If you’re like me, people ask you over and over how to earn the PMP. I don’t mind answering this question, but I don’t always have the time to give a detailed answer for readers and students. So, here’s my official answer, once and for all, of how to earn the PMP certification.
Here’s the video:
The PMP certification is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of all project management certifications. This exam requires the candidate to have extensive project management experience, education, and pass a rigid 200-question exam. This certification, like the CAPM, requires the candidate to apply for the examination through the Project Management Institute’s website: www.pmi.org.
There are two paths to qualify for the PMP exam – the major difference being having a college degree or not. Here are the methods to apply for the PMP examination:
| Education | Project Management Experience | Project Management Education |
| High school diploma or equivalent | 60 months of non-overlapping project management experience 7,500 hours leading and directing project tasks All within the last eight years |
35 contact hours of project management education |
| Bachelor’s degree or equivalent | 36 non-overlapping months of project management experience 4,500 hours of leading and direct project management tasks All within the last eight years |
35 contact hours of project management education |
Table 2: Choose the path to qualify for the PMP.
You’ll use PMI’s online application to document your education and project management experience. This is the form where you’ll show how your accrued your project management experience, list your supervisor’s names for said projects, and show from which project deliverables your experience stems. There is a chance that your exam application can be audited, so be accurate and honest.
Once you submit your PMP exam application, PMI will review the application and will respond to your application usually within ten days. If you’re audited you’ll have additional forms for your project supervisors to complete to verify your experience. Once your application has been approved, PMI will provide you with an approval code and a phone number to schedule your examination. You’ll provide the approval code to the Thompson Prometric testing center, and they’ll schedule your exam date for you.
The exam fee is $555 for a non-PMI member and $405 for a PMI member. It costs $129 to join PMI (or $40 for a first time student joining) so it’s definitely more cost effective to join PMI first and then schedule your PMP examination. The exam has 200 questions of which only 175 questions actually count towards your score. The other 25 questions are considered seeded questions, and are included in the exam to test their validity for future PMP candidates. You won’t know if you’re answering a live question or one of the 25 seeded questions as you complete the exam, so you’ll have to answer each question to the best of your ability. The passing score for the exam is 61% – or at least answering 106 of the 175 live questions.
Here are the PMP exam objectives:
| Exam Domain | Domain Tasks | Percentage of Exam |
| Initiating the Project | 11.59% | |
| Perform project selection methods | ||
| Define the project scope | ||
| Document the project risks, assumptions, and constraints | ||
| Identify and perform stakeholder analysis | ||
| Develop the project charter | ||
| Obtain project charter approval | ||
| Planning the Project | 22.7% | |
| Define and record requirements, constraints, and assumptions | ||
| Identify the project team and define roles and responsibilities | ||
| Create the work breakdown structure | ||
| Develop a change management strategy | ||
| Identify project risks and define risk strategies | ||
| Obtain plan approval | ||
| Conduct the project kick-off meeting | ||
| Executing the Project | 27.5% | |
| Execute tasks defined in the project plan | ||
| Ensure common understanding and set expectations | ||
| Implement the procurement of project resources | ||
| Manage resource allocation | ||
| Implement a quality management plan | ||
| Implement approved changes | ||
| Implement approved actions and workarounds | ||
| Improve team performance | ||
| Monitoring and Controlling the Project | 21.03% | |
| Measure project performance | ||
| Verify and manage changes to the project | ||
| Ensure project deliverables conform to quality standards | ||
| Monitor all risks | ||
| Closing the Project | 8.57% | |
| Obtain final acceptance for the project | ||
| Obtain financial, legal, and administrative closure | ||
| Release project resources | ||
| Identify, document, and communicate lessons learned | ||
| Create and distribute final project report | ||
| Archive and retain project records | ||
| Measure customer satisfaction | ||
| Professional and Social Responsibility | 8.61% | |
| Ensure individual integrity | ||
| Contribute to the project management knowledge base | ||
| Enhance personal professional competence | ||
| Promote interaction among stakeholders | ||
| TOTAL | 100.00% |
If possible you should attend one of my public PMP Prep Classes or contact Lila Scott about bring me into your organization for a private PMP Boot Camp for just your employees. If those aren’t possibilities you should check out my books and PMP Prep Kit.
Best in your PMP endeavors!
