<p>So, I finally retook the CFA last monday, after an abysmal first try at SLS... here are the results:</p>
<p>BBall Throw: 63 ft
Pull Ups: 11
Shuttle Run: 8.8 s
Sit Ups: 65
Push Ups: 54
Mile Run: 7:10 (yuck!)</p>
<p>I did much much worse at SLS, but do you think this is a "passing" score?</p>
<p>wpwannabe,</p>
<p>Your scores are close to being in the passable range, just depends on the admissions committee to decide how it falls into the mix with your other factors. They will take all of the events and average them together to get your CFA score. It's good that you did better on some, it will bring up the lower performance on the others.</p>
<p>I got an LOA with:
2 Pullups
34 Pushups
54 Situps
67 ft Bball Throw
8.7 Shuttle
5:50 Mile</p>
<p>The CFA is only 10% (lucky for me) of your candidate score. </p>
<p>wpwannabe I feel you on those sls scores
I'm taking it again tomorrow so I'll put those up...
but as of SLS:</p>
<p>62 ft b-ball, now ?
79 situps, now max
9.8s shuttle (no idea how to improve this one)
11 pull-ups, now 12 :)
29 pushups, now 50 (whew)
6:20 mile, now a bit faster</p>
<p>wpwannabe I feel you on those sls scores</p>
<p>When our oldest son was trying for the PAE (precursor to the CFA) he was having a hard time trying to improve his shuttle run. Back then, the test was 300 yards and the mean time was 59.6 seconds as compared to 9.1 seconds for the CFA version, which is shorter.</p>
<p>I had a hunch and so I laid out a 300 yard run for him to try. What was different was it had no turns, just a simple straight line. I had been telling him that I thought he was losing time in his turns, but he wasn't listening to that advice. So I had him run the same distance all in a straight line. His time was cut in half. It was like a lightbulb came on in his head, "Oh, I'm losing all the time in the turns". He immediately improved his scores upon the very next run. He went on to become a cadet at the USMA.</p>
<p>Fast forward to our third son. Same problem, same solution. We marked off a course that was 120' straight. His time was around 4:00 seconds. Same distance, no turns. His time dropped immediately after doing this once.</p>
<p>I'd recommend you try it for yourself to prove that you lose all of your time in your turns. You'll amaze yourself at how much faster you run the course once you prove to yourself that it IS all in the turns. Don't loiter!</p>
<p>what do you mean by "turns"? like rounding off when you touch the line, instead of just touching it and pushing off?</p>
<p>he just means that running a straight 120 m is easier than doing it broken up in the shuttle run, and that the real challenge in that event is turning quickly.</p>
<p>And which turning method do you recommend?</p>
<p>When I say turns, I mean "change direction". As you come to the line you are to touch both a hand and a foot over the line before running back in the other direction. What typically will happen is the runner will approach the line, reach down and touch, then turn around and run, wasting about one and a half to two seconds just making a change in direction. Make sure you don't "hang around" while making your change in direction. Don't stop to take in the view or to think "hey, I'm doing pretty well" or anything else that will take your mind off of the task of getting away from there as quickly as possible. Think "hot potato" or "monkey in the middle" or "Hey, that's a hand grenade that's getting ready to go off, I think I don't want to wait around and see if it does". Those type of things. If you slip, don't quit or slow down, pick up the pace. And finally, as in any race, don't stop at the finish line, run through it.</p>
<p>If a candidate doesn't pass the CFA but is an otherwise stellar prospect, the academy will allow you to retake the test.</p>
<p>Yesterday my son received a letter from his admissions officer stating:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Your performance in the Basketball Throw event does not indicate that you will successfully complete physical training at the United States Military Academy. However, based upon the strength of your overall record, I am authorizing you to take the Candidate Fitness Assessment again. You should prepare diligently, with special emphasis on the event mentioned above, retake the entire Candidate Fitness Assessment, and send in your results by December 16, 2006.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the average results for candidates have been 63 ft Basketball Throw, 8 repititions of Pull-Ups, 9 seconds Shuttle Run, 66 repetitions of Modified Sit-ups, 47 repetitions of Push-Ups and a time of 6:45 minutes/seconds on the 1 Mile Run. Candidates will enter West Point with results higher and lower than these. I will closely review your performance on this Candidate Fitness Assessment and the Admissions Committee will make final determination once you send in your results.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>BTW, my son received an LOA dated 8 Aug 2006.</p>
<p>What was the length of his basketball throw?</p>
<p>It was a pathetic 44 feet. Everything else was superior.</p>
<p>My son took the CFA at the Naval Academy Summer Seminar and we are trying to get those results. Supposedly he did better on that test.</p>
<p>My son won't be able to retake the CFA for a few weeks because he sustained an injury during a cross country invitational (90 schools) three weeks ago. He was really ticked because he was in 18th place before he was injured. He did manage to finish the race which probably aggravated the injury. He came home on crutches and couldn't even walk for about two weeks.</p>
<p>It will take a while for my son to get back in shape. Needless to say, the injury ended his cross country season.</p>
<p>GreatAmerican- some b-ball throw advice (if you haven't heard this stuff already): use your whole body! rotate back and LEAN back!</p>
<p>majmattmason- thanks, I went from 9.8s to under 8.9s !</p>
<p>if we're still posting our scores: I just retook, and my admissions guy said there were fine:</p>
<p>bball 71 ft
pull-ups 13
shuttle 8.9s
situps 95 (yay!)
pushups 41 (this is a passing amount, apparently)
mile 6:34 (slower than last time!)</p>
<p>Harri-San,</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I passed it on to my son.</p>
<p>i haven't taken my CFA yet, but i'm guessing that there's no set deadline for it, right?</p>
<p>Harri-san, congratulations! I know it had to be uplifting to see yourself perform that much better. Good for you!</p>
<p>There is a deadline for taking the CFA and it is when the applications close. On the other hand, unless you are trying to make some huge changes in your test results, the earlier you get your CFA in the better. If you wait too late, you may not get authorization to take the CFA again if the Admissions' Office doesn't like your scores.</p>
<p>oh, thanks.</p>
<p>I figured I might as well post these. I think I did decently, obviously not fantastic on the sprint, but I've always been slow, so I'm not too worried.</p>
<p>Mile: 7:22
Pushups: 48
Situps: 96
Pullups: 2
Shuttle Run: 10.2<br>
BBall Throw: 55 ft</p>
<p>ooh p.s. i'm a girl. these would be awful scores for a guy.</p>
<p>Should I wait to send in my scores and try to get my push ups and pull ups higher. When I practiced the CFA last week these were my scores:
Mile:6:30
Pushups:45
Sit Ups:95
Pullups:5
Shuttle Run:8.1
Bball Throw:100</p>
<p>I know my sit ups, shuttle run, and bball throw are all okay, I'm just worried about the push and pull ups because those demonstrate my ability to lift my own body weight. Is it worth it for me to wait a month or 6 weeks and try to tack on 10 push ups and 3 pull ups or no?</p>
<p>new to the forum but here are my CFA results(took it 3 weeks ago)</p>
<p>bball throw:78ft.
shuttle run:8.8sec
pull ups:18
pushups:75
crunches:95
mile run: 5:41</p>
<p>good luck everyone..got my LOA today =]. hope to see you guys there</p>