Think you don’t have time to earn the APR? Think again.

In August 2021, I stepped into a communications director role at the arts organization I had joined just a few years earlier. Honored with this leadership role, I reflected on how to build the public relations function within the organization to best achieve personal and organizational success. Seeking to expand my knowledge of industry best practices, I explored professional development courses and concluded PRSA’s Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) was the most logical and compelling program.

With the support and encouragement of my supervisor and family, I made it my 2022 goal to earn my APR. I’ll admit, I was nervous. It had been more than two decades since I’d been in a formal learning environment. But the desire to strengthen my skills and succeed in my new role outweighed the uncertainty.

I applied in January and quickly connected with the PRSA Madison chapter’s APR chair, who matched me with a mentor and helped me get started. I printed the study guide, ordered textbooks and joined a study group by March. That early structure helped turn a daunting goal into manageable steps, something every PR professional knows the value of!

As I began studying, I also started completing Section One of the Panel Presentation Questionnaire, reflecting on my communications experience and current role and responsibilities. For Section Two, due to my time constraints, I chose to focus my project on a past campaign. Around the same time, I was learning about the RPIE model—Research, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation—and began mapping my campaign against it.

RPIE was new to me in name, but not entirely in practice. I realized I had been applying many of its principles intuitively. Where my campaign lacked depth, I was able to acknowledge those gaps and explain how I would approach them differently now. That exercise alone sharpened my thinking in a way that immediately translated to my day- to-day work, especially in a role where priorities can shift quickly and clarity matters. Looking back, it’s interesting to see how I found myself applying RPIE to the APR process itself. My research came through textbooks, my mentor and my study group.

My planning included setting a clear timeline, defining goals, objectives and strategies, and pacing my workload. I dedicated evenings and weekends to steady progress, spreading reading and preparation across five months.

Implementation meant completing the questionnaire, developing my presentation and successfully presenting to a panel in August. Passing that milestone gave me a new deadline: I had four months to prepare for the exam. I created a 12-week study plan, revisiting key sections multiple times and building my own practice tests. By December, I felt ready. After a final review of terminology and concepts, I sat for the exam—and passed!

I’m proud of the outcome, but even more of the process. Setting a clear goal and schedule while breaking the work into manageable pieces made it achievable, even with a full-time job and competing priorities. Just as meaningful were the connections I built along the way with my APR chair, mentor and fellow candidates.

For anyone considering the APR, know it is absolutely possible to complete the process in 9-12 months. It requires discipline, but it’s designed to fit alongside a busy, fast- moving career. In many ways, the very skills that define public relations—adaptability and the ability to manage competing demands—are the same ones that will carry you through the process.

For me, the APR built on my experience while sharpening my strategic approach. It changed how I think about and execute projects, and that has guided me these years since achieving my APR and will be something I carry with me through the last decade of my career.

If earning your APR is something you’ve been contemplating, do it! It’s not too late to get started this year—and be framing your Certificate of Achievement by this time next year.