I just passed my APR exam and I wanted to give you my thoughts while everything is still fresh in my mind.  First, it feels surreal. This has been a goal for a while but like many of you, life kept getting in the way. This year I made the commitment and I found the resources to help me through the process. Here are 10 tips (of many, many, many more things I have in my head about the process) to help you tackle the APR:

1. It is hard. Don’t let that deter you, but be mentally prepared for it.
2. Solicit outside help for guidance and motivation. While the work is yours, you only make the process harder if you try to take on the challenge on your own.
3. Leverage available resources from the Chapter and PRSA national. I chose to do the virtual PRSA APR Bootcamp. PRSA will schedule you for your panel as part of the bootcamp. This forces you to do your write-up in advance and complete your presentation. Both are required steps to become eligible to take the exam.
4. Dedicate as much distraction-free time to studying for the exam as possible.  My recommendation, at least 1-2 hours a week for 3-4 months. I also did 3-4 hours a day for the week leading up to the exam.
5. The exam is three and half hours long, 165+ questions. It’s a marathon. Don’t just be prepared for the material but be prepared for the mental exhaustion.  There is a counter on the exam webpage and it will drive you crazy at times.
6. The PRSA APR study guide is gold for preparing for the exam. Study it cover-to-cover.
7. The PRSA APR study guide should not be your only study resource. The study guide lists other textbook resources. Cutlip and Center’s Effective Public Relations was my go-to and is considered the industry standard for many in the career field.
8. The test is online and proctored by a testing center. Arrive 15 minutes early to navigate any computer glitches. I had some and it took 10-15 minutes for the proctor to walk me through what I needed to adjust. 
9. The test is PREDOMINATELY scenario based. Read these questions carefully.  They can be tricky. When in doubt, ask yourself, how would PRSA answer this question? 
10. As soon as you answer the last question and select "submit exam" (very daunting), you get an unofficial notice of pass/no pass. It literally took a fraction of a second. You will also get an email with a breakdown of how you scored in each category. The feedback will not tell you how you did on any question, just the general categories based on the KSAs. You will later receive an email from PRSA with notification and later still, official notification in the mail.
11. There are so many more things I experienced and am happy to share. I will say this, when you hit submit on the exam and the webpage opens that says “pass,” it all becomes worth it. Reach out to me, I’ll help with motivation.