Looking to Get Accredited in Public Relations? Here are Some Tips from My APR Journey.

Author's Note: The opinions expressed here are my own.

I recently earned my Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America. What exactly is the APR? PRSA describes it as follows:

“The Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) credential certifies your drive, professionalism, and principles, setting you apart from your peers and positioning you as a leader and mentor in the competitive public relations field. The APR: Asserts professional competence, communicates professional expertise, plus personal and professional dedication and values, and reflects progressive public relations industry practices and high standards.”

Worldwide, there are about 5,000 active APRs. To earn your APR, you must successfully complete four steps, including steps two through four within 365 days. These steps test your competency with specific knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). The four steps:

1. APPLICATION: Complete and submit the APR application. It it’s accepted, the clock on your 365 days starts upon notification by PRSA. Note: The application requires a fee.
2. QUESTIONNAIRE: Complete and submit your questionnaire to the local accreditation chair (you are referred to that person by PRSA upon your application's acceptance). The questionnaire will be reviewed by your panel (more on the panel immediately below). Allow at least 2-4 weeks to carefully work through your questionnaire. Upon submitting your questionnaire, you then work with the local accreditation chair on the next step in the process--scheduling your panel presentation.
3. PANEL: Sit before a panel of APRs to prove your competency in the key KSAs through a portfolio presentation. Your presentation should highlight the project you focused on in your questionnaire (again, the panel will have read your questionnaire by the time you present to them). People fail the panel presentation; there are no givens! Be ready by having a very solid presentation that shows your mastery of the KSAs. If you pass the panel presentation, you then proceed to the fourth step.
4. EXAM: Take the 132-question computer-based examination. If you pass the exam, you have earned your APR!

Earning the APR is a significant professional achievement, and the information out there on the do’s and don’ts can be overwhelming, confusing and downright discouraging for busy professionals. My goal here is to share with you how I went about the process and got a successful outcome.

First, as you research the APR process, know that there are multiple ways to go about it, but they all adhere to the four steps listed above. There are “boot camps,” an online study course, local chapter cohorts, and what I call the old-school method: going it alone. I chose to go it alone because of limited time. I tried the online course and quickly determined it wasn’t for me. That said, I did seek advice and counsel from two APRs I know and respect, and their suggestions were critically important as I undertook the process. I also found this podcast series quite helpful.

My 365 days commenced on September 30 upon PRSA’s acceptance of my application. I hadn’t yet started on anything—not the questionnaire, not my panel presentation and none of the reading. I reasoned that, once the clock started ticking, I’d get motivated to start the work. Wouldn’t you know it? Just as I started on my questionnaire in early October, I came down with COVID-19. By the time the brain fog and after-effects eased, it was December and I’d lost about two and a half months. Yikes! Fortunately, I had ordered some of the books I knew I’d need (more on those later) and they were sitting the shelf waiting for me.

Questionnaire

Once I was healthy enough, I got serious about my questionnaire and managed to knock it out in about 3-4 weeks. My completed questionnaire was 17 pages, and the project I detailed was an award-winning campaign I led in a previous job. Be sure your project is solid! Concurrently, I started reading the free APR Study Guide, and this little 163-page booklet was tremendously helpful as I worked through the questionnaire and wove in my command of the KSAs and four-step RPIE process (more on that below).

Reading the APR Study Guide is absolutely critical. Side note: I had my Study Guide printed and bound at my local UPS Store. It is very much a booklet, and I am sure I’d have lost pages if it weren’t bound. If you have the budget, get yours printed and bound.

After several rounds of edits, I submitted my completed questionnaire to my local accreditation chair in January, working with her to schedule my panel presentation. That left me about two months to complete my panel presentation--not a lot of time but just enough to light a fire under me.

Panel Presentation

Due to COVID, my panel presentation was to be conducted via Zoom. Ordinarily, it’s in-person. The panel "evaluates, through a questionnaire and live presentation, knowledge, skills and abilities that cannot effectively be judged in the computer-based examination" (source). They have a scorecard they use during your presentation, and it's broken down by the KSAs.

With two months to work with, I went all in on my panel presentation on the weekends, putting hours upon hours into it. I even had to forgo consecutive weekends of skiing with my family while I completed and fine-tuned my presentation. Again, during this process, I closely consulted the APR Study Guide to ensure my panel presentation highlighted my command of the KSAs and aligned with APR principles.

After an introductory section to provide the critical context, the meat of my presentation was structured as follows: Research, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation (the four-step process). My presentation deck was about 55 slides, and I rehearsed it a half-dozen times to ensure I could get through it in under 60 minutes, allowing for the second hour to focus on Q&A and discussion.

The panel presentation went spectacularly well, despite my being so nervous! I passed and got the greenlight to sit for the exam. As a PR professional with two decades of experience, I knew the best approach was to just be myself. I included a humorous slide up front to help loosen things up and then I went right into my work. I also included an honest assessment of where my project went well, and where it fell short. I felt it important to fully own the work--the good and bad. I highly recommend this approach.

Computer-Based Exam

It was early March when I passed the panel presentation, meaning I had just shy of seven months to study for, take and pass the exam—the final step in the process. This was the step that most daunted me. In order to give myself a sense of urgency, I scheduled my exam for early June. You take the exam at Prometric. I reasoned that an early June date had three benefits:

1. If I passed in early June, I’d then have the best summer ever, not having to worry about the APR anymore!
2. If I failed, I’d then have almost four months to retake the exam.
3. Had I not scheduled it for early June, I’d have just dragged my feet on it. I needed to give myself a sense of urgency and get this sucker done.

I had ordered almost all of the recommended books, but from consulting with some APR colleagues I knew there were two resources in particular that I had to read: Cutlip and Center’s Effective Public Relations (which cost me about $150!) and the aforementioned free APR Study Guide. Once I completed the Study Guide, I went right into the Cutlip/Center book. A quick word on the Study Guide and Cutlip/Center book. They complement each other. Think of the Study Guide as an outline of the content—or Cliff’s Notes, if you will—that you need to master. It gives you the broad strokes, and then the Cutlip/Center book goes into the critical details, providing the necessary depth.

The Cutlip/Center book took me about two months to read. I mostly read it on the weekends, taking notes on notecards. It was stressful reading because I quickly realized that, while I had a solid understanding of the overall principles of public relations, there were so many details to remember! Over time, I started to tell myself that the details were good to know, but what was most important was understanding the principles, ethics, laws and—most importantly—four-step RPIE process.

While reading the Cutlip/Center book, I also twice took the mock 20-question APR exam to get a feel for the process. Once I was done with the Cutlip/Center book, I made what I think was one of the best decisions yet: I re-read the APR Study Guide. Re-reading it helped me mentally organize all that I had learned in the Cutlip/Center book, shore up weak spots and ultimately improve my confidence going into the exam.

It all paid off. I passed the exam. I took almost all of the time allotted, flagging the questions that I wasn't sure of so I could then go back to them in the final minutes to give the answers more thought and deliberation.

Most of the exam questions involved scenarios, requiring you to apply the KSAs and the principles of good PR practice. For these questions, the reading I had done was essential…but so were my 21 years of experience! When I saw the screen in the end that said I’d passed, I was ecstatic!

Pro tip: Don't drink two cups of coffee before the exam. I had to take three pee breaks, which were a pain because the Prometric staff have to search you over before you re-enter the exam room to protect against cheating.

So, there you have it. That was my journey. I mostly went it alone because I had to. While I had the benefit of deep experience as my foundation, I absolutely believe that experience alone would NOT have gotten me a passing score on the exam. I could see how participating in an online cohort, going through a bootcamp, etc. could really be beneficial, but for me the process I undertook worked.

The bottom line is this: While it’s GREAT to have the APR—a prestigious badge of distinction in the profession—what is even greater is how much better the process made me. I learned so much. It transformed how I practice public relations, especially as it relates to the four-step process, but also the models about which you learn.

In summary, some key takeaways:

1. Design the APR process that best works for you. The options for going about your journey (bootcamp, online study course, etc.) all have pluses and minuses. This I will say: If you have limited time, don’t let going it alone discourage you. You can absolutely do it.
2. The first thing you should do is read the APR Study Guide. I suggest reading it before you embark on the questionnaire and ideally before your 365-day process starts so you can hit the ground running. It will set you up for success with your questionnaire and definitely the panel presentation.
3. The Cutlip/Center book is one book you absolutely need. It helps to have the others but the Cutlip/Center book is crucial. It’s worth the investment. Read every word of it. Take notes along the way. Try some of the approaches in your work, too.
4. Allow yourself some cushion to retake the exam in case you don’t pass it the first time (retaking does require a fee). I suggest 2-3 months of cushion.
5. Talk with as many APRs as you can. They have a lot to share in the way of do’s, don’ts, etc.

A final note: Once you earn the APR, the process doesn’t stop! You then need to maintain it through continuing education, a process with which I am now familiarizing myself.

Please hit me up if I can be helpful!