CFA "no risk" = pass?

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WestTexasmom

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I'm assuming "no risk" means a pass on the CFA. Is it still a good idea to work at improving scores (after SLS) or will it make any difference to admissions as long as they pass?
 
You only have to take the CFA again if you fail a portion of the test and Admissions wants you to retake it.
 
You are typically only allowed a single attempt at the CFA. If you fail it at SLS you are automatically allowed a redo (no risk).

That being said, if you fail any attempt at the CFA you can always request a retry from your MALO/Admissions (and cross your fingers).

P.S. I believe that the CFA is only ~10% of your admissions score. You may be better served served working on grades/SAT scores (~60%), but it's your choice
 
2013Dad said:
You are typically only allowed a single attempt at the CFA. If you fail it at SLS you are automatically allowed a redo (no risk).

That being said, if you fail any attempt at the CFA you can always request a retry from your MALO/Admissions (and cross your fingers).

P.S. I believe that the CFA is only ~10% of your admissions score. You may be better served served working on grades/SAT scores (~60%), but it's your choice
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So the phrase "no risk" on the report from SLS means?
Nothing on the report says "pass" or "fail"
 
No risk=pass
At risk=fail

The CFA at SLS is free, it can be taken again even if you pass. I'd advise taking it again unless you have a VERY strong application. It's worth 10% of your admissions decision and it's the one thing you have complete control over.
 
tallbutshort said:
No risk=pass
At risk=fail

The CFA at SLS is free, it can be taken again even if you pass. I'd advise taking it again unless you have a VERY strong application. It's worth 10% of your admissions decision and it's the one thing you have complete control over.
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+1
I didn't retake the CFA after passing at SLS but it probably would have been a good idea
 
I thought the same thing when I saw my cfa result, but it says that you need to retake it if you are 'at risk' so I just assumed it means pass.

Many people just passed at our SLS, but a few unlucky ones got very strict cadre, especially for the pushups. I think the CFA might be just a little easier with our own PE teachers, so I think we should try again anyway.
 
beat navy said:
Many people just passed at our SLS, but a few unlucky ones got very strict cadre, especially for the pushups. I think the CFA might be just a little easier with our own PE teachers, so I think we should try again anyway.
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I actually didn't go to SLS so I can't speak about how tough the CFA is there, but from experience, taking it with my own PE teacher was not easy by any stretch of the imagination lol. If you are planning on retaking, I would recommend that you prepare for it just as hard, if not harder than you did for SLS.

Good Luck :)
 
THe cadre were definitely pretty tough on the push-ups... so are we allowed to retake if we passed but didn't necessarily do very well?
 
Yep, you're definitely allowed to retake it. I passed mine at SLS, but retook it anyway. Unless you're really close to maxing, I'd recommend working on everything and retaking it regardless of how strong the rest of your application is. Your application won't be on the candidate portal until August, anyway, so you may as well spend the summer training up.
 
SVG said:
THe cadre were definitely pretty tough on the push-ups...
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DS indicated pull-ups & push-ups were quite strict, even by the strictest interpretation of the CFA instructions.
 
hawk said:
DS indicated pull-ups & push-ups were quite strict, even by the strictest interpretation of the CFA instructions.
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Yeah they wouldn't count my last pull-up and I was soooo close haha. I was straining to hard to stretch out my neck xD
 
You guys all make it sound like the CFA is a pass-fail kind of thing. Is the CFA really weighted that much into admissions factors?
I thought it was along the lines of "The better you do, the more competetive you will be".
 
freedomtruck said:
You guys all make it sound like the CFA is a pass-fail kind of thing. Is the CFA really weighted that much into admissions factors?
I thought it was along the lines of "The better you do, the more competetive you will be".
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Yeah.
I think, first you have to pass CFA to become qualified. This part is critical otherwise cannot gain admission despite how good you're otherwise. Once fully qualified, however, the CFA is not as important as it counts only a small portion of the total score, although the higher the CFA score the better.
 
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The associate admissions director personally told me that the CFA is worth 10% of the whole score.
 
That's what it explicitly states on the admissions brochure thing. It's only recently that I've noticed that many candidates treat it on a pass-fail basis.
 
As elan_xu stated, it is a pass-fail test. There are cut-off pass-fail numbers for each event of the CFA, although they are not posted.

However, as an applicant you want to make your entire application as competitive as possible, so you want to get the best CFA results possible. If you have excellent ACT/SAT scores, an excellent GPA and academics and ECs, you could probably get by with a mediocre, passing CFA. But who wants to risk that, when a few more push-ups or a bit faster of a mile could be the only thing separating those who get appointed off of the NWL and those who don't?
 
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