How many laps are in level 7 of the beep test?

Level 7 has 10 laps, run at 11.5 km/h. It starts at lap 52 and ends at lap 61, so a runner who stops after 61 laps has finished level 7.

Is a lap the same thing as a shuttle?

Yes. One lap is one 20 m length, from one line to the other, on one beep. The PACER calls it a lap, the beep test calls it a shuttle, and the count is identical.

How many laps is the whole beep test?

247 laps over 21 levels, which is 4 940 m. Very few people reach the end. The recording stops there, so 247 is the highest score on this chart.

How many laps are in each beep test level?

The short version

The lap count per level goes up slowly while the speed goes up steadily. Early levels have 7 to 9 laps. The middle of the test has 10 to 12. The last levels have 15 and 16. Over the 21 levels that makes 247 laps.

Each lap is 20 m, one length of the course, one beep. A level lasts about a minute, so more laps in a level means shorter laps in time.

Laps in each level

The second column is what the level contains. The third is the running total when the level is finished, which is the number a scorer or a PACER sheet shows.

Level	Laps in the level	Laps at the end of the level
1	7	7
2	8	15
3	8	23
4	9	32
5	9	41
6	10	51
7	10	61
8	11	72
9	11	83
10	11	94
11	12	106
12	12	118
13	13	131
14	13	144
15	13	157
16	14	171
17	14	185
18	15	200
19	15	215
20	16	231
21	16	247

The pattern

Level 1 has 7 laps because it starts at 8.0 km/h and the runner covers 140 m. From level 2 the count rises by one lap every two levels, with some levels repeating the same number: 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 12, 12, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16.

Three levels in a row at 11 laps (levels 8 to 10) and at 13 laps (levels 13 to 15) are the flat spots. The lap length in time keeps shrinking, so those levels still get harder.

Which lap are you on

If you only know your lap count, find the first row whose end total is equal to or above it. 50 laps is in level 6, because level 5 ended at 41 and level 6 ends at 51. You are 9 laps into level 6, one lap short of finishing it.

If you know the level you were in, the previous row’s end total plus the laps you ran in the current level gives your score. Stopping 4 laps into level 9 is 72 + 4 = 76 laps.

Laps and speed

The lap count tells you how far you ran. The level tells you how fast. Level 8 is 12 km/h, 6 seconds per lap. Level 12 is 14 km/h, about 5.1 seconds per lap. The speeds, the seconds per lap and the elapsed time are all in the level-by-level table.

By the usual convention, your maximal aerobic speed (MAS) is the speed of the last level you completed. Stopping at lap 76 gives credit for level 8, so 12 km/h.

When these numbers do not apply

This chart is the 8.0 km/h version, used by the PACER and by the French, British and Irish selection tests. Other recordings start at a different speed and have different counts. The 15 m PACER and the 15 m JRFT use their own lap counts: never read a 15 m score against this 20 m chart.

Check the interval between the first beeps. If it is 9 seconds, you are on this chart. For how the PACER turns laps into a result, see how the PACER test is scored.