By Riddhi Batra , AICP

When given the option to take a test that consists of facts, dates, people, and other fiddly details, my first instinct is to walk in the opposite direction. Yet, despite my best excuses and attempts to procrastinate, I took the AICP exam in November 2023. I was certified by January 2024.

Why Take the AICP At All?
There were a few reasons why I chose to take the AICP only a few months after graduating from a Master of City Planning program at Penn. A lot of planning information was fresh in my mind (Professor Daniels, if you’re reading this, thank you for all the public finance lessons, I now see APFOs everywhere). My decision was enabled by the recent change in the AICP certification process. Earlier, a candidate had to meet their planning experience requirements before giving the exam. Now, the exam can be taken at any time. If you pass, you earn the title of an “AICP Candidate” and can continue to build the experience needed to apply for full-fledged certification.

Perhaps my greatest incentive to take the exam was the chance to learn things that I simply couldn’t squeeze into two years of graduate school. In planning school, I was pulled in different directions by the sheer number of choices and course constraints. Every semester, I would try to craft a combination of courses that would be simultaneously enjoyable, informative, and relevant. There were so many ways I could set up my career path. I graduated with a longer resume, but I still didn’t think it was enough to navigate the ever-changing landscape of professional planning.

With its breadth of topics, the AICP helped me explore subjects that I couldn’t dive into in school. It helped me find stronger footing in transportation, land use, and environmental planning, law, finance, and history. This ultimately helped me feel more confident in my role as a planner. Since taking the exam, I have been more able to flow from one branch of planning to another, contribute to a wider range of projects at work, and critically think about how they intersect. Whether you work in the public or private sector, in an urban or rural setting, for a city or a Metropolitan Planning Organization, I think the AICP helps provided a more rounded, holistic foundation for planners.

Preparing for the Exam, Part 1: Running Away
At first glance, the anecdotes I read online made me believe that I should study about one-hundred hours for the AICP. I was intimidated by that estimate, given that I had a full-time job and a 4-month-old puppy. I was even more overwhelmed when I started digging through the nine major topic areas, namely: research and assessment methods, fundamental planning knowledge, communication and interaction, plan and policy development, plan implementation, administration and management, leadership, areas of practice, and ethics. There was more to the exam than I had anticipated. I didn’t know how to start, or where to first focus my attention. After three consecutive weekends of reading about fifty law cases, ten planning movements, and twenty planning “people”, I tossed my textbook aside and convinced myself that I had overcommitted, the exam was optional, and my brain just wasn’t wired to memorize information. That was that, and I got my weekends back.

Three days before the fall 2023 registration deadline, a casual chat with my team manager turned into an honest conversation about my trepidation. Her guidance helped me find – and keep – my resolve to take the exam. The next day, I registered for the AICP. I had exactly one month to study all nine topics.

Preparing for the Exam, Part 2: Running Back
Nothing spurs my executive function better than a looming deadline. My first step was to take a practice exam on Planning Prep. This helped me establish a baseline – I highlighted the topic areas where I scored lower. I made sure not to time myself at this stage because I wanted to familiarize myself with the study materials first.

Second, I divided up the weeks left till my exam and blocked off days for each topic. The areas where I had scored lower in the practice exam got extra days in my study schedule.

Third, I started reading the comprehensive Study Notes created by the APA PA’s Professional Development Committee (PDC). I supplemented this with free online resources provided by the APA PA, guidebooks from Planning Certification, and notes collected by my seniors from graduate school who had recently take the exam.

This time, I decided to tailor the study materials to the learning methods that work best for me. I prefer to organize information into charts and graphics, so I decided to create my own “Revision Book”. I made a timeline of historical events color-coded by each “area of study” (environmental, transportation, housing, land use/urban design); a spreadsheet with law cases color-tagged against their respective planning issues and constitutional amendments; and a sheet of important people in planning color-coded by the planning area they primarily contributed to (I really like color). I made sure to update my Revision Book every time I came across a milestone event, law case, or planning person. These spreadsheets became my go-to resource. They worked because the information was visually organized in a way that made it easier for me to learn and find patterns, I understood the relationships between different topic areas rather than simply memorizing them as discrete chapters.

Fourth, I made sure that no matter how prepared I thought I was, I would take a practice exam every weekend. There are twelve exams on Planning Prep – I took about five – and they helped me familiarize myself with the types of questions that come on the exam, and the answering pace I needed to maintain. Doing this also helped me ensure I didn’t peg my progress against the number of hours I studied; rather, against my comfort with a particular topic area.

I spent all week before the exam holed up in my aunt’s house over Thanksgiving, furiously completing my spreadsheets and testing myself as often as I could. I wasn’t getting perfect scores but that didn’t matter. I was scoring well enough to pass, and even in studying for the exam, I had learnt so much new material.

D-Day
I took my exam at a test center in central Philadelphia. The exam hall was being used by multiple test-takers and had strict regulations. I had to shed my jacket, watch, and water bottle before entering the exam hall, had to inform the proctor if I needed to visit the bathroom, and was frisked on reentry. The exam room was lined with cubicles – each cubicle had a computer, keyboard, mouse, and a noise-cancelling headset. I was provided with a table-top dry erase board to use as scratch paper. While I wasn’t allowed to carry my watch inside, there was a timer counting down above my exam screen.

The exam itself was organized on a somewhat clunky, but workable, interface. I could flip through questions and mark those that I wanted to come back to. There were many more ethics questions than I expected, so I was surprised that the screen congratulated me for passing when I submitted my answers. I rushed out of the hall, elated. The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful winter day. The AICP exam was behind me.

If I Had to Do It Again
I hope I don’t have to take the exam again, but if I did, there are a few pointers I would keep in mind:

• • Make sure to leave enough time to study the APA Policy Guides and PAS Reports. While the comprehensive guidebooks and notes are foundational to the AICP, these reports contain perhaps the most up-to-date information directly from APA.
  • The AICP Code of Ethics is a tricky part of the exam because it is extremely subjective. Scenarios presented in the ethics questions could have more than one right option, but the correct one is whichever is the “most” right. Only practice, and a thorough understanding of the AICP Code of Ethics, can help understand the underlying logic for this section. Check out this video and this discussion guide to get started on ethics questions.
  • Take the evening before exam day to rest. If you’re like me, your brain might trick you into believing you haven’t studied enough. Help yourself tap into the depth of knowledge you have undoubtedly acquired by getting proper nutrition, some exercise, and a good night’s rest before the exam.

The AICP exam is tough, but surmountable. I hope this account of my experiences helps your -journey. Thank you for reading, and good luck!