Practice CFA Results

abeastlybeast

USMA Class of 2015
5-Year Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
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I just took a practice CFA with my friend. He administered the test according to the time schedule followed on the actual assessment. Here are my results:

Basketball Throw: 62 ft (1st), 67 ft (2nd), 73 ft (3rd)
Pullups: 14 reps
Shuttle Run: 9.3 s (1st), 9.3 s (2nd)
Situps: 84 Reps
Pushups: 55 Reps
1-Mile Run: 6mins15.8secs

How well did I perform? I realize my shuttle run is kind of slow. However, I did the shuttle run on a street and I slid a considerable amount. I also noticed that I did not abide by my previously established technique for the run and consequently my score suffered. My pushups were also not satisfactory in my opinion. I only did one rep above the 'male average' according to the CFA instructions. Besides those two tests, do you think I will be considered competitive athletically?

Any comments welcome. Thanks for the input.
 
I just took a practice CFA with my friend. He administered the test according to the time schedule followed on the actual assessment. Here are my results:

Basketball Throw: 62 ft (1st), 67 ft (2nd), 73 ft (3rd)
Pullups: 14 reps
Shuttle Run: 9.3 s (1st), 9.3 s (2nd)
Situps: 84 Reps
Pushups: 55 Reps
1-Mile Run: 6mins15.8secs

How well did I perform? I realize my shuttle run is kind of slow. However, I did the shuttle run on a street and I slid a considerable amount. I also noticed that I did not abide by my previously established technique for the run and consequently my score suffered. My pushups were also not satisfactory in my opinion. I only did one rep above the 'male average' according to the CFA instructions. Besides those two tests, do you think I will be considered competitive athletically?

Any comments welcome. Thanks for the input.

Not bad, 14 reps of pull ups is pretty good. And it looks like you nearly maxed out on sit-ups too. And your basketball throw looks quite solid.

But why the hell would they make you run on a sheet for the shuttle run. That's just dumb in my opinion.

Anyway, I'd say improve on your push-ups a little bit more. Overall, not bad. You probably run a better mile than I do...maybe...I haven't run a mile for time in a long, long time.

Got any tips...particularly for the basketball throw? And for pull-ups, were they really strict on having fully extended arms and straight body? I do maybe about 150-170* bends in my arm rather than the full 180* when I go down for my pull-ups, as well as 90 degree knees. Of course, I can do dead hang pull-ups too, being, of course, that it's a little bit harder.
 
I took a practice test with my friend today haha I didn't do the official CFA test. However, the CFA instructions state that you must resume a 'dead hang' position for each pull-up. I went back to the dead hang for each rep, but I kind of went at a steady pace instead of strictly following the "up...down" cadence. I'll be sure to follow the cadence exactly during the actual test but I still expect to do 14 reps.

For basketball throw, it's all about technique. When you're in a kneeling position, "stand" straight up. Then, bend backwards and twist so that you're facing your dominant throwing arm's side. Grasp the ball against your forearm and cup it with your palm. When you go to throw, use your body to turn with momentum and propel the ball with your body rather than just your arm.

With the shuttle run I performed it on the street because it was the surface most readily available to me. I will hopefully be performing the actual test on a basketball court.
 
I took a practice test with my friend today haha I didn't do the official CFA test. However, the CFA instructions state that you must resume a 'dead hang' position for each pull-up. I went back to the dead hang for each rep, but I kind of went at a steady pace instead of strictly following the "up...down" cadence. I'll be sure to follow the cadence exactly during the actual test but I still expect to do 14 reps.

For basketball throw, it's all about technique. When you're in a kneeling position, "stand" straight up. Then, bend backwards and twist so that you're facing your dominant throwing arm's side. Grasp the ball against your forearm and cup it with your palm. When you go to throw, use your body to turn with momentum and propel the ball with your body rather than just your arm.

With the shuttle run I performed it on the street because it was the surface most readily available to me. I will hopefully be performing the actual test on a basketball court.

Wait...what? There's a cadence? I find it easier to do pull-ups fast-paced because you exhaust some of your energy if you take longer on the up position.

Hope there isn't a cadence for the push-ups either. I can deal out 59 push ups in one minute, and hit 75 in about 1 minute 15 or 1 minute 30, but the main reason why I can do so many is because I do them so fast-paced...

Thanks for the tip with the BB-throw though. I'll keep that in mind.
 
Ah damn. Just looked at the instructions...there very well is a cadence for pull-ups. Nothing on push-ups though, I don't think.
 
Regardless of how fast you do the pushups, you still must have your upper arms parallel to the ground when you go down, and perpendicular to the ground when you go up.

@beastlybeast
I highly doubt that you'll still achieve 14 reps if you resume to dead hang and go by cadence. You must have a pronated grip as well (fingers curled away from you).
 
Regardless of how fast you do the pushups, you still must have your upper arms parallel to the ground when you go down, and perpendicular to the ground when you go up.

I still have good form. I just do them fast so I don't fatigue myself.
 
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Regardless of how fast you do the pushups, you still must have your upper arms parallel to the ground when you go down, and perpendicular to the ground when you go up.

@beastlybeast
I highly doubt that you'll still achieve 14 reps if you resume to dead hang and go by cadence. You must have a pronated grip as well (fingers curled away from you).

I only do pull ups with a palm-outward grip so I don't have to worry about that. I did cadence for the first 8 or so pullups and then accidentally sped up, but I slowed down towards the end. I'm very confident I'll get at least 13 pull ups in cadence, probably 14.
 
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Scores look good, but it seems like you already have the information on the averages. If you get above the average on all tasks, you will be good to go, based on working with a few potential candidates last year. Also, just a fine point for clarity, pull-ups always have a "pronated grip"/ "fingers curled away from you". The other is a CHIN UP. Keep working on all parts of the resume and best of luck.
 
I took my official CFA today at 8:00am. I improved in some areas of the test and did not score 'below average' in any area. Overall, I guess I'm satisfied with the results, but I would have liked to do more pushups and situps and throw my basketball further.

Basketball throw: 67'4" (best) average is 67 feet
Pullups: 14 reps average is 9 reps
Shuttle run: 8.1 secs (best) average is 9.1 secs
Situps: 80 reps average is 72 reps
Pushups: 54 reps average is 54 reps
One-Mile Run: 6 mins 10 secs average is 6 mins 43 secs

I'm happy I improved so much with my shuttle run (mainly because I ran it on a basketball court as opposed to practicing on the street). Let me know how you think I did. I'm glad I got the test taken and out of the way though, I'm pretty much done with my West Point portal profile. :smile:
 
Make fun of me all you want; just wait til Beast 2011 and see what happens:biggrin: (hope to see you there!) :thumb:


haha I'll be so excited for Beast if I'm accepted. That would be really cool to meet you there hahaha
 
Methinks by that time, we'd pretty much focus on banding together to survive the cadre.

haha amen. You live in the 20th district of NY? What city do you live in? My mom lives up there haha I'm going up near the end of the month to visit.
 
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Methinks by that time, we'd pretty much focus on banding together to survive the cadre.

Ohhhh Yeah. I hope we all get in, go into the same company, and have a cool cadre lol. High hopes.
 
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High hopes, definitely.

@beast

Yes, I'm in the 20th. We could meet up?
 
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