ACSM-CPT Exam Prep - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[mwill758]

I just wanted to drop a note thanking all of you for this website and the information you have posted with regards to preparing for the ACSM-CPT exam.

BrianB's post, in particular, was spot on. If I hadn't read it, I would have not passed the ACSM-CPT exam.

In order to "pay it forward," and in genuine appreciation for what this website has to offer here is what I studied and what worked for me, obviously YMMV:

I have a technical degree with some amount of basic science, but nothing exercise specific (no exercise science, kinesiology, physiology, etc.). However, the basic science education was relevant to the ideas of torque, levers, planes of motion, and things like that.

I have been in the Navy for all of my adult life, up until about 1 year ago, so physical fitness has been a required part of my life. I must admit that it was a "forced" part of my life and never much of a personal priority. That being said, now that I am out of the Navy, I find it much more rewarding and easier to make fitness a real part of my life. Regardless of that, I have been in and out of the gym, so the very basics of cardio and resistance training are not new to me. Plus, I have been working with a trainer for the last 8 months, so I have started grasping a little bit more than the basics.

I have had no formal training in the fitness profession.

After doing some research and talking with my trainer, I decided to pursue the ACSM-CPT. Obviously, the other ACSM certifications were currently beyond my grasp because of my lack of a health related degree. I wasn't familiar with NSCA until I found this website, and I think overall I might have leaned more towards it because it seems a bit more programming focused. However, I probably still would have gone with ACSM because the closest testing location is quite a bit closer than the closest NSCA.

To study for the exam, I purchased all 8 online courses from the ACSM Learning Portal. They provided a pretty good foundation for the exam. However, their quality is a bit questionable. There were several times where the course material was not consistent (accompanying picture did not correspond with text), incorrect (the quiz answer did not match the previous material), or seemingly incomplete (referred to concepts not previously covered). Despite the advice on this board, I did purchase all 8, but it was probably a good thing because I was starting with a blank slate.

After completing the online courses, I read a book that a buddy lent me. It was an AFAA book that he had used in a certification course several years ago. The AFAA book did reference ACSM standards and recommendations several times, which was a great benefit, but the book was a bit old so some of the guidelines were out of date.

When I was finished with the book, I purchased a study guide that covered multiple certs from [link removed]. It was primarily in a quiz format and fairly thorough in the basics of anatomy, business practices, some safety, but had very little programming.

Following the study guide and going through all of the quizzes and the final exam from the study guide, I was pretty confident in my knowledge and ability to pass the exam. THEN, I read BrianB's study guide, and was floored. I didn't even recognize some of the terms. The online courses didn't cover or barely glossed over some of the most important concepts. So, I turned to Google and found several good references (I'll try to dig them back up and post them later.)

Simultaneous with searching on Google, I also took the ACSM Learning Portal practice test. Like several have mentioned earlier, it is not very representative of the actual test.

After finding most of the extra info on Google, I rounded up the most important, and did a complete review, focusing on my weak areas recognized from the practice exam and BrianB's info.

I can definitely say that I would have failed the test without BrianB's post and other information that I found on this board. Thank you very much!

mwill758

[Christina]

Congratulations on passing your the ACSM-CPT exam! I am glad you found the info on this forum helpful. Thanks Brian for posting some great information a while back. And thanks mwill758 for sharing your experience.

Christina

[greeneyes23]

Congrats on passing! I have to agree that BrianB's post is VERY helpful.


I also purchased a prep course/questions from that PT site. Very helpful and good practice. I posted the link on here but unforutanately the link
was removed from this message board. It is MUCH more helpful than the ACSM practice test you have to buy from the ACSM site. I hope people realize that majority of the questions on that $50 practice ACSM test are
in the ACSM Certification Review book!

:woohoo:

[Christina]

Hi greeneyes,

Just a follow up to your comment about the link being removed. I removed the link because that particular site is somewhat similar to this website. The difference is, I make no money from this website whereas the other site makes money through advertisements and selling products such as practice exams. Nothing wrong with that, but if I was going to send people to a website where they could spend their money it would be this one! Another problem that I have with that particular site is I am not 100% positive the people running it is in the fitness business. The owner and moderators of THIS website are personal trainers. I know this to be a fact.

Christina

[pookie]

Christina, I don't blame you for not posting the link, but I just wanted to say that I also purchased the practice test from that site and found it to be very helpful. It actually was more difficult than the written test I took for the WITS course, so it was a good investment.

[Christina]

Well then heck, maybe I should do the same. Hmmmmm... opcorn:

[greeneyes23]

Thanks for the clarification Christina.

There are so many websites that advertise study prep for the ACSM exam and the prices are through the roof and ridiculous and I agree it makes you wonder if they are part of the fitness world or just trying to make a quick buck by selling poor study packages.



I really appreciate having a message board like this around. :thumb: