Am i Good Enough?

does this help? Some scores, rankings, EC's (but not cfa)

http://www.usafa.af.mil/superintendent/cma/newsletters/2009/09 Jul.pdf

Suggestion as a coach - don't JUST do this as a test. IE, work specific skills and test yourself every other week, or once a month, not every day.

You can do abs work pretty much every day, but the muscles required for pullups have to recover. Work hard, then recover is better than working same short muscles every day.

Kid had issues with the freaking basketball throw, of all things. Pretty much the only way to practice that is to do it. However, you can get with a baseball coach or someone who has done it before for pointers.

Good luck with all.
 
You can only get a nom from JROTC if it is an "honor" unit. There are limited slots that can be apptd. Also, these noms compete against ROTC cadets.

As far as the CFA, the fact is it is only a % of that 20% of the WCS. This is one part of the applicatiion that you have control over. You don't want to not get an appt and wonder the rest of your life you will say if I had waited and got 5 more push-ups would have my WCS been the winner.

What is your CFA scors right now, because if you max 2 or 3, I am assuming we are looking at shuttle, mile and situps, which means push-ups, pull-ups and bball aren't the AFA might be concerned that you do not have upper body strength,


My AFJROTC unit has earned "Distinguished unit" The past two years and we're working on our third. We had the deputy director of AFJROTC inspect us in August and pass us with "exceeding standards". Does this mean my SASI can nominate me? :shake:
 
I am also from Tennessee, but I am a year ahead of you. I have a 3.96 GPA. Everyone of my classes have been Honors, Dual Enrollment, or AP but that is only because my school requires it. I am Junior Class VP but I am not team captain on any sports teams. I have been the drive team captain on my robotics team for the past three years, though. I don't know if there is anything else that you would like to know... Oh, ACT. I have a 26 in English and Science, 25 in Math, but a 22 in Reading. I just took my SAT this past weekend. I have toured to Academy twice and I heard both times that taking an AP class and getting a B looks waaaayyyy better than taking a regular class and getting an A. Consider that when signing up for classes. Set short term, easy goals and reach them. Good luck, hope to see you there!
 
Oh, ACT. I have a 26 in English and Science, 25 in Math, but a 22 in Reading.

Be aware that the mean (average) ACT scores for incoming cadets is ~30 for each subject area. You NEED to get those scores up to be competitive. You can take the ACT and SAT as often as you can afford. There are prep books available on Amazon and there are prep classes offered all around. Do your best to get those scores up. Best wishes. :thumb:
 
Be aware that the mean (average) ACT scores for incoming cadets is ~30 for each subject area. You NEED to get those scores up to be competitive. You can take the ACT and SAT as often as you can afford. There are prep books available on Amazon and there are prep classes offered all around. Do your best to get those scores up. Best wishes. :thumb:

To add to this, I got some of my best ACT taking advice from a $15 ACT prep book my parents got me. After taking the test four times, with some studying, my score improved from a 23 composite to a 27 composite in a year. It's not outstanding, but I found it really does help!
 
I agree get those scores up big time. SAT/ACT scores are important because it is the one thing that levels the playing field for every applicant.

CGPAs can vary school to school, teacher by teacher. This is one reason they also ask for the school profile in the sealed transcript.

We all understand test anxiety, but we also understand how on the 1st day of academics at the AFA or a traditional college will make going from middle school to hs feel like nothing. Profs are going to move at the speed of the class, and IF you need to catch up it is up to you to get assistance, they aren't going to slow down the class.

This is why you want that academic foundation. If the avg cadet has a 30 ACT or a 1360 SAT you may be behind the power curve.

It is also why you see many candidates with a high cgpa, low ACT get offered prep. You typically won't see a candidate with a low cgpa, high ACT offered prep. Prep is to give cadets 1 more yr of academics so they will have the best chance to transition as a C4C.
 
I have already taken the ACT twice and I just took the SAT this past weekend. I am working really hard on my ACT scores right now (weekly ACT class). I know many people say that they go to a competitive school but I'm pretty sure I do. Our average ACT is a 29 and it's a magnet school. This year we received the Blue Ribbon Award and we are ranked in the top 200 high schools in the US. I hope some of these things outweigh my lower ACT scores.
 
My son is a twice-nominated 2017 applicant. I was wondering, are any of the ACT sections weighted more than the others when they are scoring candidates? His highest composite was a 32, but with the super scoring his highest scores from multiple tests are as follows:

English - 32
Math - 29
Reading - 36
Science - 34

I am worried that the 29 Math is not only below the 30.6 average, but that it may be weighted more than other sections. His unweighted GPA is 3.85 and our school does not do class ranks (our school district was sued for providing class ranks a few years ago).

Any insight would be appreciated. This waiting after 5 years of preparation is nerve wracking! Thank you!

Jill
 
It M and E because to make the playing field level they need to use what college board does for converting an ACT to SAT. SAT only has those 2 portions. In his case his ACT would be 31 because they would round up from 30.5.

As far as giving more weight to the M over the E, I don't know the answer. I would think the E matters just as much, especially if you look on the admissions site, it clearly states 24 E or 490V scores would more than likely deem the applicant non-competitive for an appointment.

As much as it is known to be the Little Engineering school n the Rockies, they know cadets will write term papers too. As it is always stated they want the best WHOLE candidate, not necessarily the best Math or best English cadet.
 
Thank you so much for your reply, Pima. So they do not count the Science and Reading grades at all? Of course, those were his highest scores - ugh! He has the other components for the "whole package" consideration with sports, extracurricular activities, leadership, and volunteer work, but I was hoping the Science and Reading ACT scores would help offset the lower than average Math score.

Again, I appreciate your insight!

Jill
 
Actually, they do count science. I had/have a candidate who was disqualified because his S/R score on the ACT was too low. He got it up, so all is good. Reading, I can't really say, because I haven't seen anyone's reading score that low. But science Definitely is counted.

According to the academy brochure/catalog, they post the following stats for their incoming cadets; so I must assume, the grades DO COUNT. If not, why publish averages.

Test Mid 50% Range Mean
ACT English 28-33 30
ACT Reading 28-33 31
ACT Math 28-33 30
ACT Science Reasoning 27-32 30
SAT Verbal Aptitude 600-690 643
SAT Math Aptitude 630-720 674
 
Last edited:
Thank you very much for your reply, Mike. It's reassuring that he's within the mid 50% for Math and that Science counts. I know there's nothing we can do now anyways and I'm very proud of him for how hard he prepped for those tests, but all these questions swirl around in our minds as we wait for the end of March (or later).

Thanks again to all of the contributors to these forums. Your willingness to give your time and share your knowledge is such a blessing during this stressful time.

Jill
 
Back
Top