Been lurking in this thread as I was getting prepared to take the test and decided to make an account and share my experience with it to hopefully help someone taking it, just as you all helped me so much.
A little bit of background on myself: I’m 24 years old with a bachelor’s in criminal justice and I’m a reservist in the Marine Corps. I did it kind of backwards, but I did college first and then joined the Marines for reasons way too long to describe here. Anyway, while I was in college I had thought about getting into personal training, as I was basically doing it for all my friends for free anyway. Before that idea could blossom, however, I joined the Marine Corps and told my recruiter to ship me out ASAP (looking back I really don’t think I fully grasped what I was asking for XD). Anyway, since I was a reservist, it was a long ass six months and I was back into civilian life with no job and a long wait period while the PD’s I applied for did my background check. My personal training interest came back up – especially now that I just spent the last half year learning all new ways to get slayed – and I talked with some guys at my gym who I knew knew what they were doing about their own certs. I eventually landed on the CSCS. I was kind of thinking about the TSAC, because that is the main demographic I wan to train, but there just wasn’t enough literature on it for me to decide how it was. Anyway, the CSCS not only put to use my bachelor’s degree quietly collecting dust on my wall, but it’s views, goals, and techniques most closely aligned with my own.
So, that’s my background and the why, so now for how I studied. I’ve always been a good test taker in school. Granted, criminal justice undergrad classes and any test the Marine Corps gives you is not anything noteworthy, but regardless I would usually study a bit the night before and do reasonably well. This time though, I didn’t want to take any chances. I saw the pass and fail rates and I saw the material and I saw my bank account get subtracted $400 or whatever, so I wanted to ace this thing. Bought the book off Amazon and just read a chapter a day. There were some weeks in there where I wouldn’t read it at all because sometimes life just throws curve balls at you, but overall the pace was steady and I finished in roughly 2 months. I highlighted, underlined, wrote footnotes – mainly on information that I believed would directly pertain to a career as a personal trainer – did the quizzes in the back and made sure I understood why I got the questions wrong or right. Then I bought all of the practice tests from the NSCA website and went through those. Got like 70% or below on all of them and then went through each question I was even slightly confused on and reread and understood the concept of what the question was asking. The anatomy was probably the biggest hurdle, and still is, so I’d recommend taking some type of anatomy class or something, even if it’s quick. I know what deltoids and biceps, and whatever else is, but the specific muscles like psoas major and bicep femoris and muscles that I can’t even remember the name of because they sounded made up were on the test. I studied one diagram of muscles that the book provides, but it wasn’t enough. Do your own research on that front if you don’t have any anatomy experience.
That actual test was chill. Just like taking the practice tests at home, except now you’re not at home and there a shit ton more. I know some people have said previous versions of the test had wonky wording, but I think they’ve really improved on that front. Don’t get me wrong, some questions or answers had me just staring at the screen with drool coming out of my mouth, but overall they were well written and the answers weren’t too ambiguous or aimed to trip you up. It’s a 3 answer format, which apparently they changed to recently from what I’ve read.
They made me take the practical/applied portion first, which kind of tripped me up, but I got through it. Took a break, did a quick 15 minute review session in the bathroom, and took the second half. When I got done, I had already submitted my transcripts and CPR/AED stuff, so they printed out the results right there. Much to my chagrin, only the scientific foundation scores printed, which I passed, but I’m still in the dark if I passed the practical/applied. They said I’d get an email pretty soon here and I’m getting a little antsy, but I think I did well on it. One thing I suggest is learning sports. It sounds obvious, but I’m not too big into sports and so when they asked a question about specific positions and maneuvers, I kind of wasn’t sure. It sounded pretty self explanatory, but you never know. There was some question about keeping up with a wide receiver if he does… something. I can’t remember, but I think it had something to do with cutting across the field. Probably should have thought to brush up on that though when I’m taking an exam for a sports-centered cert though, huh? Such is life.
Get familiar with those standards and norms for different tests by the way. Like for each type of athlete. Additionally, I remember reading somewhere that you could only watch the video demonstration once. That’s not true. I could play it as many times as I wanted. Most errors were pretty obvious, actually, but there was one or two where I’m like “well, kind of, I guess he could work on that.” The biggest offender was a demonstration of the power clean. I had it down between continue with the current form or keep the bar closer to the body. The bar seemed a little far, but it kind of looked like that’s just how his arm works. Hard to explain, I guess. Not really sure how to study for that other than watch videos of all the techniques. I hear there’s a video portion you can buy of the book. Looking back, I’d buy that. Would really help with that portion.
So, still waiting on the results for the practical/applied. Even if I didn’t pass, I still learned so much from this book. If I failed, I think I might go for the CPT while I wait for the 90 days to take it again. Would at least get my foot into the door for certification, but no doubt the CSCS is a great one to have and I’m glad I went for it.