About the AICP exam

APA is the authority on everything on this page. Fees, testing windows, deadlines, eligibility rules, and exam policies change. Before you make plans, check the official details on the AICP certification pages at planning.org.

What the exam is

The AICP Certification Exam is the test planners pass to earn the AICP credential from the American Institute of Certified Planners, APA's professional institute. It measures whether you can apply planning knowledge and professional judgment across the full range of practice, not just recall facts.

The questions are built from APA's exam content outline, which groups the material into nine domains:

The lessons cover all nine domains, starting with Fundamental Planning Knowledge.

Format

• Question type. Multiple choice, with four answer options and one best answer. Expect standalone questions, groups of three to five questions that share a planning scenario, questions built around a table or chart, and a few that ask you to calculate something (such as density, floor area ratio, or a location quotient).
• Length. 170 questions in 3.5 hours (210 minutes). That works out to roughly 74 seconds per question. Plan on about four hours for the whole appointment, including check-in and a short tutorial on the testing software.
• Unscored questions. 20 of the 170 are unscored pilot questions being tried out for future exams. They're mixed in at random, and you can't tell which ones they are, so answer every question as if it counts. Your score comes from the other 150.
• Delivery. The exam is on a computer, through APA's testing partner, Prometric: either at a Prometric test center or remotely with online proctoring, at no extra cost. If you test remotely, run Prometric's system check well ahead of time; APA warns that work computers often block the exam software.
• No penalty for guessing. Your score is built from the number of questions you answer correctly, so never leave a question blank.

Scoring

APA reports a scaled score rather than a raw percentage. Each version of the exam is a little different, so the raw score (the number you got right) is adjusted for the difficulty of your version and then converted to a common scale. Scores run from 25 to 75, and 55 or higher passes. You get your official score report as soon as you finish. If you don't pass, it also shows how many questions you answered correctly in each domain, which tells you where to focus next time.

Because the exam is scaled and APA doesn't publish a passing percentage, no practice score (ours or anyone else's) can tell you whether you will pass. Use practice scores to decide what to study, and use full-length timed exams to build pace.

Eligibility and the path to certification

APA calls its process One Path to AICP. The only requirement to take the exam is APA membership: you don't need a degree or any planning experience to sit for it. Certification then comes in three steps:

1. Register and schedule the exam.
2. Pass it and become an AICP Candidate. The Candidate designation lasts as long as your APA membership stays active, and Candidates don't need to earn continuing education credits.
3. Submit your education, employment history, and an experience assessment once you have enough professional planning experience. When APA approves it, you're AICP certified.

The experience you need depends on your education:

The degree can come before, during, or after the experience, and part-time work counts in proportion to its hours.

"Professional planning experience" has a specific meaning. It must meet three criteria: applying a planning process with a professional level of responsibility, evaluating multiple impacts of planning work on a community, and influencing public decision-making in the public interest. Service as an elected or appointed official doesn't count, and neither does work that's usually done by allied professions, such as code enforcement, building inspection, or traffic engineering. The experience assessment asks you to check off the kinds of work you've done under each criterion and give a short written example from one project for each.

How to register

The process runs in this order. APA's site has the current schedule and fees.

1. Join APA if you aren't a member.
2. Request testing accommodations first, if you need them. APA reviews requests for disabilities (under the ADA) and for English as a second language before you schedule, and you must request them each time you register.
3. Register on APA's website and pay the exam fee. You'll confirm that you've read the certification guide and that you abide by the AICP Code of Ethics.
4. Schedule with Prometric using the eligibility ID APA emails you, at a test center or remotely. Changes made 3 to 29 days before your date cost a fee, and within three business days you can't reschedule at all.
5. Take the exam in the same calendar year you registered. If you don't pass, you can retest in the same year, up to three times a year, at least a month apart.

Plan backward from your test date. You choose your own date within the year, and APA suggests registering early in the year for the widest choice of dates. Most candidates study for two to three months, so pick a date about that far out and study toward it.

On exam day

For pacing, question formats, and test-taking tactics, see the exam strategy guide. The basics:

• Bring two forms of ID, one of them a valid government-issued photo ID, with names that match your registration. At a test center, arrive 30 minutes early; late arrivals aren't admitted.
• Read each question's last sentence first so you know what it's asking, then read the scenario.
• Flag questions you're unsure about, keep moving, and come back to them. Our practice exams let you flag and review in the same way.
• Watch for EXCEPT, NOT, and LEAST in the question stem.
• Use the calculator built into the exam screen; you can't bring your own. At a test center, staff provide scratch paper.

After you pass

Passing makes you an AICP Candidate, and you become AICP certified once your experience assessment is approved. To keep the credential, certified planners earn Certification Maintenance (CM) credits: 32 credits every two years, including at least one credit each in ethics, planning law, equity, and sustainability and resilience. The mentoring lesson covers CM in more detail.

Official sources

• APA: One Path to AICP: eligibility, registration, fees, exam dates, and the certification guide
• APA: AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: the full current Code
• Planning Accreditation Board: list of accredited programs