The Revised Army Combat Fitness Test Events and Implementation Timeline
On March 23rd, Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuth issued an Army Directive outlining a time-phased implementation of a revised ACFT as the Army’s general physical fitness test.
Changes made to the ACFT incorporate feedback from Soldiers and independent analysis of test performance.
Among the key changes announced by the Army are new age-and-gender-performance normed scoring scales; the replacement of the leg tuck with the plank for the core-strength assessment; and the addition of the 2.5-mile walk as an alternate aerobic event.
Revised ACFT Grading Scales are based on age and gender
A common concern identified by the Army’s independent analysis and the RAND study was that a gender-neutral test might not accurately measure all Soldiers’ general physical fitness levels. The Army designed the new scoring scales from nearly 630,000 ACFT performance scores, historical performance rates from the APFT, and scoring scales used by other military services.
