Students must actively and continuously generate propulsion for this assessment, but they may use any stroke, arm action, leg action, or combination thereof to make forward progress.

To begin, students must independently move away from the wall or other support. As soon as the student is demonstrating propulsive actions and making forward progress, begin measuring how far they have traveled from the starting location. Students are permitted to change strokes, switch body positions, change to using only their arms or only their legs, but they are not permitted to switch to a stationary skill. Stop the assessment and measure the distance swum once any of the assessment rules are broken.