What is a good PACER score?
A good PACER score is one that clears the FitnessGram Healthy Fitness Zone for your age and sex: 17 laps at age 10, 23 at 12, 36 laps for a 14-year-old boy and 27 for a girl, 54 for boys and 38 for girls over 17. FitnessGram publishes no band above the minimum. To read a higher score, convert the laps into a speed: 54 laps is three shuttles into level 7 at 11.5 km/h, 72 laps ends level 8 at 12 km/h, 118 laps ends level 12 at 14 km/h. The recording ends at 247 laps.
Good compared with what
FitnessGram does not rank students against each other. It compares a lap count with the Healthy Fitness Zone, the lap minimum FitnessGram publishes for each age and sex. Clearing it is the goal set by FitnessGram. The sections below give the minimum, then a way to read a score above it.
The Healthy Fitness Zone minimums, 20 m PACER
- Age 10: 17 laps, boys and girls. Age 11: 20. Age 12: 23.
- Age 13: 29 laps for boys, 25 for girls.
- Age 14: 36 and 27. Age 15: 42 and 30. Age 16: 47 and 32.
- Age 17: 50 and 35. Over 17: 54 and 38.
Below the zone, the report says “Needs Improvement”. There is no standard under age 10. These minimums are in 20 m laps: results on a 15 m course use a different table and cannot be read against these numbers.
What FitnessGram does not publish
FitnessGram sets one threshold per age and sex, the zone minimum, and nothing above it. There is no official “good” or “excellent” band in laps, and any such band you find online is an editorial choice. To read a score above the minimum, convert it into a level and a speed, which the chart gives without ambiguity.
What the laps mean
A lap count is a level and a speed. 41 laps ends level 5 at 10.5 km/h. 61 laps ends level 7 at 11.5 km/h. 72 laps ends level 8 at 12 km/h. 94 laps ends level 10 at 13 km/h, and 118 laps ends level 12 at 14 km/h. The zone minimum itself reads the same way: 54 laps for a boy over 17 is three shuttles into level 7, 11.5 km/h, and 38 laps is six shuttles into level 5, 10.5 km/h. The calculator converts any lap count into level, speed and estimated VO₂max.
The gap between boys and girls
The minimums are identical up to age 12 and diverge from 13: 29 laps for boys and 25 for girls at 13, 54 and 38 over 17. That gap is the one FitnessGram has written into its standards; the page does not add one of its own. Read a girl’s and a boy’s score against their own minimum, not against each other.
How to move the score
The two levers are the same as for the beep test: two short interval sessions a week, run as 20 m shuttles so that the turn stops costing energy, and one longer easy run. The other lever is free: not running ahead of the beep in the first levels, which wastes energy that is needed later. Two sessions a week are enough; more volume than that mostly adds fatigue before the test.
Go further
Frequently asked questions
What is a good PACER score for a 12-year-old?
The Healthy Fitness Zone starts at 23 laps for both boys and girls at age 12, which is level 3 complete at 9.5 km/h. FitnessGram publishes no higher band. A 12-year-old at 41 laps has completed level 5 at 10.5 km/h; at 61 laps, level 7 at 11.5 km/h.
What is a good PACER score for a 16-year-old?
The zone starts at 47 laps for boys and 32 for girls at 16, which is six shuttles into level 6 at 11 km/h for a boy and the end of level 4 at 10 km/h for a girl. Above the minimum, read the score as a speed: 72 laps is 12 km/h, 94 laps is 13 km/h, 118 laps is 14 km/h.
What is the highest PACER score?
The 20 m recording ends at 247 laps, level 21, 18.5 km/h. A score of 118 laps completes level 12 at 14 km/h, 171 laps level 16 at 16 km/h. The published FitnessGram standards stop at the zone minimum, so there is no official ceiling below the end of the recording.
Sources
- FitnessGram Healthy Fitness Zone standards, The Cooper Institute — 20 m PACER lap minimums by age and sex, checked 2026-09-25