During the Aim Fast, Hit Fast class this weekend in Texas, we had a number of folks — myself most definitely included! — who didn’t rise to the occasion when it came time to shoot the F.A.S.T. Quite a few students felt like the test didn’t really represent their overall skill level.
And it didn’t.
One guy, for example, scored a perfect nine out of nine on the Hackathorn Head Shot Standards from concealment. That’s outstanding. Quite a few of the students turned in passing scores (7-9) from concealment… something that even most experienced shooters cannot accomplish under class pressure. We also had great scores on other drills like Triple Nickel and the Warren/Figure-8 drill.
Obviously, I think the F.A.S.T. is an outstanding tool. I use it almost every time I go to the range whether it’s practicing by myself or teaching a class. But neither it nor any other “standard” is the be-all end-all of skill assessment… especially not a single run in the middle of an exhausting two day class. That’s why it is important to have a good performance tracking plan. It’s not about whether you did better today than yesterday. Day to day variations can add a lot of “noise” to your data. It’s about whether you’re doing better next year than this year.
Standards are important. But don’t spend your time and ammo chasing a better score on one test. Put your focus into improving your shooting, not your score on a particular drill, and that will turn in far better results down the road.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
I think that’s why things like the IDPA classifier are such useful diagnostic tools – it really does test general, overall, shooting ability…
Point well taken. I’ve become obsessed with the FAST drill for some months now. lol
Just saw some neat drills from Hilton Yam on his 10-8 site too. It’s all good.
Couldn’t have been better explained. There is also a lot of different skills involved with the F.A.S.T. So there are a lot of moving parts to always have perfect. That’s why I think it’s a good overall assestment.
As one of the attendees I have to agree. There were several really good shooters there that nailed everything but the FAST (still had decent runs but not what they’re capable of). Oddly enough I felt that I was subpar on most of the drills but ended up with a FAST that’s just about right- solidly intermediate. And yes, Chris’s head shot standards was a thing of beauty!
It’s very much of an “on any given Sunday” thing. That’s how it is for everyone. I’ve shot some of my best drills when seriously pissed off. LOL. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.
If I can run a FAST in under 6.8 seconds clean (cold), I’m satisfied. Not happy, but satisfied. Over 7 or any misses and I need to focus harder.
For that last month of so, I have been flirting with 5.99 or better. I have gone from 6.21 to 6.10 to 6.08. It is extremely tempting to start chasing the score instead of (for me) working on a quicker two shot presentation and the reload in much more genral terms.
Those components, honed, will yield me the sub 6 I want on a consistent, cold basis.
You don’t shoot par golf by playing the course over and over, you do it by hitting the driving range and the putting green.
JodyH
Extremely well put. I am going to have to use that…with atributuion of course.