Australian College of Fitness and Personal Training (ACFPT)

Would give a zero if I could! Regurgitating Andy's review as I could not have put it better myself. Such a waste of time and money! Not worth the time or money – Where to begin. I signed up for ACFPT due to the positive reviews, which I now suspect are all fakes; basically every 5 star review is from an account that has only ever reviewed one… Read more

company (ACFPT) and has a super generic avatar. It's fishy, to say the least. The reviews themselves are also very, very odd. "Provides informative courses that ensure students are sound in the field they have chosen and that they have an understanding in their field." - nice review, ChatGPT.

The course is dreadful. I'm only finishing it because I can't get a refund, and just want to get the Cert III and IV so I can start working at a gym.

The entire course is just PDF's compiled from information found on various public websites. No videos, no interactivity. You're then asked thousands of overly repetitive questions, again, in pure text. The word count is INSANE. Easily 3x a university dissertation. No multiple-choice, just paragraph after paragraph of mundane re-writing of the source material. They constantly remind you that "clients learn in various ways, so be sure to adapt to their learning style!", yet they, laughably, don't apply that to their own course. As one other reviewer put it, it's truly mind-numbing. The material is littered with spelling errors and missing words.

They then expect you to find a personal trainer who will essentially baby-sit you for 60 hours (!?) for free, and take on various tasks with their clients, most of which are vague, poorly worded, or simply irrelevant. I'm just lucky that I happen to be on a good standing with the personal trainer at my gym, and he was happy to help out. But generally speaking, such a request is a tall order. This was written by Andy and could not be more accurate!!!

Not worth the time or money – Where to begin. I signed up for ACFPT due to the positive reviews, which I now suspect are all fakes; basically every 5 star review is from an account that has only ever reviewed one company (ACFPT) and has a super generic avatar. It's fishy, to say the least. The reviews themselves are also very, very odd. "Provides informative courses that… Read more

ensure students are sound in the field they have chosen and that they have an understanding in their field." - nice review, ChatGPT.

On the actual learning experience; it's a good thing I have a genuine interest in, and passion for, fitness, and educate myself via various sources, because the course is terrible. I'm only finishing it because I can't get a refund, and just want to get the Cert III and IV so I can begin training at my local gym.

The entire course is just a bunch of PDF's compiled from information found on various public websites. No videos, no interactivity. You're then asked thousands of overly repetitive questions, again, in pure text. No multiple-choice, just paragraph after paragraph of mundane re-vomiting of the source material. They constantly remind you that "clients learn in various ways, so be sure to adapt to their learning style!", yet they, laughably, don't apply that to their own course. As one other reviewer put it, it's truly mind-numbing. The material is littered with spelling errors and missing words.

They then expect you to find a personal trainer who will essentially baby-sit you for 60 hours (!?) for free, and take on various tasks with their clients, most of which are vague, poorly worded, or simply irrelevant. I'm just lucky that I happen to be on a good standing with the personal trainer at my gym, and he was happy to help out. But generally speaking, such a request is a tall order.

The email support is fine, yet they don't readily consider feedback with open ears.

Please, PLEASE take your money, and your time, elsewhere.

Not good – This is a nonsense college. Don’t do it. I thought I’d be ok because I’ve done a lot of study. But It's cheap because it’s dodgy. You get a bunch of PDFs and need to read them and answer a lot of questions for each assessment. Sometimes a LOT of questions. It's basic comprehension type questions that don't encourage any real thinking, just… Read more

reading and re-phrasing things in your own words. There are no videos or practical content and no engagement with anyone, except through your assessment feedback. It's mind-numbingly boring but if you plod away at it, you will get through it.

The placement, on the other hand, is ridiculous. The evidence collection book for cert 3 is over 100 pages long. Each unit has different scenarios that you need to demonstrate in a gym, but a lot of them aren’t likely to come up in the placement. You need to find six people with disabilities, three people with mental health issues, people who don’t pass pre screening tests who need to be referred to a doctor. And they all magically need to be happy for a cert 3 student on placement to talk to them about their hopes and dreams and consent to being used in your assessment.

How disrespectful to these humans, and as if these scenarios are actually going to come up while you’re following around a PT who already has a full night of clients. The reason it’s cheap is because they skip out content in the actual course and then expect your supervisor to teach and assess you for free. Apparently your supervisor is expected to walk you through scenarios and test you on them, which sucks for them because they’re trying to do their job and aren’t getting paid extra to do all this extra work.

I feel really bad even asking the supervisor to do some of the things that are in the booklet. They really could have been covered as assessments if the course was better designed. I looked at dropping out and starting the cert 3 again with a better provider, but unfortunately because almost all the units have a placement based requirement, I don’t think I would get credit for anything I’ve done so far. And I’m pretty sure the college knows that it’s total nonsense - they refuse to let you access the placement book until you get someone to sign as your supervisor. NOBODY would agree to supervise you if they actually saw the book.

I would not recommend this course to anyone.

DONT DO THERE CERTIFICATE – Just trust me, not worth. invest a bit more money in better institutes. The assessor dont care about you and the support line sucked

Absolute scam – I paid $1149 for the Certificate III in Fitness. I will not get ANY of this money back and I haven't even completed the first unit. Unfortunately I now have what appears to be a long term illness. The first assessment was ridiculously long and not well presented. I think the idea is that students are forced to pay for extensions or deferment of studies. I was definitely made a fool of. Don't waste your money with these people.

Worst educator in Australia – I completed my cert 3 fitness with them from october 2021 - october 2022. In all honesty, I dont know how I managed to do it. The content was copy and paste garbage, marking times sucked, so much emphasis on WHS instead of how to actually work in a gym and worst of all the 300 PAGE workplace booklet. This booklet was utterly ridicolous. Asking for… Read more

such specific answers, gym clients and again just full of copy and paste trash. This course seriously affected my mental health. If I didnt have supportive family or friends it would of not been completed and my mental space would have suffered severely. Please DO NOT STUDY HERE

You don't deserve to get away with this – Don't do it. Please. Do not study through ACFPT. If you have any shred of self respect, if you respect your time and your money please study through someone else. This company is a scam. They sell very cheap certificates in the hopes that no one will complete them. They do not have a refund policy. That is how they make their money. They are… Read more

wildly unprepared for anyone actually attempting to complete the course work.

And yet, for some reason, all the staff have an ambivalent smugness about them?!?! None of them seem to have any idea what is going on? No one is capable of apologising for their shortcomings. And somehow the burden falls on my shoulders as the student.

All the reviews for the company are either 5 stars or 1 star, it’s a mystery. Almost as if they are paying for 5 star reviews? If you want a true reflection look into the parent company, The Australian College of Teacher Aides and Childcare or just google actac. There you will get a honest insight of this operation. I don’t know how these people sleep at night. Knowingly and willingly stealing from people. Stealing from STUDENTS, stealing from MIGRANTS. Their behaviour is disgusting. Both companies have the same phone number.

The assessments require the student to copy, WORD FOR WORD the content from the learning material to answer 98% of the questions. But the questions and the learning material does not align. So question 1 is not on par with Chapter 1 etc. Answering the questions becomes a cat and mouse game of hide and seek. As the student you end up mindlessly scrolling through the learning material looking for the words of the correct answer, rather than actually absorbing any information. The learning material has no “search” bar. And the information cannot be copied and pasted, it must be retyped. Upon speaking with upper management I learned this was all by design. They went out of their way to DESIGN their course like this to “encourage learning”. Don’t fall for it. It’s a sham. Not a single member of staff deserves the title of educator. They are scam artists, they call themselves “trainers”. All they’re training are their wallets and all you’re learning is patience. I call them grifters.

Which brings me to the remaining 2% of the assessments.

Randomly 2% of the assessment has to be done in your own words. There is no instruction which answers need to be copied WORD FOR WORD from the learning material and which need to be answered in your own words. This makes the assessments impossible to answer in the first attempt. Only upon feedback are you instructed to either “answer in your own words” or “please refer to the learning material”. If you develop carpel tunnel and want to give your fingers a break and only partially type WORD FOR WORD the answer from the learning material you will get the response “this answer requires more detail”. Until you answer the question WORD FOR WORD from the learning material.

Marking time for assessments is 10 days.

So you answer in your own words, or you refer to the learning material or you add in the more detail, and in a MINIMUM ten days later, you get your feedback and results. I imagine I AVERAGED three attempts at every assessment. I did ZERO on the first attempt. I confirmed with upper management that it is impossible to do and they agreed with me.

There are THIRTY assessments.

Some are over FIFTY QUESTIONS long

Some learning martials are over EIGHTY PAGES long

And the feedback “please refer to your learning materials” is copied and pasted by the grifters over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. I stopped using capitol letters to answer the questions, I stopped using punctuation. They want to do the bare minimum as assessors then they’re going to get the bare minimum from me as a student. This behaviour was acceptable to them because they know their course is a joke.

[Name Removed] was in a different continent. She was my main trainer. How am I meant to have effective communication when my results are being returned to me at 1:30am? Her English literacy skills are subpar. She copy and pastes all of her “feedback”. When she can be bothered typing something other than “please refer to your learning materials” it comes out as something like this “For this answer, you are about to copy the four points straight and paste it down as your answer.” Primary school English. That was my actual feedback for SISFFIT007 Assessment 1 Question 18 B.

[Name Removed] is [Name Removed] apprentice. After an assessment was returned for the 3rd time with the same feedback “please refer to your learning materials” I had to get on the phone to him, no one who respects themselves would be interested in wasting their own time like that. The phone call confirmed my suspicions, he does not respect himself. I was explaining to him that my answer DID relate to the learning materials. Rather than look at the learning materials himself he had the audacity to say “now regardless of what the learning materials may or may not say, that is not the answer we are looking for”. Mate, I know what the learning material says. I was looking at it.

Then on the 20th of Jan, I had three outstanding assessments to be marked. I emailed [Name Removed]. They weren’t his problem. He says (quote) “hopefully” (unquote) [Name Removed] will be able to get to them by the end of the day. I responded: “did you pass this information onto [Name Removed]? did you provide me with [Name Removed] email so I can contact her myself?

don't worry about that now, I'm going to need the contact information of your supervisor thanks”

And what does he do? HE GIVES ME [Name Removed] EMAIL!!!!! TRYING TO BURY THE SMOKING GUN OF HIS INCOMPETENCE! YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP! THEY ARE A BUNCH OF PRIMARY SCHOOL AMATEURS.

Shortly after I had 6 assessments overdue for marking. Some had been submitted weeks ago. So I give them a call, they say they’ll get back to me, they don’t. So the next day I call them again. Same result. I had to ring them 5 business days in a row to get a hold of someone who wasn’t just “admin”. Naturally the admin staff have no idea about anything or anyone and can’t help me with my assessments or find me someone who can but they can take down my number and pass it on to the relevant person... Just like the admin staff did the day before. They eventually call this harassing behaviour and threaten to expel me without refund.

Just around the time I was about to file a missing person’s report for [Name Removed] she sends me a copy of their Code of Practice for students. I immediately asked for their Code of Practice for the “educators”. There isn’t one. They have no code, no morals and their toxic superiority has remained unchecked for far too long. I eventually get offloaded onto [Name Removed] and I try and politely explain my concerns. On Jan 25th 2023 she showed me the extent of her grasp of the English language:

“We did talk about to be respectful in your communication with your trainer and our staff . You been disrespectful to our team previously when you said and wrote comments in answer box instead of following trainer’s instructions and resubmitting your answers”

No tenses, wrong punctuation, missing words and generally difficult to read sentences. This is the response you get if you bring the already inadequate performance of her staff to her attention. You get attacked for it. I would compare her English speech and writing capabilities with that of a primary school student who speaks English as a second language.

I simply replied “give me the contact information of your superior”

To which she responded: “Please feel free to outline your concern in an email and send it to enquiries@acfpt.com.au”

Trying to bury the smoking gun of her incompetence.

Then I get passed on to the next one, [Name Removed], who informs me THAT [Name Removed] EMAIL HAS DEVELOPED AWARENESS AND SENDS AND RECEIVES MESSAGES BEYOND HER CONTROL.

What a fantastic development. On the 27th of Jan I say “ I would like an apology for the first proof of singularity occurring in human history and it just so happens to occur in my inbox! P.s please contact NASA; they might be interested in your emailing system becoming sentient.” [Name Removed] says: “This is what can be provided for you and if you are not happy with our course delivery and assessment, you may benefit from finding out further information about similar courses at other Training Colleges.”

“Finally... someone who can speak English” I think to myself.

More assessments, more 10 day MINIMUM waiting periods, more questions that are unnecessarily ambiguous. More misleading instructions. More random 2% that I have to write in my own words. More remaining 98% that I have to retype from the learning material WORD FOR WORD.

Finally get offloaded onto [Name Removed] who says: “Please write it in your own words so that I can more fully understand what you have learnt.” If I used that type of language in year 5 my parents would have had me checked for brain damage.

I start work placement and get another threat, they’re willing to expel me at this stage of my course. That’s how allergic they are to actually educating someone. And I have a few questions regarding the THREE HUNDRED PAGE WORKPLACE LOGBOOK. 1) Do they think a 300 page log book is a reasonable expectation for a Cert. 3 student? 2) Do they think the 300 page log book is well written? 3) Do they think it is achievable? 4) Do they think it is a productive use of the trainer, the supervisor and the student’s time? I ended up taking [Name Removed] advice and looking at other colleges. All of them said the same thing. Either: a) ACFP-who? b) you’re the third student we’ve spoken to this week looking to bail out of that Hindenburg they call a school. At the end of the day they’re undercutting colleges and teachers who are passionate about fitness, stealing money from hardworking and respected people’s in the industry, stealing money from honest and hardworking students and foreigners and lowering the standard of fitness instructors nation-wide. They should be absolutely disgusted with themselves. Especially [Name Removed].

Here’s what I suggest, if you haven’t already enrolled then PLEASE DON’T DO IT. If I can rescue even one person from that living nightmare then it will have been worth it. If you have already enrolled harass them. Call them on the morning of the day your assessment is due to be assessed. Demand to talk to the manager, demand to talk to the supervisor. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, if you want even a slither of a chance at graduating make a huge fuss, become a Karen, call them every single day. It’s the only way. And I wish you God-speed.

absolute legends – I have recently completed the Certficate 4 in Fitness. It was a great experience. The Assessments were relatively easy and whenever I had any questions David or Antje would always be quick to assist. Being able to study at home at around my busy was awesome. If you are considering fitness course do it with these legends.

Very Supportive and Knowledgeable – My experience with ACTAC was exceptional. My trainer David and Antje were a wealth of knowledge and very supportive, it made learning experience easy and fun .the only issue was that it took me long time to get my certificate, but otherwise definitely recommend these guys.

Highly recommended – I am so grateful for signing up to this course. The content is interesting, informative and easy to access online. I feel very privileged to learn from professionals and to have chosen a school that really keeps us informed about all the evolving notions of fitness. I love the weekly emails. A special mention to David Vella for his passion and… Read more

support. It really shows on the reputation of the school. I have no regrets. I strongly recommend the Dual Qualification to anyone who wants to succeed in the Fitness industry.

Amazing course – I recently just completed my Cert 3 with ACFPT and the experience was incredible. David was very quick in getting back to me with any questions and offered fantastic support. I found the layout of the course super easy to follow and the content was easy to understand. Work placement was made very easy with constant communication and assistance available at any time. I am now moving on to my Cert 4 with ACFPT and really looking forward to it.

great course cant believe how much im enjoying it – Highly recommend this course I didn't think I would find the time to take something else on with how busy life is but the communication and help I have received from ACFPT has been great and they have been very flexible and understanding with the completion of the work while living an everyday family lifestyle.

Knowledgeable and always helpful – Studying is made easy with the helpfulness and knowledge of the team at ACFPT. They are fast to respond with any issues you may have and have a great ability to help you without making answers obvious, bringing out the best in your ability, which will benefit you when you are working in your field. Shout out to David Vella who speedily responds to… Read more

my neediness and helps me out as much as possible. The way he communicates makes you feel comfortable asking anything as he allows you to see him as a mentor and not just a ‘marker’.

Highly recommend and have suggested ACFPT to friends who have expressed interest.

Above and beyond – I decided to go through ACFPT to gain my cert 3 in fitness. All I can say is they have truly gone above and beyond to accommodate my needs. It was a seamless and easy process to sign up, and have some papers I had previously done credited straight away. A special mention to David V for being a huge support in getting me through this certification,… Read more

his response rate is close to instant and has gone above and beyond for me many times! I would highly recommend!!!

Excellent course and great support – Having been highly interested in the fitness industry since I was younger, I decided it was finally time I completed my Cert 3 in Fitness. Due to working full-time, studying online was the most viable option for me. I researched various online courses offered throughout Australia and had many friends recommend courses to me. I decided to go with… Read more

ACFPT due to great reviews, ease of access to their website and the values of their organisation. I'm very glad with my decision to study with ACFPT. Their service, response time to enquiries and feedback they offer on assessments has been priceless. the online portal is very ease to use and when accessing course material and assessments. In addition, the marking time between submitting and receiving an assessment back is very quick! I could not recommend ACFPT enough.

Great program – After going through a dozen online education providers, decided to go with ACFPT doing my cert 3 and 4 in fitness.. Hasn’t regret it yet! My trainer (David Vella) and all the support staff has been great. Their response time for my queries and issues is almost instantaneous for an online course. I really feel like I learned a lot and keep learning. I would recommend it to everyone.

Pleased with service and the trainer’s support – Great team, easy access to online portal, as others stated good things about David, i agree that David is well mannered and helpful, got great people skills, always helpful, I am certainly impressed by the standards of service they provide for students.

Perfect option for online delivery – I initially went with ACFPT as a provider for my dual qualification in Fitness because they were the cheapest. However, I have been SO pleased at the service and the content delivery. The portal is easy to navigate, the resources are well-devised and your trainer literally emails or calls whenever you need something - I have felt supported from… Read more

day 1. I have come from a well organised uni doing my undergrad to this and can honestly say I feel more supported in my learning here and the resources are so detailed.

Online delivery, great value, and prompt response - What more could you ask for?! – After looking around for Cert III and IV in Fitness and PT that was delivered online, was great value for money and provided prompt customer service, I discovered ACFPT and couldn't be happier. David (my trainer) is always happy to give support, guidance and answer my questions in a timely manner. The student portal is easy to use/navigate and can be accessed on any device. I would recommend ACFPT.

ACFPT is the way to go if you want to get a start in the fitness industry – I am currently studying my Cert 3 and 4 with ACFPT and I have nothing but positive reviews about them. I contacted ACFPT 5 months ago enquiring about completing my dual certification and I had a remarkable amount of support and guidance on what they had to offer and the support staff were very knowledgeable. Being able to complete the course… Read more

online and at your own pace is perfect for people who have a busy schedule but still want to complete a certification. The communication line I have had with my trainer David has been unbelievable. David is always happy to answer my questions either by phone or email and always responds to me in a very timely manner. The course material and the portal that you have access to is excellent. Once marked, you receive quality feedback about your work and tips on how it can be improved. You will not be disappointed if you choose to do your course with ACFPT.

Quality training provider! Highly recommended! – I am currently completing my cert 3 & 4 in fitness with ACFPT. I started on the Fast track PT course but decided I wanted to complete the full Cert 3 before moving on to my Cert 4 to get a greater understanding of the industry. My trainer (David) was able to adjust my course within a day or two and I was able to continue my study without any… Read more

interruption. At 45 years of age, I have had a lot of experience with training and assessment throughout my working life and I can honestly say that my study with ACFPT has been one of the most positive educational experiences I have had. The online portal and course material is excellent, and the trainers provide great support and quality feedback to ensure you genuinely grasp the concepts. I can highly recommend ACFPT as a training provider and I will continue to use them as my preferred RTO in the future. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wonderful learning material. Fantastic support team and assessment marking turn around – I started my fast track course SIS40215 CERTIFICATE IV IN FITNESS with ACFPT after a bad experience with another major online educator and so far, it has been an amazing experience. Standard of learning materials are great, in depth and well designed. I haven’t had many problems but when I did I would have received a great help from my trainer or… Read more

support team. Everyone was super nice and would highly recommend to a friend. My Trainer (David) has communicates really well and provides very detailed feedback. Would highly recommend to a friend.