Advice for ACT and CFA - 2026 hopeful

ParachutePanda

ParachutePanda

USNA Class of 2026
Joined
May 5, 2021
Messages
283
Hello! I am currently a Junior in High School and a class of 2026 hopeful for USAFA or USNA. That being said, I've taken the ACT 3 times and have basically gotten the same results every time I've taken the test. I'm planning on taking it again this coming July as I feel I can put more work into each section during the summer where need be, does anyone have any advice regarding increasing my Math and Science score?? Also, any good workout ideas to do now to help prep for the CFA? Thanks! :)
 
Have you taken the SAT? Many students do far better on one than the other. So might be worth taking it and determining whether it’s a better fit for you. Everyone’s different: my DD took the SAT, my DS the ACT. Neither cared for the other test.

Otherwise, if you’ve taken a test three times with no marked improvement, you probably need to change your approach. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does make permanent. Others will weigh in shortly with various ideas for prep programs.

Use the search function above for CFA. You’ll find and endless stream of threads about how to train. It’s arguably the most-discussed topic here.
 
Thank you so much! I've also taken the SAT, but my score is only competitive enough for USNA. I also prefer the ACT over the SAT as the Reading and English portion of the exam are my strengths. I will definitely search for CFA to look for training ideas!
 
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions! (before I leave for BCT) I was accepted to USAFA this go around, and I want to help others achieve the same. Good luck with your app!
 
KiwiBird said:
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions! (before I leave for BCT) I was accepted to USAFA this go around, and I want to help others achieve the same. Good luck with your app!
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Congratulations on your appointment! Once I can direct message others, you will definitely be the first person I go to!
 
ParachutePanda said:
Hello! I am currently a Junior in High School and a class of 2026 hopeful for USAFA or USNA. That being said, I've taken the ACT 3 times and have basically gotten the same results every time I've taken the test. I'm planning on taking it again this coming July as I feel I can put more work into each section during the summer where need be, does anyone have any advice regarding increasing my Math and Science score?? Also, any good workout ideas to do now to help prep for the CFA? Thanks! :)
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Best advice I can give is find motivation. Especially with COVID, motivation is hard to find. But if attending a service academy is your single goal in life at this moment, a high ACT score should be attainable. I grinded out for 2 straight months every single day and received a 33. I'm not the smartest kid in the world, far from it. What you should do is take a practice test every single day. Review and learn from your mistakes. The ACT barely measures intelligence, it's more of a measure of one's ability to take tests.
 
A kind note to OP:

1. Please take a look at the class profile on USAFA for last several years. This would help you evaluate yourself where you stand against the class profile. Mind you, the competition in your region could be high, so take it with a grain of salt.

2. How are you preparing for your CFA? Even though it’s only 10% of your WCS, you still need to pass it and plus more.

3. How are your EC in and outside of your school?

These are the 3 main components of your application packet and as you have already realized your academic performance carries the most weight.

Good luck !
 
Regarding the ACT, I think the most important part of preparation is reviewing your practice problems after you do them and seeing which types of problems you are getting wrong and WHY.

For example, you might notice you are consistently getting one type of math problem wrong. You should go on to Khan Academy and practice the concept until you have it down consistently. By going over your mistakes, you’re less likely to do the same thing again.
 
181693 said:
Review and learn from your mistakes.
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tweety_bird said:
Regarding the ACT, I think the most important part of preparation is reviewing your practice problems after you do them and seeing which types of problems you are getting wrong and WHY.

For example, you might notice you are consistently getting one type of math problem wrong. You should go on to Khan Academy and practice the concept until you have it down consistently. By going over your mistakes, you’re less likely to do the same thing again.
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Best advice you will find in regard to the SAT/ACT, especially for the math and English portions. The number of types of math problems is finite, so if you practice and learn from your mistakes, you will do better the next time around!
 
The Princeton Review book really helped me (https://amzn.to/3xTIz9q), I went from a 27 in math to 33 (35 overall). Basically their philosophy is that the only thing the ACT measures is how well you take the ACT, so rather than focus solely on practicing math skills they teach you how to guess well and how to answer questions correctly without doing all the work. And it was a surprisingly enjoyable read.
 
bdude said:
the only thing the ACT measures is how well you take the ACT
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This is 1000% accurate. Before I took my ACT I signed up for a 4 sessions with an ACT tutor and this is the first thing she told me. A lot of the questions, especially in the english section, can be answered based on the question itself. The test is designed to trick you. For example, prior to putting questions in the math section, they ask them as samples and see what some common mistakes are. Then they put those common-mistakes as some of the answers. It's actually kind of scary.
 
I'm in the same boat. Right now I've been studying from the black book second edition by Mike Barrett and like the other great ACT books it focuses on taking the ACT well instead of learning concepts and formulas. I'm still lost on the CFA though.
 
CFA advice that I can give is definitely look into Stew Smith. He does a lot of preparation for Spec Ops candidates and other things.

Look into his Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/stew50smith

I'd also recommend taking a look at some of his books that he has written to help prepare people for rigor of exercise at SAs. The book that I purchased and currently using is: Service Academy Workout - Ace the CFA / PFT BOOK.

But general advice for preparing for the CFA is to start running. Also to work on body workouts like push ups, situps, squats, etc. Hit me up if you have any questions!
 
Before taking the real deal, do some practice CFAs where a friend or family member times you/ does the counting.

When you run try to get some time in on a track.

Record videos of the pushups and pull ups so you can actually see your form.

Watch the Stew Smith pull up tutorials, those got my DS to greatly improve.
 
If your ACT isn’t improving try a different preparation method or try the SAT. Also you can game the superscore system ie. if you have a high English score go all in for math on the next test and don’t waste too much brainpower on English.

CFA is practice prepare practice prepare practice prepare. My preparation was sub par and as a result it was the weakest part of my application. Don’t be me lol. For tips: Sit-ups and push-ups gas you more than you’d expect, so your run time will suffer more than you expect. Basketball throw and shuttle run are about form as much as strength/speed. Plenty of helpful videos. For the shuttle run select your surface and shoe carefully and practice on that. Also, if you mess up one of the first exercises you can discontinue the test and restart it. Make sure to stretch/warm up adequately and don’t drink too much water immediately before or during (plenty the days before though).
 
Chipide said:
I'm in the same boat. Right now I've been studying from the black book second edition by Mike Barrett and like the other great ACT books it focuses on taking the ACT well instead of learning concepts and formulas. I'm still lost on the CFA though.
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Yes!! I love that book, it's how I got my reading score to be 34+
 
https://twohundredsitups.com/initial-test/ for sit ups
https://hundredpushups.com/test.html for pushups
http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/pulluppush.htm for pull ups
as for running, well, just run.
Shuttle run? work on the turns
and when it comes to the B-Ball throw, there is a thread on that in the USMA forum that I strongly encourage you to look at.

I don't really have much advice for the ACT (I'm more of an SAT person) so the only thing I can say is to look at the problems you got wrong and figure out why you got them wrong, why the correct answer is correct (as compared to the wrong answers), and how you should have figured out the correct answer.

That's all I've got. I hope it helps.
 
CFA success - swear by the pyramid modified Murph 3x/week.

Do 1 Pullup, 2 pushups, 5 situps.
Then 2 Pullups, 4 pushups, 10 situps
3, 6, 15
4, 8, 20
5, 10, 25
6, 12, 30
7, 14, 35
8, 16, 40
9, 18, 45
10, 20, 50
9, 45, 90
8, 40, 85
.
.
.
1, 2, 5

That's 100 pullups, 200, pushups, and 500 situps
Rest 10-20secs between sets (you will need a little more when you first start)
Rest during the exercise per CFA rules if needed
When you get to failure, cheat/use a spotter.

Pullups Cheat: Lvl 1 - jump to the bar and use momentum, Lvl 2 - Have a spotter help you up on the rep, Lvl 3 - find a bar stomach to chest high or use bands, keep heels on floor and pull yourself up to bar or until hands at chest.

Pushup Cheat: keep knees on floor

Situps cheat - don't go all the way up or rest on your back

When you first start, you will likely fail at different reps for each exercise so that's when you start cheating on that one. The goal is to complete the motions even if you have to cheat to do it.

He then lifted for 75 mins or so and ran a mile for time on the treadmill. Tuesday/Thursday he ran intervals.

There was pain and puking the first week my DS did this, but week 2 he could see and chart improvement. By week 10, he did awesome on the CFA.
 
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