AICP Exam Pass Rates

The American Planning Association is pleased to provide this summary of the AICP Exam pass rates of graduates of PAB–accredited planning programs.

2004-2013

The list below depicts AICP Exam pass rates of graduates of accredited planning programs in the United States and Canada. The pass rates are based on examination attempts that occurred between 2004 and 2013. An examination attempt was counted for this summary if the examinee graduated from an accredited planning program during that school's accreditation period.

A full listing of PAB–accredited planning programs that includes the full program name is available on PAB's website. All programs listed are, or have been, accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB).

The exam pass rates list below is in quartiles to provide additional context regarding the pass rates relative to the volume of exam attempts. 

All AICP exam data are owned and securely maintained by the American Planning Association. (a)

Quartiles are assigned based on total number of exam attempts. (b)

Mean Pass Rate (PAB accredited program graduates) (c) — 71%

1st Quartile

(81 or more attempts)

School Name Degree Total Pass Pass Rate (%)
University of Minnesota Master 85 80 94%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Master 112 105 94%
University of Pennsylvania Master 181 163 90%
University of Michigan Master 113 101 89%
University of Texas–Austin Master 83 74 89%
University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign Master 92 81 88%
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Master 84 73 87%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Master 82 70 85%
Georgia Institute of Technology Master 167 140 84%
University of Virginia Master 108 90 83%
University of Colorado-Denver Master 158 131 83%
University of Florida Master 85 68 80%
Florida State University Master 160 126 79%
Rutgers University Master 147 111 76%
New York University Master 81 61 75%
Ohio State University Master 144 108 75%
University of Illinois-Chicago Master 126 94 75%
University of Kansas Master 93 65 70%
University of Southern California Master 113 76 67%
State University of New York at Buffalo Master 92 61 66%
Iowa State University Bachelor 106 69 65%
University of Cincinnati Master 100 65 65%
University of Texas–Arlington Master 100 50 50%
Florida Atlantic University Master 99 41 41%

2nd Quartile

(53 to 80 attempts)

School Name Degree Total Pass Pass Rate (%)
Portland State University Master 71 68 96%
University of California–Berkeley Master 76 69 91%
University of Washington Master 71 64 90%
California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo Master 61 53 87%
University of Iowa Master 74 64 86%
State University of New York at Albany Master 56 48 86%
University of California–Los Angeles Master 78 66 85%
Cornell University Master 78 64 82%
University of Maryland-College Park Master 61 50 82%
University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign Bachelor 60 49 82%
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Master 69 56 81%
Columbia University Master 77 62 81%
Harvard University Master 60 48 80%
Ball State University Bachelor 53 42 79%
Virginia Commonwealth University Master 69 54 78%
Clemson University Master 71 53 75%
San Jose State University Master 54 39 72%
Hunter College of the City University of New York Master 53 38 72%
Texas A & M University Master 63 40 63%
California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo Bachelor 69 40 58%
Arizona State University Master 56 32 57%
University of New Orleans Master 60 34 57%
University of Cincinnati Bachelor 68 34 50%
University of Oklahoma Master 53 26 49%
California State Polytechnic University–Pomona Bachelor 78 34 44%

3rd Quartile

(22 to 52 attempts)

School Name Degree Total Pass Pass Rate (%)
University of Wisconsin–Madison Master 51 50 98%
Tufts University Master 25 24 96%
University of California–Irvine Master 40 36 90%
University of Oregon Master 34 30 88%
University of Memphis Master 22 18 82%
Kansas State University Master 36 29 81%
University of Rhode Island (d) Master 25 20 80%
Pratt Institute of Brooklyn Master 23 18 78%
University of Massachusetts–Amherst Master 52 40 77%
University of New Mexico Master 33 25 76%
Michigan State University Bachelor 44 33 75%
Michigan State University Master 27 20 74%
Eastern Washington University Bachelor 29 21 72%
Ball State University Master 38 27 71%
University of Nebraska Master 38 26 68%
Iowa State University Master 31 21 68%
Cleveland State University Master 32 21 66%
Eastern Washington University Master 28 18 64%
California State Polytechnic University–Pomona Master 46 29 63%
University of Tennessee (d) Master 40 25 63%
University of Arizona Master 45 27 60%
Wayne State University Master 22 13 59%
Auburn University Master 23 13 57%
East Carolina University Bachelor 24 11 46%
Morgan State University Master 30 8 27%

4th Quartile

(21 or fewer attempts)

School Name Degree Total Pass Pass Rate (%)
Jackson State University Master 1 1 100%
North Dakota State University (d)  Master 3 3 100%
Universite de Montreal (f) Bachelor 1 1 100%
University of British Columbia (f) Master 10 10 100%
University of Miami (d) Master 2 2 100%
University of Virginia Bachelor 20 18 90%
Eastern Michigan University Bachelor 10 8 80%
George Washington University Master 4 3 75%
University of Pittsburgh (d) Master 4 3 75%
University of Hawaii at Manoa Master 17 12 71%
McGill University (e) Master 18 12 67%
University of Louisville Master 3 2 67%
University of Manitoba (e) Master 9 6 67%
Arizona State University Bachelor 21 13 62%
Universite de Montreal (f) Master 5 3 60%
Missouri State University (former SW Missouri State U) Bachelor 7 4 57%
Queen's University (d) Master 6 3 50%
University of Washington (d) Bachelor 6 3 50%
Southern Illinois University (d) Master 3 1 33%
Temple University Master 3 1 33%
Alabama A & M University Master 20 6 30%
Alabama A & M University Bachelor 6 0 0%
Pennsylvania State University–Capitol Campus (d) Master 6 0 0%
Texas Southern University Master 1 0 0%

NOTES

(a) The AICP Exam Pass Rate data and similar information published on this website are the property of the American Planning Association (APA) and protected by applicable copyright and other laws, rules, and agreements. These data cannot be used, recreated, or reproduced in any way other than by providing a direct link to the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for this website, which right to link may be revoked by APA at any time for any reason. See also "Copyright and Legal Notices" for additional terms and conditions that apply to this information except as otherwise set forth above.

(b) Quartile ranges were determined using total number of examination attempts per accredited planning program. An examination attempt was counted if the examinee received a degree from the program during the program's accreditation period. The number of programs used to determine quartiles included programs accredited by either the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB), the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), or both. Note that in the initial analysis, the Fourth Quartile included many CIP–only programs since these programs generally produced very small numbers of examinees during the study period. However, CIP–only programs are not displayed here. The result is that the number of schools shown in the Fourth Quartile is significantly smaller than the number of schools listed in the other quartiles.

(c) Percent of passed examination attempts by accredited planning program graduates during the 2004-2013 period out of all examination attempts by accredited planning program graduates during the 2004-2013 period. The "mean pass rate," as defined above, is 71%.

(d) Formerly, but no longer, accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.

(e) Accredited by the Canadian Institute of Planners; formerly, but no longer, accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.

(f) Accredited by both the Planning Accreditation Board and the Canadian Institute of Planners.

Questions

Please contact aicpexam@planning.org for any questions regarding this information.