The FBI Physical Fitness Test

The PFT is a "whole body" event wherein each essential physical trait of a Special Agent is examined in a fashion based on scientific research. For example, the pushup repetitions portion of the test examines not only the upper body strength of the applicant, but the whole body strength of the applicant. This is because perfect form pushups are a whole body workout.

The test is administered as a starting point for the New Agent Trainee, whose physical training at the Academy will be much more demanding.

The test consists of four events: maximum situps in one minute, 300 meter sprint, maximum pushups without stopping, and timed 1.5 mile run.

The following chart shows the scoring scale for the PFT:

Scoring Scale for Sit-Ups (one minute, timed)

Score Female Range Male Range
-2 29 and below 31 and below
0 30-34 32-37
1 35-36 38
2 37-40 39-42
3 41-42 43-44
4 43-46 45-47
5 47-48 48-49
6 49-50 50-51
7 51-52 52-53
8 53-54 54-55
9 55-56 56-57
10 57 and over 58 and over

Scoring Scale for Timed 300-Meter Sprint (in seconds)

Score Female Range Male Range
-2 67.5 and over 55.1 and over
0 67.4-65.0 55.0-52.5
1 64.9-62.5 52.4-51.1
2 62.4-60.0 51.0-49.5
3 59.9-57.5 49.4-48.0
4 57.4-56.0 47.9-46.1
5 55.9-54.0 46.0-45.0
6 53.9-53.0 44.9-44.0
7 52.9-52.0 43.9-43.0
8 51.9-51.0 42.9-42.0
9 50.9-50.0 41.9-41.0
10 49.9 and below 40.9 and below

Scoring Scale for Push-Ups (untimed)

Score Female Range Male Range
-2 4 and below 19 and below
0 5-13 20-29
1 14-18 30-32
2 19-21 33-39
3 22-26 40-43
4 27-29 44-49
5 30-32 50-53
6 33-35 54-56
7 36-38 57-60
8 39-41 61-64
9 42-44 65-70
10 45 and over 71 and over

Scoring Scale for 1.5 Mile Run (in minutes:seconds)

Score Female Range Male Range
-2 15:00 and over13:30 and over
0 14:59-14:00 13:29-12:25
1 13:59-13:35 12:24-12:15
2 13:34-13:00 12:14-11:35
3 12:59-12:30 11:34-11:10
4 12:29-11:57 11:09-10:35
5 11:56-11:35 10:34-10:15
6 11:34-11:15 10:14-9:55
7 11:14-11:06 9:54-9:35
8 11:05-10:45 9:34-9:20
9 10:44-10:35 9:19-9:00
10 10:34 and below 8:59 and below

A passing score is 12, although that is the minimum. So on each of the four events, an average score of 3 is required. If you're weak on pushups, you'd better be strong on the other events. For example, I got 15 points but a 0 on the pushups because I could only do 27. Even now, I can "only" do 50, which is 5 points. My other events were stronger, however. Anyway, the PFT is challenging because whatever your weakness is, you have to make up for it elsewhere. The strongest performances would be a 5 in each event for a total of 20 points, which shows a well-rounded "full spectrum" of fitness.

There's nothing really dramatic to report about my PFT. A fair number of people failed, many succeeded. What I can do is offer tips. I'll start with pushups, my hardest event.

Pushups

The bane of my physical fitness efforts over the last two years. I finally mastered the technique in 2010, well after I was disqualified.

Basically, I had been doing pushups all wrong since when I started in December 2008. As of that date, I could not do a single perfect form pushup. Perfect form looks like this:


In the up position, the body forms a perfect right triangle with the ground. The arms are vertical, the posture is straight, and there is no bending in the middle.


In the down position, the body is a straight line, the arms are flexed to a 90 degree angle, and the head and shoulders are in front of the hands. See video demonstration for full tutorial. Rather than going straight down, the demonstrator's body effectively rotates around the toes, which are a kind of pivot point.

Imperfect form looks like this:


The hands are too close to the shoulders and there's sagging in the middle. I specifically had both problems when I was first trying to do pushups and for a long time thereafter, and it caused me to do pushups in substantially this form. If this is also your problem, I can offer you a great tip: push yourself forward with your feet. What that will do is put your head and shoulders further forward over your hands, increasing the amount of weight you have to lift, making the pushups more difficult initially. However, you'll thank yourself in the long run because you'll finally get out of that rut and build real muscle, like I did!