FitnessGram PACER · Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run · 20 m PACER

PACER test: laps, levels, scoring and fitness zone standards

Updated 5 November 2026

Short answer

The PACER is the FitnessGram version of the 20 m shuttle run: you run between two lines 20 metres apart in time with beeps that speed up every level, and your score is the number of laps completed. 7 laps make level 1, 15 laps level 2, 23 laps level 3, 41 laps level 5, 61 laps level 7. FitnessGram publishes a Healthy Fitness Zone minimum by age and sex, for example 36 laps for a 14-year-old boy and 27 for a 14-year-old girl.

Key facts

Starting speed: 8 km/h
Top level: 18.5 km/h
Levels: 21
Course: 20 m
Maximum duration: 22 min 01 s
Maximum distance: 4 940 m

What the PACER is

PACER stands for Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run. It is the aerobic test of FitnessGram, the school fitness assessment used across the United States, and it is the 20 m shuttle run of Léger and Lambert under another name. Two lines 20 metres apart, a recording of beeps, and a rule: be at the line when the beep sounds.

What FitnessGram changed is the score. Where the beep test reports a level, the PACER reports the number of laps completed, one lap being one 20 m length. It is a finer measure, and it is the number that gets compared with the Healthy Fitness Zone.

How it runs

Students line up on one line. On the first beep they run to the other line, arrive before the next beep, wait for it, then run back. The beeps speed up every level: the first level is at 8 km/h, the second jumps to 9 km/h, then each level adds 0.5 km/h. A single beep marks each lap; a triple beep marks a level change.

A student who reaches the line early waits for the beep. A student who has not reached the line when the beep sounds turns around immediately and keeps going: that is the first miss. The second miss, consecutive or not, ends the test, and the score is the number of laps completed up to that point. This is the FitnessGram rule; it differs slightly from the beep test convention of two consecutive misses.

The FitnessGram recording runs 21 levels and 247 laps. Nobody finishes it.

Laps, levels and speeds

Because the chart is fixed, a lap count identifies a level and a speed exactly. The end of each level falls on these laps:

Level 1 ends at lap 7 (8 km/h). Level 2 at lap 15 (9 km/h). Level 3 at lap 23 (9.5 km/h).
Level 4 at lap 32 (10 km/h). Level 5 at lap 41 (10.5 km/h). Level 6 at lap 51 (11 km/h).
Level 7 at lap 61 (11.5 km/h). Level 8 at lap 72 (12 km/h). Level 9 at lap 83 (12.5 km/h).
Level 10 at lap 94 (13 km/h). Level 12 at lap 118 (14 km/h). Level 15 at lap 157 (15.5 km/h).

The full chart below gives every level with its lap count, speed, duration and cumulative distance, and the calculator converts any lap count into level, speed, MAS and estimated VO₂max.

The Healthy Fitness Zone

FitnessGram does not grade the PACER on a curve. It compares the lap count with a Healthy Fitness Zone, a minimum lap count set by age and sex. The minimums for the 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.

These figures are from the current FitnessGram standards and were checked on the date shown at the top of this page; schools use the version bundled with their software, which can lag.

Reading a score as a coach

A lap count is also a MAS. A student who completes 61 laps has finished level 7 at 11.5 km/h, so a MAS of 11.5 km/h; 94 laps is level 10, 13 km/h. Above the zone minimum, FitnessGram publishes nothing, so the speed is the only reading that holds: 118 laps is 14 km/h, 144 laps is 15 km/h. For adults, the beep test page reads the same chart in levels.

The 15 m PACER

Many gyms cannot fit a 20 m course, so FitnessGram provides a 15 m version with its own recording. The speeds are the same, the lap counts are not: more turns, shorter laps, different totals. FitnessGram publishes a separate look-up table for 15 m results. Never read 15 m laps against the 20 m zone.

Training for it

The PACER trains like any shuttle run: intervals at and just above the speed of the target level, and turns practised until they cost nothing.

Find the starting point. One PACER in class conditions gives the lap count and the level to work from.
Short intervals twice a week. 20 to 30 seconds at the speed of the target level plus one, equal rest, ten to fifteen repetitions, run as shuttles over 20 m so the turn is part of the work.
One longer easy run for the base, 15 to 25 minutes at conversation pace.
Retest after four weeks, on the same course and with the same recording, so that the two lap counts can be compared.

On the day: start slowly, because level 1 is a jog and every metre run ahead of the beep is wasted, and turn on the line, not past it.

Full PACER level table

Speed and real duration of each level, cumulative time and distance at the end of the level. Each level number opens its own page.
Level	Speed	Shuttles	s / shuttle	Level duration	Cumulative time	Cumulative distance
1	8	7	9	1 min 03 s	1 min 03 s	140
2	9	8	8	1 min 04 s	2 min 07 s	300
3	9.5	8	7.58	1 min 01 s	3 min 08 s	460
4	10	9	7.20	1 min 05 s	4 min 12 s	640
5	10.5	9	6.86	1 min 02 s	5 min 14 s	820
6	11	10	6.55	1 min 06 s	6 min 20 s	1 020
7	11.5	10	6.26	1 min 03 s	7 min 22 s	1 220
8	12	11	6	1 min 06 s	8 min 28 s	1 440
9	12.5	11	5.76	1 min 03 s	9 min 32 s	1 660
10	13	11	5.54	1 min 01 s	10 min 33 s	1 880
11	13.5	12	5.33	1 min 04 s	11 min 37 s	2 120
12	14	12	5.14	1 min 02 s	12 min 38 s	2 360
13	14.5	13	4.97	1 min 05 s	13 min 43 s	2 620
14	15	13	4.80	1 min 02 s	14 min 45 s	2 880
15	15.5	13	4.65	1 min	15 min 46 s	3 140
16	16	14	4.50	1 min 03 s	16 min 49 s	3 420
17	16.5	14	4.36	1 min 01 s	17 min 50 s	3 700
18	17	15	4.24	1 min 04 s	18 min 53 s	4 000
19	17.5	15	4.11	1 min 02 s	19 min 55 s	4 300
20	18	16	4	1 min 04 s	20 min 59 s	4 620
21	18.5	16	3.89	1 min 02 s	22 min 01 s	4 940

PACER score calculator: laps to level, MAS and fitness zone

Questions people ask about the PACER

Frequently asked questions

How many laps is a good PACER score?

It depends on age and sex. The FitnessGram Healthy Fitness Zone starts at 17 laps at age 10 for both sexes and rises to 54 laps 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 level and a speed, 72 laps is level 8 at 12 km/h, 94 laps level 10 at 13 km/h.

What level is 41 laps on the PACER?

41 laps is the end of level 5, run at 10.5 km/h. Level 6 starts at lap 42. The full mapping is in the chart below: 7, 15, 23, 32, 41, 51, 61, 72, 83, 94 laps mark the end of levels 1 to 10.

Is the PACER the same as the beep test?

Same course, same beeps, same chart, different score. The beep test reports a level, the PACER reports a lap count, which is more precise. The PACER also has a 15 m version for small gyms, whose lap counts are not comparable with the 20 m ones.

How is the PACER scored?

One lap is one 20 m length. Your score is the total number of laps completed before your second miss, consecutive or not. FitnessGram compares that number with the Healthy Fitness Zone for your age and sex; it does not report a level or a VO₂max to students, but both can be derived from the lap count.

What is the 15 m PACER?

The same test on a 15 m course, for gyms that cannot fit 20 m. The cadence is adjusted so the speeds match, but the lap counts are different: FitnessGram provides a separate conversion table, and 15 m laps must never be read against the 20 m standards.

Sources

FitnessGram Healthy Fitness Zone standards, The Cooper Institute — 20 m PACER lap minimums by age and sex, checked 2026-09-25
PACER 20 m speed table, Topend Sports — 8.0 km/h table, 247 laps over 21 levels
Léger L. A., Mercier D., Gadoury C., Lambert J., “The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness”, Journal of Sports Sciences, 1988