NASM CPT Exam Day: ID, CPR/AED Card, and Proctor Rules

What to bring to the NASM CPT exam

NASM's candidate handbook (updated 9/2025) names three situations that keep you from testing: you are not registered for that date and time, your identity cannot be confirmed with a current government-issued photo ID, or you do not present a current CPR/AED card. So the checklist is short:

• Government-issued photo ID. Current, valid, and with exactly the name on your NASM profile and registration. If your name has changed, update NASM only after your new ID is issued.
• CPR/AED certification card. Current on exam day. An expired card is the same as no card.
• Your PSI confirmation. Check the date, time, time zone and, for a test center, the address.

Everything else stays outside the testing room. The eligibility guide covers which CPR/AED providers NASM names.

NASM CPT exam day at a PSI test center

Arrive on time. The handbook is blunt: if you arrive late, you are not admitted, and you must reschedule within 180 days and pay the Late Cancellation Fee.

At check-in, the proctor confirms that you are on the roster for that location, date and time, verifies your photo ID and your CPR/AED card, and has you initial the roster. Only the person named on the registration may test. No substitutions are allowed, and registrations cannot be transferred.

NASM CPT exam day with a live remote proctor

Remote testing has the same ID and CPR/AED checks plus rules about your room:

1. Before exam day, run the system compatibility check NASM recommends, and confirm your webcam and microphone work.
2. Clear the room. The proctor asks for a scan to confirm there are no papers on the desk or walls and that no one else is present.
3. Stay put. Remote candidates may not leave the room during the exam unless an approved accommodation allows it.

Pick a room where nobody will walk in for two hours, because the rules require that no one else is present.

NASM testing rules that can end a session early

Proctors enforce NASM's Testing Rules of Conduct on NASM's behalf. If you break one, the proctor can stop your exam or remove you, then file a report, and NASM decides on further discipline. No refund is given unless the proctor's concerns turn out to be unfounded. The rules most likely to catch an honest candidate off guard:

• One continuous session. You cannot stop and come back to finish another day.
• No papers or reference books in the room, at a center or at home.
• No electronic devices, including phones, watches, calculators and translators, unless approved as an accommodation.
• No eating or drinking unless a documented medical need was approved before exam day.
• No questions about content. The proctor will not answer them.
• No copying, photographing, recording or memorizing exam content to keep after the exam. NASM treats that as theft of its intellectual property.

The handbook also makes candidates honor-bound to report suspected cheating by others.

The NASM no-break rule and what an exception costs

The NASM-CPT exam has no scheduled break. At a test center, leaving the room is not allowed, but the proctor may make an exception. The conditions are strict: the proctor must judge the break reasonably necessary, only one candidate may be out at a time, and you may not talk, read anything or use a device while outside. The clock does not stop. Break time counts as testing time.

At a pace of about one question per minute, a five-minute break costs roughly five questions' worth of time. Remote candidates have no exception route at all without an approved accommodation. Plan water, food and the restroom around a two-hour block. The exam format guide has a checkpoint-by-checkpoint pacing plan.

After you submit the NASM CPT exam

The exam is scored when you finish, and you see a preliminary pass or fail on the spot.

You can show a preliminary pass to employers while you wait. If you pass, NASM does not show your score. If you fail, you get your scaled score and a domain breakdown, and the retake guide covers the waiting periods. To change or cancel an appointment before the day, use the 24-hour rules in the scheduling guide.