As the level rises, scores within a group of archers sit closer together
5 studies · 74 archers measured
The summary today
Two small studies say yes. In the Chinese national team the average per arrow at 70 m is 8.7 with a standard deviation between athletes of 0.5, in the Beijing team 6.8 with 1.4, almost three times as much: individuals range from 7.7 to 9.4 in the national team and from 2.4 to 8.2 among the provincial archers. In ten university archers in Jakarta, the group with fewer years of practice shows a wider spread both in score per arrow (1.21 against 0.76) and in heart rate while aiming, but the comparison is also one between women and men. The other samples, Turkish and Indonesian beginners and club archers, show widely scattered scores, with no higher level to compare them against. All of these are cross-sectional comparisons. How much the same archer's score changes from one session to the next at different levels is a separate question, which nobody has measured and which this entry does not cover.
Also phrased as: "score consistency and level"; "strong archers are more consistent"; "score variability in elite archers"; "consistency of competition performance"
In practice
It is taken for granted that in a high-level squad the archers shoot much the same, while in grassroots groups scores are scattered.
Evidence
-
2022
For Archers Published later
14 archers from the Chinese national team and 14 from a provincial team, 30 arrows at 70 m: average ring value 8.7 ± 0.56 in the elite group against 6.8 ± 1.44 in the provincial group (difference in means p < 0.01), with a standard deviation between athletes almost three times larger in the lower-level group.
From Expert to Elite? Research on Top Archer's EEG Network Topology · Feng Gu, Anmin Gong, Yi Qu, Aiyong Bao, Jin Wu, Changhao Jiang, Yunfa Fu
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2022
For Archers Published later
The same group of archers in a second paper, 16 from the national team and 15 from the Beijing team: average per arrow 8.7 ± 0.5 against 6.8 ± 1.4 (p = 3.8 × 10⁻⁵), years of training 8.1 ± 2.0 against 4.3 ± 1.5, with no difference in age or sex. Individuals from 7.7 to 9.4 in the national team and from 2.4 to 8.2 among the provincial archers. Same sample as the paper on the EEG network, it counts once.
Research on Top Archer's EEG Microstates and Source Analysis in Different States · Feng Gu, Anmin Gong, Yi Qu, Hui Xiao, Jin Wu, Wenya Nan, et al.
-
2023
For Archers Published later
10 university recurve archers in Jakarta (6 men, 4 women), 15 arrows in a simulated competition with alternating shots: standard deviation of score per arrow 1.21 in the women (3.5 ± 2.08 years of practice) against 0.76 in the men (6.2 ± 2.14 years), and of heart rate while aiming 9.55 against 7.11 beats per minute. Experience and sex coincide, so they cannot be separated. Regional journal.
Analysis of heart rate and scores in student archery athletes · Nadya Dwi Oktafiranda, Sri Indah Ihsani, Kuswahyudi Kuswahyudi
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2023
Context Archers Published later
5 young Turkish archers aged 11 to 16 with 0.1 to 3 years of practice, 21 arrows at 18 m: score per arrow 5.76 ± 2.45 in the girls and 4.47 ± 2.64 in the boys, with 24 arrows out of 105 excluded from the analysis. It shows how scattered the arrows are at the start, but there is no more experienced group to compare them with. Regional journal.
Okçuluk Sporuyla Uğraşan Sporcuların Nöro-Geribildirim ile Odaklanma ve Sakinlik Analizi · Saygın Aydın, Vedat Ayan, Selami Yüksek
-
2024
Context Archers Published later
18 Turkish club archers (9 women, 9 men) with at least two years of practice, outdoors with their own bows, three ends of six arrows at 50 m: score 39.89 ± 14.32. A single level, so no comparison.
Shooting performance in archery: a perspective of dynamic–static balance · İnci Kesilmiş, Fatma Söğüt, Ülkü Çömelekoğlu
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2025
Context Archers Published later
18 young Turkish archers with 3.17 ± 2.74 years of practice (0 to 12), three ends of six arrows between 30 and 50 m: the score taken during the horizontal eye-movement recording is 40.33 ± 13.58, from 7 to 57. Years of practice are not related to the spread of scores. It is the same sample as the 2024 paper, with the same ethics approval number, the same 9 and 9 split and the same mean height and body mass, and it counts once. Regional journal.
Determinants of Electrooculography Measurements for Quiet Eye Duration in Archers via Penalty Regularizer · Fatma Söğüt, İnci Kesilmiş, Evrim Ersin Kangal, Ülkü Çömelekoğlu
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2025
Context Archers Published later
10 young archers in West Java, precision test at 10 m: 7.51 ± 1.13 points per arrow (4.16 to 9.43). Relative to the average, precision varies between athletes about three times less than arm strength (0.15 against 0.49, calculated from the table values). A single level. Regional journal.
Hubungan antara Kekuatan Otot Lengan dengan Akurasi Memanah dalam Olahraga Panahan · Geraldi Novian, Komarudin Komarudin, Alen Rismayadi, Siti Nursaba, Salma Maharani Sopandi
Status history
- 2022 Reported The first comparison in archers measures two squads with the same yardstick, thirty arrows at 70 m: in the Chinese national team the average per arrow is 8.7 with a standard deviation between athletes of 0.5, in the Beijing team 6.8 with 1.4, almost three times as much, and individuals range from 7.7 to 9.4 against 2.4 to 8.2. Two papers by the same group report the same sample and count as one. It is a single cross-sectional comparison, and it concerns consistency between archers, not within the same archer: reported.
- 2023 Reported A second, independent sample points the same way: in ten university archers in Jakarta, fifteen arrows in a simulated competition, the group with 3.5 years of practice has a standard deviation in score per arrow of 1.21 against 0.76 in the group with 6.2 years, and heart rate while aiming also varies more. The comparison, though, is also one between women and men, and the same year five young Turkish archers with less than three years in the sport show scattered arrows, about five points out of ten at 18 m, with no more experienced group alongside. Two studies in favour, both cross-sectional and small: the status remains reported.
- 2024 Reported Eighteen Turkish club archers, measured outdoors with their own bows under competition conditions, score 39.89 over three ends of six arrows at 50 m, with a standard deviation of 14.32, more than a third of the mean. It confirms that at club level scores vary a great deal from person to person, but without a higher level to compare against it does not test the claim, and the status does not move.
- 2025 Reported Two youth groups show the same width: in the eighteen Turkish archers of 2024, taken up again in a second paper, the score from one of the three eye recordings runs from 7 to 57, and in ten Indonesian archers precision at 10 m varies between athletes, relative to the average, about three times less than arm strength. Neither compares different levels, so the claim still rests on the comparisons of 2022 and 2023: reported.
Related
Related articles
- How many points does it take to tell two archers apart?Two identical top archers finish five points apart on average over 72 arrows, by chance alone. How big a gap you need, and how many competitions prove a gain.
- Why your score does not tell you whether you are grouping betterYour score folds group width and centring into one number. What the studies that recorded where every arrow landed say about the gap between them.
- Repeatability and consistency: measuring the steadiness of your shotHow repeatable an archer's shot is: what studies say about level, good and bad days, arrows outside the 10, and how to measure consistency on the range.
Research lines
Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.
See the full assessmentCite
Campagna, M. (2026). As the level rises, scores within a group of archers sit closer together (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/scores-more-consistent-higher-level
@misc{campagna2026_punteggioregolaritalivello,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {As the level rises, scores within a group of archers sit closer together},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/scores-more-consistent-higher-level},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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