How To Be overprepared for the NASM

[Charlie581]

I think i may be taking too many notes (sounds silly i know) but i find that im taking multiple pages and writing just about everything the online session say. As well, i am taking much longer than the study planner suggests on the sessions (im on chpt 2 and it is taking longer than expected, due to notes on EVERYTHING) Am i being to anal about it and i should take less and just focus on flash cards, or am I in the right state of mind here?

I guess im worried i will take to long and run out of time to take the test

[Kataz]

What is a good idea of the exam rates and study material rates? I'm sure this has already been covered somewhere. forgive me

I've looked at the NASM site but is it really $600 to just take the test?? Are there other good sources to deal with then the official site for material and whatnot?

Thank you!

They have sales every couple of months.

I think i may be taking too many notes (sounds silly i know) but i find that im taking multiple pages and writing just about everything the online session say. As well, i am taking much longer than the study planner suggests on the sessions (im on chpt 2 and it is taking longer than expected, due to notes on EVERYTHING) Am i being to anal about it and i should take less and just focus on flash cards, or am I in the right state of mind here?

I guess im worried i will take to long and run out of time to take the test

Depends on your learning style. I'm an audio-visual learner. I don't learn very well if I take notes because it distracts me. Keep in mind this isn't school, you can relive the same lecture OVER AND OVER until you understand the material.It does also depend on your background. I was a Bio major so I basically did the entire first section about the nervous, muscular, cardiovascular, etc in 1 sitting because it was review. Likewise, if you're a very experienced lifter and know anatomy, a lot of stuff will be easy mode later in the book since you won't need to memorize exercises and will already have a decent grasp of agonists, antagonists, synergists, and stabilizers for each exercise.

I would honestly sit down and just listen through the non science parts and then go back and take notes the second time, you're in NO RUSH to learn, you don't NEED to fret about notes right away! Ever read a textbook then go to lecture and notice how stupid easy it was to understand the second time?

[crazyjess]

Well, crazy.. how did it go?

I PASSED!!!! The test was even harder than I could have imagined. LOTS of questions about isolated functions, upper & lower crossed, & pronation distortion. Not too many over/under active muscle questions. It took me about 75 minutes. I flagged about 20 questions for review and then went back and did those...and then went back through all the questions one more time and changed a few answers. Extremely happy to have passed!!! I studied 5 hours every day for about 6 weeks...I felt like if I couldn't do it in one try, I probably couldn't do it at all. LOL ;-)

[Bradster101190]

I PASSED!!!! The test was even harder than I could have imagined. LOTS of questions about isolated functions, upper & lower crossed, & pronation distortion. Not too many over/under active muscle questions. It took me about 75 minutes. I flagged about 20 questions for review and then went back and did those...and then went back through all the questions one more time and changed a few answers. Extremely happy to have passed!!! I studied 5 hours every day for about 6 weeks...I felt like if I couldn't do it in one try, I probably couldn't do it at all. LOL ;-)

Congratulations, hard work pays off.

I think i may be taking too many notes (sounds silly i know) but i find that im taking multiple pages and writing just about everything the online session say. As well, i am taking much longer than the study planner suggests on the sessions (im on chpt 2 and it is taking longer than expected, due to notes on EVERYTHING) Am i being to anal about it and i should take less and just focus on flash cards, or am I in the right state of mind here?

I guess im worried i will take to long and run out of time to take the test

Do whatever you need to be the most successful , as you get more and more comfortable with the style and basic knowledge of the book you will speed up ,but your doing it exactly right. Comprehension not memorization.

[Bradster101190]

I passed NASM CPT test this morning. This was my second try and if it wasn't for the Bradster I would have given up on my goal. It was challenging and I still wasn't sure if I had pass. There was much praying going on in that testing center today. I finished early, but me being the over thinker stayed to check over questions/answers until they kicked me out. Thank you everyone on this forum for your help. Thank you Bradster!

This made my day , no month and made all the work I put into this thread worth it 10x over with a single reply. Thank you very much and congratulations.

[ChessGuy]

I PASSED!!!! The test was even harder than I could have imagined. LOTS of questions about isolated functions, upper & lower crossed, & pronation distortion. Not too many over/under active muscle questions. It took me about 75 minutes. I flagged about 20 questions for review and then went back and did those...and then went back through all the questions one more time and changed a few answers. Extremely happy to have passed!!! I studied 5 hours every day for about 6 weeks...I felt like if I couldn't do it in one try, I probably couldn't do it at all. LOL ;-)

Congratulations!

[VRGuzma3]

So I'm takin my test this Saturday in Chicago...pretty nervous but I know all this studying will pay off. With how many practice tests, chapters read, reviews I've done, blog posts read, etc I better pass. Just curious to see what people focus on when doing some last minute cramming on the day before or do most just go over everything?

[GriffOGriff]

So I'm takin my test this Saturday in Chicago...pretty nervous but I know all this studying will pay off. With how many practice tests, chapters read, reviews I've done, blog posts read, etc I better pass. Just curious to see what people focus on when doing some last minute cramming on the day before or do most just go over everything?

I went over the acute variables at the last minute. Wish I would have spent more time on special populations because I had about 5 or more questions on that chapter. Wish you well!! Griff.

[to1790]

So I'm takin my test this Saturday in Chicago...pretty nervous but I know all this studying will pay off. With how many practice tests, chapters read, reviews I've done, blog posts read, etc I better pass. Just curious to see what people focus on when doing some last minute cramming on the day before or do most just go over everything?

Hey man, I just passed my exam earlier this morning for the NASM CPT. The things I would say to study at the last minute before going in are just reiterating the Overactive/Underactive muscles for the assessments as well as knowing the reps/tempo/amount of exercises for each Phase 1-5.

Overall I thought the exam wasn't too bad. My advice is when you start the test, do not get frustrated and don't be afraid to mark and skip over questions and come back. Just keep on cruising through the test until you reach some questions you are positive about to help you build some confidence, then go back and re-read what you've marked and you'll feel better. After my first 5 questions I was nervous because they were wordy/a little tricky and indirect, but you will settle in after a bit. I studied for about 3 weeks total for a few hours a day and all I used was the book that I bought off Amazon for like 18 bucks. Like you said, use all teh online resources available.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO DOWNLOAD AN APP CALLED *QUIZLET*. There are a ton of flashcard sets that people have already made which are great for review. You can visit their website from the computer too!

[to1790]

I think i may be taking too many notes (sounds silly i know) but i find that im taking multiple pages and writing just about everything the online session say. As well, i am taking much longer than the study planner suggests on the sessions (im on chpt 2 and it is taking longer than expected, due to notes on EVERYTHING) Am i being to anal about it and i should take less and just focus on flash cards, or am I in the right state of mind here?

I guess im worried i will take to long and run out of time to take the test

Hey man, just passed my test this morning. I know what you're saying, here is my advice. DON'T TAKE VIGOROUS AMOUNTS OF NOTES WHILE READING THE TEXTBOOK THE FIRST TIME. What you SHOULD do is just read through the book the first time and the only notes you need to take are to jot down certain concepts that you dont fully comprehend the first time through. I say this because reading the book once through will give you a great base knowledge to start from that sort of encloses everything. Once you've read through the book you will know that you now have formed this sort of bubble of information where you've seen everything at least once. This is important because it will help you comprehend things much better when you've read all the chapters. Things will connect better and there will be a better sense of meshing of information when you've seen everything once. THEN, once you've read the book once, take a practice exam. The score of the practice exam isnt important, whats important is that the practice exam will help you identify areas you need to go back through. As you take the practice test jot down what questions you missed/didnt fully know, and then you will have a database of information for review. At that point, go back through the material and try to grasp those weak concepts further, and then repeat the process of testing yourself and identifying weak areas. By layering like this you are able to save time and also quickly see what you do and dont know.

Don't sweat it if reading through the book the first time some things don't make sense, it's a process! Read the book to get a base of information and everything will start to connect and flow better and going back through and reviewing areas will make a lot more sense! Best of luck :]

[Charlie581]

Hey man, just passed my test this morning. I know what you're saying, here is my advice. DON'T TAKE VIGOROUS AMOUNTS OF NOTES WHILE READING THE TEXTBOOK THE FIRST TIME. What you SHOULD do is just read through the book the first time and the only notes you need to take are to jot down certain concepts that you dont fully comprehend the first time through. I say this because reading the book once through will give you a great base knowledge to start from that sort of encloses everything. Once you've read through the book you will know that you now have formed this sort of bubble of information where you've seen everything at least once. This is important because it will help you comprehend things much better when you've read all the chapters. Things will connect better and there will be a better sense of meshing of information when you've seen everything once. THEN, once you've read the book once, take a practice exam. The score of the practice exam isnt important, whats important is that the practice exam will help you identify areas you need to go back through. As you take the practice test jot down what questions you missed/didnt fully know, and then you will have a database of information for review. At that point, go back through the material and try to grasp those weak concepts further, and then repeat the process of testing yourself and identifying weak areas. By layering like this you are able to save time and also quickly see what you do and dont know.

Don't sweat it if reading through the book the first time some things don't make sense, it's a process! Read the book to get a base of information and everything will start to connect and flow better and going back through and reviewing areas will make a lot more sense! Best of luck :]

This actually helped a lot. I think what im going to do then is read through the book and make some flash cards only (Purely reading through it will be MUCH easier on me, as i am a rather fast reader and i also take to flash cards well in studying). Once im through the book and notes cards, I think ill go through all the E-Learning center presentations, and anything i feel i still am struggling with, i will THEN take more extensive notes on.

After this, take the practice test, find what i am struggling with, and review notes/note cards or possible make more. THen repeat this process until it's time to take the real exam.

Thanks a bunch man, this actually helped a ton. My biggest issue was just trying to plan on how to get through this but i think i got it now!


Tons of pages of notes per section was hell and taking way too much time for such small sections, glad i have found a new strategy

[bigrayjr]

Passed that test I thought it was difficult me and my friend went together. I actually thought I failed when the girl said I passed could not believe it. My friend thought the same. The way the word the questions is different. I studied hard applications,book,notes from you guys thanks by the way to all that helped. Now I hope someplace will hire me.

[Slappy]

I've got two chapters left and have felt good thus far. Some chapters were a little more in depth so I took more time to learn it, that way it would make sense later on in other chapters. I started very end of November so the only downfall(if you wanna call it that) is that what I learned in the beginning may not be as fresh on my mind. But I can plan on knocking the last two chapters out by the weekend, taking the online exam, and the NASM app that I purchased to see what areas I may be weak in. Then going over those in the book for detail, and also going over the other points mentioned throughout this thread that others have outlined. I've implemented some things into my own routine as well, for one because I'm more of a doer than a visual learner/reader.

Thanks to all that have offered advice or insight on this course also!! Because I will be continuing to use it as I go back over everything.

[Charlie581]

Realizing how much more understandable everything is when i read the book, make flashcards, and then watch the online videos

Compared to JUST watching the videos and taking notes on everything the online videos say.

Im getting a much better understanding of the concepts now Time to get caught up on the work!

[DanFitnessMan]

Hey guys. First time posting here. I found the post interesting for Nasm. I was curious, has anyone here done the Nasm PES exam? Im in canada and they recognize NSCA and CSEP more, but NASM is starting to make some noise in the North. When i saw you can take the exams online by their website i was curious. I already got my nsca cscs and exercise physiologist with csep the top canadian fitness organization here but wondered what you guys think if its worth the money to invest career wise? Thanks

[Slappy]

This is what I "should" have done. But I went chapter by chapter, online presentation, read the chapter, and made flash cards. But I've got about 7 or so weeks left before my time is up, so I'm actually running back through the online activities now and gonna read back over everything. It's already coming together more. We'll see how I fair on the practice exam.

Realizing how much more understandable everything is when i read the book, make flashcards, and then watch the online videos

Compared to JUST watching the videos and taking notes on everything the online videos say.

Im getting a much better understanding of the concepts now Time to get caught up on the work!

[RALC]

I'll take the international certification because I don´t live in the US, but I´ve been following this forum advises and at least in the preparation exam I passed it. I´ll let you know if I pass the real one. this forum really helps!

[jmparnell]

Hi! Thanks for all the information posted here. I just received my shipment of study materials and am so excited to get startedI I have seen on this forum and on other sites mention of dvd's and mp3's of the audio. Was I supposed to receive them in my package or is there something I should order in addition to the Platinum kit? Any information would be great!!

[jham66]

Studied every single day for around 7 weeks. 3-6 hours a day..

Watched the online videos, then would read the chapter.. 1 to 2 chapters a day.. Made flashcards on the vocab.

Highest score I got on the practice tests was in the 60s.. took the exam and was surprised how easy it seemed compared to the practice tests, finished with 45 minutes to spare and passed! So if you're struggling studying, just keep at it, all that matters is the actual test.

[Slappy]

Hi! Thanks for all the information posted here. I just received my shipment of study materials and am so excited to get startedI I have seen on this forum and on other sites mention of dvd's and mp3's of the audio. Was I supposed to receive them in my package or is there something I should order in addition to the Platinum kit? Any information would be great!!

I may be wrong, but I think that was the 3rd edition.

Studied every single day for around 7 weeks. 3-6 hours a day..

Watched the online videos, then would read the chapter.. 1 to 2 chapters a day.. Made flashcards on the vocab.

Highest score I got on the practice tests was in the 60s.. took the exam and was surprised how easy it seemed compared to the practice tests, finished with 45 minutes to spare and passed! So if you're struggling studying, just keep at it, all that matters is the actual test.

Dang congrats!! I had seen some people suggest trying to get to a 90 on the practice test before the final exam.

Im almost done going back over all the activities for a refresher basically, then I'm going to take the practice test to see what I score and areas I should brush up on.

[RALC]

I passed the international exam!! thank you all!! It wasn´t easy. I had many question from the NASM app, preparation exam and the questionnaire you can access with the code that comes in the book at the "thepoint "web page, so use those resources . And yes you have to learn the table 7.6 in the 4th edition book (page 183), follow the study guide learn each and every subject areas it says. Also follow the recommendations from others in this forum. I studied in a non conventional way because I was in bed because an injury for about 6 month, so I studied at least 12 hours, every single day for 2 months.

[ChessGuy]

Congratulations!

What a coincidence, though. I purchased some white grapes to make wine yesterday and the boxes had printed on them; "Product of Chile".

[RALC]

thanks!! I hope you enjoy that wine but, if not, you can get some good wines from Chile´s valleys of course. (jut kidding)

[Calskinny]

have been lurking this thread for a little while now, but can happily say that I passed the exam this morning. Big advocate for studying in smaller chunks over a larger period of time vs cramming, also understanding the functions of each muscle group helped alot.

[veryvera]

I took this test and passed my first try. all i can say is you have to study study study i took hand written notes on the dash board presitation i now have a hand written nasm book no joke hand written 350 pages it really made it sink in for me. plus i made over 300 flash cards and studied a month straight. i am a smart girl and have taken tons of test i swear its harder than the SATS. dont under study you will just screw yourself. it a hards test as it should be but the PES and CES are not as hard at all. let just say when i went to the testing center the lady expected me to fail becasue she says everyone does al least twice. if you know your **** you will pass simple as that; oh and yes i so agree study it little chuncks make sure you know everything befor eyou move on thats a great tip for that one guy thunbs up sure way to get it all in

[sandrider]

Been studying now for 6 months. Planning on taking the test second week of April. Does anyone recommend the b+c practice exams they sell on the website? I really need all the help with gameday right around the corner.

[Slappy]

Been studying now for 6 months. Planning on taking the test second week of April. Does anyone recommend the b+c practice exams they sell on the website? I really need all the help with gameday right around the corner.

I haven't purchased any extras through NASM, and just used the book, online exam, NASM U App, and The Point(some extra little tests inside there). Then again I haven't taken the final exam yet either, but that's approaching.

Someone mentioned a test or something you could purchase through NASM and it was a money back guarantee type deal. Like a prep before the final exam. It's in the last couple pages I think.

[DBLBacn]

Not sure if this was posted ITT before but if anybody is looking for some randomly generated practice exams that are different each time check out:

www.medpreps.com

They have focus quizzes broken down by section as well as complete exams. It's probably the best $30 I spent towards getting prepared for the exam.

Hope this can help somebody!

[Kataz]

I found the B+C tests to be helpful. My .02

[NOTNOWCHlEF]

This is a great thread guys! I just ordered my NASM CPT kit yesterday, figured I'd go through and take notes from this thread. I got about 11 pages of tips from everyone here, so thanks! (I also printed the study guide from NASM)

Im sure this wont be my last post in here