ACE Exam Questions

The day I took the ACE Fitness Exam, I came home and made a list of all the topics and questions I could remember. If you’re taking the exam, here’s the best advice I can share on what is on it and what to study!

• Anatomy: mostly muscles, no bones, no blood/heart, no joints. Also no energy production stuff. (I don’t even think the word “glucose” was on there.) A few questions about muscle fibers/spindles/proteins. A few really specific questions on muscles; there was one super specific one about the that make up the rotator cuff that I am sure I got wrong.
• There were questions on posture, so know exactly what causes kyphosis and lordosis and exactly what to do to fix it!
• There were several questions on the warning signs of eating disorders.
• One long question about carbs –  how many grams per kg body weight needed before/during/after endurance training
• Lots of adherence and motivation, but I thought they were mostly common sense.
• Not a ton on liability or risk management; I had heard/expected there would be more.
• There was a lot of stuff about high altitude exercise and specific body responses to changes in altitude.
• There was nothing on clients with diabetes, asthma, obesity, or old age.
• I was mostly worried about the math but it wasn’t bad! I seriously was dying over figuring out BMI without a calculator, but it wasn’t on there. The math problems were mostly things like “If Jon weighs 200 lbs and has 30 percent body fat and after 12 weeks has 20 percent body fat, how much does he weigh now?” There was also one “Calculate the percentage of calories that come from protein” with an example of a food label.
• I did worst on the client assessment/interview; these questions were very specific. Know the different stages of the assessment really well, the different ways to asses, and when you need a physician’s referral.
• For the second part of the exam — the case studies — the most important thing is to know what NOT to do. You lose points for giving a client bad advice, so just watch out for that. Also, read ALL the answers before you check ANY of them because sometimes you won’t realize that one is wrong until you read the right ones.
• Know exercise & pregnancy really well!
• For nutrition, know the percentages that each nutrient should make up in your diet.
• There were several questions relating to lower-back pain, especially in the case studies.
• There were quite a few questions about good form during squats!
• There were a few questions about the planes of motion.
• There were a few questions about supplements, but basically the answer always is to discourage them.
• There were some questions about concentric/eccentric motion (i.e. what muscle is contracting eccentrically in the following exercise?)

I actually remembered a few very specific questions, like:

• What should your client do to relieve chronic shin splints?
• What muscle is a primary mover for two joints?
• What muscle crosses two joints?
• Which of the following is NOT a member of the quadriceps?
• What’s the adherence percentage after 6 months?
• Give the exact positioning of your hand and calipers when reading body fat. (Like, right hand and left hand. Very specific.)
• Which of the following has known antioxidant properties? (It was Vitamin E.)

I highly, highly recommend reading the ACE Exam blog too. I got a ton of helpful information there!

• Read the exam content outline a few weeks before you take it. This helped me a lot when it came to figuring out where to put my time and effort.
• You MUST read about the Written Simulation. Seriously, if you aren’t aware of how this section of the exam works, you will be screwed on exam day. It’s a format unlike any other I’ve ever seen on an exam.

It’s a somewhat random list, but I hope that helps if you’re getting ready to take the exam. Good luck!