I got my American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM-CPT) certification!
I guess I’m someone who really learns through my body. Back in college, I especially loved anatomy because I could feel those structures on myself. By observing my body, I could feel the presence of each part, try to see how they change under different conditions, and verify what the textbooks said.
During my internship, learning about exercise prescription in PM&R was really interesting too. Even though I’m not a particularly sporty person, it gave me another discipline where I could observe the body. Trying to dissect the mechanics of a movement and imagining what’s happening inside is really fascinating! Maybe that’s also why I eventually chose PM&R~
I’m starting PM&R this September, so I figured I’d use this time to build up my sports medicine knowledge, and get a certification along the way to pressure myself to keep studying. After looking around online, ACSM seemed very suitable for people with a medical background. It also has the lowest pass rate among the top five certifications—53% for US test-takers (masochistic much? XD). So I signed up for Professor Lin Chia-Chih’s ACSM-CPT course in May, and managed to pass the exam on the very last day of the month!!
I’m genuinely thrilled, because the questions were more flexible than I expected. They also tested a lot on US law, insurance, and even psychology. There isn’t much shared online about the exam questions, so I wanted to share my experience and tips to give anyone interested a point of reference~