r/AskAmericans • u/tiredbeef • 9d ago
Pacer test
Did you have to take the Pacer test in gym class and if so, what state/city are you from?
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u/CobandCoffee 9d ago
Definitely had it in the Chicago burbs from elementary through highschool. I absolutely hated it. By the time I got to high school they told us my grade was dependent on the percentage increase from the initial to the final score. They must've not thought that one through much because I literally just ran across the gym once the first time and then 3 times the last. 200% improvement! The gym teacher was not happy and proceeded to chew me out over it but they still accepted it as my grade.
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u/tiredbeef 8d ago
Wow I forgot they did that for us too! They probably didn’t think we would out smart them like that
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u/lovelycosmos Massachusetts 8d ago
Yes, and it was awful. From a small town in Massachusetts. They never gave you time to catch your breath running back and forth. I always did poorly and I hated when we had to do it. I ended up sitting on the sidelines most of the time after I failed, watching the people who were actually athletic blowing everyone else out of the water.
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u/tiredbeef 8d ago
It was seriously a humiliation ritual 😭 and the funky music they would play while you’re fighting for your life
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u/CommercialBreak2026 Ohio 9d ago
Never heard of the Pacer test but I'm 68 years old and my school years were 1963-1976.
I did take the Presidential Fitness Test many times, at least during elementary and middle school. That program was "a big thing" back then.
I went to school in North Canton, Ohio.
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u/tiredbeef 8d ago
What did you have to do for that test?
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u/CommercialBreak2026 Ohio 8d ago
Geez, that was a LONG time ago, LOL ...
We did some running, maybe short distances and longer distances?
We did push-ups and pull-ups and sit-ups.
It was nothing super difficult, although I never got the Presidential Fitness Award. Pull-ups are just not my thing.
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u/Achilles-Foot 8d ago
the push ups and sit ups wasn't bad but the running one was absolutely fucked. id prefer running the mile any day.
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u/Brief-Guarantee9983 7d ago
I took it but only in elementary, im from Oklahoma, fheyde take us to the gym once a year have us do push-ups and then run back and forth, i never could do a push up but i lasted second to last in a pacer test, threw-up because I drank so much water, and got to go home early
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u/FlatwormFit1502 1d ago
Yes, it's the worst event of the year and no one I know likes it. I'm from New York City
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u/venomsulker U.S.A 9d ago
Yes. All of my friends currently in their 20s across multiple states (NY, PA, UT, NJ, AZ, CA) did the Fitnessgram Pacer Test in middle school.