CFA Fail Help!

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ccarter6417

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Oct 11, 2023
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Hi All! I took my CFA this morning and thought I did decent. I know I can push harder. I was asked to retake it, and now I'm just putting in everything I have to get where I need to be. My scores are below. I know my mile needs to be under 8 minutes, but any tips for the other sections?

Basketball throw: 58ft
Pullups: 10
Shuttle: 9.2 seconds
Situps: 45. (I have a lot of back pain with this!) Any ideas?
Pushups: 75 Max
Mile: 8:40
 
A great resource that I recommend is from the former-Navy SEAL, USNA graduate and military fitness expert, Stew Smith. His article, How to Pass the Service Academy CFA, is quite thorough and provides a spectrum of exercises to help you improve your sit-ups as well as the other CFA events.

With sit-ups, I assume you are using someone or some other 'anchor' for your feet. If not, that may help you with the back pain.
 
For the sit ups, practice using your quad muscles to help lift your body. This is a great video that explains the method and has some additional tips that can help:
.
 
ccarter6417 said:
Hi All! I took my CFA this morning and thought I did decent. I know I can push harder. I was asked to retake it, and now I'm just putting in everything I have to get where I need to be. My scores are below. I know my mile needs to be under 8 minutes, but any tips for the other sections?

Basketball throw: 58ft
Pullups: 10
Shuttle: 9.2 seconds
Situps: 45. (I have a lot of back pain with this!) Any ideas?
Pushups: 75 Max
Mile: 8:40
Click to expand...



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A1Janitor said:
Not sure how accurate these sites are. Certainly not official.

Look at your scores and look at the averages year to year.
Click to expand...
What he said. Its just a general guideline. I've seen spreadsheets and so on. I feel they get you in the ballpark.
 
ccarter6417 said:
Hi All! I took my CFA this morning and thought I did decent. I know I can push harder. I was asked to retake it, and now I'm just putting in everything I have to get where I need to be. My scores are below. I know my mile needs to be under 8 minutes, but any tips for the other sections?

Basketball throw: 58ft
Pullups: 10
Shuttle: 9.2 seconds
Situps: 45. (I have a lot of back pain with this!) Any ideas?
Pushups: 75 Max
Mile: 8:40
Click to expand...
Something that has helped me through any PT tests I've had to take (especially at USAFA), is making it a routine. Instead of JUST doing the PT test to practice, I would start my workouts with the test. I used it like a warmup. It became routine quickly, got easier within a week or two, and just straight up helped my nerves on testing day. Even doing just 50% effort on some days, is better than never practicing it. Your body will get used mentally and physically to the order of events, for example, at USAFA you go straight from max pushups to a 600m sprint. Getting my body used to the less than 2 min rest time before the final run boosted my scores significantly. You can do it.
 
Your mile run is terrible. You need to run at least a minute faster, if not more. Your situps likely also got their attention. Everything else should be fine. Look for videos on how to rapidly improve a mile run time. I wouldn't put much stock in the online calculator. Look at the averages and best those.
 
A1Janitor said:
Not sure how accurate these sites are. Certainly not official.

Look at your scores and look at the averages year to year.
Click to expand...
From what I've heard, the calculator may be slightly off, but is decently accurate. Not sure though, the academies are pretty secretive about their scoring.
 
“thought I did decent. I know I can push harder.” If a person isn’t puking in the trash can, and collapsing at the end so that they need help getting to their feet, then they didn’t try hard enough. This isn’t recess, PE, or even a varsity meet. This may determine one’s future. The military is not the scouts. It’s time to put on your big boy / big girl shorts, and get after it!
 
Iwutke said:
“thought I did decent. I know I can push harder.” If a person isn’t puking in the trash can, and collapsing at the end so that they need help getting to their feet, then they didn’t try hard enough. This isn’t recess, PE, or even a varsity meet. This may determine one’s future. The military is not the scouts. It’s time to put on your big boy / big girl shorts, and get after it!
Click to expand...
My son … and his best friend in high school that went to USMA … did not puke or collapse at the end.
 
Really depends on the level of physical conditioning that you have going into the test. Someone who is used to pushing themselves to their limits regularly as a result of their sports conditioning is going to have less difficulty. But if you're having to push yourself to the max of your current level of conditioning in order to meet minimum levels on the test, then you'll have a rougher go of it.

As others have said before, the best approach is to run practice tests in the complete format several times before taking the actual test.
 
ccarter6417 said:
Hi All! I took my CFA this morning and thought I did decent. I know I can push harder. I was asked to retake it, and now I'm just putting in everything I have to get where I need to be. My scores are below. I know my mile needs to be under 8 minutes, but any tips for the other sections?

Basketball throw: 58ft
Pullups: 10
Shuttle: 9.2 seconds
Situps: 45. (I have a lot of back pain with this!) Any ideas?
Pushups: 75 Max
Mile: 8:40
Click to expand...
Hey! Runner here. While I’m not quite at the point where I need to take my CFA, I run roughly 7:15 miles. The absolute best thing to do is to be consistent with running. Get out every day and run a few miles. It doesn’t have to be crazy, starting at two and working up to maybe three or four is good. Maybe once or twice a week test yourself. If you build up more endurance and consistency, you’ll see the seconds being shaved off. If you can’t get out that often, try to get out maybe 3-4 times a week. Also don’t be afraid of doing hills, they help! Best of luck to you!
 
Male Averages from the CFA Instructions

BB throw 66'
Pull-ups 12
Shuttle Run 8.7 sec
Sit-ups 84
Push-ups 65
Mile Run 6:43
 
Couple other things as +1 to practicing the whole thing...you definitely need to run more, but as I'm sure you saw, you are really tired when you START the run. So doing the full test or something similar before you start the run is a good idea.
Basketball throw isn't bad but I would try the grenade approach, especially if you have smaller hands.
 
ccarter6417 said:
Hi All! I took my CFA this morning and thought I did decent. I know I can push harder. I was asked to retake it, and now I'm just putting in everything I have to get where I need to be. My scores are below. I know my mile needs to be under 8 minutes, but any tips for the other sections?

Basketball throw: 58ft
Pullups: 10
Shuttle: 9.2 seconds
Situps: 45. (I have a lot of back pain with this!) Any ideas?
Pushups: 75 Max
Mile: 8:40
Click to expand...
My boys sit-ups still suck and he is at the USAFA - his sit-ups were just a little above yours to get in. He is really stiff with the sit-ups and said he just can’t bounce back up like everyone else. I would focus on that run time, that may be what kicked your butt. 8:40 is not good, try to practice interval running and get it down to under 8 and shuttle needs some work too..
 
Update! I retook the CFA today with the option to submit the scores or not. I pushed myself, I think, to the max now that I've recovered. I told myself it wasn't the max, but during the test, I was like, This is all I have. Should I submit these scores?

BB: 64
Pull-ups: 12
Shuttle Run: 9.1
Sit-Ups: 54
Push-ups: 75
Mile: 7:44

Thoughts?
 
ccarter6417 said:
Update! I retook the CFA today with the option to submit the scores or not. I pushed myself, I think, to the max now that I've recovered. I told myself it wasn't the max, but during the test, I was like, This is all I have. Should I submit these scores?

BB: 64
Pull-ups: 12
Shuttle Run: 9.1
Sit-Ups: 54
Push-ups: 75
Mile: 7:44

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Nice improvements!!! Nearly a whole minute off the mile time. When are these due to submit? If you have a few weeks, I would suggest continuing to practice the CFA to get those scores even higher. You will continue to improve. If you are within a week of the due date, I would submit as you probably won't get the required rest to improve anymore.

Note- once you submit these scores, don't stop practicing events such as the run, sit-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups. You will still have to do these at USAFA. Specifically, you will still need to improve your pull-ups to get a passing PFT score at USAFA. Same with sit-ups. But I think your improvements speak on your dedication to do better.
 
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