AICP study guide
AICP · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
AICP certification is the American Planning Association's professional credential for planners, administered through the One Path to AICP process: register for the exam, pass it, then submit an experience assessment documenting your education, employment, and professional planning experience. Members may sit for the exam while still completing their planning experience, since experience can be earned after passing. The AICP study guide has 9 sections and about 2,767 words.
01Research and Assessment Methods
Planners choose methods to answer a question, then defend the choice. Be fluent in: levels of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio); descriptive versus inferential statistics; sampling designs (simple random, systematic, stratified, cluster, convenience) and their trade-offs; survey mechanics (question wording, pretesting, response and nonresponse bias, mode effects); demographic data sources (decennial census versus American Community Survey 1-year versus 5-year estimates); projection methods (linear/geometric extrapolation, share-of-growth, cohort-component, economic base and input-output models); and spatial analysis cautions such as the modifiable areal unit problem and the ecological fallacy.
334 words, about 2 min02Fundamental Planning Knowledge
This domain rewards a coherent map of planning history, theory, and law. Anchor cases: Euclid v.
277 words, about 1 min03Communication and Interaction
Public engagement is a design problem, not a single event. Know the IAP2 spectrum (inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower) and Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation, including that a formal public hearing is often a low rung because it informs and defends rather than shares power.
327 words, about 2 min04Plan and Policy Development
The comprehensive (general) plan sets a long-range vision and is implemented through regulation and capital spending. Understand the hierarchy: vision, goals (aspirational), objectives (measurable), policies (standing guidance), and implementation actions (who does what, by when, with what funding).
315 words, about 2 min05Plan Implementation
Implementation is where plans meet law and money. On the regulatory side: use districts and bulk standards, variances (unnecessary hardship), special or conditional use permits, site plan review, planned unit developments, overlay districts, form-based codes, design review, nonconforming use provisions, amortization, and spot-zoning prohibitions.
292 words, about 1 min06Administration and Management
This domain tests whether you can run a planning office. Budgeting: operating versus capital budgets, and formats - line-item, program, performance-based, zero-based - plus fund accounting, enterprise funds for utilities, and the difference between a balanced budget and a structurally balanced one.
291 words, about 1 min07Leadership
Leadership in planning is the exercise of influence without unilateral authority. Know the distinction between leadership (direction, vision, change) and management (control, process, stability), and be able to discuss styles: transactional, transformational, servant, situational, and adaptive leadership, which distinguishes technical problems from adaptive challenges requiring changes in values and behavior.
321 words, about 2 min08Areas of Practice
Expect scenario questions that require picking the right tool for a substantive field. Housing: area median income tiers, the 30%-of-income affordability standard and cost burden, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (9% and 4%), CDBG and HOME, housing choice vouchers, inclusionary policies, and affirmatively furthering fair housing.
295 words, about 1 min09AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
The Code has three parts: aspirational principles, enforceable rules of practice, and procedures. The organizing idea is a hierarchy of responsibility - to the public interest first, then to clients and employers, then to the profession and colleagues.
315 words, about 2 min