The ACE Personal Trainer Certification exam is designed to assess the candidate's ability to make safe and effective decisions within the scope of practice of a personal trainer. The knowledge, skills and abilities tested include developing rapport during initial and subsequent meetings with clients, collecting adequate baseline information and conducting appropriate assessments with clients, designing and modifying client exercise programs to help them progress towards their goals, motivating clients to exercise and adhere to their programs, and always acting in a professional manner within the personal trainer's scope of practice.
What’s covered on the exam?
Questions on the ACE Personal Trainer Certification exam are categorized into the following four topic areas, with foundational science knowledge key to the first three content areas.
Client Interview and Assessment: Conducting appropriate baseline and follow-up assessments is important for client safety and effective program design. Baseline assessments should start with questionnaires and interviews that help you gather information about a client's health history, current and previous injuries and ailments, current activity level, exercise preferences, time available to train, support from family and friends, and fitness goals and expectations. This information will assist the personal trainer in identifying health conditions and risk factors that may necessitate referral to a physician prior to exercise participation, determine the client's initial recommended level of intensity for cardiorespiratory exercise, and help the personal trainer determine appropriate tests to conduct to assess the client's cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, body composition, posture, balance, and functional movement. Follow-up assessments conducted at periodic intervals provide an important measure of client improvements. It is important to gain a clients informed consent before conducting physical assessments, as some clients may not want to participate in certain physical assessments such as body composition.
Program Design and Implementation: Each client's program should be designed specifically to meet the needs of that individual. It should take into account the client's health history, prior injuries, current fitness levels, time to train and fitness assessments. A quality program should be designed to progress the client towards his/her goals in a safe and effective manner. A crucial step in this process is working with the client to set goals that are realistic and achievable in the projected timeframe. Personal trainers must regularly design programs for new clients and also for existing clients each time they reach a goal, have a setback, have a change in their health status and following reassessments of fitness.
Program Progression, Modification, and Maintenance: Exercise program adherence is a key to long term success. Personal trainers play an important role in helping clients to stay motivated by including appropriate program modifications to help clients stay motivated and progressing towards their goals. These adjustments go beyond sets and repetitions, requiring the personal trainer to become an educator and motivator to help clients overcome barriers, recognize successes and gain the self-efficacy to remain engaged in the program week after week.
Professional Role and Responsibilities: Personal trainers are an important part of the allied healthcare continuum because they help clients to effectively reduce their risks for certain diseases and improve fitness and function following orthopedic or cardiac rehabilitation. As such, it is crucial for personal trainers to conduct themselves according to sound professional ethics to decrease risk of harm to clients and to maintain the public's trust. Personal trainers can achieve much of this by always working within their scope of practice, understanding their legal and ethical responsibilities to clients, colleagues, and other allied healthcare professionals, always following fair business practices, maintaining liability insurance and having plans in place for dealing with emergency situations.
Foundational Knowledge (Applied Sciences): Personal trainers must have a basic understanding of the foundational sciences as they apply to exercise for the apparently healthy individuals. They must also understand how injuries, diseases, disorders and medications can impact a client's ability to participate in an exercise program. As such, personal trainers should gain working knowledge in exercise physiology, kinesiology, biomechanics, anatomy, motor learning, nutrition, weight management, stress management, basic behavioral sciences and medications and substance abuse. These topics apply to Client Interview and Assessment, Program Design and Implementation, and Program Progression, Modification, and Management.
What's the exam format?
The ACE Personal Trainer Certification exam consists of two sections.
150-question multiple choice exam: Tests a candidate's knowledge in the five exam content domains.
Written simulation test with two client scenarios: Tests a candidate’s practical knowledge using two real-life situational problems which assess decision-making skills in designing, implementing and modifying an exercise program. View additional information on the Written Simulation.
How is the exam scored?
The multiple choice exam makes up 75% of a candidate's final score, with the written simulation problems making up the remaining 25%. Candidates must achieve a combined score of 500 or more points out of 800 possible points to earn an ACE Personal Trainer Certification. It is important to note that the multiple choice exam has 25 experimental items that are being evaluated for potential use on future exams, so only 125 of the multiple choice questions are actually scored.
How many exam questions will be from each topic area?
Each ACE exam is designed according to exam content outline for that particular certification. Download the ACE Personal Trainer Exam Content Outline.
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