What are the 2026 Presidential Fitness Test beep test standards by age?

The standards, age by age

The official White House PDF has one column for the 20 m beep test, labelled in laps. It gives a single target for each age and sex, from age 6 to 17 and over. A lap is one 20 m length.

Age	Boys (laps)	Boys level	Girls (laps)	Girls level
6	27	4	22	3
7	32	4	25	4
8	39	5	29	4
9	47	6	35	5
10	55	7	41	5
11	60	7	46	6
12	65	8	49	6
13	70	8	50	6
14	75	9	50	6
15	81	9	50	6
16	84	10	50	6
17+	84	10	50	6

The level column is the level being run when the last lap of the target is reached, on the 20 m chart that starts at 8.0 km/h.

How the beep test fits in the test

The Presidential Physical Fitness Test has three categories: core strength, cardio and upper body. A student picks one exercise in each. For cardio, the choice is the one-mile run or the 20 m beep test. According to the White House page, a student earns the Presidential Award by hitting at least one target from every category.

What the lap counts mean in speed

A lap count points to a level and a speed. The chart ends each level at laps 7, 15, 23, 32, 41, 51, 61, 72, 83, 94 and so on.

• 27 laps is four shuttles into level 4, which runs at 10 km/h.
• 50 laps, the girls’ target from age 13, is nine shuttles into level 6 at 11 km/h.
• 70 laps is nine shuttles into level 8 at 12 km/h.
• 84 laps, the boys’ target from age 16, is the first shuttle of level 10 at 13 km/h.

A 16-year-old boy therefore has to reach a speed that a 16-year-old girl is not asked to reach. The table does not give a reason for the gap.

Two details that change the result

The course length. The targets are for the 20 m course. Gyms that only have 15 m use a different recording, and its lap totals are not comparable. See the PACER page for the 15 m version.

The way laps are counted. The scoring rules of the PACER apply: one lap per length, and the test ends at the second miss. How the PACER test is scored covers the stopping rule in full.

Do not mix it up with the FitnessGram zone

Many schools also use FitnessGram. Its Healthy Fitness Zone is a different table, with minimums that start at age 10. At age 10, FitnessGram lists 17 laps and the Presidential table lists 55 for boys. Use the table of the program you are running, and do not read one against the other.

Using it in class

Record each student’s lap count when they stop, then look up their age and sex in the table above. Paste the count into the PACER calculator to get the level, the speed and the distance run.

A student who is 17 or older uses the last row.