Just took and passed the NASM CPT Exam.

by M
(Bay Area, California)

2/20/10 I just took the exam an hour ago and passed! Yay! I thought that since I made use of the comments from others on this site, that I too would pay it forward to those who are prepping to take it.
Please keep in mind that there are many, many versions of the exam so don't assume that yours will have the same questions that mine did. With that being said, here are some of the questions that I was asked as well as some study advice:

1. What is the average resting heart rate for a woman?
2. When taking a client's blood pressure, diastolic pressure will be:
a. The loudest sound you hear
b. A fading sound
c. The fastest
d. I can't remember the last option. Sorry.
(So know your diastolic and systolic blood pressure ranges and sounds) these questions are easy if you read up on them. Nothing tricky there.

3. Like another person that posted on here, I too was asked the question:
If a person's belt rides higher in the back and lower in the front what might this be indicative of?
a. anterior pelvic tilt
b. posterior pelvic tilt
c. lateral flexion
d. external rotation

4. which is the innermost layer of a muscle fiber?
(then it gives you 4 options to choose from)

Many people on here stated that they found the actual exam to be nothing like the pre-test, but in my experience it was. True, the questions aren't the same questions you'll see on the pre-test (though I counted 12 from the pre-test on my actual exam), as on the exam they are intentionally wordier, but the outline is the nearly the same.
Take your time, read each one through and if you don't know the answer DON'T panic. Just flag the question and go back to it. I flagged 7 and came back to them at the end. At my testing site, they gave me scratch paper to use so I hurriedly jotted down all the over/under active muscles from the assessments section as well as all the acute variable tables. I had them put to memory but it was much easier to actually just refer to my scratch paper notes than go through them in my head. I still ended up actually getting out of my chair and putting my body in position for one of the questions. It may have looked funny but I had no shame!
My last bits of advice to you are to study EVERYTHING as it is ALL fair game on this exam and you need to know it regardless as you'll be training clients.

The following are the areas in which I had the most questions come up and felt were the most pertinent;
1. As others have said on here and I am about to mirror, KNOW the compensations, muscle imbalances and corrective strategies! Put to memory the chart on page 169 of the book! I can't stress that one enough!
2. KNOW your acute variables for ALL 5 phases of the OPT continuum.
3. KNOW the exercises for all 5 phases of the OPT continuum.
4. Know your nutrition chapter as though it may only count for 10 questions on the exam, that's 10 questions you don't want to get wrong!
5. I did get questions on the effects of medications so I would suggest being familiar with those as well.
6. Read the Candidate Handbook as well as chapter 18.

Lastly, like I mentioned earlier, truly study the entire book and know your information.
The exam isn't unbelievably hard, but it is also far from easy. Some of the questions are basic and some feel like they were thrown at you from out of left field.
Take a deep breath, flag what you don't know and come back to it at the end. Don't let one question throw you off, just keep trudging ahead.

The test is 120 questions and you are given 2 hours. I finished up in a little over an hour and I had flagged 7 questions that I went back to. So don't worry about your time. Just read each question completely and then re-read it as the wording is tricky on some of them. One time they will ask you for the overactive muscle and then the next time it will be for the underactive. Or they will ask you to pick the BEST answer out of 4 possibilities so you will question yourself. Like I said, just read them through a couple of times and many of those times you will be able to eliminate all the wrong one's to where you are only left with the correct answer.
OK, now that I have written a novel, I am going to close it out by wishing you the best of luck on your exams! I hope this helps you out! Now, it's time for some celebration sushi!