AICP exam content outline at a glance (9 domains)
The current outline dates from December 2021 and divides the 170 questions into nine domains. Only 150 of them count; the other 20 are unscored pretest items that look exactly like the rest, so treat every question as live. One weight point is worth about a question and a half of the scored total.
- Fundamental Planning Knowledge 15
- Plan and Policy Development 15
- Communication and Interaction 13
- Areas of Practice 12
- Plan Implementation 12
- Research and Assessment Methods 11
- AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct 10
- Administration and Management 6
- Leadership 6
Read it the way you would read a zoning map. Two districts, Fundamental Planning Knowledge and Plan and Policy Development, are 30% of the exam between them; add Communication and Interaction and you are at 43%. Administration and Management and Leadership are 6% each: small parcels, still on the map.
The nine domain guides
Each card is one domain, in order of weight. Three are live: Fundamental Planning Knowledge and Plan and Policy Development have full domain guides, and the ethics domain is covered by the AICP Code of Ethics guide. The six hatched parcels are guides still in preparation; the notes further down this page tell you what each of those domains tests in the meantime.
15%
Fundamental Planning Knowledge
Planning history, settlement patterns, theory, and the law that lets a community plan at all: police power, takings, landmark cases.
Guide · read it
15%
How a plan gets made, in order: scoping, vision to policy, the legal frame, financing and the consequences of a choice.
Guide · read it
13%
Communication and Interaction
Public meetings, the press, outreach to people planning usually misses, consensus-building and the politics in the room.
Guide in preparation
12%
Areas of Practice
The specialties: housing, transportation, hazards, economic development, urban design, historic resources, food, health and more.
Guide in preparation
12%
Plan Implementation
Turning a plan into codes and a capital program, checking proposals for consistency, and keeping the plan current.
Guide in preparation
11%
Research and Assessment Methods
Census data, sampling, statistics, GIS, and projection methods such as cohort-component and location quotients.
Guide in preparation
10%
AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
The 2022 Code: aspirational principles, enforceable rules of conduct, and how advice and complaints work.
Guide · read it
6%
Administration and Management
Procurement, budgets, schedules, contracts, boards and open-meetings rules. Running the shop.
Guide in preparation
6%
Leadership
The public interest, accountability, the ethics of advocacy, mentoring, and making the case for planning.
Guide in preparation
Fundamental Planning Knowledge (15%)
The broadest domain and one of the two largest. It covers where planning came from and what gives it legal standing: the movements and their people, from the garden city to the neighborhood unit; how settlement patterns formed, redlining included; planning theory from rational-comprehensive to advocacy and communicative planning; and the constitutional ground of police power, takings, due process and equal protection.
Many questions here are recall, but the wrong options are siblings: four cases from the same decade, four theorists who published within a few years of each other. Knowing a name is not enough. You need the contrast.
Full guide: Fundamental Planning Knowledge, with history, theory, the takings line and 12 practice questions.
Plan and Policy Development (15%)
The other 15% domain is about making a plan in the right order and owning its consequences. Expect sequence questions, what comes first and what comes next, and the chain that runs from a community’s vision through goals and objectives to policies and priorities.
- Goal
- A broad statement of the end state the community wants. Not measurable on its own.
- Objective
- A measurable, time-bound step toward a goal.
- Policy
- A standing course of action that guides day-to-day decisions toward the objective.
The domain also reaches into state and federal law (preemption, tribal sovereignty), financing, the fiscal and service consequences of a choice such as concurrency, and who carries a plan’s burdens. Dispute resolution lives here too, with a classic role swap: a mediator helps the parties reach their own agreement, an arbitrator decides for them.
Full guide: Plan and Policy Development, with the plan-making sequence and 12 practice questions.
Communication and Interaction (13%)
The third-largest domain, and the one working planners tend to underrate. It tests how you run a meeting, deal with the press, make materials accessible, reach renters and communities that rarely come to hearings, and hold your analysis when a council member wants a different answer.
Arnstein’s ladder (1969)
- Eight rungs in three tiers
- Informing and consultation sit in the tokenism tier
- Measures how much power residents actually hold
IAP2 spectrum
- Five levels: inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower
- Describes the promise you make to the public
- Used to pick an engagement level for a project
Two participation frameworks the exam likes to swap.
The same contrast runs through techniques. A Delphi panel is anonymous and iterative; a nominal group meets face to face, generates ideas silently and votes; a charrette runs over several consecutive days with feedback loops.
Areas of Practice (12%)
A survey of the specialties, nineteen of them, from comprehensive and current planning to food systems and health. Each gets a thin slice of 12%, so breadth beats depth: know the defining tool or law of each area and when you would reach for it.
| Area | Know at least this |
|---|---|
| Hazard mitigation | Local hazard mitigation plans under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 are updated every five years. |
| Floodplains | The NFIP regulates to the 1% annual-chance flood; improving a structure by 50% or more of its value triggers compliance. |
| Historic resources | Section 106 of the NHPA (1966) makes federal agencies take effects into account and consult. It does not forbid demolition. |
| Housing | A household paying more than 30% of income for housing is cost-burdened; above 50% is severe. |
| Rural and small town | Transfer of development rights moves density from a sending area to a receiving area. |
| Health | A health impact assessment looks at a plan’s or project’s health effects before the decision is made. |
The exam tests these areas as practiced across the United States, so a rule that exists only in your own state’s code is rarely the key.
Plan Implementation (12%)
Where the plan meets the permit counter: writing and interpreting zoning and subdivision rules, building a capital improvements program, lining money up behind the plan, reviewing proposals for consistency, assigning action steps and monitoring whether any of it worked.
- Capital improvements program: usually five or six years long; its first year becomes the capital budget.
- Variance, conditional use, rezoning: a variance relieves a unique hardship the owner did not create; a conditional use is allowed where its conditions are met; a rezoning changes the rule itself.
- Spot zoning: a rezoning that favors one owner and conflicts with the plan.
- Nonconforming uses: may continue but not expand, and amortizing them out is generally upheld.
Expect sequence questions here as well. Data, then plan, then code: an option that writes the ordinance before the analysis is a distractor.
Research and Assessment Methods (11%)
The methods domain: where data comes from, how to read it honestly, and how to project from it. You get an on-screen calculator, and some of these questions are arithmetic that takes under a minute once you know the formula.
- Location quotient
- An industry’s local share of employment divided by its national share. Above 1 suggests an export, or basic, industry; it measures specialization, not growth.
- Economic base multiplier
- Total employment divided by basic employment. A multiplier of 2.5 turns 100 new basic jobs into 250 jobs in all.
- Cohort-component method
- Projects population age group by age group from births, deaths and migration.
- Margin of error
- American Community Survey estimates carry margins of error at 90% confidence; quadrupling a sample roughly halves the margin.
- Mean or median
- With right-skewed data such as household income, the median is the better center.
Correlation versus causation, validity versus reliability, and sampling types round out the domain.
AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (10%)
Ten percent of the exam rests on one document: the AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, effective January 2022. The questions are scenarios (a gift, a former client, a spouse’s permit, pressure to soften a finding), and the answer turns on knowing which parts of the Code actually bind you.
The full AICP Code of Ethics guide covers the rules, the advice and complaint procedures and the four sanctions, with 12 scenario questions.
Administration and Management (6%)
A small domain about running planning work: procurement and grants, budgets and contracts, schedules built on a Gantt chart and the critical path, boards and commissions, open-meetings and public-records rules, and managing staff. The process-correct answer usually puts the RFQ, which finds out who is qualified, before the RFP, which asks what they propose and at what price.
Six percent is about nine scored questions: not enough to start here, too many to skip.
Leadership (6%)
The other 6% domain overlaps with ethics more than its name suggests: discerning the public interest, accountability to the profession, the ethics of advocacy, transparency, mentoring and promoting the value of planning. The questions reward the planner who acts openly, through the proper body, on the record.
Studying the Code well covers much of the reasoning this domain asks for.
How to use this AICP study guide
Take a short diagnostic
Answer the nine questions below, one per domain. Your misses tell you which card to open first, which beats reading in page order.
Start with the two 15% domains
Read the Fundamental Planning Knowledge and Plan and Policy Development guides first. They are 30% of the exam and supply the law and the process every other domain leans on.
Add ethics in week one
The Code is short and worth 10%, and reading it early sharpens your judgment on the Leadership and Communication questions too.
Cover the other six from the notes above
Use the anchors on this page, then test them on the 60-question practice test and read your score by district.
Let your misses set the schedule
AICP exam prep lays out a 12-week plan weighted by domain; this page tells you what goes into each week.
9 questions · all 9 domains · reasoning after every answer
Lot 01 · 01 of 09
Fundamental Planning Knowledge
0 answered · 0 correct
Courts require an impartial decision maker and findings based on the hearing record when a commission decides a conditional use permit, but not when a council adopts a comprehensive plan. What explains the difference?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
Deciding a conditional use applies existing code standards to a particular applicant and property, which is quasi-judicial, so due process requires notice, a fair hearing, an unbiased decision maker and findings supported by the record. Calling it legislative is the key error; legislative acts such as adopting a plan or text amendment get deferential review. Courts can review plans, and conditional uses are not presumed to be spot zoning.
- AConditional uses are allowed uses with criteria, not presumed spot zoning, and strict scrutiny does not apply.
- BCourts can review plan adoption, though deferentially; the difference lies in the kind of decision.
- CCorrect: applying existing standards to one applicant is quasi-judicial, which brings due process requirements.
- DA conditional use decision applies existing standards; adopting a plan is the legislative act.
An inclusionary ordinance requires 10% of the units in ownership projects to be affordable, or an in-lieu fee equal to the affordability gap for each required unit. A 50-unit project will sell market units at $400,000; the affordable price is $250,000. What fee is due?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
10% of 50 units = 5 required units; the gap per unit is $400,000 − $250,000 = $150,000, so the fee is 5 × $150,000 = $750,000. $150,000 covers only one unit, $1,250,000 charges the affordable price of the five units, and $2,000,000 charges their full market price instead of the gap.
- A$2,000,000 charges the full market price of the five units instead of the affordability gap.
- B$1,250,000 charges the affordable price of the five units rather than the gap.
- C$150,000 is the gap for a single unit, but 10% of 50 units means five units.
- DCorrect: 10% of 50 = 5 units, the gap is $150,000 each, so the fee is 5 × $150,000 = $750,000.
A housing agency buys social media ads to market a new first-time homebuyer program. Which targeting choices raise fair housing concerns? I. Running the same ad in both English and Spanish II. Excluding users who show interest in disability services III. Limiting delivery to zip codes that are mostly white IV. Excluding users who list children in their household
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
The Fair Housing Act bars discrimination in advertising based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability and familial status: excluding disability-related interests (II), using mostly white zip codes as a proxy for race (III) and excluding households with children (IV) all steer the ad by protected class. Running the same ad in two languages widens access and excludes no one (I). Leaving out IV is the usual slip, because candidates forget that familial status is protected.
- ARunning the same ad in two languages widens access and excludes no one, so I raises no concern.
- BRunning the ad in English and Spanish (I) is not discriminatory, so this set is wrong.
- CThis leaves out IV: excluding households with children is familial-status discrimination.
- DCorrect: II (disability), III (race through zip-code proxy) and IV (familial status) each steer the ad by a protected class.
A developer keeps the same FAR but halves the building footprint. What is the MOST likely physical outcome?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
FAR fixes total floor area, so halving the footprint roughly doubles the number of stories, and the taller mass casts longer shadows on neighbors while freeing ground for open space. Fewer stories is the reverse relationship. Water and sewer demand follow floor area and use, which are unchanged, and the permitted floor area stays the same because FAR did not change.
- ACorrect: FAR fixes total floor area, so halving the footprint roughly doubles the stories and lengthens shadows.
- BWater and sewer demand follow floor area and use, which have not changed.
- CWith the same floor area on a smaller footprint, the building gets taller, not shorter.
- DPermitted floor area is set by FAR, which did not change.
A planning commission wants to deny a project that meets every objective zoning standard but conflicts with the neighborhood character described in adopted design guidelines that apply to the site. Which finding BEST supports the denial?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
A discretionary denial must rest on adopted standards and evidence in the record, so findings should cite the specific design policies the project fails to meet. Public opposition alone is not substantial evidence, speculation about property values is not a standard in the guidelines, and a generic public-welfare finding is too vague to survive review.
- AA generic public-welfare finding is too vague to survive review when specific standards exist.
- BSpeculation about property values is not a standard in the adopted guidelines.
- CCorrect: a discretionary denial should cite the specific adopted design policies the project fails to meet.
- DPublic opposition alone is not substantial evidence for a denial.
In a Kernel Density Estimation of crash locations, what is the main effect of greatly increasing the search radius (bandwidth)?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
A wider bandwidth spreads each point's influence over a larger area, so neighboring clusters merge and the surface becomes smoother while local detail is lost. Sharp, isolated hot spots come from a small bandwidth, the opposite choice. Cell size is a separate output setting, and the kernel function, not the radius, sets how weight decays with distance.
- ACorrect: a wider bandwidth spreads each crash's influence further, merging clusters into a smoother, more generalized surface.
- BSharp, isolated peaks come from a small bandwidth, the opposite choice.
- CHow weight falls off with distance is set by the kernel function; a wider radius spreads weight out.
- DOutput cell size is a separate setting, independent of the search radius.
A busy senior planner (AICP) routinely declines students' requests for career advice. Which statement is accurate under the AICP Code?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
Contributing time to the professional development of students is in Section A, whose principles are aspirational and are not grounds for discipline. Only Section B's Rules of Conduct are enforceable, so no admonition or other sanction applies. The Code does address mentoring, as an aspiration.
- AThe Code does address helping students' professional development, as an aspirational principle.
- BMentoring is in Section A's aspirational principles, not an enforceable Rule of Conduct.
- CSanctions such as admonition apply only to violations of Section B rules.
- DCorrect: declining to mentor falls short of an aspirational principle, which cannot be grounds for discipline.
Which departmental goal fails the 'Measurable' criterion of the SMART framework?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
'Improve service quality' has a deadline but no metric or target, so progress cannot be measured. 'Reduce permit review time to 10 days' is measurable but sets no date, so it fails 'time-bound', not 'measurable'. The map-scanning and email goals state both a quantity and a time standard.
- AA 10-day review time is a measurable target; this goal's weakness is that it has no deadline.
- B'One business day' is a clear, measurable response standard.
- CCorrect: 'improve service quality' has a deadline but no metric or target, so progress cannot be measured.
- D4,000 maps by June 30 states both a quantity and a deadline, so it is measurable.
A federally funded highway project will cross lands of a federally recognized tribe. How should the tribe's role in consultation be structured?
Pick an answer. The reasoning for all four options opens here.
Keys: A–D or 1–4 to answer · N next · P previous
Federally recognized tribes are sovereign governments, so federal agencies consult with them government-to-government, early and throughout the project. Treating the tribe as one more public commenter ignores that status; the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer is one channel for cultural resources, not the whole relationship; the BIA cannot consult on the tribe's behalf.
- AThe BIA cannot consult on behalf of a sovereign tribe; the agency must engage the tribe itself.
- BThe THPO is one channel for cultural resources, not the whole government-to-government relationship.
- CTreating a sovereign tribe as one more public commenter ignores its government status.
- DCorrect: federally recognized tribes are sovereigns, so federal agencies consult with them government-to-government.
Plat summary
0 of 9 answered · 0 correct
| District | Weight | Correct | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fundamental Planning Knowledge | 15% | 0/0 | |
| Plan and Policy Development | 15% | 0/0 | |
| Communication and Interaction | 13% | 0/0 | |
| Areas of Practice | 12% | 0/0 | |
| Plan Implementation | 12% | 0/0 | |
| Research and Assessment Methods | 11% | 0/0 | |
| AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct | 10% | 0/0 | |
| Administration and Management | 6% | 0/0 | |
| Leadership | 6% | 0/0 |
Answer a few lots and the weakest district shows up here, with where to read up on it.
Plat · 9 lots in 9 districts
Fundamentals1
Plan & policy1
Communication1
Practice areas1
Implementation1
Research1
Ethics1
Admin & mgmt1
Leadership1
- open
- correct
- incorrect
- on the card
These are practice items written in the style of the current outline, not real exam questions.
What AICP study materials you actually need
You need fewer materials than the prep market suggests: the outline, the 2022 Code, a source for planning law and history, and enough practice questions to find your weak domains. Everything else is a convenience.
| Material | Use it for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Exam content outline | Your map: the nine domains and their weights, on APA’s certification pages. | Weights stop at the domain level. |
| APA’s suggested reading | Depth on history, theory and practice; APA lists it with its exam-prep resources. | Too long to read cover to cover. Read for the domains you miss. |
| The 2022 AICP Code | The whole ethics domain and much of Leadership; our Code of Ethics guide walks through it. | Material that cites 2016 rule numbers. |
| Practice questions | Finding weak domains and rehearsing the process answer. Ours: 60 free questions across all nine domains. | Any bank that sells its items as real exam questions. |
| Chapter study groups | Structure, deadlines and other candidates to argue with; many APA chapters run them. | State-specific law. The exam tests national practice. |
| Older prep books and decks | Inexpensive background on history and theory. | Law that changed after they were printed. |
Everything on this site is free to read online, with nothing to download.
Free sources cover the content: the outline and APA’s reading suggestions cost nothing to consult, and this site’s guides and questions are free. What paid courses mostly sell is structure.
High-yield topics that cut across domains
Some topics turn up in three or four domains at once, so an hour on them pays more than once. These are pointers, not a syllabus.
| Topic | Pointers | Shows up in |
|---|---|---|
| Landmark cases | Euclid, Penn Central, Nollan and Dolan, Lucas, Kelo, Sheetz | Fundamental knowledge, plan development, implementation |
| People and ideas | Howard’s garden city, Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago, Perry’s neighborhood unit, Jacobs (1961), Lynch’s five elements, McHarg’s overlays, Davidoff’s advocacy planning, Lindblom’s muddling through | Fundamental knowledge, leadership |
| Participation | Arnstein’s ladder, the IAP2 spectrum, charrettes, Delphi and nominal group | Communication, research, plan development |
| Quantitative methods | Location quotient, multiplier, cohort-component, FAR (floor area ÷ lot area), 1 acre = 43,560 sq ft, compound growth | Research, areas of practice, implementation |
| Process order | Data before goals, goals before policies, disclosure before decision, RFQ before RFP | Every domain |
The exam swaps names from the same era. Radburn (1929) was Clarence Stein and Henry Wright, not Frank Lloyd Wright, whose idea was Broadacre City.
FAQ
What is on the AICP exam?
170 multiple-choice questions, 150 scored and 20 unscored pretest items, in 3.5 hours. They follow nine domains weighted 15/15/13/12/12/11/10/6/6 in the current outline (December 2021), from Fundamental Planning Knowledge to Leadership. The AICP exam covers format, registration and scoring.
What are good study materials, and how should I study for the AICP exam?
Use the exam outline and APA’s suggested reading on planning.org, the 2022 AICP Code of Ethics, a source for landmark cases and planning history, and practice questions. Read the two 15% domains first, add the Code early, and let your practice misses decide what comes next.
Are there free AICP study materials?
Yes. The outline and APA’s reading suggestions are free to consult, and this study guide, the domain guides and the 60-question practice test are free to use online, with no sign-up and nothing to download.
Is the AICP exam difficult?
It is broad more than it is deep, and much of it is judgment: scenario questions where two options look reasonable and one follows the process. Candidates with years in practice still lose points on law and history; recent graduates lose them on implementation and administration. You get a scaled score, and this site does not quote pass rates.
How long should you study for the AICP exam?
It depends on your background more than on any fixed number: a working planner and a career changer start from different places. AICP exam prep gives ranges by starting point and a 12-week plan by domain.