NASM exam was easier than I thought.

by Nate
(Omaha)

I took the NASM exam 2 days ago and honestly didn't think it was that bad. The earlier posts were very helpful in regards to the types of questions the exam asks. If you have a background in exercise science then you probably won’t have any trouble passing.

I have been certified through the NSCA for about a year now, but my current employer required that everyone must have at least one certification through NASM so I had to take the exam.

I had months to study and take the exam but I procrastinated and waited until the day before my scheduled time to actually look over the material (dumb idea). My original plans were to skim each chapter and fill out the study guide. After talking to others who took the exam, I was directed another way. They told me since I had such little time to just watch the DVDs and follow along with the study guide. This advice proved VERY USEFUL.

I watched all the DVDs and took notes on the important topics. After I watched every chapter, I filled out the related study guide questions. Honestly, this is all you need to do in order to pass the exam. Important topics to remember are:

1. Know the postural assessments and the over/underactive muscles.
2. The exam had the most questions pertaining to the fitness assessment and program design chapters.
3. Know the Acute variable of training (reps, sets, intercity, tempo)
4. Anterior/Posterior pelvic tilt.
5. Know the lumbo pelvic hip complex.
****Basically, just look at the previous posts to get a good idea of the questions.

My advice would be to not read the book, just watch the DVDs. The DVDs highlight the important information that you need to know from the book. I'd say from all the 120 questions on the exam, the DVDs covered 110 of them. Good Luck!!