBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Left backward inside loopLBI to LBI: a small circle traced on the same edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
• Right backward inside loopRBI to RBI: a small circle traced on the same edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
• Right backward inside edgeRBI: the right foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.
• Left backward inside edgeLBI: the left foot travelling backwards on an inside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
• Left backward inside step wideLBI to RBI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Right backward inside push backRBI to LBO: a push off the inside edge onto the other foot's outside edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
• Right backward inside step wideRBI to LBI: a step onto the other foot placed wide, nothing crossing, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left backward inside push backLBI to RBO: a push off the inside edge onto the other foot's outside edge, still travelling backwards, and the lobe continues.
• Left backward inside rocker-choctawLBI → LFI → RBO: 2 turns on two feet.
• Right backward inside rocker-choctawRBI → RFI → LBO: 2 turns on two feet.
• Left backward inside change of edgeLBI to LBO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Right backward inside change of edgeRBI to RBO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Right backward outside choctawRBO to LFI: a step onto the other foot, changing edge and reversing onto a new one. No cusp.
• Left backward outside choctawLBO to RFI: a step onto the other foot, changing edge and reversing onto a new one. No cusp.
• Right forward inside three turnRFI to RBO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Left forward inside three turnLFI to LBO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right backward outside cross rollRBO to LBO: a step onto the other foot, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left backward outside cross rollLBO to RBO: a step onto the other foot, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Right forward inside bracket-counterRFI → RBO → RFO: 2 turns on one foot.
• Left forward inside bracket-counterLFI → LBO → LFO: 2 turns on one foot.
• Left forward outside crossoverLFO to RFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
• Right forward outside crossoverRFO to LFI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling forwards.
• Left backward inside three turnLBI to LFO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right backward inside three turnRBI to RFO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Left forward outside rockerLFO to LBO: half a turn into the circle, holding the edge and leaving on a new one.
• Right forward outside rockerRFO to RBO: half a turn into the circle, holding the edge and leaving on a new one.

Governing body source