Training for CFA

hopefulusma2021

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Jul 27, 2016
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So long story. USMA has always been my dream school. I can go into it for hours. Goal is to commission as an officer. Been building an application for years for it. Gotten leadership positions form Pres of Student Body, to Beta, to other honor societies and clubs, one of top ranked in AFJROTC, tons of comm. service and connections, tri-athlete. Roughly @ 15% of my class so top fifth. I can attach a resume if anyone wants to see. Always planned on becoming an Army Officer so have worked hard for everything. I know this next part is going to seem bad, I had always struggled with the SAT. I studied however I completely bombed the first time around to where I wasn't even at a score that a recruited athlete with poor academics would have. So my chances were dimminshed. Nevertheless i did work hard and to my surprise, my scores went way up to where I may be competitive now. God pulled a miracle and brought me up to a 1300 for the new SAT, a crazy boost. Now to the point and what'll make me look bad, I didn't give up however I ignored my PT over the last couple months and got way out of shape. I wrestle in the winter and get great PT scores during the season but that's putting my body through a rigorous program. Now I want to get my application in early for early decision. I know when they need to be in as the deadline. But all this said this brings me to my questions. One, is it a rolling board like AROTC, how does it work, for the best chance what date should I have my app with the CFA submitted? Also can I submit application early without CFA, have more time to train, add the CFA later without it moving where I am in the pile? Also most importantly, can anyone recommend a diet/workout routine that I can do for the next few months to train for a great CFA? I'm willing to put in the work, just need some guidance on the best route. Not afraid to push myself with it, I've even got some crazy stories of losing +8lbs in less than 24 hours on multiple occasions for wrestling. Would love to hear input on what to do to get numbers up drastically over a few months. Thanks for reading. All apologies for making this so long. Take care and have a nice day!
 
So short story. You're not "training for the CFA". The CFA is a brief exercise that should be simple to max because you're training to be an Army officer.
 
Your application is always able to be updated, so you can and should submit everything else, even if your CFA isn't yet complete. They will review applications throughout, and do so on a weekly basis I believe, however, it is not like AROTC, where there are the three clear board dates and they make a certain number of selections. I know my sons was one of the first few appointments to be posted here, and that was in January.

There are a lot of threads on the CFA, and most offer excellent advise as I recall. There is no substitute for practice. Get a partner, like your dad or a good friend, and head to a football field or a playground, or if available, a gym. Take a tape measure and a basketball, and maybe something to mark distances. We used a couple fold up chairs. Print out the cfa instructions and averages from any of the academy web sites. Bring a gallonof water too. Then go work on each event. Some days maybe you only have time or energy to do some events. That's ok.

You will improve in each event. We had to do the pullups either before we left or after we got back from other events, so be flexible. Lots of tips on bb throw, but think of yourself as a catapult, and learn to use the twist and energy of your whole body, not just your arm. Also it helped my son to kneel on a slight angle , almost like he was shooting a hook shot, but don't actually try to throw like a hook shot.

If you work on the CFA for a few weeks, you will see radical changes. My son was already trim and in good shape going in, so if you aren't, you also need to diet, which might sap some energy too, and you may need to put in more time.

On the pullups, if you are struggling, try putting a chair behind you, and use a bent leg to assist only minimally enough to get you able to do complete pullups, and use this method only until you are able to do good pullups without"cheating". A doorway pullups bar is cheap, and works great. My son did pullups a few times every day when he was walking in or out of his door. He did that even after he was done with the CFA, and admitted to west point. It's still in his door and reminds me of my son every day.

The CFA is more about commitment than physical strength. Those who want to accomplish this will get good scores, because they will commit to doing well.
 
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So short story. You're not "training for the CFA". The CFA is a brief exercise that should be simple to max because you're training to be an Army officer.
Not sure if you were being sarcastic or not, but I don't agree that the CFA is either a brief exercise or that it is simple to max. There are probably a few people who are simply so incredibly fit that they can max the CFA right out of the gate, but those folks are a rare breed. Its a difficult test that requires preparation and hard work. It is designed to provide challenge for people of all shapes and sizes.
 
Wasn't being sarcastic. The CFA is designed to take 40 total minutes, 20 of which are built-in rest periods. That's brief. Any future cadet who has been seriously training to attend and excel at one of the academies should be able to also excel at this test. It's not Ranger School.
 
Wasn't being sarcastic. The CFA is designed to take 40 total minutes, 20 of which are built-in rest periods. That's brief. Any future cadet who has been seriously training to attend and excel at one of the academies should be able to also excel at this test. It's not Ranger School.
There are only a very small percentage of applicants who max this test. My son is very fit and strong, and did very well on the CFA, maxing several categories. But he never got the BB throw to 100+ feet, was a couple seconds short of maxing the mile, and could get the shuttle run to better than average, but not the max. His Regional Commander said he had one of the best CFA"s that he had last year. It isn't easy to max by any stretch of the imagination, and anyone who has done it would likely agree.
 
What do you mean you are trying to get everything in for early decision? USMA does not offer that. Not trying to be cynical, I am just wondering for myself as I am a 2021 applicant as well. (Mine got pushed back to aug 15th)
 
I completely bombed the first time around to where I wasn't even at a score that a recruited athlete with poor academics would have........


I am not completely sure how to interpret this. IMHO, that's a very broad comment. To infer or suggest, generally, that recruited athletes have poor academics or test scores is incorrect.
 
Take at least one CFA early, have had two applicants that broke bones during sports season. luckily I had insisted they get a CFA done before the season started. A broken bone even a finger is death on the CFA!
 
Take at least one CFA early, have had two applicants that broke bones during sports season. luckily I had insisted they get a CFA done before the season started. A broken bone even a finger is death on the CFA!
I agree 100% My son didn't take this advise, and was injured early in the fall. It took awhile before he was able to even start training again, and then had to do the CFA later. He got it in, but depending on the injury, you might not.
 
I am not completely sure how to interpret this. IMHO, that's a very broad comment. To infer or suggest, generally, that recruited athletes have poor academics or test scores is incorrect.

I interpret it as saying that a recruited athlete has a much higher chance of getting in with a low GPA because of their excellent sports record and because sports teams really do have some pull with admissions (I could rant for a while on this topic...but will refrain).

I highly doubt the OP was implying that recruited athletes generally have poor academics or test scores (note, I was a recruited athlete but also valedictorian, 1/400ish). Often the discipline required for a sport carries over to the academic world.
 
I am not completely sure how to interpret this. IMHO, that's a very broad comment. To infer or suggest, generally, that recruited athletes have poor academics or test scores is incorrect.
I apologize I didn't mean to come off as that way. Most are outstanding academics and meant no insult. What I should have stated rather than being so broad, is that for instance, examining admissions data, typically the few outlairs in the data set for academics to my understanding may be a recruited athlete (i.e. if you saw the 2% of admitted had SAT scores around the 450 range for example that may be the case). This is not meant as a generalization or stereotype by any means I have respect for anyone who receives an appointment, simply meant to say the my previous SAT scores would've been an outlair in the admissions data, such as an athlete that had been recruited that happened to be on the lower end academically if that makes since.
 
I interpret it as saying that a recruited athlete has a much higher chance of getting in with a low GPA because of their excellent sports record and because sports teams really do have some pull with admissions (I could rant for a while on this topic...but will refrain).

I highly doubt the OP was implying that recruited athletes generally have poor academics or test scores (note, I was a recruited athlete but also valedictorian, 1/400ish). Often the discipline required for a sport carries over to the academic world.
Yes that was what I was trying to imply. Thank you. Wasn't attempting to stereotype by any means.
 
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