ACSM Certified Group Exercise Instructor !
ACSM Group Exercise Instructors® are fitness professionals who teach, lead, and motivate individuals through intentionally-designed exercise classes. ACSM GEIs are high-achievers inside and outside the group studio – not only do they excel at planning effective, exercise science-based group sessions for different fitness levels, they also possess a wealth of motivational and leadership techniques that help their classes achieve fitness goals.
ACSM Group Exercise Instructors® provide safe instruction across many class types and equipment sets, from aerobics, to bicycles and beyond. Because of their excellent communication skills, ACSM GEIs work in gyms and health clubs, as well as community, university, and corporate facilities – whether there’s headset and a stereo system or just an open gym.
Guess what guys? I got another certification!
Soon after I received my personal training certification the books were in my mailbox for ACSM's Group Exercise a Instructor. Like the CPT it did not require me to have a bachelor's in Exercise Science, I mean nutrition is close enough right? Anyway, this certification would earn me extra credibility with teaching group classes, creating my own, becoming a group ex director, working with corporate settings, etc. I also found this as a great opportunity to continue my journey of educational advancement.
Now studying for this test was a whole other ballgame. Similar to my CPT I actually had my books for a year before taking the exam ( I'm a slow reader). On and off I was reading, planning something else, or just not being focused. I only needed one extra book which was the resources for group exercise instructor because I already had the other. Finding advice on studying was troublesome however.
Not many wrote articles on their process to studying the chapters after reading the book. If they did write an article it was just that they received it and not specifically what to study most. I understand that remembering whats types of questions on the exam is hard, because i couldn't, but its a great insight if your on track to studying the right stuff. In addition, contrary to the CPT, there weren't any apps I could find to also help with studying. Anywho I'll divulge my methods below:
After taking a year to read the book cover to cover the first thing I did was find the closest app for the group instructor exam. This app was called pocketbook group fitness certification I believe for NASM. I did not use this much because of that but you could explore to see if you recognize some questions from our book. Next I also went to quiz-let and researched for specific study cards made for the ACSM CPT. I came across a few that were separated by chapters, not all of them, then another with general mix of all chapters.
I printed these out sheet form since it was easier to carry but your welcome to also use them in index form once you create a free login. I had about 2-3 weeks until my test; I recommend that you read these everyday before you go back to study through the book. Another thing I did was print out the exam analysis that ACSM provides with the KS breakdown and I labeled each letter with the chapter that contained it. The plan was to figure out which ones I didn't know so much and read those sections first and more often.
As you can see from the photo below my Score wasn't as great as my CPT. I believe this is because I did not begin my methods earlier enough and I took so long to read the book that the beginning chapters probably got lost in my head so it would have been great to read the book again. But I am proud of once again accomplishing a goal and I am sure if you use these methods you too will accomplish this goal. Please share with your peers and others who may be taking the test because this may be of help!
P.S. I am also including some links to the items I referenced within this post.
Join the my ACSM GEI Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Acsmgei/
https://quizlet.com/subject/acsm-gei/
Take a look at Kim & Pryd study cards which are the ones I used
GEI Exam Blueprint (Follow the % on what to study first after you complete book)
http://certification.acsm.org/gei-domains
Group Fitness Instructor Exam Prep 2015 by Pocket Prep, Inc.
https://appsto.re/us/UkPNP.i ( For NASM however)