Your course account will be activated within 1 business day of the time you sign up (Usually within 4 hours if you sign up Monday - Friday, 9am - 3pm Pacific).
We do not offer deferments. For example, if you register for the online course in March, you will only have access through June 15, and will have to re-register (and pay the course fee) to have access until December 15.
If you have questions about the APA's exam window, eligibility requirements and application status, please visit the American Planning Association's website for AICP Exam Guidelines.
If you have registered for a course term that has not started yet, please be assured that you will be receiving instructions on how to access the course prior to the start date.If you have an existing account with Planetizen courses, you are able to visit the course site, but will not have access to the course until the course term begins.
All elements of the course are available at any time for viewing. You can go as fast or slow through the lessons as you need. You can also retake the practice tests as much as you want.
Please email us at courses@planetizen.com.
Jennifer Evans-Cowley, PhD, AICP, has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners for the last 13 years and is a Professor of City and Regional Planning at the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University. Dr. Evans-Cowley regularly teaches courses to prepare candidates to take the AICP* exam and serves as the professional development officer for the Ohio Chapter of the American Planning Association. Prior to becoming a professor she worked as a planner in several cities. Her research regularly appears in planning journals and she is the author of four Planning Advisory Service Reports for the American Planning Association.
This option includes access to the course, enabling you to study for the Fall exam.
The reader consists of assembled readings that are recommended by the American Planning Association and some which, in our opinion, represent the key knowledge necessary to become a certified planner. This new volume is a comprehensive, 650+ page, bound book that is the definitive collection of essential readings.
A $49 savings! This option includes access to the course, plus Essential Readings in Urban Planning, the course reader.
While preparing for the AICP* exam, it is simply not possible to study everything. The Planetizen AICP* Exam Preparation Course helps you to focus your limited time and resources by focusing the information most likely to appear on the AICP* exam.
Each topic is organized into a series of easy-to-review lessons which can be completed in approximately 20-30 minutes. This makes it easy for the busy planning professional to fit in a lesson anytime.
Your course account will be activated within 1 business day of the time you sign up (Usually within 4 hours if you sign up Monday - Friday, 9am - 3pm Pacific). Questions?
Please email us at courses@planetizen.com
Course registration for the spring term is open from December 15th – May 15th. Course access is open starting January 15th through June 15th.
Course registration for the fall term is open from June 15th – November 15th. Course access is open from July 15th through December 15th.
We do not offer extensions or deferments on registration. If you are unable to take the exam, you will need to re-register to continue your access to the course.
If you have questions about the APA's exam window, eligibility requirements and application status, please visit the American Planning Association's website for AICP Exam Guidelines.
* AICP is a registered trademark of the American Planning Association (APA) and the APA's Institute. Neither APA nor AICP are affiliated with Planetizen or this website. ** These are practice questions. They are not real exam questions.
"Thank you for creating such a helpful resource. It really made a difference in helping me pass the exam."
- Rosa Y. Ortiz, AICP (Chicago, IL)
"I can't say enough about the Planetizen website, videos and notes. I read and reviewed these multiple times." - Afsan Hamid, AICP (Bartlett, IL)
"This course really helped me focus my studies and was a great resource overall." - Erika Martin, AICP (Long Beach, CA)
"I highly recommend this course." - Omar Masry, AICP (Newbury Park, CA)
"This is my third attempt on the exam, but the first time I've taken this course. Believe me, this course made all the difference. If you have no formal planning training, this course is a condensed form of a masters degree in planning." - Name Withheld, AICP
"I passed the exam with a score of 62. I took this class after not passing the exam. This class is the reason I passed. I was overwhelmed with the amount of material and with trying to find it on my own. I did not study correctly the first time. This course narrowed the topics and helped me to study the correct subject matter and appropriate depth. Thank you so much!" - Name Withheld, AICP
"Thanks for this course - it was really, really helpful." - Patrick Marchman, AICP (Alexandria, VA)
"This was a very helpful course! Thank you!" - Joshua DeVries, AICP (Kissimmee, FL)
"This course builds confidence and provides a great framework for exam preparation." - Roberto Zuniga, AICP (Coppell, TX)
"Thank you for such a great course! It was extremely helpful in organizing the insane amount of information!" - Heidi Jones, AICP (Goleta, CA)
"Thank you. This course was enormously helpful to my study process." - Molly Wright, AICP (Sacramento, CA)
"This course provided a very strong foundation for my studies." - Catherine Sckerl, AICP (Austin, TX)
"A million thanks to Jennifer and her wonderful staff for such an amazing product. My advice to potential test takers: enroll in this course as soon as it becomes available. Don't hesitate. This is THE tool that will help you pass the AICP exam." - Ruben Flores-Marzan, AICP (Manati, PR)
"This course was a instrumental in passing the exam." - Guilherme Prado, AICP (Atlanta, GA)
"I passed the exam this afternoon with a [removed]! That's where I estimate I was after taking the three Planetizen practice exams. I entered the exam feeling good that I would pass based on the practice exams. The level of difficulty was right where I expected it to be. Thanks for the great study course!" - Brian Vosburg, AICP (Detroit, MI)
"I would say that [seven different study resources and books] were helpful, but this course was the single most helpful element, especially the practice tests." -Vanessa Goold, AICP (Sunapee, NH)
This course WAS A HUGE HELP!" - Greg Wagner, AICP (Fergus Falls, NH)
"This course was very helpful. I felt very well-prepared while taking the exam." - Rebecca Bird, AICP (Champaign, IL)
"I just wanted to thank the entire Planetizen/Urban Insight team for the AICP course. It was very thorough, well-written, and creatively put together. It was money well spent - I passed with [points to spare]." Mark Meyer, AICP (St. Louis, MO)
"I found this course to be a great resource. I don't think I would have passed without it. I also tried another study resource and found that not to be helpful. Its simply not geared towards the test in the way that this course was." - Kevin Kusmick, AICP (Jersey City, NJ)
"Thank you for such a wonderful study aid." - Amy Diaz-Barriga, AICP (Evanston, IL)
"This course played a huge role in my preparation for the exam. I took all the practice exams/quizzes multiple times and crossed-checked my weaker areas with other resources... The videos were a great break from reading and provided additional insight to some of the more challenging portions of the exam. Thanks Jennifer, this course was a huge help." - Robert Caison, AICP (Charleston, NC)
"Thank you for such a great review course, and for answering my questions. I took the exam this morning and passed... I wouldn't have passed if I hadn't enrolled in the Planetizen course and been able to practice so many great questions in the quizzes and the practice exams." - Lindsay Smart, AICP (Chattanooga, TN)
"This course was incredibly helping in knowing what to study and how to study it." - Cara Kelly, AICP (Bellbrook, OH)
"This course is a must for those taking the test." - A. Alexander Flemming, AICP (Havertown, PA)
"Planetizen's AICP preparation course is great. Not have a planning degree and working as a master planning consultant for the military, this course and the video lectures were invaluable." - Corey Parten, AICP (Marietta, GA)
"The Planetizen AICP Course helped focus my studying, especially since I tend to spend too much time learning stuff in great detail as opposed to learning a little about each topic." - Keith Leonard, AICP (Grand Junction, CO)
"Thank you, thank you, for putting together such a fantastic course that was so accessible to all of us around the country who may not have been able to attend national conference exam preparation sessions." - Allison Phillips, AICP (Jemez Springs, NM)
"I studied using Planetizen's AICP course, another study guide, and the Green Book. I would say that they all had their strengths and weaknesses, but this course helped me the most. Being able to watch Jennifer's lectures was great for me because I am need to hear thing and read them. Having never had a single planning class in college, the law, history, and theory stuff was brand new to me. It was a lot to learn. Thanks!" - Brooke Ferguson, AICP (Greenville, SC)
"I thought that the content of the exam was actually very similar to the types of questions that were in the Planetizen practice exams, and that the exams from this course were very similar to the AICP practice exams in content, but done in a much more user friendly format, with instant feedback available and an answer selection system that much more closely mirrors the actual exam format." - Hilary Copelan, AICP (Cedar Rapids, OH)
"Thank you Jennifer, and everyone in the course who provided good resources and feedback on the course forums. The Planetizen AICP preparation course was a huge help to me." - Katie Resnick, AICP (Sandwich, MA)
"The course was a huge help! I wouldn't have passed without it." -Lisa Koch, AICP (Lawrence, KS)
"This course gave a much needed structure and the practice exams give a good idea of the scope and type of questions." - Krtui Bhati, AICP (Ventnor City, NJ)