BIS Skills 8

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.

Skills 8 is three sections skated in order and linked into a single programme to music of no more than two minutes thirty, with the start, the finish and the material between the sections left to the skater. It is the only test in the National Skills structure that is choreographed. Every other test is a set of exercises.

The assessment changes with it. Musicality is a sixth pillar here and nowhere else, so a turn that is clean and lands off the beat is not the same as a turn that is clean. Apart from the double twizzle, every turn in the three sections is one the skater has met by Skills 7, and the difference is that they now have to arrive somewhere in particular.

It is the top of the ladder for a competitor as well as for a tester. Junior and Senior both ask for Skills 8 to enter a national championship, under the 2026/27 requirements, with a National 7 or National 8 in technical and components alongside. Nothing above this level is published outside a member login, so nothing above it is covered here.

Two things in it sit outside this guide: the pivot movement in section 1, and from 01/10/2026 the push or touch down before the double twizzle in section 2. Both are named on the sections that ask for them. The same revision publishes section 2 in two versions, 2A and 2B, identical until the double twizzle, which 2A takes on the foot the section is already on and 2B on the other. The steps crossed behind, which appear at no other level, have had a page since 30/08/2026.

Sections

1. Section 1Rockers on both feet, a one and a half twizzle in the direction the skater chooses, a bracket into a cross roll, and a pivot movement to close.
2. Section 2changes 01/10/2026The technical middle: a double 3-turn, a bracket, steps crossed behind, and a double twizzle reached through a change of edge.
3. Section 3The longest section: choctaw into mohawk, a rocker, a counter into a mohawk, an open choctaw, and a rocker-counter into a double twizzle to finish.

Elements

Every element its sections call for, gathered from them.

• 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 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.
• Right backward inside three turnRBI to RFO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right forward inside 1½ twizzleRFI to RBO: 1½ rotations on one foot, travelling, one curl and no cusp.
• Left forward inside 1½ twizzleLFI to LBO: 1½ rotations on one foot, travelling, one curl and no cusp.
• Extended edgeA plain edge held for a third of a circle, long enough to be a position in its own right.
• Left backward inside bracket-cross rollLBI → LFO → RFO: 2 elements on two feet.
• Right forward outside three turnRFO to RBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• 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.
• Right forward outside 3-turn-change of edge-double twizzleRFO → RBI → RBO → RBO: 3 elements on one foot.
• Left backward inside three turnLBI to LFO: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Left forward inside double threeLFI → LBO → LFI, back where it started: 2 turns on one foot.
• Right forward inside bracketRFI to RBO: half a turn against the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right backward outside crossed step behindRBO to LBO: a step behind, with the legs crossed below the knee, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left backward outside crossed step behindLBO to RBO: a step behind, with the legs crossed below the knee, 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 backward inside change of edgeRBI to RBO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left backward inside change of edgeLBI to LBO: the blade rolls across without turning, still travelling backwards, and the lobe reverses.
• Left backward outside double twizzleLBO to LBO: 2 rotations on one foot, travelling, 2 curls and no cusp.
• 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.
• 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 forward outside edgeLFO: the left foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
• 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 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.
• Left forward outside three turnLFO to LBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
• Right backward outside choctawRBO to LFI: a step onto the other foot, changing edge and reversing onto a new one. No cusp.
• Left forward inside mohawkLFI to RBI: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
• Right backward inside rockerRBI to RFI: half a turn into the circle, holding the edge and leaving on a new one.
• 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 counter-mohawkLBI → LFI → RBI: 2 turns on two feet.
• Left forward inside choctawLFI to RBO: a step onto the other foot, changing edge and reversing onto a new one. No cusp.
• Right forward inside rocker-counter-double twizzleRFI → RBI → RFI → RFI, back where it started: 3 elements on one foot.
• Left forward inside rocker-counter-double twizzleLFI → LBI → LFI → LFI, back where it started: 3 elements on one foot.

Governing body source