Female CFA Score

MK2020

New Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2020
Messages
8
My application for the Class of 2024 is complete, but I am deciding whether or not I should retake my CFA. Below are my scores. I am a female.

Basketball Throw: 45'
Pull-Ups: 7
Shuttle Run: 8.24
Sit-Ups: 61
Push-Ups: 38
Mile Run: 8:25
 
Those look like very solid scores.

You did very well on upper body strength (BB throw, pull-ups, pushups), and pretty sure that shuttle run was faster than my 17 year old DS.

Would've been awesome overall score (IMHO), if you could have shaved a minute off that run. Even 30 seconds would have been great - but I'm not as familiar with the female averages, etc.

I would say you are probably fine, my theory (FWIW) is that because they don't publish "minimums" for each event, that they look at the totality of your scores/events. As stated, you did very well to excellent in MOST of the events. I daresay there are a lot of male candidates who struggle to throw the BB much further, and I know there are many who struggle to do 7 good pull-ups. Only caveat is that I have read somewhere that the run "counts more" than the other individual events - no idea if this is true, or if so, to what extent.
 
Impressive pull-ups. The run, not so much. Has USNA asked you to retake? Have you consulted with your BGO? Are you confident that you’d improve the weaker parts without getting worse on the stronger parts?
 
Those look like very solid scores.

You did very well on upper body strength (BB throw, pull-ups, pushups), and pretty sure that shuttle run was faster than my 17 year old DS.

Would've been awesome overall score (IMHO), if you could have shaved a minute off that run. Even 30 seconds would have been great - but I'm not as familiar with the female averages, etc.

I would say you are probably fine, my theory (FWIW) is that because they don't publish "minimums" for each event, that they look at the totality of your scores/events. As stated, you did very well to excellent in MOST of the events. I daresay there are a lot of male candidates who struggle to throw the BB much further, and I know there are many who struggle to do 7 good pull-ups. Only caveat is that I have read somewhere that the run "counts more" than the other individual events - no idea if this is true, or if so, to what extent.
Thank you so much for your input!
 
Impressive pull-ups. The run, not so much. Has USNA asked you to retake? Have you consulted with your BGO? Are you confident that you’d improve the weaker parts without getting worse on the stronger parts?
Thank you for the response. USNA hasn't asked me to retake it and I have not consulted my BGO. I'm sure that I could shave off a minute from my mile while maintaining my pull-ups and basketball throw. Push-ups I could possibly increase. Not sure about my shuttle run and sit-ups.
 
Thank you for the response. USNA hasn't asked me to retake it and I have not consulted my BGO. I'm sure that I could shave off a minute from my mile while maintaining my pull-ups and basketball throw. Push-ups I could possibly increase. Not sure about my shuttle run and sit-ups.


I posted this in another thread where a candidate was asking about improving their scores, their run was weak, IIRC. Based on your scores I would guess that you are an athlete of some sort, but probably not a long distance cross-country or track athlete, lol, so maybe you will find it useful:



IMO, sit-ups and the run are the easiest events to improve in a short time.

The ab muscles recover more quickly than the chest/shoulders, and you can train them every day. Alternate hard days and tough days. Take 2 days off before any retest.

On the run, the best advice I can give you is to PLAN TO MAKE IT HURT. Learn to lengthen your stride so that you cover more ground with each step, and time your breathing with your stride. (a buddy showed me this my first year in, and it really improved my distance running)


I'm serious. I was enlisted in the Army for 6 years. Company PT NCO my last 2 years in. I always scored decently on my PT test, but it took me 3 years before I could consistently MAX it (at the time, less than 10% of the men in the Army maxed their PT test). I was never a natural runner, never had a smooth gait, and I had to learn to really ramp up my pace on the 2-mile PT test, and just suffer the pain for 12 minutes (max required under 11:54). I gave the same advice to my son and it helped him bring his time down.

When you cross that finish line, sprinting it out, you should feel like you don't have ANYTHING left in the tank.
 
I posted this in another thread where a candidate was asking about improving their scores, their run was weak, IIRC. Based on your scores I would guess that you are an athlete of some sort, but probably not a long distance cross-country or track athlete, lol, so maybe you will find it useful:



IMO, sit-ups and the run are the easiest events to improve in a short time.

The ab muscles recover more quickly than the chest/shoulders, and you can train them every day. Alternate hard days and tough days. Take 2 days off before any retest.

On the run, the best advice I can give you is to PLAN TO MAKE IT HURT. Learn to lengthen your stride so that you cover more ground with each step, and time your breathing with your stride. (a buddy showed me this my first year in, and it really improved my distance running)


I'm serious. I was enlisted in the Army for 6 years. Company PT NCO my last 2 years in. I always scored decently on my PT test, but it took me 3 years before I could consistently MAX it (at the time, less than 10% of the men in the Army maxed their PT test). I was never a natural runner, never had a smooth gait, and I had to learn to really ramp up my pace on the 2-mile PT test, and just suffer the pain for 12 minutes (max required under 11:54). I gave the same advice to my son and it helped him bring his time down.

When you cross that finish line, sprinting it out, you should feel like you don't have ANYTHING left in the tank.
Will do sir! What happens if the panel looks at my application prior to me retaking my CFA? If hypothetically they declined me, but then I submitted a new CFA would I enter back into the application pool or would I have to wait a year to reapply?
 
Will do sir! What happens if the panel looks at my application prior to me retaking my CFA? If hypothetically they declined me, but then I submitted a new CFA would I enter back into the application pool or would I have to wait a year to reapply?

Honestly don't know.

Fairly new to this process - my DS applied only to USAFA, completed his application, med exam and CFA in before the end of October, and got an LOA in the mail over Thanksgiving break. Just found out this week he got his nomination from one of our Senators, so he is "in", just waiting on offer of appointment, and he needs to stay healthy, etc.

I honestly think your scores are pretty dang good (other than the run, lol), and hopefully the events that you scored very well in will offset your less than stellar run time.

My biggest concern re; your question above, is that we are very late in the cycle for admissions for this years class.

TONS of nice folks on this forum with YEARS of knowledge, so hopefully someone else will be along to chime in.

BTW - what is the status of the rest of your application? medically qualified? did you get a nomination?
 
Honestly don't know.

Fairly new to this process - my DS applied only to USAFA, completed his application, med exam and CFA in before the end of October, and got an LOA in the mail over Thanksgiving break. Just found out this week he got his nomination from one of our Senators, so he is "in", just waiting on offer of appointment, and he needs to stay healthy, etc.

I honestly think your scores are pretty dang good (other than the run, lol), and hopefully the events that you scored very well in will offset your less than stellar run time.

My biggest concern re; your question above, is that we are very late in the cycle for admissions for this years class.

TONS of nice folks on this forum with YEARS of knowledge, so hopefully someone else will be along to chime in.

BTW - what is the status of the rest of your application? medically qualified? did you get a nomination?
Definitely, I completely understand! Medically qualified and received three nominations.
 
The danger in retaking is that you might not do as well . . . and there are only 2 weeks left. I think I'd leave it alone, especially if you're an athlete. If you have zero athletics on your "resume" -- or "only" something like martial arts, golf, etc., then retaking may make more sense.

In any event, I suggest you keep running and maybe consult with a coach/trainer on exercises to improve. That mile won't be sufficient to make PS "comfortable," and won't be good enough to pass the 1.5 miles you must take each semester at USNA.
 
How do you prepare for pull-ups as a girl?? How to strengthen my arms and can i get to one by the end of October?
 
How do you prepare for pull-ups as a girl?? How to strengthen my arms and can i get to one by the end of October?
Jump up to the top of the bar and then take 5-10 seconds to go down to a dead hang. I’m a male, but I got from 5 to 17 in a few months. The hardest part is getting the first, but if you do 3 sets of 3-5 reps (depending on the time you take to rip down) then you should see improvement.
 
What if I cannot do a flexed arm hang? I have tried so hard - I actually cannot do for over 3 seconds. Quite bad - I know. And for a pull-up, and I can’t even bend my arms in a dead hang. I am definitely in trouble right?
 
What if I cannot do a flexed arm hang? I have tried so hard - I actually cannot do for over 3 seconds. Quite bad - I know. And for a pull-up, and I can’t even bend my arms in a dead hang. I am definitely in trouble right?

According to USMA, average FAH is 20 seconds and average PUs is 3. (You can Google this; it’s a PDF doc.) I’m sure USMA’s averages are comparable to USNA’s.

The CFA is not just an admissions hurdle to get over. It’s meant to ensure
that you can handle the physical demands of plebe summer, mid life and then active duty. You don’t want to be “that guy/gal” who can’t get through the O course or C course or Sea Trials because of little upper-body strength. Though physical prowess is not the end-all-be-all, your shipmates do use it as a measure of how much they can count on you.

Have you gone online to see “from zero to something” programs? Have you talked with a PE teacher or coach or gym trainer? Have you worked diligently on a variety of exercises meant to build this, e.g. negatives, hangs, partials, aided, banded? Are you pulling too much weight? Is an eating plan to be considered too?

If you haven’t already, get organized with a program and stick with it. You have until 1/31 to submit, which will be dependent on weather, illness and injury. But you have time. Get cracking!
 
Grip strength can also undermine your efforts, especially for women. Not that you need to develop a bone-crushing handshake, but don’t overlook this part of either the hang or the pull-up.
 
@Mangito , yes you are in trouble. But the great news is you don't have to twitch a muscle to begin to change this. Pivot your mindset. "cannot do", "tried so hard", "Quite bad, I know" - how about "I will have to work harder than most people, longer than most people, and a victory for me may be easy for others, but i'm going to do whatever is necessary to get this done!" Everyone has an archillies heel, but it is how you approach it that will separate you from those that defeat themselves (SA application too hard, too many elements, I can't, I didn't, and in general "because of Covid", "things weren't given/presented/handed to me on a silver platter, etc). You are on SAF, and as a 17 year old I applaud anyone posting among us adults and looking for advice, then steel your mind, be positive, and don't set a flex arm hang or just one pull up as a goal. But yes, you will have to be deliberate, resourceful, use intermediate steps (ie jump ups and assists) before you make your breakthrough.

Whoops! I didn't see the original age of this thread! I edited this post to @Bubby'sDad : Excellent CFA advice!! (I see your DS already at USAFA, not in current cycle.)
 
Last edited:
Reference the run. One of the common misconceptions is that the 1-2 mile run is a long distance run and people incorrectly train for it. In reality these are long sprints. The best way to quickly improve your times is through a regime of 220/440 and 880 sprint workouts. Almost every workout you will find on line has these as a foundation.
 
Grip strength can also undermine your efforts, especially for women. Not that you need to develop a bone-crushing handshake, but don’t overlook this part of either the hang or the pull-up.

Great point here. Grip is the starting and ending point of a pull-up. If you just hang, arms straight, for as long as you can, that helps with grip. If you have access to heavy dumbbells or kettle bells, do farmer walks.

Something I’m proud of to this day: Headmaster told DD after graduation ceremony that she gave the best and strongest handshake of 55 kids in her class. When DD told me, she was very proud herself. Grip is good.
 
Grip strength can also undermine your efforts, especially for women. Not that you need to develop a bone-crushing handshake, but don’t overlook this part of either the hang or the pull-up.

Yeah. I need to work on my grip strength. It just really hurts my hands. I can only hang for 10 seconds, so the FAH won’t be longer than that.
 
Back
Top