The CI-CPT examination identifies individuals who have the factual and applied knowledge of exercise and behavioral sciences to work with healthy and medically cleared populations to:

• Assess fitness needs and abilities, develop programs, and help individuals to learn, adopt, and continue healthy behaviors.
• Use an individual's current and historical health data to safely perform fitness testing, determine current fitness level, assess known and potential risks of exercise in preparation of individualized exercise programs.
• Design safe and effective training programs based upon an individual's abilities, needs, and goals; and implement, evaluate, and adjust training programs to ensure effectiveness, motivation, and adherence.
• Show fitness leadership by incorporating basic business principles and professional standards while providing individualized fitness training services within a professional scope of practice.

• 18 years of age
• Adult CPR certification with hands-on training. Online CPR courses are not accepted. International CPR is accepted from a recommended CPR provider in the country your exam is administered. See the CI-CPT Candidate Handbook for more details.

• 100 scored questions
• Passing score is 70 questions correct (70%)
• 4-option multiple choice
• Computer-based testing
• 2 hour exam session
• 4 Performance Domains covered (with percentage of questions):
  • Core Knowledge (30%)
  • Health and Medical Review; and Fitness Assessment (20%)
  • Fitness Training: Design, Implementation, and Evaluation (40%)
  • Professional Responsibilities (10%)

• CI-CPT exam is based on a national job analysis performed for the Personal Trainer job. An Executive Summary of the job analysis is available upon request by e-mailing cicb@cooperinst.org.
• The cut score for the examination was validated using the contrasting group method. The exam was administered to two groups known to differ in the characteristics measured by the exam. A cut score of 70% (70 correct out of 100 items) was established.
• The CI-CPT exam is developed using commonly accepted psychometric (test measurement) practices. Statistical analyses performed on the CI-CPT exam show high levels of validity and reliability.

Cooper Institute education is not required to be eligible to sit for the exam. Educational resources are for learning and knowledge purposes. Educational resources do not teach you how to take the exam. You should gain a level of familiarity with the information to effectively process the knowledge and apply it to a job situation.

Preparing For The Exam

Resources listed can help you obtain the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are needed to perform as a personal trainer. Other reputable resources exist and candidates should not feel limited to only these resources listed.  No guarantee is made with regard to the use of these resources and exam performance.

• Personal Trainer Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Readiness to take the exam can only be decided by the individual candidate.
• Exam questions will ask the candidate to both recall facts and to apply knowledge from all exam domains to a typical job situation.

• CI personal training 4.5-day workshops or online PTE
• CI Principles of Health and Fitness textbook
• American College of Sports Medicine Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, eighth edition
• CI-CPT Practice Test

For those new to the field, a minimum of 75 hours of independent study is recommended. An additional 10 hours of role play (that is, simulated personal trainer scenarios) is recommended to help in applying factual information to typical job situations. To be most effective, each practice scenario should require the application of knowledge elements from multiple domains.

¹    Personal Training Education (PTE) offered by CI - 41/2 day live, online, and 2-day course available Recommended if you do not have an exercise science-related degree, and/or if you are new to the field and have no/limited experience or formal training. Course fee includes Principles of Health and Fitness textbook.

²    Extracted from the Principles of Health and Fitness Manual
*    Other reputable resources available nationally may also be used to further knowledge in the field.