and what you needed to just store somewhere in your mind? I just started reading thru the manual and since this is new to me I'm having a hard time knowing where to focus my energies.
My recommendation -- start reading, take notes. I also recorded the chapters into a recorder and listened to them in the car or at night in bed (that helped a lot). When you get overwhelmed, give yourself a little bit of a breather. Check out the ACE forum (the official one), because the tips from other exam students there are absolutely wonderful. Check here with any questions, too!
When you're into the book and feel like you're getting to understand it (and you will), buy a copy of the Exercise, Etc. disk. It'll drive you crazy at first, but it will quickly become your lifesaver.
Also, when I first started, I tried to learn each chapter before I went further. I read from others on the ACE discussion board not to get bogged down, but to just keep reading. I must tell you that after finishing the book, working through exercise etc I am going back and making outlines of the chapters and those first chapters make a lot more sense! Believe it or not, things do start making sense. I'm still trying to figure a lot out, but the light is coming on in various areas!
I am sort of in the same boat.. I am not as far along as some of the others as I have just been on this for a short time, and working full time and having a child makes it even tougher! (Others can atest to that as well!!!) I just took one chapter at a time, did all the workbooks, made flashcards, and made an outline of each chapter (that really helped me). When i get overwhelmed, I stop moving forward, and just spend time reviewing what I have done up to that point. That seems to help as well. i just got back from a week at the beach with my brother and his family, so needless to say, their wasn't much studying going on there! I used what time I coudl get to review EVERYTHING, and not try to absorb anything new.
It does get a bit easier - Scott, Tekva, et al told me the same thing when I posted the almost exact question, and they were right! Everyone learns differently, so it is just finding what method works for you. I am lucky to have a husband who know stuff like this for no apparent reason (I hate that!!! ), so I have discovered that an interactive (live) format is much better for me. I would be so much better if I were in a classroom!!!!! that is the teacher coming out in me! All the best! Keep in touch! Let us know what works for you!! I am especially interested in hearing how others are preparing!
For me, the most frustrating part was getting past chapters 1, 2 and 3. The manual is not an effective teaching tool for those chapters, which are about science, and the manual does little to make the subjects comprehensible - just regurgitates science-speak in a way that makes you feel like you're supposed to already know the stuff. Some of it is obviously important, but most of it seems unlikely to figure prominently in your eventual personal trainer career. From Chapter 4 (Nutrition) on, it gets easier to understand, and the subjects become more interesting and more relavent.
I start each chapter by reading through the manual. Next, I write the questions from the Home Study Course onto an Excel spreadsheet, using one column for the questions, and the adjacent column for the answers. Of course you have to go back to the manual for the answers. When I find the answers in the manual, I highlight the information, then post the answers to the sheet. Then I do the same thing with the flash cards - one column for the questions and the adjacent column for the answers.
I find that just the acts of reading, then writing the questions, then re-reading and highlighting, then writing the answers really helps me absorb the information. I can then test myself by hiding the answer columns and writing the answers from memory into a blank column. Then I unhide the real answer column and compare the results. It's a slow process, but leads to good recall.
I know that others really like the Master the Manual, but the above is what really works for me.
), so I have discovered that an interactive (live) format is much better for me. I would be so much better if I were in a classroom!!!!! that is the teacher coming out in me!
