What physical tests make up the West Point Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA)?
Executive summary
The Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA) for West Point is a six-event physical battery used in admissions to evaluate strength, power, agility, balance, speed and endurance, and it accounts for roughly 10% of an applicant’s file [1] [2] [3]. The CFA’s six timed/graded events are the basketball throw, pull-ups (or flexed-arm hang for some women), shuttle run, modified sit-ups, push-ups, and a one‑mile run, administered in a prescribed order under strict instructions by an approved test administrator [4] [5] [2].
1. What the CFA is designed to measure and why it matters
West Point frames the CFA as a predictor of a candidate’s aptitude for the physical program at the Service Academies, explicitly designed to measure muscular strength and endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, power, balance and agility; Admissions uses the combined battery to assess whether a candidate has the stamina and motor fitness to succeed in the Academy’s physical program [2] [5].
2. The six events — a clear roster of tests
The CFA consists of six discrete events: the basketball throw, pull‑ups (men and women who can perform them), flexed‑arm hang (for women unable to do a pull‑up), the shuttle run, modified sit‑ups, push‑ups, and a one‑mile run; these are the official events listed in West Point’s admissions and testing materials [4] [6] [5].
3. Event purpose and what each roughly evaluates
Each event targets different physical domains: the basketball throw assesses upper‑body power and coordination, pull‑ups/flexed‑arm hang measure upper‑body strength and endurance, the shuttle run tests agility and anaerobic speed, modified sit‑ups and push‑ups evaluate core and upper‑body muscular endurance, and the one‑mile run gauges aerobic capacity and pacing — together forming a composite picture of an applicant’s motor fitness [5] [1] [4].
4. Administration rules, scoring role, and logistics
The CFA must be administered according to detailed instructions with a qualified non‑relative test administrator (such as a military officer, NCO, or approved PE instructor), a video of the test is required, and candidates are allowed a single official examination; West Point provides videos and strict timing/order guidance to ensure standardized scoring [2] [6] [4].
5. How the CFA factors into admissions and preparation advice
West Point emphasizes practicing all six events, performing them consecutively in practice to simulate test pacing, and aiming for maximal scores since the CFA contributes about 10% to the overall admissions evaluation; preparatory guides and the Academy’s own preparation documents recommend early, event‑specific conditioning [3] [7] [2].
6. External interpretations, tools, and caveats
Outside coaches and prep sites repurpose the CFA into score calculators and training plans — useful for practice but not replacements for official standards — and forums reflect candidate uncertainty about precise minimums and scoring breakdowns even though West Point publishes tables and maximum scores [8] [9] [5]. The reporting reviewed shows the Academy publishes maximum performance tables and instructions, but the exact numeric cutoffs and gender/age scoring bands are contained in those official tables and preparation PDFs rather than summarized in every secondary source consulted here [5] [2].
7. Bottom line and limits of available reporting
The CFA is a standardized six‑event battery — basketball throw, pull‑ups/flexed‑arm hang, shuttle run, modified sit‑ups, push‑ups, one‑mile run — intended to assess multiple facets of physical readiness and included as part of the Service Academy admissions rubric; official West Point instructions and preparation guides contain the procedural details, scoring tables and videos that candidates must follow [4] [2] [5]. The sources reviewed confirm the event list, purpose and administrative rules, while specific numeric scoring tables are available in the Academy’s full CFA documents referenced above [5] [2].