To get the coveted CSCS personal training certification you have to take one of the most grueling and challenging exams in the entire industry. In fact, it’s estimated that around 40% of the people who attempt this exam fail. This is a fairly staggering statistic and one that should make you think twice about how you are preparing for such a challenging exam.
While the CSCS exam is hard, the truth is it is far from impossible. Getting the passing score that you deserve comes down to hard work, intelligent studying, and wise resource management leading up to the exam. One of the most powerful tools you can use when getting ready for the CSCS exam is a CSCS practice test.
But why does a practice test help improve your chances of getting a passing score on of the hardest personal training exams? How does a practice exam give you the advantage you need to leverage your time, skill, and knowledge to get the score you want?
Here is everything you need to know about why taking a CSCS practice exam is well worth your time, and why it should be a necessary element in your study regime.
How Big Is the CSCS Exam?
When you are preparing for a challenging exam, you have to get real about a couple of your most valuable resources. Those resources are your time, attention, and energy. Preparing for an exam takes all three of these, and depending on the size and intensity of the exam, can place quite the tax on them.
The simple truth about any exam is that there is no such thing as a silver bullet. There’s no magical way of simply doing well on an exam, or getting the grade you want by sheer will force. No, the best, and most tried and true way of doing well on exams is to simply know the content. Part of preparing yourself to master that knowledge is knowing what to expect on the exam, and how much volume will be there.
When it comes to the CSCS exam, it’s not a lightweight by any stretch of the imagination. This exam is composed of seven different categories that are divided into two large sections. The first section of the exam covers scientific foundations and is composed of three categories, Exercise Science, Sports Psychology, and Nutrition. This section alone has a total of 95 questions with 80 scored questions and 15 non-scored questions.
The second section makes up the last four categories and covers the practical and applied knowledge. This section contains the categories Exercise Technique, Program Design, Organization and Administration, and lastly, Testing and Evaluation. This is the largest section of the test, is estimated to take 2.5 hours to complete, and is composed of 125 questions.
Do I Really Need to Take Practice Exam For a 4-Hour Test?
One of the most grueling aspects of the CSCS, and one of the reasons that people struggle to pass this exam, is in fact its length. The hard part about exams that are not only dense and challenging in content, but also taxingly long, is that it forces you to get good at two things. On the one hand, you have to master the knowledge necessary to answer your questions correctly, but on the other hand, you have to develop the skill of paying attention for long periods of time.
In fact, the skill that comes with being able to take a four-hour-long exam has its own discipline altogether. While it may be tempting to tell yourself that since the test itself is so long, you don’t have to submit yourself to a comparably long practice test, this can very much hurt your chances of a good score.
One of the most beneficial aspects of a practice exam isn’t just an assessment of your current knowledge of the material, it’s an assessment of your ability to endure. Staying focused and invested in an exam for a matter of hours takes a level of skill that has to be developed. If you don’t, then it’s possible to let boredom, anxiety, or lack of focus steal questions that you otherwise should have conquered.
Conclusion: Practice Exams Help You Focus Your Energy
The CSCS book has all the necessary information you need to answer each question perfectly, however, it is over 650 pages long. Without direction to study the information relevant to your exam, you will have an incredible amount of struggle when it comes to testing well. There’s simply too much information in the book that the exam won’t cover.
A practice exam can not only help your endurance, but it can help to hone your attention on exam-heavy material and not on material that won’t be reflected in the exam. It will test your knowledge over areas that are relevant to your upcoming exam, and help you to focus your time and energy where it needs to be.
For all of these reasons, it’s easy to see that a practice test for the CSCS is well worth your time.
