At the start of the month, I successfully passed the instructor exam in Italian foil at Sonoma State University’s Fencing Master Certificate Program with a solid score of 92.2% 
. This is the first of three levels one can test in — instructor, provost, and master. The SSU FMCP focuses on traditional Italian fencing with the foil, epee, and saber, though folks can also add historical fencing concentrations to their studies, as well, such as rapier.
I’ve been (technically) working through this process since I took SSU’s online fencing theory/history class in 2021. But it wasn’t really until 2022/23 that I decided that I eventually wanted to test. Last year was my first SSU Summer Intensive, meaning I got to test this year.
It was a lot of work and test prep was challenging at times since there’s no local, certified maestros from the program up here in Boston (the closest are in Georgia). But even when I was feeling disheartened during the prep process, I promised myself I would at least take the instructor exam and then decide if I wanted to keep moving on (spoiler: of course I do).
The FMCP is a pretty rigorous test. It includes…
Written Exam
Group Lesson
Oral Exam
Give a Lesson
Take a Lesson
Random Actions
I also gave myself a side quest of not getting any notes from the Board about my very rapier-esque lunge and the very first note I got was, “So… you fight rapier, huh?” 
Can’t win ‘em all!
You can read the full tale of the experience of what testing was like, including video of me teaching a military-style foil lesson on my blog.
Best,
—Justin
Head Coach
Boston Academie d’Armes
(he/him)
