Q. What is the difference between the PCCE and the PACE exams?

A. The Paralegal CORE Competency Exam® establishes your education has prepared you for many types of paralegal work and helps you stand out from others whose schooling and experience are otherwise similar.  Those who have passed the PCCE may proudly display the CRP® designation after their name.

The Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam® (PACE®) is for those with not only a comprehensive education in paralegal studies but also years of practical experience.  Earning the RP® designation by passing the PACE Exam shows that you are one of the best in the field!

Q: I have submitted my application or renewal and I want to make sure it was received. Who do I contact?

A: Please note that it could take up to 7 days for your application to be approved. In addition, a confirmation email will come from Submittable, so please be sure to monitor your spam/junk mail folder. If you don't receive a confirmation email, please contact certifications@paralegals.org.

Q. I am not currently a paralegal, but I would like to take one of your exams/obtain more information about becoming one. Can you help?

A. Unfortunately, without having substantive work experience as a paralegal, you would not be eligible to take either of our exams under our current criteria. (For eligibility grids, please view our application page here). For more information on choosing a paralegal education program, assistance in finding a program and how to evaluate a paralegal program, we've put together some guidelines. NFPA will not recommend any particular education program. You will need to make your choice based on your own research and evaluation of the above information.

Exam/Application/Eligibility FAQs

Q: What is Substantive Paralegal Experience?

A: “Minimum work experience” is defined as full-time employment performing the duties of a paralegal at least 80% of the time. Part-time employment is calculated on a pro-rata basis.

“Substantive Paralegal Experience” is defined as the performance of substantive legal work that requires knowledge of legal concepts and is customarily, but not exclusively, performed by a lawyer. The paralegal may be contracted with or employed by a lawyer, law office, governmental agency, or other entity, or may be authorized by administrative, statutory, or court authority to perform this work.

Substantive paralegal work experience must be verified by each employer (or previous employers, if necessary) by letter from the employer/attorney. Each employer must verify the applicant’s substantive paralegal experience (as defined above) and the time during which the work was performed. The “Substantive Paralegal Employment Verification Letters” must be on the employer’s letterhead and specify dates, capacity of employment, and confirm the substantive paralegal experience with a statement from the employer that: verifies the work would have otherwise been performed by an attorney; the paralegal performed the substantive work at least 80% of the time, whether the paralegal was full time or part-time; the average number of hours worked per week and the time period of the employment. The Employment Verification Letters must match the employment history listed on the application and equate to the total experience required for the applicant’s selected eligibility pathway.

Q. I meet the education requirements, but I have a foreign degree. Can I still apply?

A. Degrees obtained outside the United States must be evaluated by a professional evaluation for their equivalence to U.S. degrees. NFPA considers evaluations performed by NACES:

NACES
https://www.naces.org/members 

Paralegal certificates obtained outside the United States must be evaluated by the Certification Standards Committee. 

Q. How do I find out if my education program is ABA or AaFPE approved?

A. You should be able to contact the school you attended. IN addition, you can check the Directory of ABA Approved Paralegal Education Programs, here or search the AAfPE program list here.

Q. I have 20 years of experience, do I need a paralegal certificate?

A. Please refer to the eligibility pathway grids on the application page, here. Each horizontal line on the grid is one pathway option; you are not required to have a paralegal certificate if it does not meet the pathway you are pursuing. It is the responsibility of the applicant to review and determine which pathway meets their circumstances and individual eligibility. Please note that NFPA will not comment on individual eligibility without an accompanying paid application.

Q. Are there study materials, practice exams or other exam prep that you provide?

A. NFPA does not provide anything automatically. We do have a study manual for each book available for purchase, here. We do not currently offer any practice exams. If you are interested in review courses, we partner with API and their review course information can be found here.

Q. How many questions are on the exam?

A. PCCE is 125 multiple choice questions, lasting around 2.5 hours. PACE is 200 multiple choice questions, lasting around 4 hours.

Q. When is the exam?

A. Exams are held all throughout the year/ each month/ each week, at many different times as they are offered on a rolling basis. Once you have applied and been approved, you will receive your Authorization to Test email, which provides all of your eligibility information, along with instructions on how to schedule the exam with our testing vendor, Prometric. You will also have the option of testing on-site, or remotely. We cannot provide this information without an approved application.

Q. How will I be notified if I passed/failed the exam?

A. Scoring runs are processed monthly on the last Thursday of the month for the previous month’s exams. (IE A scoring run on February 25 will include scores from the last scoring run on January 25 through February 24. As such, you should receive your official score via email by the 1st week of the month following the scoring run your exam falls into, or in this example, by March 7. Please note that we are unable to access your score without performing the full scoring run as a batch, and therefore cannot provide your pass/fail, even “unofficially” without this process being completed. Requests for exam scores for scoring runs not yet completed will be deleted.

Q. My application was selected for an audit. How does that process work?

A. Applicants selected for audit will be notified within the first week of the month after their application was approved. The Audit Reviewer then has 10 days to notify audited applicants if supplemental documentation is required. If the application and supporting documents do not meet NFPA guidelines, the applicant will be given 30 days to cure the deficiency after which the Reviewer will have an additional 10 days to review any supplemental materials. If the application is ultimately determined to not meet NFPA eligibility guidelines, the application will be denied and the eligibility to sit for the exam revoked with no refund. No additional extensions will be granted to cure any deficiencies identified on a completed application.

Renewal FAQs

Q. Where do I find information on renewal requirements/and or the link to renew?

A. Please visit our “Renew your Credential Page” here.

Q. I am retiring/now retired but I’d like to keep my credential; do you have options for this?

A. You can apply for Emeritus status in this case. The link can be found on our renewal page, or here.

Q. I will not have enough CLEs in order to renew on time. What are my options?

A. You can submit a credential renewal extension request, here. Depending upon the circumstances, it will give you between 30 and 60 days to complete additional CLEs and submit your renewal without penalty.

Q. If I am already past my expiration date, can I submit an extension?

A. You can submit a credential renewal extension request as mentioned above, and it will be applied retroactively. As such, you can not be more than 60 days out from your expiration date in order to be approved for the retroactive extension. Once you are more than 60 days past expiration, you have been revoked. At that time, you would need to submit a Revocation Appeal, which can be found here.

Q. My renewal application was selected for an audit. How does that process work?

A. The process is detailed in the above section "Exam/Application/Eligibility FAQs"

CLE FAQs

Q: I have third party CLEs to approve. How should I submit those?

A: Please review the Continuing Legal Education page here. While NFPA will no longer approve 3rd party CLEs, there are many pre-approved options available to you, in addition to alternatives for 3rd party CLEs receiving approval.

Q. My CLEs are from third party vendors and are not pre-approved by one of the listed organizations. Now what do I do?

A. Under the new FastTrack credentialing program, all CLEs must come from one of the providers on the Approved CLEs list (below). You will no longer be able to submit 3rd party CLEs to NFPA for review and approval, in order to include with your application or renewal. 
 
Approved CLE providers for individuals (applications and renewals)

• NFPA 
• A current NFPA‐member association
• Bar associations (ABA, ATLA, local bar associations or MCLE programs approved by a local bar)
• Any court within the US
• Inns of Court
• A military JAG School or military paralegal program
• NALA
• AAfPE or ABA_approved Paralegal Programs
• In house substantive CLEs (law firms or corporations)
• ANY CLEs that are approved for attorneys
• **Professional substantive legal seminar providers (e.g. NBI, Lorman, etc) who have obtained NFPA-approval for individual CLE courses. 

CLE Certificates must be submitted that comply with the following:

•  Completion of the required number and type of CLEs 
•  Approval from one of the organizations listed above
•  The date of attendance or date of completion of the CLE (if a webinar)
•  The name of the individual being awarded the CLE
•  The number and type of CLEs being awarded (whether general, ethics or DEI)
•  CLES must be completed within the 2 year renewal cycle 

If your CLE Certificates do not meet these requirements, or are from a third party vendor, NFPA recommends submitting your CLES to your local Bar Association or your local NFPA-Member Association for approval. That approval can accompany your renewal application. Alternatively, NFPA offers a number of recorded webinars that meet NFPA’s requirements at low cost which can be found here.

Q. I am a CLE provider and I want to submit our course for NFPA approval. How do I do that?

A. NFPA Member Associations who wish to have their events advertised for NFPA CLE credit, please apply here.
All other CLE providers who wish to have their events advertised for NFPA CLE credit, please apply here.

Q. I didn’t pass the exam the last time and I took it and I’d like to apply again? How do I do so and what is the process?

A. If you do not pass the PCCE/PACE exam and it has been 30 days since your last attempt, you can apply for an exam retake request here. 
Please note this is not the application itself, but it confirms you are eligible to retest. Upon approval, you will receive instructions on how to submit your retake application properly.

Q. I have passed the PACE/PCCE Exam! Now what?

A. If you have passed the PCCE, please read more here.
    If you have passed the PACE, please read more here.