El Presidente was designed by Jeff Cooper as a rough benchmark of handgun skills. It is probably the most widely known handgun standard around.
Setup: three IPSC targets, spaced one yard apart, 10 yards distant.
Starting Position: gun holstered, spare magazine on belt, hands held above shoulders (surrender position), facing away (180 degrees) from targets.
Drill: At the signal, turn and draw, firing two shots into the A-zone of each target. Reload, and fire two more shots into each target.
As originally specified, the drill only counts if all shots are in the A-zone. A missed A-zone counts as a missed target. But when shot in competition, all hits on the target usually count, with standard IPSC comstock scoring.
Par times (for a clean run) - Time is measured from the start signal to the last shot fired:
| D Class | 15 seconds* |
| C Class | 11.25 seconds |
| B Class | 7.5 seconds |
| A Class | 6.0 seconds |
| Master Class | 5.3 seconds |
| Grandmaster | 4.75 seconds |
The original API (American Pistol Institute) par time was 10 seconds.
* These times were calculated using a GM time of 4.5 seconds for a clean run (limited), broken down according to USPSA hit factor percentages and checked against the scores of 30 ranked shooters at Hill Country Practical Pistol Club. D-class par is the empirical average of 7 D-class shooters' scores.
Variations:
Vice Presidente: three IPSC targets, one yard apart at 7 yards. Start facing targets, hands above shoulders. At signal, draw, fire two shots into each target, reload, and fire two more shots into each target.
Demi Presidente: three IPSC targets, one yard apart at 10 yards. Start facing away from targets (180 degrees), hands above shoulders. At signal, turn, draw, and fire two shots into the center of each target. Reload, and then fire ONE shot into the "head" (A/B zone) of each target. Par times are identical to standard El Prez.
