When to take President's Physical Fitness Test?

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KarenH

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School ends for DS June 14. His goal is to have AROTC application complete by Sept. 1. Website says school guidance will receive instructions regarding taking President's Physical Fitness Test. DS wants to take it before June 14. Does anyone have experience with requesting that the fitness test info be sent now? No desire to be labeled a complainer/problem at this stage of the game.
 
I believe you can download the form for the AROTC PT test on the Army website. It is not the President's Physical Fitness Test. It can be administered by your son's coach or P.E. teacher. I'm not sure how early you can take it, or send it in before you actually apply.

Sit ups- 1minute
Push ups-1 minute
1 Mile run- timed

Good luck! Hope that helps a bit.
 
I personally took it in late-October after the 1st board had convened so that I could get my running time down because I had focused too much on pushups and situps during my prep over the summer.

The way my battalion explained things to me was thus: There's no real point in freaking out about only getting in in time for the 2nd and 3rd boards. If you are a good enough candidate to be picked 1st board, you WILL be selected in the 2nd or 3rd. Taking the time to lower my (atrocious) run time proved more valuable.

Long story short: They told me to get my app in for the 2nd board and trade one "opportunity" out of three for an increased PT score.

Full disclosure: My stats Sept 4: Push/Sit/Run ---> 50/45/8:08
Oct ~20: 62/54/7:07

I was awarded a scholarship in the 2nd board and I'm fully confident it's because I fixed that PT.
 
http://goldenknightbattalion.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/pft-or-prt-that-is-the-question/
Here is more information than you probably meed about the PFT.

http://goldenknightbattalion.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/pft-or-prt-that-is-the-question/
1 October is the deadline to have everything in for the first board. 1 September may be leaning a little to far forward in the foxhole.

I disagree with JBL. If you are ready for the first board you should get on the first board. If you wait until the second board there will not be all the allocations available, as there will have been some offers made on the first board. there is a chance that you won't get an offer that you would have gotten on the first board. The PFT is not the most important component on your app. It's wonderful that he got an offer, but I'm not sure it was a product of running his mile a minute faster. Your son has plenty of time to prepare for his test and submit the best score. I would recommend taking the test soon as a diagnostic, and then set some goal on improving and taking the test shortly after school starts in the fall if he's able to continue to train and improve over the summer.
 
There are several parts of the application like the APFT and getting your transcripts sent that take cooperation from high school personnel. These folks aren't always available during the summer break, so time your efforts accordingly. If you are in the northeast, a diagnostic PFT in the next couple weeks (not to be sent in unless you are truly a top tier athlete in mid-season form) wouldn't be a bad thing. You will also want to have your transcript shipped whenever they have the office help in during the summer or in the week before school starts in the fall.

Getting your interview done during the summer is a good thing as well. If you wait until units are back in session, you will see the place in action, but may not get as much cadre time (very busy season) for your interview (they can last as long as you all want) as you might during the summer (at least when PMS is in town).

I agree with Clarkson that Sept 1 may be a bit aggressive (especially if you are working that PFT). CC gets flooded with paperwork, so if you feel the need for confirmation of receipt, give it a week before the October 1 deadline. BTW, anything you send, do it in multiple formats (fax, email, snailmail) whenever possible as paperwork has been known to get misplaced from time to time.
 
I believe I have the same question as the OP. Can my son take the PFA and submit it before the application is filed. Since a completed application or any application is not on file, will the results be 'lost' since there is no applicant to attach it to? I ask because we are moving July 1st and would like to complete as much as possible before then. Also, in the above post, you state having everything done by Sept 1st is early, yet say to have transcripts and interviews done over the summer. Wouldn't that mean you are completing the application before Sept 1st or is the PFT one thing you should wait to submit til after sept 1st?
 
Here's the sequence of events...
1. go on line and submit an application
2. Receive a letter or email from Cadet Command telling you that you need to submit transcripts, SAT/ACT scores, a PFT score, and conduct an interview.
3. Do what they tell you to do.

You have until February of next year to submit all of that information and still be considered for a scholarship. I would recommend not waiting that long. If you do the backward planning you can figure out when you will be able to get a guidance counselor to provide transcripts, when you can get a coach or gym teacher to give the PFT, and when you plan to visit some campuses and interview with a PMS. Need to finish the online application to get the ball rolling. After that you will be prompted along the way. Make sure you keep your contact information updated if you are moving. If Cadet Command can't send you emails and letters you will be lost.
 
Thank you clarksonarmy, I think I'm making it more difficult than it is.
 
Thanks for all the input. DS at 5:55 mile, 45 situp/45 pushup in one minute. Summer brings 24/6 camp job that leaves little time for training. School ends 6/14, starts 9/5. Don't know if those scores are competitive. Only he can tell if he can improve them over summer.
 
The big issue to understand is there is an exact procedure to the test, the scores you have stated are strong, but if he does his run, than comes and takes a 10 minute cool down for the other portions, the scores will change in a negative way.

Additionally, if his form for sit up and push ups are incorrect they will drop too.

I am not saying he is not doing it right, I am saying that he needs to train to the download instructions that will be administered. Form matters.

FWIW, every yr there are candidates on this site that posted great PFA scores, and every yr come Sept when they take the AROTC PFT, many fail. Failing the PFT equates into not contracting for the scholarship.

Most of the time it is because their training was not followed to the PFA standards, be it form or rest time. Sometimes it is because they were fair weather training...not in rain, not in humidity, not at 5:30 in the morning, or taking into account an altitude change. All of these issues are factors. ROTC will say this is the date and time, weather is not a reason to cancel, unless of course it is a hurricane or blizzard.

One last thing to understand, if he intends to apply for an SA as plan A, he will take two tests. SA's use the CFA, and ROTC uses the PFA. They do not and will not accept the PFA as a substitute for the CFA, nor vise a verse. The CFA is different because it requires a BBALL throw. This is where many applicants have problems, that and pull ups. You can download the CFA off the internet too.

Good luck.
 
Adding on to Pima, make sure you practice the whole test and not just the individual components. The run is the last event and those pushups and sit-ups immediately before running will affect your run time in a negative fashion.
 
A lot of confusing information here. Here is the bottom line...for an Army ROTC scholarship applicant you will take this PFT one time, and then probably never take it again. The situps you do for the test will never be done that way again for a score (unless the Army changes the way we do situps). There is no requirement to wait 10 minutes between event, and there is no prescribed order for events for the PFT for Army. Do the best you can. Have a coach or gym teacher submit the best score you can come up with, the then forget you ever took the test and start training for the APFT and worry about all the above advice about form and order and the rest. This is just about the easiest part of the Army scholarship process, don't make it harder than it is. But...don't expect to become an Army Officer if you are physically fit (the other bottom line).
 
Clarkson, of course, is correct. Sorry for any confusion/mis-information.
 
Correction...don't expect to become an Army Officer if you ARE NOT physically fit (the other bottom line).
 
DS managed 5:46 mile, 49 situps, 61 pushups with PE teacher in attendance. Results faxed. Hopefully they are accepted and he didn't need to wait until info was sent from CC to guidance office.
 
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