Programme Design
An Assessment Is A Starting Point You And Your Client Agree, And Motor Skill Application Specialist Shows You How To Build One For One Person
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Motor Skill Application Specialist, where Module 6 teaches the build →
In short: The Motor Skill Application Specialist course describes an assessment as a benchmark the trainer and client use to find a starting point and a first finishing point. It sorts tests into academic, correlation and trainer defined, and teaches trainer-defined tests: easy to measure, accurate and repeatable, built to match one client's goal and to track that client through their own journey.
The short version
An assessment is a benchmark. It gives you and your client a starting point and the first of what you both hope will be many finishing points. Done well, it also hands the client signposts on the way to their goal, which helps them keep making good decisions. Module 6 of the Motor Skill Application Specialist course teaches you to build one.
Key Takeaways
- The course sorts assessments into academic, correlation and trainer defined.
- FASTER focuses on trainer-defined tests: easy to measure, accurate and repeatable.
- Each one is built with the client, for that client's goal, and tracks that one person.
Three types, and where each belongs
An academic assessment comes from researchers, built to show a change in one parameter, and it has to give consistent results before anyone trusts it. Physiotherapists and sports teams often pick these up. A correlation test rests on averages from lots of other people. BMI is the common example, and in sport you will see a one-rep max in the squat, deadlift and bench press used as a stand-in for strength.
The trainer-defined test
The third type is the one FASTER teaches. You build the test to match your client's specific needs. It will not compare well between clients, and it does not need to. It tracks one person through their own journey, so easy to measure, accurate and repeatable matter more than anything else.
The stages of building one
The course gives the order. Define the client's goal using Why Why So So. Break the goal into physical components. Break those into skills. Define the energy systems the goal needs. Then write up the seeds of programming. Each assessment is a collaboration between you and the client, so the client helps shape it.
Why FASTER teaches it this way
The module sits inside a course that is visual and interactive, and you can learn by listening, reading, writing answers or dictating them. The build is a process you follow in order, not a talent you are born with.
What to do next
Look at the Motor Skill Application Specialist course, where Module 6 starts with this. Today's PT Manager post shows where the finished test lives. PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with FASTER to learn on. Adding real clients unlocks once you are qualified and on the Register.
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You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
Motor Skill Application Specialist, where Module 6 teaches the build — taught by the people who wrote it, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.
Also worth a look: PT Manager, where the Assessment builder keeps the test.
See what the course covers →Frequently asked
What are the three types of assessment in the course?
Academic, correlation and trainer defined. Academic tests are built by researchers, correlation tests rest on averages from other people, and trainer-defined tests are built for one client.
What makes a trainer-defined test good?
It is easy to measure, accurate and repeatable, so the same test can be run again and the change means something.
Where do the stages of building one start?
With the client's goal, found through Why Why So So, then broken into physical components and skills.
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