How to Prepare for Your APR Like a Pro
Earning an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) is no easy task. Neither is properly preparing for the APR journey!
According to PRSA, “Preparing for the APR is an exercise in success, as the process provides an assessment of your proficiency and accurately calibrates your craft, contacts, and career goals.”
I earned my APR in 2020, becoming one of the first in the nation to take the APR exam remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It was a tough goal to conquer, but one that brought me great pride and increased confidence in my work.
Since then, other pros considering going for their APR have asked me for advice. Here are the top tips I recommend to anyone preparing to earn their APR:
Read this article to learn about my journey and thoughts on the benefits of earning the APR.
Give yourself a timeline in which to get this done. Six months may be a reasonable amount of time in which to read the study materials, prepare your presentation, sit for the presentation panel and take the exam, for example.
Download a recent copy of the PRSA APR study guide from the APR page and read it through. It will have some helpful points that the textbook doesn’t.
Purchase the most current Effective Public Relations book, and read that through. That's the only textbook most pros need to focus on.
Take the online course to hear some of the content and take the practice quizzes. I didn't participate in the weekly calls though because I didn't want anyone in the cohort to plant a WRONG answer in my mind! :)
Read my breakdown of the differences between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics in my blog and in more detail in the planning chapter of my own book. This is an area many pros get wrong on the test. That and the legal/ethical chapters may need special studying attention from you. They did for me since the real world isn't so black and white.
Try the practice exam and any of the other tools on the APR page as well.
For the panel prep, find a campaign you worked on that perhaps you created a case study on for a PRSA award application. Then you can make that into a PowerPoint you can take the panel through.
Reach out to a local APR mentor from your PRSA chapter to support your journey.
Lastly — go for it! The PR industry needs more APR’s like you. Do one thing every day of your timeline to help you move forward and over time, all those small steps will have taken you to your APR destination!