Think you are prepared?

sheriff3

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I was not sure how to title this thread so I just went with the first thing that popped into my head. Took DS to school yesterday. He took his AFPT along with 9 other prospective cadets. Testing started at 6 am. I received a text from him at 7:30 that he passed and will contract as soon as he completes his 104R form. :yllol: Out of the 10 cadets that took the test only 5 passed!:eek: 50% failure rate!!! I was kinda shocked by that figure to tell you the truth. For all of you prospective cadets. Once you are awarded a scholarship you have 3 things to do to reach your objective (contracting). First, maintain your grades. Second, stay out of trouble. Lastly, get in and stay in shape. Also please don't show up to your AFPT wearing a beard. Yes it happened yesterday. DS told of a cadet showing up with a beard and out of shape to boot. He was one of the cadets that failed his AFPT. After the test an O-6 (PMS?) told him to shave. Probably not the way he wanted to start his career off. Don't be that guy! If you earned a scholarship good for you but now you have a responsibility to fulfill the requirements to contract. If you are not on a scholarship put your best foot forward by showing up ready to nail the AFPT and make sure your personal appearance is within regulations. Putting forth this effort will be noticed and likely well rewarded. Best of luck to you all.
 
That's not abnormal. Of all the MS-1's that took the first Army PT test at my unit last year (both scholarship recipients and those that wanted an in-school scholarship), about half failed the first PT test. My 240-ish score was one of the best MS-1 scores for a looooooong time, and I am by no means a PT stud. Of course, over the years most of those scores increase drastically, many by 50, 60, 70 points, with many maxing the test after a year. But there are definitely some, including scholarship recipients, that fail again, and again, and again. They usually eventually pass and activate their contract. Most by LDAC get the 275+ that is a "good" score. I do believe though that if a kid just can't ever score that 180 minimum, the scholarship is recycled to another cadet as an in school scholarship. Not positive though.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx
 
Scholarship winners have until Dec. 15th of their freshman year to pass the PT test and validate their scholarship. If they cannot pass by then they lose it.
 
Scholarship winners have until Dec. 15th of their freshman year to pass the PT test and validate their scholarship. If they cannot pass by then they lose it.

What if they are advance 3-year scholarships which don't begin until the MS2 year?
 
At The Citadel, 3-year scholarship winners are not required to show up for lab, PT, or PT tests until MS-2 year.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx
 
Good topic. DS takes test Monday. Been working all summer to prepare. Ran 4:55 mile other day while training with Ranger Challenge team. Hopes to max test and contract as soon as possible. Also witnessed a cadet get berated for stubble on face. DS immediately shaved again. :).
Having hard time balancing time between cross country team and ROTC as he doesn't not want to miss out on what both offer. Looks like Xc might fall by the wayside for his career training

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3yr. AD scholarship winners are not required to validate until Dec. 15th of their sophomore year. I would think that any 3yr winner who didn't fully participate as a freshman and didn't pass the initial PT test would be in danger of not validating.
 
At The Citadel, 3-year scholarship winners are not required to show up for lab, PT, or PT tests until MS-2 year.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx

That's surprising, given it's the Citadel. My son's battalion requires all 3 yr scholarship cadets to attend everything their MS1 year, and they're just a little public state school.
 
The 50% fail on the APFT doesn't surprise me at all, it is a little sad though.

Of the 3 four year scholarship cadets in my son's class, only my son passed the APFT, the other two never did pass and left the program, now that's sad.

Too many new cadets think because they did 70 plus PU's and 70 plus SU's on their PFT that they have it nailed. Big shock when they get to the Battalion and find out that only about half of those count when done to Army standards.

My son had a big brother in the program so he made sure younger brother was doing them correctly, got a 319 on the first test, having someone check his form helped a lot. There are opportunities to have someone in the Army...a recruiter.. or others check out your form early on, take advantage of any help you can before heading off to school.
 
That's surprising, given it's the Citadel. My son's battalion requires all 3 yr scholarship cadets to attend everything their MS1 year, and they're just a little public state school.

I'm pretty sure it's a test to see who's really dedicated. Given the cadets an opportunity to be "lazy" to test work ethic and such is my guess, as those that don't participate certainly aren't looked at highly upon by the cadre. I've known a few 3-year peers that have already had unofficial counselings for things such as lack of motivation in MS class and academic shortcomings. I don't how academics work in regards to contracting a 3 year cadet, but I know the most common reason someone either can't contract, won't be allowed to contract, or loses their contract is simply because their grades suck.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx
 
I am with Jcleppe, that number does not shock me.

What shocks me is that every yr people are shocked by that rate. No offense to anyone. It's just every yr in Sept. the threads are filled with the rate passing, and yet all through spring and summer older posters drill the point to keep training.

I have to say, I think the majority of the posters here are like sheriff's DS....they pass right off the bat because it has been drilled. The majority of cadets never find this site, thus, they went in thinking differently than those that have found this site.
 
I am just a civilian, yet every friend that is an officer runs every day and always maxs test. These are Lt. Cols and work ethic is clearly a habit.

Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app.
 
At my Bn, I was a little surprised to see all seven 4-years pass the APFT (from previously knowing about the fail/pass rate for initial APFTs).

I know for me, I had some form issues yesterday morning; I thought I'd pass everything but the run time; turns out I failed everything but SUs :eek:
 
Well, Thompson, now you know what you need to work on. Prove yourself by correcting your deficiencies and exceeding the standard by the next test.
 
At my Bn, I was a little surprised to see all seven 4-years pass the APFT (from previously knowing about the fail/pass rate for initial APFTs).

I know for me, I had some form issues yesterday morning; I thought I'd pass everything but the run time; turns out I failed everything but SUs :eek:


A hint: wide arm push ups. Noone cares that you look like a badass with your elbows pinned to your sides, so you might as well use more than just your triceps to push.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Sir Ernest Benn
 
Well, Thompson, now you know what you need to work on. Prove yourself by correcting your deficiencies and exceeding the standard by the next test.
Yep definitely - first official one is ... 2 weeks I think.

Curious - how wide are you suggesting? I thought the best was somewhere in between.
 
Yep definitely - first official one is ... 2 weeks I think.

Curious - how wide are you suggesting? I thought the best was somewhere in between.

No expert; but wider = using chest muscles, while closer = using triceps. So somewhere in between could use both groups of muscles.
 
At my Bn, I was a little surprised to see all seven 4-years pass the APFT (from previously knowing about the fail/pass rate for initial APFTs).

I know for me, I had some form issues yesterday morning; I thought I'd pass everything but the run time; turns out I failed everything but SUs :eek:

Gasp! :eek: Hard to believe coming from you Thompson. But I also have no doubt you will soon have things in order and be at the top end of the class! Go get 'em buddy! :thumb:
 
Runslikeadeer:
"Having hard time balancing time between cross country team and ROTC as he doesn't not want to miss out on what both offer. Looks like Xc might fall by the wayside for his career training"

DS was having the same issue, heavy class load combined with wanting to be able to participate all the ROTC activities. He went to his xcountry coach and before DS got to his point his coach told him he needed to drop xcountry. It was apparent what DS's priorities were and the coach told him he was smart to think of that now instead of when he was behind in classes and missing out on other acticivites due to practices or meets.

BTW, DS passed his first test with 258. Scored 92 on pushups but needs to imrove the situps and knock about 20 seconds off the runtime to get to that magical 270pt mark.

He dig some digging and found this to improve your APFT scores.

http://kansastag.gov/AdvHTML_doc_upload/PTEnhancementProgram.pdf
 
No expert; but wider = using chest muscles, while closer = using triceps. So somewhere in between could use both groups of muscles.

You're exactly right, but for most people, the grip that uses both groups of muscles more evenly is usually a little bit wider than normal. Also note that most people have stronger and more enduratic pectorals than triceps. The point is to avoid the typical "Hooah Daddy" approach of pinning your arms all the way in to the point where you're pretty much at the position of attention while in the front leaning rest. Yeah, you'll look like a motivator. You'll also only get about 60% of the pushups you'd normally get, if that.

To Thompson and any other MS-1's that may be seeing the APFT as an obstacle right now, I promise with all sincerity that if you just work at it, you'll get better. A lot better. Always show up to PT and just do the absolute best you can. Feel good about having a hard time waking up from soreness, the rewards will be both instantly noticeable and rewarded. You, your cadre, and your peers will recognize your resolve and will all respond. I was once in the same boat as ya'll: I've always just had the short and chubby body type, PT was always the hardest part for me. All I did was put out at PT and work with the cadre. Granted, some one-on-one time with my company's upperclassmen also did a lot of good :D . But now I score in the mid 270's PT-wise. It's possible and not hard, just try. This is what you've wanted for so long, and now you're surrounded by people who can and will help you. Don't be discouraged, just trust your cadre and yourself. And this random guy on an internet forum.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Sir Ernest Benn
 
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