The TSAC-F Detailed Content Outline: Domains, Weights & Cognitive Levels

The TSAC-F Detailed Content Outline: Domains, Weights & Cognitive Levels

Quick Summary: Every TSAC-F item is written against the Detailed Content Outline, which allocates 130 scored items across seven domains and across three cognitive levels. This section reproduces the official weighting, shows that only 37 of 130 items are recall-level, and maps each domain to the chapters of this guide.

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Where the Blueprint Comes From

NSCA builds the Detailed Content Outline (DCO) from a periodic job task analysis (JTA): a structured study of what tactical strength and conditioning facilitators actually do on the job. Each domain is divided into job tasks, and each task carries a list of statements describing what a TSAC-F should know or be able to perform.

NSCA states the consequence directly: all exam questions are based on the DCO. Anything genuinely outside it is not tested, and anything inside it is fair game. That makes coverage - not depth on a favourite topic - the correct study strategy.

Official Domain Weighting and Item Counts

A note on conflicting published weights. The NSCA Certification Handbook effective 1 July 2026 lists Nutrition at 7% and Wellness Intervention at 11%. The public TSAC-F exam-description web page shows 8% and 10% for the same two domains. Both are consistent with the same underlying item counts (10 and 14 of 130 are 7.7% and 10.8%) - they simply round in opposite directions. When two official sources disagree, prefer the one with the later effective date and the fuller detail: the handbook. The item counts, which both sources agree on, are the number that matters.

Cognitive Level: The Most Useful Number on the Blueprint

The DCO also publishes how many items in each domain sit at each cognitive level. This is where most candidates misjudge the exam.

Read that bottom row carefully. Only 37 of 130 scored items - about 28% - are recall. The remaining 93 items (72%) require application or analysis: reading a scenario, selecting an appropriate response, or comparing options and justifying a choice.

Three study implications follow:

1. Flashcard-only preparation fails. Memorizing that creatine is dosed at 3-5 g/day earns you a fraction of one domain. Deciding whether to recommend it to a soldier facing a unit urinalysis is the tested skill.
2. Program Design is the analysis-heavy domain (9 analysis items - the most of any domain). Expect multi-constraint scenarios: a rotating shift, a healing ankle, no barbell, and a fitness test in six weeks.
3. Nutrition is the recall-heavy domain (5 of 10 items are recall, only 1 is analysis). It is a small domain where straightforward factual study pays off efficiently - a good use of limited time late in preparation.

How This Guide Maps to the Blueprint

Sequencing Your Study Against the Weights

A rational study allocation follows the item counts, weighted by the cognitive demand:

• First priority - Program Design (27 items, 9 analysis). The heaviest and hardest domain. Start here and return to it.
• Second priority - Exercise Sciences and Exercise Technique (26 items each). Together they are 40% of the exam and 52 items. Technique in particular is application-dominant (13 application items), so study it as coaching decisions, not as exercise descriptions.
• Third priority - Assessment and Evaluation (17 items). Highly proceduralized and therefore highly learnable.
• Fourth priority - Wellness Intervention (14 items). Broad, shallow, and easy to under-prepare because it feels like common sense until the scenarios arrive.
• Efficiency plays - Nutrition and Organization and Administration (10 items each). Together 20 items, mostly recall and application. Both reward late, focused factual study.