ACE Personal Trainer Exam

[stacie]

Has anyone taken it and can give me any pointers on being successful? Where should I focus my study time? My company surprised me a couple of weeks ago and said they would pay for me to get certified. They surprised me again this week when they said I had to take the test by November. I am taking a two day course in a couple of weeks. But, the website says to study 3-6 months.

[Zen]

Do you have any anatomy background?
Know what stretches are for what muscles.
know what exercises are for which muscles.
Be able to prescribe an exercise for a muscle group using different modalities (i.e. there-bands, cable machines, and free weights)
Know basic cellular respiration.
calculate % of calories from fat by reading a nutrition label.
Thats all I can think of right now.

Go to the ACE website, they should have a short practice exam (free)

3-6 months is a long time, you should be able to pass it by the end of November.
Don't they have a study guide or something?

[sundial]

Exactly what Zen stated!

I took the AFAA course and I already had a background in health care so it wasn't difficult to pass the test. I did remember having to indentify parts of the skeleton, calculating heart rate for 65-80%, calculating nutritional needs for a 145 lb person, doing a short aerobic routine (I was getting certified in step aerobics) and knowing what exercises target what muscle groups.

I would do the online practice tests and contact ACE for a study guide if you haven't already done so.

Good luck and let us know when your big exam is scheduled!

[gnat23]

I didn't find the test to be that difficult. There was lots of knowing which muscles got worked how, but other than that, there was tons of:

You are hired by a 45 year old woman with hypertension and who has the goal of running a half-marathon in 4 months. What do you do first?

...multiple choice questions, and there's always one that says "get her to talk to her doctor first". I found those kinda lame in an obvious kind of way.

-- gnat!

[stacie]

whew! I have until the first week of November. Maybe it is doable. The recommended 3-6 months scared me. I'd be humiliated if I failed. Stacie

[OakLeaf]

I can't speak to the personal trainer exam. But having taken (and passed) the ACE GFI exam last November, my experience is that some amount of study *is* needed. I had a background in representing disability claimants - which gave me some basic anatomy and physiology - plus 15+ years of taking aerobics classes and strength training on my own. So I probably knew about half of the material going into it. The other half, on the other hand, was really new and unfamiliar to me, and I had to apply myself to learn it.

I had about four or five months between the time I got the study materials and when I took the test. I did *not* study seriously for that whole time. But it probably would've been a month of real cramming.

YMMV, especially since it's not the same exam. But from the descriptions other people have posted, it sounds like it *is* the same exam!

[Zen]

ymmv?

[tygab]

YMMV is net-abbreviation for "Your mileage may vary."