ACSM exam v. AFAA exam - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[runcoach]

Hi, new here. Has anyone taken both the AFAA and ACSM exam? I recently passed AFFA and am already disenchanted. I should have gone straight to ACSM. Did you find ACSM significantly harder? Thanks!

[kelli m]

I understand your disenchantment.

There ARE things that AFAA does extremely well such as an unsurpassed legacy of teaching and training GROUP EXERCISE instructors. It's emphasis on safety and on practical application is phenomenal. That said, AFAA has no business in the personal trainer certification industry.

The approaches to testing are entirely different. ASCM is more academic, more theoretical, and requires you to truly understand what is being tested and then apply it. AFAA's simply requires the regurgitation of material.