Passing the ACE Personal Trainer exam requires knowledge of various areas from professional ethics to applied science.
Choosing to become a certified personal trainer is a significant and necessary step in being identified as a qualified fitness professional.
Designed for training otherwise healthy clients, the American Council on Exercise (ACE) Personal Trainer Certification evaluates the exam taker’s capacity for developing proper, safe and successful exercise plans.
Passing the ACE CPT exam means you hold the degree of knowledge, skills and abilities needed to be a competent personal trainer.
In the personal training profession, a certification is required to be minimally qualified and sets you apart from other trainers who do not hold a validating credential. Aside from competency, being certified shows professionalism to your peers, employers and clients.
Will an Exercise Science degree help you pass the ACE CPT exam?
Though not required to be eligible for the ACE Personal Trainer certification, having a degree in kinesiology, exercise science or similar major can be valuable in helping prepare for the exam. A degree benefits those interested in eventually pursuing administrative roles in fitness or clinical fitness roles in a healthcare setting. It’s common for personal trainers to earn a degree later on to advance their career.
According to ACE, over 70 percent of fitness professionals certified by the organization hold bachelor’s degrees - mainly in the area of Exercise Science. All content on the ACE CPT exam is covered by ACE’s detailed study materials, which can be be purchased as a package with the exam voucher. You do not need a degree to successfully pass the exam.
Composed of 150 multiple-choice questions, you’re allowed three hours to complete ACE’s personal trainer certification exam. 125 of these questions are actually scored with 25 unscored questions used for experimental purposes in determining future exam content. The purpose of the exam is to ascertain that you have the essential know-how and abilities to develop and carry out safe and successful workout plans customized to your clients’ total fitness objectives.
What’s on the ACE CPT exam?
All the material on the exam is categorized into four major areas called domains with each domain consisting of 3-4 detailed tasks. The tasks are in turn composed of specific areas of knowledge and skills you should know. The following is the current distribution of the exam’s domains, including the purpose of knowing each. You can view ACE’s full CPT exam content outline here: Official ACE CPT Exam Content Outlne
Domain I: Client Interview & Assessment
This domain accounts for 31 percent of the exam and involves how performing proper before and after fitness & health evaluations is essential for ensuring client safety and optimal exercise program development.
Domain II: Program Design & Implementation
Making up 33 percent of the exam, this domain involves how the exercise program of every client needs to be created particularly to suit the fitness requirements of that person. The client’s health record, fitness assessments past injuries, present physical conditioning and schedule should all be taken into consideration.
Domain III: Program Progression, Modification, and Maintenance
19 percent of the exam deals with this domain which involves how to keep the client on track with his or her exercise program and help them achieve enduring results. Personal trainers take on a vital responsibility in encouraging clients to keep inspired by incorporating suitable exercise program adjustments to help them continue advancing towards meeting their fitness & health objectives.
Domain IV: Professional Role and Responsibilities
Covering 17 percent of the exam, this domain outlines how it’s essential for personal trainers to act based on professional work morals and values in reducing the possibility of injury to clients and to preserve a good, reliable reputation. Personal trainers are an integral component of allied health due to the fact that they assist people in safely and successfully lowering their risk factors for a number of health conditions/diseases and restoring health & fitness during periods of rehabilitation.
Know Your Applied Sciences
It’s vital that personal trainers hold fundamental knowledge of science as it applies to physical activity in healthy people. They need to also recognize how injuries, health conditions, disabilities and prescription drugs can affect one’s capacity to take part in an exercise routine.
The science-related questions that appear on the exam involve “applied science”. For example, the risk factor markers for heart disease and how the body responds and adapts to different types of exercise. ACE includes all the necessary study materials, including the applied sciences you need to know, in their CPT certification exam packages. There are 3 different official ACE study/exam packages available - determining which one to go with depends on your current knowledge and learning style.
Here you can take a look and compare the official ACE Personal Trainer Certification packages to determine which one suits you best.
