How to Pass Your Personal Training Exam

How I studied and passed the ACE Personal Training Exam within 4 weeks

I’m sure you’re reading this for more reasons than just one. You want to know how to pass the ACE Personal Training Exam.

If you’re like me you procrastinated and procrastinated and kept telling yourself “I will get to study, tonight is the night, I’m going to do it, I still have several months left I can do this!!” And then you don’t….. and you’re upset and now you have less than 2 months to study and still don’t and then BOOM it hits you, you have exactly 4 weeks left until your exam date. You realize that retaking the exam is not really an option because lets face it.. who wants to spend another $200 on another test voucher?  Not me I said, so I started to cram, I asked questions in the facebook group, I messaged other trainers, googled and watched various videos and searched the ACE blog for tips.  One mistake I made other than procrastinating was not contacting my study coach. I finally did and low and behold she pretty much told me that it is a slim chance that I’ll pass……

Instead of letting those words “slim chance that I’ll pass” get to me I used it to fuel my fire. I’m a stay at home mom of 2 pregnant with my 3^rd running my own business, with as tired as I was how the heck was I going to pass this thing? I had told all of social media about my exam and my followers had faith in me that I could do it so I HAD to do it, to me there was no option. I had to have FAITH and BELIEF that I could do this and I did.

Everyday I sacrificed, some days I’d skip my workout just to study, I would read personal development to fuel my mind, spend time with God and pray hardcore! I studied but I just wasn’t getting it… I felt so lost, worried, and fearful that I would fail. I wanted to give up and say “screw it, I wasn’t meant to do this” but I kept going and with consistency of studying I finally got it in my head that YES I was indeed going to pass. Even though I didn’t know EVERYTHING I was confident that what I did know I knew well.

I studied 6+ hours a day, woke up at 5am studied from 5-7, nap time I studied 1-3, night time studied 8-10. My husband would take the girls for me so I could get some studying done on the days he could. God Bless him! I wouldn’t have passed without his help and taking them away for a while. I rested when I needed to, some days my brain was just shot and I literally could not learn anymore.

4 weeks, 2 kids, pregnant with my 3^rd I did it, I passed. When I saw my test score I was in shock, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I started crying! I thought did I really just pass? That was the hardest test I had EVER taken! I was confident going in but once I started answering the questions, I started to question myself and my knowledge of the material. I prayed a lot during the exam asked for God’s direction and went back through with enough time to submit. I scored a 583, not the best but it’s passing! I thank God for His hands on my exam!

So here’s the breakdown of the key things I did to pass:

·     * Sacrifice wherever you can: TV, activities, entertainment, etc.

·      *Be committed! Don’t go to sleep until you reached a certain process goal, for me I wanted to read 2 chapters a day & MAKE A PROCESS GOAL

·      *Work 45 minutes on and 15 minutes off- this helps to refuel your brain and reconnect- set yourself a timer don’t exhaust yourself to the point where you are no longer learning, YOU NEED BREAKS

·      *Close all other distractions, cell phone OFF, TV off, if using the web for your studies close all browsers not necessary for studying

·      *Type or write notes- it helped me to retain it better because I was rewording it in my own understanding

·      *Use the elite series study videos- I would read a chapter, complete the master the manual, watch the video and take the quiz. If I was lost on something I would post in the facebook groupß-- make sure you do this as this was very helpful for me

·      *Chapter 7-10 VERY HARD AND VERY IMPORTANT- focus on these chapters, reread them, redo the quizzes, redo the master the manual. Understand how certain muscles move and different exercises work. Do it to yourself, your partner, you child whatever just do it! Don’t just read the material DO the actions. Point to your muscles and bones to understand where is what. Understanding the major muscles and bones will help you understand how various exercises and tests work what muscles.

·      *While working out watch the DVD’s provided with your book- while I did my workout (in my living room) I would play the DVD from each book- Manual and Exercise Science, over and over each day so it became repetitive. I do recommend watching them first while sitting down with no distractions but after that watch and play them while you workout.

·      *Pray and pray and pray some more. Affirm yourself “I can pass the exam” positive self talk, personal development whatever you can do to boost your mind to gain the belief that you can pass…. “whether you think you can or cant…. You’re right”~ Henry Ford 

I only read in the manual chapter 1-10 and exercise science chapter 1 3 & 4. I used the online Elite video series, the master the manual and my study coach. I did not use the flash cards. I had 2 practice exams that I took over and over and over again.  It was hard work don’t get me wrong but I was determined to pass. I reread things I didn’t understand. I don’t recommended only reading those chapters that I read, I recommend ALL of them. Be focused, determined, and disciplined. Good luck <3