How To Be overprepared for the NASM

[ChessGuy]

Did you guys get the cool backpack with the materials, too?

[sandrider]

Did you guys get the cool backpack with the materials, too?

Lol! Yes I did.I just carry this backack with all my study guide info. How do I have over 300 notecards and 200 pages of notes and not feel ready. Mental games!!! =) Taking the test next wed

[NOTNOWCHlEF]

Yes I got a bookbag too! Which is great, because I didnt have one before!

I also noticed already that the "study guide" that comes free with the book (online) is very short! (10 questions per chapter so far)

What are some of the BEST tools/apps to help along?

I have Speed Anatomy (game) and Quizlet, but I am prepared to spend a few bucks now just to help along...

is Eteach the best option? Ive seen a couple things mentioned here and there

[jham66]

Yes I got a bookbag too! Which is great, because I didnt have one before!

I also noticed already that the "study guide" that comes free with the book (online) is very short! (10 questions per chapter so far)

What are some of the BEST tools/apps to help along?

I have Speed Anatomy (game) and Quizlet, but I am prepared to spend a few bucks now just to help along...

is Eteach the best option? Ive seen a couple things mentioned here and there

An app from Upward Mobility on iOS called NASM Exam Prep is great, and it actually just got updated to the most recent edition of the book. I used it knowing it only covered the 3rd edition and still found its 'study mode' extremely helpful.

And careful with the bookbags.. mine ripped pretty easily, not the best quality.

[Charlie581]

Was wondering if any body else has tried doing this....


I recently started making my own little practice test's almost. Any of the tables or figures that are outlined in the Study Guide, ill make an empty recreation of it, with answers out of order or scrambled next to it in my notebook. I feel like it has actually helped quite a bit, as personally i need more hands on and written work rather than just flashcards with reading/listening.

Both are needed, but personally i always work better with many practices and quizes to really comprehend concepts, or else i end up with just question/answer memorization. Just my 0.02$ lol

[Kataz]

Was wondering if any body else has tried doing this....


I recently started making my own little practice test's almost. Any of the tables or figures that are outlined in the Study Guide, ill make an empty recreation of it, with answers out of order or scrambled next to it in my notebook. I feel like it has actually helped quite a bit, as personally i need more hands on and written work rather than just flashcards with reading/listening.

Both are needed, but personally i always work better with many practices and quizes to really comprehend concepts, or else i end up with just question/answer memorization. Just my 0.02$ lol

It's a good method since the book questions are pretty similar to some of the more basic questions

[sandrider]

Big day is tomorrow! Planning on taking the test and then going out after, as suggested. i have been hitting around 86% on the 2 practice exams I have. Any last minute tips out there from anyone who took the exam? Will post my update on here after the exam, and hope to click YES to brads poll question. Thanks again for all the help. Hope I can put some tips out there once I pass. And if anyone wants 400+ notecards send me you address and they are yours! =)

[sandrider]

Chalk it up as another victory for this thread! First 4 questions of the exam had me worried. Almost a sense of where were these in the text, but I stuck to my guns and just marked them and moved on. By the end I had 30 marked and of those 20 were answered with what I thought is the answer. Overall it wasnt as bad as its made out to be due in part to the help that was provided here and the nasm study guide.

So now the next part... How do I train??? =)

[Slappy]

Congrats!!!

I'm feeling good so far on the practice exams, score keeps getting higher. Things I miss or maybe don't fully understand how or why, I've been going back over.

Will you be working at a gym or picking up clients on your own?

Chalk it up as another victory for this thread! First 4 questions of the exam had me worried. Almost a sense of where were these in the text, but I stuck to my guns and just marked them and moved on. By the end I had 30 marked and of those 20 were answered with what I thought is the answer. Overall it wasnt as bad as its made out to be due in part to the help that was provided here and the nasm study guide.

So now the next part... How do I train??? =)

[papilucho]

Hi guys ) thanks for this thread, it helps a lot!
Actually working hard on NASM, i spend between 5 and 8 hours/ day, since 2 months now, and i pass it in 6 weeks.

i just wanted to signal a mistake in the NASM application mobile: question #285: "what is a correct progression for reactive level training"---> they say horizontal jump with stabilization, tuck jump,ice skater!! It's false!!!

The answer will be Squat jump with stab, box jump-up with stab, box jump-down with stab

have a nice one, peace

[Miltapalooza]

Big day is tomorrow! Planning on taking the test and then going out after, as suggested. i have been hitting around 86% on the 2 practice exams I have. Any last minute tips out there from anyone who took the exam? Will post my update on here after the exam, and hope to click YES to brads poll question. Thanks again for all the help. Hope I can put some tips out there once I pass. And if anyone wants 400+ notecards send me you address and they are yours! =)

New to the forums and taking this all in as I get ready to start studying...has anyone taken you up on the notecards yet?

[DeeRol]

Hi , I just joined the site yesterday (after viewing it for months now) and purchased my NASM program. If you still have the note cards. I would appreciate the help. Thanks..

[Slappy]

And another "PASS" here!

I don't know how many times I lurked, scrolled and skimmed this thread, but the little chapter by chapter tips helped.

There were of course some random questions in there, an I'd be curious to know if I was right, but that won't happen. Lol

There are still some areas I'm gonna brush up on though.

[jaypay82]

Great thread,
It's pretty inspiring to see everyone promoting a healthy living and being helpful and friendly. I passed my test 2 weeks ago and although it was stressful the advice def. helped.

[heatherkfit]

I PASSED!!! This thread was very, very helpful. I also got the Upward Mobility App for Android that is based on the CPT 4 exam. SUPER HELPFUL. I didn't feel ready and was doubting my knowledge of the material even with 4.5 months of studying and then ended up getting through 3/4 of the test and going, wow I know for sure over 80% of this already and only some were marked as possibles I didn't know for sure or had never heard of before or I felt like all the answers could have been the best choice. THANKS!!

[papilucho]

Congrats! )

i find this site very helpful to train, you have a lot of flashcards ww.teachpe.com/anatomy/index.php

[LeoneStarr]

I am currently studying to take my exam soon. I have til October before the 180 days expires. If I pass the exam and decided to go after the NSCA CsCS certification, will that count as CEC by NASM?

[whitee27]

Do we need to know the formula for the Rockport Walk test? Thanks in advance!

[ccrump1212]

Just passed the test. This thread helped a lot. Overall I felt adequately prepared going in. Read the book all the way through, then went through again and took notes. Went through the online material and activities once and watched the videos again if I had a hard time understanding the book. Memorized the OHS table and made note cards for them. Also memorized the locations of each muscle in the appendix, read through the actions but mostly used the location to figure out what it did.

I studied for about 2 months ~5 days/week for about 3 hours, less over the last couple weeks. I got the Upward Mobility app earlier this week and went through all the questions and explanations but really didn't feel like it helped prepare me too much. Some of the question were worded terribly and there were also a couple blatant mistakes.

Things I can remember from the exam:
- know the difference between reciprocal inhibition and autogenic inhibition
- amount of water need to replace each lb of body weight lost post exercise
- SMART goals, needed to distinguish the difference between attainable and realistic
- different distortion (upper/lower/pronation) syndromes and their under/over-active muscles and which view they're taken from
- had a question about the 3-min step test
- had a question about youths and pregnant women and also one where the answer was either hypertension or arthritis (which might start with only 5 min of exercise)
- Also had a lot of questions on the cardiorespiratory zones

At the end I had ~15-20 marked and maybe 5 that I changed my answer to going back through.

Aside from the main post, posts #445, #454, and #469 were a huge help and there's some stuff on page 12 and 13. Thanks for making this thread.

[x1Dylan1x]

Brahs I got questions not about the test but how to take notes as going along

Only on chapter 2
I have the textbook and write down the vocab and outline but

There arnt any questions at the end of the chapter for me to answer so I can have an idea if I'm learning the right stuff or not . There are only summaries. Is there a site I can take chapter tests quizzes etc ? It just seems like a lot to take in . All 600 pages with rememberin and comprehending it all . Can't lie it's a little scary and I need some advice if you guys could help thanks

Just got the book 2 days ago I'm on page 24 just gettin into the skeletal system . I take notes and than it's just like ah the fook did I just read , than forget , than try an continue...

Am I working too fast paced ? Should I split it up notes one day than study the next on the notes I took. And etc ?

Any advice would be appreciated thanks !

[ccrump1212]

My suggestion would be to just read the book once without taking notes, watch the videos to get an idea of what they focus on and then skim through and take notes. The book is set up so that it all culminates and repeats throughout, so it kind of builds and puts it all together. Someone posted their notes in this thread, I pretty much followed their outline and updated it for the 4th edition (some chapter outlines are different).

I don't recall having anything about types of joints or bones but you should at least have an idea of what they are and where the major bones are located in the body.

Take a week to read the book (and ALL the tables, read EVERYTHING; it doesn't matter that you don't understand it at this point you just need to know that you read it), another to watch the videos and then another to take notes. At that point take the practice test to figure out what you remember and then add to your notes for things you didn't get. The posts I outlined in my post above yours outlined it pretty well.

Do you have the study guide?

[x1Dylan1x]

My suggestion would be to just read the book once without taking notes, watch the videos to get an idea of what they focus on and then skim through and take notes. The book is set up so that it all culminates and repeats throughout, so it kind of builds and puts it all together. Someone posted their notes in this thread, I pretty much followed their outline and updated it for the 4th edition (some chapter outlines are different).

I don't recall having anything about types of joints or bones but you should at least have an idea of what they are and where the major bones are located in the body.

Take a week to read the book (and ALL the tables, read EVERYTHING; it doesn't matter that you don't understand it at this point you just need to know that you read it), another to watch the videos and then another to take notes. At that point take the practice test to figure out what you remember and then add to your notes for things you didn't get. The posts I outlined in my post above yours outlined it pretty well.

Do you have the study guide?

My sister works at nysc so she had a personal trainer there let her borrow the book for me . So I can't use the online pass code to take all the pretests and exams and crap. I just have the text book .
First 4 chapters are all about skeletal, muscular , nervous system, cardiovascular , metabolism .

Than chapter 5 it gets into human movement and stuff . I might be over taking notes I just want to be prepared . You really recommend just reading the book? Nothing will make sense though lol! Ah

[ccrump1212]

Yeah, when I went through it the first time I didn't really have an idea where they were going with all the info they were throwing at me. It starts to come together though; it's kind of like saying "know this, this and this. Now here's how we put it together." I started by trying to take notes and it was taking too long for me to get through the chapter. I figured if I just read the chapter all the way through first then I'd have an idea of what was important; ended up just reading the whole book in a few days since it was easier than shifting my focus from the book to notes back to book. If you don't want to go through the whole book first just read the whole chapter or section, then go back and take notes. If you're going to make note cards for all the terms, copy them from the back of the book, not all the terms are bold in the chapters.

Since you don't have any of the extra materials, I'd suggest getting the Upward Mobility app at some point but don't memorize the answers because none of them were on my test. The app is more to reinforce the concepts. There's no real breakdown or order to the questions but it can be useful.

There is also another thread "NASM EXam" started by impala04 (thread started in 2008, can't post links yet) where adamsaa29 made a really good outline of what he thought was important on each chapter.

[AntiGlobalist]

I'm studying for the NASM right now. After reading through half the book decided that the passive reading just wasn't cutting it.

So now as I study I'm actively building a free comprehensive NASM study guide on my website here.

Have chapter one up, working on chapter 2 right now, going to devote at least 6 hours a day to this with the goal of passing it in 45 days. Should be doable. Good luck brahs.

[anselmoreal]

Thanks a lot for all the info here it was really helpful, I want to share some of my journey:

I only had the chance to study for less than a month because of personal problems and my expiration day was next Monday, I've been involve in the fitness industry for almost ten years and English is not my first language so it wasn't as easy as I though!

Here are some points:

1: read the whole book first! Try to comprehend as much as possible, I don't like to take notes and all that stuff but I'm weird!

2: remember you are not going to understand everything after each chapter so keep moving until you finish the book!

3: get the iPhone or android app with the red icon, I'm sure it's called nasm prep, take a practice test after each chapter.

4: when you are done with the book go true the 475 questions in the app, you can do a hundred per day unless you have plenty of time, make sure you understand it not just memorise it.

5: depending on how you are doing with the questions in the app make sure you go back to the book in case you don't feel prepare about any chapter!

6: read the original post in this thread once a day!

7: don't be nervous and be prepare to fail! Is not a big deal! Just 200$ more

8: when taking the exam(120 q) answer the first 60 questions that you are 90% sure that you know, that will give you around 50% chance to pass, then try to hussle the other 20% like your life depends on it, remember you need at least 70% to pass.

9: don't over complicate to much, if you want to be a smart ass that's cool if not just take care of you business, this is not easy but its not brain cirgury!!!

10: go to the movies and watch Pain and Gain!!! You deserve it!!!

[LeoneStarr]

I spent the last 15 days reading and doing activities on the nasm etrainer site, as well as the questions available at thepoint.

I also downloaded a few apps to, as well as PDF file of the book.

reading the book, then reading the PDF file on my iPod whenever I am commuting, then listen to the etrainer video clips seem to help a lot.

I took a practice test today and I got an 85.

I believe I have it all figure out. Most of the material was like review of what I already knew but forgot since I never really put thought into them.

The only section that seems to give me problems is the underacting and overacting muscles section. Any suggestions on how to best remember and understand this section?

I plan to spend the next 10 days reviewing that section some more, renew my cpr/AED card and then register for the exam.

I will also try to create a lean mass gaining workout program for myself just to see how well I know the opt model material without looking at the book.

[ccrump1212]

If you already know the locations of the muscles it's fairly easy to memorize the different conditions for the overhead squat chart. I just made a note card for each one: feet turn out, knees turn in... ect and on the back wrote down the underactive/overactive muscles. Also made another one for the stretching recommendations for each (didn't have enough room on the first) and just grilled those a couple times a day until I had them committed to memory. I'm pretty sure I had a question on from which view you'd recognize a condition and which exercise you'd do for a specific condition.

Also know the difference between pronation distortion syndrome, and upper and lower crossed syndrome. You'll get the imbalances from the squat chart if you memorize it but I think on my practice test I had one on an injury for people with lower crossed syndrome.

I actually learned most of the muscle locations from memorizing the chart but after a while, knowing the location helped me remember what was tight (overactive) and weak (underactive).

If they ask you which muscle you need to strengthen, it'll be the underactive; which on you'll stretch will be overactive.

[SDELITEPT]

Congrats to everybody who passed. I have some good notes if anyone wants them there only $10.00 by paypal. Just kidding just pm me and I will email them to you.. good luck to everybody. J

[AntiGlobalist]

How I've been studying:

Skim the chapter
Read the chapter closely while writing down all definition and main points(been making that time productive by creating a study guide on my website here http://www.thehealthygamer.com/free-...pass-your-cpt/ )
Then I'll watch the video on the chapter on the NASM website
After 4-5 chapters I set aside a day to take all the online quizzes on those chapters

Has helped my retention of the information TREMENDOUSLY. Srsly don't try to just read the book. You'll fail. You need to actively be writing things down and quizzing yourself to really comprehend and remember the material.

[papilucho]

Underactive rhomboids can present as which compensation?
A. Arms fall forward
B. shoulder elevate
C. low back arches
D. answer A and B

They say that the correct one is D " answer A and B"??
The correct answer is A "Arms fall forward"!!!
WTF?? Why so much mistakes in an application you pay and you expect efficiency!!!??!!!