No examination is difficult if you work hard with sheer dedication. The same theory applies to the PMP certification. With the right resources and your willingness, you will be able to crack the examination. Indeed, this exam has proved to be a great skill to build for better career opportunities and growth. Forget all doubts and inhibitions while preparing for the PMP Certification examination. Therefore, nothing is difficult if you have all the related details and the right resources for preparation. Moreover, with good certification, you can easily excel in your career. Clearly, you are in luck today as we have curated the article with all the details and learning resources that will help you plan better. Let us get started by looking at some exam details that are essential to know!
About Project Management Professional PMP Certification Exam
Project Management Professional (PMP)® is one of the most important industry-recognized certifications specifically designed for project managers. Additionally, this certification also provides a significant advantage when it comes to earning potential. To add on, the sole objective of the PMP certification is to signify that the candidate understands the global language of project management and connects to a community of professionals, organizations, and experts worldwide. Furthermore, Certified Project Management Professional need more diverse skills and approaches than ever before.
Who Should Apply?
Any can give this examination, however, the certification is suitable for candidates with a good level of experience as a project manager responsible for all aspects of project delivery, leading and directing cross-functional teams.
PMP Exam Prerequisites
Since this one of the highly demanded certification in the market, you need to have few things beforehand, which are Project Management Professional Certification Requirements:
| Educational Background | Project Management Experience | Project Management Education |
| Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or global equivalent) | Minimum five years/60 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience* | 35 contact hours of formal education unless you are an active CAPM holder |
| OR | ||
| Four-year degree (bachelor’s degree or global equivalent) | Minimum three years/36 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience* | 35 contact hours of formal education unless you are an active CAPM holder |
| OR | ||
| Bachelor’s or post-graduate degree from a GAC accredited program (bachelor’s degree or master’s or global equivalent) | Minimum two years/24 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience* | 35 contact hours of formal education unless you are an active CAPM holder |
PMP Exam Details
Now that you are through with the basic details of the examination. Now it’s time to learn more details about it. The PMP certification consists of 180 questions which are required to be completed in a time span of 230 minutes. Furthermore, you need to keep in mind the type of questions that will come in the examination. Subsequently, there are Multiple-choice, multiple responses, matching, hotspot, and limited fill-in-the-blank, and various other types of questions. Last but not the least, nothing is difficult right? all you have to aim is for judicious time management.
Project Management Professional Exam Outline
The Project Management Professional Course covers the following topics:
Domain I – People — 42%
Task 1 – Manage conflict
- Firstly, Interpret the source and stage of the conflict
- Secondly, Analyze the context for the conflict
- Thirdly, Evaluate/recommend/reconcile the appropriate conflict resolution solution
Task 2 – Lead a team
- Set a clear vision and mission
- Support diversity and inclusion (e.g., behavior types, thought process)
- Value servant leadership (e.g., relate the tenets of servant leadership to the team)
- Determine an appropriate leadership style (e.g., directive, collaborative)
- Inspire, motivate, and influence team members/stakeholders (e.g., team contract, social contract, reward system)
- Furthermore, Analyze team members and stakeholders’ influence
- Subsequently, Distinguish various options to lead various team members and stakeholders
Task 3 – Support team performance
- Appraise team member performance against key performance indicators
- Support and recognize team member growth and development
- Determine appropriate feedback approach
- Verify performance improvements
Task 4 – Empower team members and stakeholders
- Organize around team strengths
- Support team task accountability
- Subsequently, Evaluate demonstration of task accountability
- Determine and bestow level(s) of decision-making authority
Task 5 – Ensure team members/stakeholders are adequately trained
- Determine required competencies and elements of training
- Determine training options based on training needs
- Allocate resources for training
- Measure training outcomes
Task 6 – Build a team
- Appraise stakeholder skills
- Deduce project resource requirements
- Continuously assess and refresh team skills to meet project needs
- Maintain team and knowledge transfer
Task 7 – Address and remove impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team
- Determine critical impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team
- Prioritize critical impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team
- Use network to implement solutions to remove impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team
- Re-assess continually to ensure impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team are being addressed
Domain II – Process — 50%
Task 1 – Execute project with the urgency required to deliver business value
- Firstly, Assess opportunities to deliver value incrementally
- Secondly, Examine the business value throughout the project
- Thirdly, Support the team to subdivide project tasks as necessary to find the minimum viable product
Task 2 – Manage communications
- Analyze communication needs of all stakeholders
- Determine communication methods, channels, frequency, and level of detail for all stakeholders
- Communicate project information and updates effectively
- Confirm communication is understood and feedback is received
Task 3 – Assess and manage risks
- Determine risk management options
- Subsequently, Iteratively assess and prioritize risks
Task 4 – Engage stakeholders
- Analyze stakeholders (e.g., power interest grid, influence, impact)
- Categorize stakeholders
- Subsequently, Engage stakeholders by category
- Last but not the least, Develop, execute, and validate a strategy for stakeholder engagement
Task 5 – Plan and manage budget and resources
- Estimate budgetary needs based on the scope of the project and lessons learned from past projects
- Anticipate future budget challenges
- Subsequently, Monitor budget variations and work with the governance process to adjust as necessary
- Last but not the least, Plan and manage resources
Task 6 – Plan and manage schedule
- Estimate project tasks (milestones, dependencies, story points)
- Utilize benchmarks and historical data
- Prepare schedule based on the methodology
- Furthermore, Measure ongoing progress based on methodology
- Subsequently, Modify schedule, as needed, based on methodology
- Coordinate with other projects and other operations
Task 7 – Plan and manage quality of products/deliverables
- Determine quality standard required for project deliverables
- Furthermore, Recommend options for improvement based on quality gaps
- Subsequently, Continually survey project deliverable quality
Domain III Business Environment — 8%
Task 1 – Plan and manage project compliance
- Firstly, Confirm project compliance requirements (e.g., security, health and safety, regulatory compliance)
- Secondly, Classify compliance categories
- Thirdly, Determine potential threats to compliance
- Use methods to support compliance
- Analyze the consequences of noncompliance
- Determine necessary approach and action to address compliance needs (e.g., risk, legal)
- Measure the extent to which the project is in compliance
Task 2 – Evaluate and deliver project benefits and value
- Investigate that benefits are identified
- Document agreement on ownership for ongoing benefit realization
- Verify measurement system is in place to track benefits
- Evaluate delivery options to demonstrate value
- Appraise stakeholders of value gain progress
Task 3 – Evaluate and address external business environment changes for impact on scope
- Firstly, Survey changes to external business environment (e.g., regulations, technology, geopolitical, market)
- Secondly, Assess and prioritize impact on project scope/backlog based on changes in external business environment
- Subsequently, Recommend options for scope/backlog changes (e.g., schedule, cost changes)
- Continually review external business environment for impacts on project scope/backlog
Task 4 – Support organizational change
- To add on, Assess organizational culture
- Furthermore, Evaluate impact of organizational change to project and determine required actions
- Subsequently,Evaluate impact of the project to the organization and determine required actions
How difficult is the PMP Certification?
All you need is a study guide for the PMP Certification examination. But, you need to be very careful while choosing the study material. Moreover, there are people in the PMP Industry who might say that this examination is difficult and not easy to crack. The reason behind this is people are afraid of making efforts and work hard. To add on, there is nothing to worry about we have combined all the related resources that will help you prepare and strategize better. Let’s get started:
Learn more about PMP Cetification with our online tutorial!
Instructor-Led Training
To begin with, you can also refer to instructor-led training and online classes in order to clear the concepts and develop a strong understanding. Furthermore, since the person taking the exam is already experienced in the field of project management. He is completely trained in the practical aspects of the exam, more focus should now be paid to the theoretical aspect which can be made strong by getting trained from experts or by getting classes by a reliable organization.
Join study group
Joining a good study group can be beneficial during the time of preparation. Studying in groups can be helpful for resolving the issue of areas that you are struggling with. That is to say, there you can ask for help and even help others to solve their problems. This will not only enhance your knowledge but will provide you access to gain more. Moreover, sharing project management experiences with others will help you to crack the scenario-based questions that are the confusing part of the PMP certification exam. Last but not the least, there are few communities which you can be a part of and ace your preparation for the examination:
- ProjectManagement.com: Plenty of blog posts and community discussions are devoted to exam-prep challenges and advice.
- PMI’s LinkedIn project professional group: A great place to post a question about the exam-prep process when you’ve hit a wall.
- Local PMI chapters: These can be another resource when you need a hand.
Evaluate yourself with PMP Project Management Professional Practice Tests
The final step to success is to practice what you have learned. Additionally, taking the Pmp Project Management Professional Practice Tests is a great way to diversify your study strategy and ensure the best possible results for the real thing. Furthermore, analyzing the practice test is very important so as to ensure complete preparation. We provide you with free sample papers to help you excel in the examination. Moreover, these free practice exam papers will give you a real-time examination feel. Therefore, start preparing now!
