- ACP Discovery is an online specialty course from NALA, not a separate timed exam like the CP exam.
- The comprehensive assessment requires 85% to pass, with three attempts included in the $250/$300 course fee.
- You need current NALA CP status to hold the ACP credential, though anyone can enroll in the course.
- Discovery topics span FRCP Title V, disclosures, objections, privilege, ESI, and ethics - course content, not weighted domains.
ACP Fast Facts at a Glance
The Advanced Certified Paralegal (ACP) credential is issued by NALA - The Paralegal Association (National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc.). Unlike the foundational CP certification exam, ACP is earned through a self-paced online specialty course - in this case, the Discovery specialty, course year 2024. There's no proctored testing center, no seat time countdown, and no multi-hour exam appointment. Instead, you work through course materials and complete a comprehensive assessment on your own schedule.
If you're coming from general exam-prep content elsewhere on the web, drop those assumptions. ACP doesn't use scaled scores, doesn't publish domain weighting percentages, and doesn't require you to book a testing window months in advance. For a broader orientation to how ACP fits into the paralegal credentialing landscape, see our ACP Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
Fees, Format & Passing Score
Here's the entire financial and structural picture for the ACP Discovery course, condensed:
- Course fee: $250 USD for NALA members; $300 USD for nonmembers.
- CLE credit: 20 CLE hours awarded upon eligible completion.
- Learning hours: approximately 20 hours average, self-paced.
- Access window: one year from purchase date.
- Passing score: 85% on the comprehensive assessment.
- Attempts: three attempts included in the course fee; a fourth attempt requires repurchasing the course from scratch.
That 20-hour figure is a learning-time estimate, not a hard exam-length limit - you're not racing a clock inside the assessment itself. For a full breakdown of every dollar involved, including how member versus nonmember pricing plays out, check ACP Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. And if you want the exact mechanics behind that 85% threshold, our dedicated page on ACP Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass walks through it in more detail.
Key Takeaway
Budget for three attempts, not one. Because the fee already covers three tries at the comprehensive assessment, treat your first attempt as a genuine effort - but don't panic if you need a second pass through weaker sections before your final try.
Discovery Curriculum Topics You Must Know
NALA presents Discovery as curriculum content rather than weighted exam domains - there's no published percentage breakdown telling you "privilege is 15% of the assessment." Instead, think of these as the topic map you need to master before attempting the comprehensive assessment. For a topic-by-topic expansion, see ACP Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 0 Content Areas.
Title V of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Discovery's procedural backbone. Candidates must know how Title V structures the discovery process, including scope and timing rules that govern everything else in the course.
- Understand how Title V provisions interact with disclosure and request rules
Disclosures
Mandatory and supplemental disclosure obligations sit at the front end of discovery practice. Expect scenario-style questions testing whether a disclosure was timely, complete, or properly supplemented.
- Distinguish initial disclosures from expert and pretrial disclosure obligations
Discovery Requests, Relevance & Objections
This is the practical core: drafting and responding to requests, evaluating relevance, and identifying valid grounds for objection versus overreaching objections.
- Practice spotting improper "boilerplate" objections in fact patterns
Privilege & Electronically Stored Information (ESI)
Privilege log mechanics and ESI handling are where most course-takers report needing extra review time. ESI questions often layer preservation and production concepts together.
- Know the difference between attorney-client privilege and work-product protection in an ESI context
Ethics
Discovery-specific ethical obligations round out the curriculum - think candor, spoliation risk, and appropriate conduct during the discovery lifecycle.
- Tie ethics questions back to concrete discovery scenarios rather than abstract rules
Because these are curriculum topics rather than scored domains, the assigned course materials - not outside procedural treatises - are your primary study source. That said, NALA advises verifying current procedural rules separately, since rule text can be amended after a course is published. This is exactly the kind of scenario-based reasoning our practice sets on ACP Exam Prep are built to reinforce, with original litigation and ESI fact patterns modeled on the same topic areas.
Eligibility & the CP Connection
Anyone may enroll in the ACP Discovery course - there's no prerequisite gate to purchase it and start learning. But enrolling and actually holding the ACP credential are two different things.
To hold the ACP credential itself, you must have current NALA CP status. If you complete the Discovery course and pass the comprehensive assessment before you're a CP, NALA's program rule gives you a grace window: passing the CP exam within one year after finishing the ACP course still qualifies you for the ACP award. In other words, the sequencing is flexible, but the CP requirement doesn't disappear.
Once you've passed the comprehensive assessment, there's one more administrative step: completing the Course Review Task. NALA uses this to review your results, mark the course complete, and issue your certificate and credential when you're eligible. Skipping this step means your passing score sits unrecognized. For the full eligibility picture - including how CP status, enrollment timing, and the one-year grace period interact - read ACP Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
One-Week Cheat Sheet Sprint
If you already have paralegal litigation experience and just need a focused refresher before your comprehensive assessment attempt, a short sprint works better than a sprawling generic study plan. Map each day to a specific Discovery topic rather than a vague "study block."
Rules Foundation
- Re-read Title V of the FRCP and the disclosure obligations covered in your course materials
- Note any rule amendments and verify against current procedural rules, since course text may lag rule changes
Requests, Relevance & Objections
- Work through original discovery-request and objection scenarios
- Drill the difference between a valid relevance objection and an improper blanket objection
Privilege & ESI
- Review privilege log requirements and ESI preservation/production concepts together, since course questions often combine them
Ethics Integration
- Practice applying ethics rules to discovery fact patterns instead of studying ethics in isolation
Full Review & Mock Attempt
- Run a full set of scenario questions on ACP Exam Prep under assessment-like conditions before your real attempt
Because you get three attempts on the comprehensive assessment, some candidates deliberately treat their first attempt partly as a diagnostic - but a tight one-week sprint like this is designed to help you pass on the first try instead of burning an attempt unnecessarily. For a deeper look at difficulty expectations going in, see How Hard Is the ACP Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
Maintaining ACP After You Pass
ACP maintenance is simpler than many candidates expect: there's no separate ACP-only CLE requirement to track. Instead, ACP is maintained automatically as long as you keep your underlying CP credential in good standing. That means, on NALA's standard five-year recertification cycle:
- 50 CLE hours total per five-year cycle
- At least 5 of those hours in legal ethics specifically
- A signed recertification affidavit submitted to NALA
- A recertification fee of $125 USD for members or $175 USD for nonmembers
Because ACP rides on CP standing, letting your CP recertification lapse puts your ACP credential at risk too. Build your CLE tracking around the same five-year clock and you'll never need to think about ACP maintenance as a separate task.
Key Takeaway
No extra ACP-only CLE exists. Keep CP current - 50 hours, 5 of them ethics, plus the affidavit and fee - and your ACP credential stays active by extension.
ACP vs. CP vs. eDiscovery Specialty
Confusion between these three is common, largely because NALA's credentialing terms overlap in ordinary conversation. Here's the structural difference:
| Feature | CP Certification | ACP Discovery Specialty |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Standalone certification examination | Online course with comprehensive assessment |
| Prerequisite | NALA CP eligibility requirements | Open enrollment; credential requires current CP status |
| Passing standard | Separate CP passing standard | 85% on comprehensive assessment |
| Attempts | Governed by CP exam retake policy | Three attempts included per course purchase |
| Ongoing maintenance | 50 CLE hrs/5 yrs, 5 ethics hrs, affidavit, fee | No separate ACP-only CLE; maintained via CP standing |
It's also worth distinguishing ACP Discovery from NALA's separate eDiscovery specialty course - the two cover related but distinct subject matter, and this site keeps preparation for each clearly separated so you're not mixing study materials meant for a different specialty into your Discovery prep. If you're still weighing whether pursuing the specialty makes sense for your career stage, Is the ACP Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 lays out the considerations, and ACP Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows covers what's actually known publicly about outcomes.
Printable Quick Reference Card
Keep this list next to your notes during your final review pass:
- Certifying body: NALA - The Paralegal Association
- Credential: ACP, Discovery specialty, 2024 course
- Cost: $250 members / $300 nonmembers
- CLE earned on completion: 20 hours
- Passing score: 85% on comprehensive assessment
- Attempts included: 3 (repurchase required after that)
- Access period: 1 year from purchase
- Credential requirement: current NALA CP status (or CP passed within 1 year after course completion)
- Final step: Course Review Task, submitted for NALA review before certificate issuance
- Maintenance: 50 CLE hrs / 5 yrs, 5 ethics hrs, affidavit, $125/$175 fee - no extra ACP-only CLE
- Curriculum topics: FRCP Title V, disclosures, discovery requests, relevance, objections, privilege, ESI, ethics
Run through original scenario questions covering each of these topic areas on ACP Exam Prep before you schedule your comprehensive assessment attempt - practicing with litigation and ESI fact patterns is the closest simulation available to the assessment's scenario-based style.
FAQ
No. ACP Discovery is a self-paced online course with a comprehensive assessment at the end. The roughly 20 learning hours describe average study time, not a timed-exam limit.
You need 85% on the comprehensive assessment. You get three included attempts before needing to repurchase the course.
No, anyone may enroll. However, holding the ACP credential requires current NALA CP status, or passing CP within one year after completing the ACP course.
The course fee is $250 USD for NALA members and $300 USD for nonmembers, and it includes 20 CLE hours.
No. ACP has no additional ACP-only CLE requirement. It's maintained by keeping your CP credential in good standing through NALA's standard five-year recertification cycle.