NSCA Certification: NSCA-CPT Exam Cost and Format

NSCA-CPT Paper/Pencil Exam Cost

NSCA Member	Early Registration Deadline	Registration Cutoff
Initial registration fee	$235	$270
Retake fee	$185	$220
Nonmember
Initial registration fee	$370	$405
Retake fee	$320	$355

NSCA-CPT Computer-Based Exam Cost

NSCA Member	Registration Fee
Initial registration fee	$285
Retake fee	$235
Nonmember
Initial registration fee	$420
Retake fee	$370

To achieve certification as an NSCA-CPT, candidates are required to pass a challenging 3-hour written examination that includes 140 scored multiple-choice questions and 10 nonscored multiple-choice questions focusing on client consultation/assessment, program planning, exercise techniques, safety/emergency procedures and legal issues. The first 35 questions correspond to a video that assesses knowledge primarily in the areas of exercise techniques, functional anatomy and fitness testing protocols.

This exam contains 28 scored questions on client consultation/fitness assessment, 49 scored questions on program planning, 49 scored questions on exercise techniques and 14 scored questions on safety/emergency issues.

Domain	Percent of Exam Section	Number of Questions
Client Consultation/Assessment	23%	32
Program Planning	32%	45
Techniques of Exercise	32%	45
Safety, Emergency Procedures and Legal Issues	13%	18
Nonscored Questions*	-	10
Total	100%	150
Number of video questions (already included in the total)		35
Length of exam		3 hours

*For more information on nonscored questions, please refer to the NSCA-CPT Exam Candidate Handbook.

Client Consultation/Assessment: initial interview, health appraisal/medical history review, fitness evaluation, basic nutrition and weight management

Program Planning: goal setting, program design, training adaptations and special populations

Exercise Techniques: resistance machines, free weights, cardiovascular machines and non-machine exercise techniques

Explanation of Nonscored Exam Questions

The NSCA-CPT exam contains nonscored questions that are being "pretested" or evaluated for future use. Including this type of question allows the NSCA-CPT Exam Development Committee to collect meaningful information about new questions that may appear as real scored questions on future exams.

Pretesting is accomplished by interspersing new ("untried") questions throughout the exam (10 nonscored questions appear in the NSCA-CPT exam). Only this small number is included so that additional testing time will not be needed by exam candidates. These questions are not scored as part of a candidate’s certification exam, and they do not affect an individual’s pass/fail status. The nonscored questions are scattered throughout the exam so candidates will answer them with the same effort that they give to the actual scored questions.

To keep the NSCA-CPT exam reflective of current job-related duties, new questions must continuously be introduced and evaluated. Pretesting is an accepted testing practice that creates a statistically sound standardized exam and allows candidates to receive scores that are based only on previously used (“tried”) questions. Nonscored pretest questions also appear on the computer-based exam format to provide the same testing experience to all candidates, regardless of which exam format a candidate chooses.