USAFA CFA Scoring

T

TheEvanCat

5-Year Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
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So I'm taking the CFA on Friday in order to get my stuff in for early action. I'm all set on everything except this.

However, there are some concerns about how it's scored. I haven't been able to get past 45-47 feet on the basketball throw, but I am able to do the average for pullups, max pushups/crunches, and do well on the shuttle run and the mile run (I run cross country so my mile time can be around six minutes, last time I checked.)

So my question is that, since the CFA is pass/fail, how is it scored? If you don't throw 69' on the basketball throw like the average is, do they boot you out of admissions and tell you to come back next year? This is my only real point of concern about now. Mostly the basketball throw. So I'm worried that, unless I'm somehow able to add twenty feet to my throw (and that's the only event I feel I'm doing less than the average), it's going to fail the entire section for me.
 
From our experience with DS, whose basketball throw was in the low 40's, if you are meeting close to the averages and/or above in everything else you should pass the CFA. Our DS applied to 3 SA's last year. The MMA had him redo his basketball throw only. USAFA and USNA passed him. On a side note USAFA failed him his first time and he improved some other areas to pass. He was trying for early action but didnt make it because of the CFA. Run your numbers by your ALO before you submit them. USAFA took into account his desire to meet the early action requirements in the end.
 
who can do the CFA. The form says coach or pe teacher? the web site says pe teacher. What is it?
 
Coach, PE Teacher, or ALO are the most common three.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
Evan,

For some reassurance.... DS crushed the CFA including max/near max push-ups and pull ups but bombed the basketball throw (he was too cocky to practice that part!) and still received an appointment to AFA.

That being said... You might want to check the stickies at the top of the USMA forum. There is one specifically on this topic. The basketball throw is as much about technique as it is strength (see DS story above :wink:). Practice the technique in that thread and you might see noticeable improvement even in just the few days you have before the CFA.

Good luck!
 
So it's a score of all the events weighted together, then, like a quarter grade? A bunch of As and one F makes a B or something along those lines?
 
TheEvanCat said:
So it's a score of all the events weighted together, then, like a quarter grade? A bunch of As and one F makes a B or something along those lines?
Click to expand...

No, if you fail one part of the CFA you fail the entire thing. The SAs give average and max scores, but not minimum scores for a reason. Keep practicing the basketball throw as mentioned above, and review the stickies for technique. Once you get that technique down, you'll be surprised at how much further you can throw the ball.

Also, each SA may have different average/max scores for each event -- the basketball throw is very important for USMA, perhaps less so at AFA. And like mltryfam4gen said, if you are close to the minimum or not passing in an event, the SA may ask you to redo the entire CFA.
 
ca2midwestmom said:
No, if you fail one part of the CFA you fail the entire thing. The SAs give average and max scores, but not minimum scores for a reason. Keep practicing the basketball throw as mentioned above, and review the stickies for technique. Once you get that technique down, you'll be surprised at how much further you can throw the ball.

Also, each SA may have different average/max scores for each event -- the basketball throw is very important for USMA, perhaps less so at AFA. And like mltryfam4gen said, if you are close to the minimum or not passing in an event, the SA may ask you to redo the entire CFA.
Click to expand...

So where could I find minimum scores, or minimum scores from the past that I might be able to take into account?

Thus far, I'm managing:

~6:00 mile
Max situps (95)
Max pushups (75)
Around average (11-12) pullups
Mid-40s throw
Close to 9 second shuttle run

I know that I'll be able to do more on test day, of course. This was practice. A couple of them are maxed and there's an above average run. I can make it to the average on two more.
 
TheEvanCat said:
So where could I find minimum scores, or minimum scores from the past that I might be able to take into account?

Thus far, I'm managing:

~6:00 mile
Max situps (95)
Max pushups (75)
Around average (11-12) pullups
Mid-40s throw
Close to 9 second shuttle run

I know that I'll be able to do more on test day, of course. This was practice. A couple of them are maxed and there's an above average run. I can make it to the average on two more.
Click to expand...

You will not find minimum scores for any of the SAs. Shoot for the max scores, get at least the average scores, and you'll pass (but don't forget it's WCS, and the CFA counts for 10% or so of your total application). The SAs aren't looking for candidates that will do the minimum -- as with the rest of the application, you need to aim for the highest/best you can do, control what you can (CFA, ACT/SAT, gpa, etc) and work on your Plans B, C, D...
 
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