Two archers with the same score can group very differently

The summary today

On paper, yes, because a score adds up rings and ignores the shape of the group: a tight group off centre and a wide centred one can give the same total. Only one study, however, measures score and arrow position on the same shots, and it is small. In twelve young Indonesian archers, fifteen shots with an electronic bow at a target projected 1.5 metres away, scores run from 104 to 144 out of 150 and the spread of the arrows around the centre of the group from 5.2 to 22.3 cm. At the extremes the two measures agree, since the highest score and the tightest group belong to the same athlete, and so do the lowest score and the widest group; in between they do not: in the per-athlete chart two archers on about 125 points, one point apart, have spreads of about 10 and about 19 cm, nearly double, while the pair the authors cite has almost identical groups (9.2 and 9.6 cm). It is a single case, read from a chart, with an electronic bow and a target on a screen: it shows that this can happen, not how often it happens at competition distances.

Also phrased as: "the score does not tell the whole story"; "look at the group, not the score"; "precision and accuracy in archery"; "same score with different groups"

Evidence

• 2026
  For Archers Published later

  12 young Indonesian archers aged 12 to 15 with 2 to 10 years of practice, 15 shots with an electronic bow at a 122 cm target projected on a screen 1.5 m away: score 131.17 ± 11.23 out of 150 (104 to 144), average distance of the arrows from the centre of the group 11.00 ± 5.17 cm (5.17 to 22.25). The highest score and the tightest group belong to the same athlete, and so do the lowest score and the widest group; in the per-athlete chart, though, athletes 11 and 12, on about 126 and 125 points, have spreads of about 10.5 and 19 cm (values read from the chart, not given in a table). Regional journal.

  EEG-Based Analysis of Concentration with Shooting Accuracy and Precision in Archery Athletes: A Quantitative Correlational Study · Ainun Rahmansyah Gaffar, Pringgo Widyo Laksono, Bambang Suhardi, Rahmaniyah Dwi Astuti, Minoru Sasaki

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same sample athlete 4 scores 135 points with a spread of 9.24 cm and athlete 3 scores 136 with 9.64 cm: the one who scores a point more groups slightly worse. The authors read this as evidence that precision and score do not coincide, but the difference in grouping is four millimetres: it is a case of two similar scores with similar groups.

  EEG-Based Analysis of Concentration with Shooting Accuracy and Precision in Archery Athletes: A Quantitative Correlational Study · Ainun Rahmansyah Gaffar, Pringgo Widyo Laksono, Bambang Suhardi, Rahmaniyah Dwi Astuti, Minoru Sasaki

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  Compound and recurve archers in a study of supplements in precision sports in Singapore, 60 arrows at 18 m indoors: at baseline group size, calculated as the mode of the estimated distances over the 60 arrows, averages 76.36 ± 21.57 mm in the active group (11 archers) and 104.00 ± 38.64 mm in the placebo group (10); at nine months 87.27 ± 34.95 and 108.00 ± 56.73 mm. It does not link group size to score, but it shows how much spread varies from one archer to another.

  The effect of macular carotenoids and omega-3 supplementation on performance in precision sports: the sport nutrition intervention in performance exercise (SNIPE) study · Parimala Sivaperuman, Fraser C. Horn, Warren Roche, James Stringham, Richard Swinbourne, John Nolan

Status history

1. 2026 Reported The first study to measure the score and the position of every arrow on the same shots, in twelve young Indonesian archers, finds scores between 104 and 144 out of 150 and arrow spread around the centre of the group between 5.2 and 22.3 cm. At the extremes the two measures go together, but in the per-athlete chart two archers one point apart, on about 125, have spreads of about 10 and about 19 cm; the pair the authors cite, by contrast, has almost identical groups. The same year a study in Singapore measures the group size of compound and recurve archers over 60 arrows at 18 m, between 76 and 104 mm on average in its two groups, without linking it to the score. It is a single small study in favour, with the target on a screen 1.5 metres away and the decisive case read from a chart: reported.

Related

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• On a level score, counting tens rewards the weaker archerCounting tens breaks ties in archery, yet it reverses exactly where it is used: in the model, on level totals, it picks the better archer 44.7 times in 100.
• 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 do my arrows go left, right, high or low?Where your arrows land is a report: how to read impact patterns, and what the measurements say about the sight, the grip, bow torque and launch speed.

Research lines

• 55 studiesAttention and cognition in archers: research since 1986
• 30 studiesThe archer's brain: EEG, evoked potentials, fMRI and fNIRS

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedAbout 150 points on a FITA round separate a club archer from a national-team archer13 studies · 492 archers measuredStatus since 2003
• CorroboratedAn archer's arousal rises with what is at stake, and keeps rising as the competition goes on3 studies · 23 archers measuredStatus since 2011
• CorroboratedArchers are more aroused in competition than in training5 studies · 50 archers measuredStatus since 2025
• CorroboratedAt 70 metres a top archer averages about nine points per arrow7 studies · 72 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• CorroboratedEven in competition at the highest level, most arrows are not tens4 studies · 3,212 archers measuredStatus since 2024

See all claims on competition and scoring