[bipennate]

From my "CSCS Blog" (Link is in my signature...it's hard to believe that it was 2 years ago already!):

August 6---The Big Day

Wow. Ok, so here's what happened:

I was SUPPOSED to wake up at 6:30 for my 8am test, but of course I was awake at around 5:45...I got up, ate breakfast, and got dressed. My best friend, whose apartment I crashed at (she lives uptown) made me a mix of the 'Garden State Soundtrack' and put it onto her MP3 player for me: VERY relaxing songs, and it really helped me to stay calm while taking the subway downtown! With coffee in hand, I got off of the subway at about 7:15, and sat in the park and read my notes for about 20 minutes, then moved to the Starbucks across the street. I ran into someone else preparing for the test (turns out that he was taking the CPT, not CSCS), and he had been studying since JANUARY...!!! I don't know how hard this stuff is, but I couldn't imagine preparing for that long!

I walked into the building promptly at 8am, only to discover that I probably should have read the instructions a bit more carefully: the test was scheduled to start at 8:30, not 8. I'm a dumb@$$!

Of course, it didn't actually start at 8:30 either: By the time we cracked open the test booklets, it was 9:30. At this point, the morning coffee has gone through my bladder like a bullet train, and considering the fact that I already have the bladder size of a walnut and the control of a pregnant dog, it was amazing that I didn't explode in the test room!

First half: 80 questions, primarily exercise science. MUCH harder than any of the practice questions that I had been drilling with! I would say, on average, they were roughly twice as hard as the online questions that I posted the link to last month! Most of them were fair, however: you just had to really understand your physiology so that you could construct the situation described in your head and deduce the answer. There were very few straightforward questions. Of course, there were some completely off-the-wall, couldn't even recall seeing it in the book-type questions which I had to reach deep into my experience to even come close to answering, but all-in-all, I felt pretty good. I was reading a little during the one hour break, and came across the answers to a few of the questions that I had been unsure of, and I was right on all counts, so I felt decent.

Part two started with the video practical: that was a joke! Very easy questions, mostly form and technique, and I felt very confident with my answers, for the most part. In fact, I felt pretty good about the second half of the test (110 questions) all-together!

Did I 'ace' it? Probably not: I'm sure that I made a number of mistakes that I'm unaware of. But I would be very dissapointed if I have not passed. But you never know. I spoke with a number of individuals that were taking the test for the 2nd time, so I don't want to be too confident. Hopefully, that won't be me, but if it is, then I'll just have to go back and study some more!

Advice for those who plan on taking the CSCS: KNOW YOUR PHYSIOLOGY AND ENDOCRINE AND ADAPTIVE RESPONSE TO EXERCISE!!! Lot's of questions based on that material. And you really need to understand it, not just have definitions memorized. There were a fair number of detail questions as well, but nothing too random. If I passed it, I definitely earned it!!!

Thanks to all of the guys who posted warm wishes! I really appreciate it, and I hope that everyone has enjoyed this account of my test experience. I will be getting results in about 6-8 weeks, according to the testing service...now, it's just sit back and wait...

But tonight, I'm going out and having a drink!!!

BTW: I passed Best of luck, but I'm sure that you did well: No worries! That six weeks will seem like forever, though If you're lucky, it will be more like 4