The three tests differ in KIND, not just in number
Before any figure, the structural difference — because it changes what the test is for.
VSVSV is a private learning platform. It is not affiliated with, authorised by, or endorsed by the Ministry of Defence, the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, or any recruiting body. We do not conduct, influence, or take part in recruitment or selection. This article is study material. It is not a recruitment notification. It confers no entitlement of any kind.
- The Navy's PFT is a pass-fail gate, and it gates a written exam. Under the advertisements for the 01/2027 and 02/2027 batches, the Stage II written exam is conducted only for candidates who qualify the PFT. No marks are attached; you clear it or you stop.
- The Army's PFT is SCORED, and the score carries into merit. It happens at the recruitment rally, after the written CEE.
- The Air Force's is a threshold followed by adaptability testing.
So a Navy candidate who cannot run is never examined a second time, and an Army candidate who runs faster earns marks that count. Same event, different consequence.
The Indian Navy
Under the advertisements for the 01/2027 and 02/2027 batches, and identical across the SSR and MR notifications:
- Male — 1.6 km run in 6 minutes 30 seconds; 20 squats (uthak baithak); 15 push-ups; 15 bent-knee sit-ups.
- Female — 1.6 km run in 8 minutes; 15 squats; 10 push-ups; 10 bent-knee sit-ups.
Three things the notification says about it that matter as much as the numbers.
It is pass-fail and it scores nothing — "Qualifying in Physical Fitness Test (PFT) is mandatory for selection." There are no marks to chase.
The SSR (Medical Assistant) notification publishes the male row only — that advertisement is for men. Do not infer a female standard for that entry from the SSR notification — read your own.
🔴 **And the notification's own words: candidates undergoing the PFT do so *"at their own risk."*** That is the Navy's phrasing, not ours, and it is the plainest statement in this whole subject of why our article on when to stop and see a doctor exists.
The notifications also note that proficiency in sports and swimming is desirable. That is an advisory, not a standard, and should not be prepared for as though it were one.
The Indian Army
Under the ARO rally notifications for the 2027 intake — two independent notifications carrying identical clauses — the Army's PFT is scored, on two separate scales.
The 1.6 km run, in four groups:
- Up to 5 minutes 30 seconds — 60 marks.
- 5:31 to 5:45 — 48 marks.
- 5:46 to 6:00 — 36 marks.
- 6:01 to 6:15 — 24 marks.
The beam, on a separate scale that is not tied to your run group:
- 10 repetitions — 40 marks.
- 9 — 33 marks. 8 — 27 marks. 7 — 21 marks. 6 — 16 marks.
The 9-foot ditch jump and the zig-zag balance walk are qualify-only: you must clear them, and they carry no marks.
A note on the beam that is worth knowing rather than smoothing over: one of the two notifications calls the event "pull-ups" and the other calls it "chin-ups." Two official documents, one event, two names. If you see both, that is why.
🔴 Two Army categories are exempt from the marks entirely. Under the same notifications, Agniveer Technical and Agniveer Clerk / Store Keeper Technical candidates "only need to qualify in all tests" — the marks table above does not apply to them. A Clerk candidate chasing a 5:30 run is chasing marks that do not exist for their category. Check which applies to yours before you build a plan around a time.
🔴 And the caveat the Army attaches to its own figures, which must travel with them: "The timings for 1.6 km run and the marks assigned to the groups can be changed by the Indian Army at any stage before the recruitment rally. Please check the timings on Join Indian Army Website before start of recruitment rally."
Read that twice. The source says its own numbers may change before the rally. We publish them as what the current notifications say, never as fixed, and the instruction to check the website before the rally is the Army's, not ours.
Height, chest and weight — the Army publishes no number
This one surprises people, and it is worth stating plainly because the gap is filled everywhere else.
The Army's notification says only: "Physical Standards. As per policy in vogue", and routes candidates to the official website. The other notification adds that measurement is "as per the laid down Region based and Category wise Physical standards."
So there is no single national height, chest or weight figure to find — the standards vary by region and by category, and the Army itself points at a website rather than printing a number.
Which tells you exactly what to make of any source that gives you one. A confident national figure for Army height or chest is somebody's invention, because the Army has declined to publish one. Take yours from joinindianarmy.nic.in for your own region and category.
The Indian Air Force
Under the Agniveervayu advertisement for the 01/2027 cycle, the physical stage runs in two parts with a recuperation period between them.
PFT-I — the 1.6 km run — male candidates within seven minutes; female candidates within eight minutes. The timing is relaxed in high-altitude areas.
PFT-II — for male candidates, after ten minutes of recuperation — Ten push-ups in one minute, ten sit-ups in one minute, and twenty squats in one minute, with stated breaks between the exercises.
Adaptability Test-I and Adaptability Test-II follow.
Note the structure: the run comes first, the strength events come after it with only ten minutes between, and each strength event is against a one-minute clock. We cover what that demands in the article on the strength events.
Why a figure you find elsewhere may be a real standard from the wrong year
Physical standards are revised between cycles like everything else in a notification, and a stale one looks exactly like a current one.
The clearest illustration in this recruitment is the Army's negative-marking clause. An official notification of February 2024 deducted twenty-five per cent of a question's marks for a wrong answer. The clause was removed for recruiting year 2025-26. Every source still quoting it is quoting a genuine official document, accurately, two cycles late.
Nothing about that mechanism is specific to marking. Ask when, not only whether — and for the Army's running times, the notification itself tells you they may change before the rally.
What is common to all three, and is worth knowing
Even without the numbers, some things about the physical stage hold generally and are useful.
It is a separate filter — A strong written score does not carry a candidate through it, and it is assessed on its own.
It is a floor, not a ranking — the published standards are thresholds to be met rather than a score to maximise. Training well past a threshold has a cost in time and injury risk that is worth being deliberate about.
It takes months, not weeks — cardiovascular fitness and connective-tissue tolerance both build slowly, and neither responds well to being compressed. A candidate who starts in the last few weeks is training into an injury rather than into a time.
Relaxations exist and are set by the notification — the high-altitude relaxation in the Agniveervayu advertisement is one example. Read your own notification for what applies to you.
What we do not do, and why
We publish verified standards and we teach principles and safety. We do not issue graded training programmes, fitness assessments, readiness predictions or body-composition targets.
That is a deliberate limit rather than a gap. This audience includes candidates who are seventeen, preparation is unsupervised, and a training prescription issued to a stranger through a web page is not something anyone can do responsibly. What we can do — explain what the events demand, how the body adapts, and when to stop — is genuinely useful and is where the honest line falls.
What to do
- Get the physical standards from your own notification, and check the cycle on it.
- Note the order of the events, because it changes how to prepare for them.
- Start early — this is the stage that cannot be compressed.
- Read our article on when to stop and see a doctor before you begin, rather than after something hurts.
Related reading
- Preparing for the 1.6 km Run — the Principles, and Why We Will Not Hand You a Schedule
- The Strength Events — Against a Clock, After a Run, and What That Changes
- When to Stop Training and See a Doctor
This article is general guidance written from publicly available recruitment notifications and scheme documents issued by the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force and the Ministry of Defence. Eligibility, exam patterns, physical standards, pay and scheme terms are revised with each recruitment cycle, and every figure stated here is pinned to the cycle it was read from. Always confirm current specifics against the live notification on the official portal of the service you are applying to. VSVSV is a private learning platform. It is not affiliated with, authorised by, or endorsed by the Ministry of Defence, the Indian Armed Forces, or any recruiting body. It takes no part in recruitment or selection.