NSCA certification cost, with and without membership

Every NSCA-CPT fee, sourced

Member or non-member: which is cheaper?

NSCA charges student and professional members $300 for the exam and everyone else $435. Its study-materials page puts the saving at $135.

At the dues on the membership page, a Professional membership is $130 a year and a Student membership $70, so either one costs less than the discount it buys. Members also pay less to recertify and for the association's own prep bundles.

You don't have to join. Membership is not required to sit the exam or to recertify; a certification doesn't make you a member. The dues renew every year, though, so count the second year too if you stay a member.

Retakes, extensions and refunds

• Retake: the full exam fee again, with no retake discount. You wait at least 30 days and get three consecutive attempts, then a one-year wait.
• Extension: $100 for one extra 120 days, requested inside the first window.
• Withdrawal: refund minus a $50 administrative fee, if you withdraw before scheduling.
• No-show: the fee is forfeited; to test later you register and pay the full fee again.
• Rescheduling: free through Pearson VUE inside your window, at least one business day (24 h) before the appointment.

The retake rules in full are on the exam facts page.

Study material: the textbook and NSCA's bundles

Nothing to study from comes with the exam fee, and NSCA calls the textbook recommended, not required.

• Textbook alone: Essentials of Personal Training, 3rd ed., $119 in hardback or $89 as an ebook from Human Kinetics.
• Essential Collection: $273 for members, $346 for non-members, for the print textbook, the CPT Study Guide PDF and the online Quizzes & Practice Test.
• Platinum Collection: $480 for members, $585 for non-members, for everything in the Essential Collection plus the online study course and the Exercise Technique Manual.

Bundle prices carry their date in the table above. Whichever you buy, two costs come on top of it: the exam registration itself and a CPR/AED course with a hands-on skills check, which you need before you're certified and which the provider prices. Which of these to use, and in what order: the NSCA-CPT study guide.

What renewal costs

Renewal comes due at the end of each cycle, which runs three years, on one calendar for every certificant. The fee is $65 member · $90 non-member per credential if you certified before 2024, and lower if you certified during the current cycle. The CEUs cost whatever the courses or events cost; members get up to 12 complimentary CEU quizzes, which count toward them.

Miss the deadline and reinstatement costs $200 plus the unpaid recertification fees. CEU counts, categories and dates: CEUs and renewal.

The cheapest way to get NSCA-CPT certified

At the listed dues, the lowest outlay is a membership, the member exam fee, a CPR/AED card and free preparation: the content outline in Appendix H of the Certification Handbook and our practice test. The risk is a retake, at the full fee each time. For the costs of NASM, ACE and ISSA side by side, see personal trainer certification cost.

More on the NSCA-CPT

• NSCA-CPTFormat, domains, fees, eligibility and renewal, with sources
• NSCA-CPT practice testFree questions by domain, every option explained
• NSCA-CPT exam factsFormat, scoring, retakes, Pearson VUE booking and the CPR/AED rule
• NSCA-CPT CEUs & renewalCEUs by certification date, categories, reporting, CPR/AED and reinstatement
• NSCA-CPT study guideThe outline by points, the textbook, NSCA's own prep and how long to study