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PMP Test Comprehensive Guide [2024 Updated]

The PMP® (Project Management Professional) certification is one of the most famous international certifications in the field of project management. To have an overview of PMP certification, we have put together an article about PMP certification right below.

What is PMP Certification?

The Project Management field has many types of certifications as well as many certification bodies. However, the most popular today is the PMP (Project Management Professional) certificate from the American Project Management Institute (PMI). The PMP certificate was born in 1984, provided by PMI, and has global value. PMP has long been recognized as a benchmark for professional Project Management.

In fact, the PMP certification is issued to project management professionals in a variety of industries such as IT, construction, banking, industry, manufacturing, etc. To achieve this certification, candidates need to meet the following requirements: There are many strict conditions, and passing the application review and approval process is not easy. For example, projects with a budget of millions of USD or more or a project team of more than 200 people working in many different countries.

What are PMP Requirements?

To be eligible for the PMP exam, you must meet the following requirements:

Training Hours

The training hours requirement is the number of hours of project management lessons you must take before taking the PMP exam. You can get this qualification certificate by attending courses, seminars, and training courses of qualified experts, centers, programs, and units (See details on page 11 of PMP Handbook).

This certificate of 35 training hours is valid to prove that candidates have met the requirements and fully absorbed Project Management knowledge in accordance with PMI standards to take the PMP exam. Atoha offers this certification through Project Management courses (16 hours of mandatory training) or certification exam preparation courses (35 hours of required training).

Experience in Project Tasks

Project tasks are tasks and processes in project management according to PMP standards. You must prove that you have experienced actual hours working on those project tasks. If you have a bachelor’s degree and have 3 years of experience as a project manager, but only have experience working in two process groups of the project, such as project initiation and completion, for example, it will not be accepted. . Refer to the Project Description Template in the PMP file.

Minimum Working Months

The minimum number of months you have worked as a project manager by the group. The university bachelor group requires 36 months of experience without overlapping in the last 8 years. The College / High School group requires 60 months of experience without overlap in the last 8 years.

Note: If you already hold a CAPM certification, you do not need to provide the required 35 hours of training. In other words, you are assumed to have completed enough project management training hours.

Why Should You Get a PMP Certification?

Improve Your CV

One of the first things a prospective employer will check when your CV crosses their desk is your PMP certification status. If your CV is stacked with those of rivals, it’s possible that someone else may choose you over you because they have a PMP certification. Certification might be the determining factor in whether a company decides to hire you or another candidate.

In fact, many firms won’t even consider candidates unless they have a PMP certification, especially in nations where there is a significant need for qualified project managers. In addition to making your CV seem better, certification enhances the chance that it will reach the desks of prospective employers.

Illustrate that You Have Experiences

The PMP certification lets prospective employers know, among other things, that you have a certain level of training and expertise. Before submitting an application to take the test, it is required for you to have:

• 5 years of project management experience, 60 months of project leading and directing experience, an associate’s degree

Or you have to have:

• 3 years of project management experience, 36 months of a project leading and directing experience, and a bachelor’s degree.

You also need to complete 35 hours of project management training. This course will help you become ready to pass the test and enter the project management workforce.  An employer will quickly know that you have a high degree of experience and dedication to the industry since all of this is necessary in order to even be eligible for accreditation.

Offer Networking Possibilities

You automatically connect with all other PMPs who are members once you join PMI. Over 740,000 people have PMP certification, according to PMI’s 2016 annual report. Of that number, more than half are outside of the United States.

By holding frequent meetings in their local chapters, PMI provides chances for networking with other PMPs. These gatherings serve as chances for learning from one another and subject matter experts, as well as for sharing and learning about employment openings. Additionally, it is an opportunity to get PDUs, which PMPs must obtain every three years in order to renew their certification.

Boost Your Earning Potential 

When thinking about the advantages of PMP certification, the issue of prospective pay raises comes up. Does obtaining a project management certification truly affect your capacity to make money? Based on research and statistics, PMI has consistently said over the last several years that this is the case.

With the information collected from 26,000 project management professionals in over 34 countries, the 9th Edition of PMI’s Project Management Salary Survey provides statistics on pay. According to the report, earning more money with a PMP certification than without one was true in virtually every nation. It also shows that the median salary increased with the length of a person’s PMP employment.

Raise Your Employment Prospects

The PMP certification is the most well-known project management credential worldwide, and as a result, it is respected by companies everywhere. Whether certification is necessary for a job or not, it is nevertheless seen as a significant credential by employers seeking project managers.

The PMP certification will provide you an advantage over rivals and open the door to a wider variety of opportunities if you’re a project manager looking for a new job since some employers truly do demand it from their manager.

Demonstrate Your Seriousness Regarding Career

There is a distinction between using project management as a hobby and becoming a project manager professionally. Throughout their careers, many individuals have had the opportunity to lead one or more projects, but not everyone seeks the education and certification required to flourish in the profession of project management.

By obtaining certification, you demonstrate to people that you take project management seriously and aren’t simply dipping your toe in the water to see how things go. Employers like to work with managers who are enthusiastic about performing to the best of their abilities, and certification validates that enthusiasm.

Who Should Take the PMP Certification?

If you belong to the following groups, the PMP project management certification exam is essential if you want to develop your career.

Person in charge of the project

The first group of subjects that need to take the project management certification exam is the project managers in charge. These are people who specialize in project management and need to accumulate project hours to qualify for the certification exam. Many advancement opportunities will come to this group of people if they have a project management certificate.

People who are working on the project team

The second group is those who are working in the project team to gain experience. Although not included in the project hours required by PMI, the work experience will help you a lot in your future work.

Those who want to advance to a management position

Obtaining a project management certificate and mastering all the standard knowledge in the course will open up many great job opportunities for you, especially if you are looking to become a director or manager of a business. . In addition, you also need to masterfully apply the knowledge you have learned along with the accumulated experience of many years when taking on this position.

How Hard is the PMP Certification Exam?

Is it Hard to Get the PMP Certification?

A difficult PMP certification procedure has been developed by PMI. In addition to having to fulfill a number of requirements in order to even be considered for the exam, the PMP exam is designed to evaluate your knowledge and competence in every aspect of project management.

The PMP test is extensive and difficult. It includes a vast amount of material and assesses your capacity to comprehend and use your knowledge as you would in real-world project management scenarios. By only learning PMP terminology, ideas, and formulae, you cannot expect to pass.

Is There a Known Failure Rate?

The PMP test is renowned for its difficulty, however, PMI withholds detailed data on the passing score or failure rate. Only around half of the first-time test takers pass the PMP exam, according to certain polls of project experts, who estimate the failure rate to be between 40 and 50 percent. However, the failure rate for the PMP test is not publicly available.

Although some sites may indicate a failure rate or a passing PMP score, these are merely estimations, and the majority of them are often wrong. Since the test is graded using psychometric analysis, there is probably no strict ratio of right to wrong answers to decide whether you pass or fail.

Why is the PMP Exam Hard?

• Difficult Questions

The PMP exam questions are challenging since they don’t simply test your recollection but also your abilities and comprehension. You will be given believable project management problems to solve by using the techniques, tenets, and tools from the PMBOK Guide and other authorized sources.

It’s important to study each question attentively since the PMP exam’s questions might be somewhat lengthy. As the test goes on, this might become much more challenging since you have to maintain your patience and concentrate for over four hours straight. Additionally, you may need to sort through irrelevant data to determine what is and isn’t important for the answer.

• Complicated Structure

The three project management domains of people, process, and business environment must be understood. The test questions are organized into the following categories for each of these domains:

• People (accounts for 42% of the test).  This domain consists of 14 activities that are centered on your capacity to form, mentor, and lead a project team.
• Process (accounts for 50% of the test). This domain consists of 17 activities that are centered on your understanding of project management procedures and how to use and implement them effectively throughout the course of a project.
• Business Environment (accounts for 8% of the test). The smallest domain and lowest percentage of the PMP Exam are these ones, which have just 4 assignments. It discusses how projects are affected by the company managing them and how they must provide value to that company.

It is possible to assess your knowledge of a wide range of project management-related subject areas by answering questions concerning these domains and activities. Even though the test has 180 questions, you are only graded on 175 of them, which adds to the difficulty of the situation.

• Duration of Exam

There are 180 multiple-choice questions in the PMP test. To assess a question’s quality and determine if it should appear as a “genuine” question on upcoming examinations, PMI adds 5 “pretest questions” on each exam. A pretest question is deemed to be of insufficient quality to be a scored question if an excessive number of persons cannot properly respond to it.

Aim to accurately respond to every question since it is impossible to tell whether a question will be scored or not. Many of the “actual” questions are equally as difficult, although some of the more difficult ones could wind up being pretest questions.

Averaging 1 minute and 16 seconds per question, you will have 230 minutes to complete all 180 questions. Unplanned pauses are permissible, but they won’t cause the timer to stop.

What is the PMP Passing Score?

Although it is a widely held misconception, the PMP passing mark is not the 61 percent reported by PMI. Actually, there is no set threshold for passing the PMP exam. No two PMP candidates will, in actuality, get the identical set of questions. As a result, the required score will differ.

Additionally, it depends on how challenging the exam’s questions are going to be. In addition, each question isn’t given the same weight. If you are fortunate enough to get simple questions on the PMP test, your passing score will be greater than that of a candidate who receives rather complex questions. As a consequence, it is much harder to say how much a PMP candidate must do in order to pass the test.

The greatest advice is to not stress about getting the required PMP score. We advise PMP applicants to do their homework, take many mock examinations, and practice questions from various sources. To increase your confidence and ensure a successful PMP exam, you should continually aim for a score of at least 75% on your practice tests.

What is the PMP Exam Pass Rate?

What was the previous PMP passing rate?

Prior to 2005, PMI established a 68.5 percent passing mark for the PMP exam. This implies that out of 200 questions, PMP candidates must properly respond to 137 of them. The PMP passing score was eventually dramatically raised by PMI to 80.6 percent (This means you need to score 141 out of 175 questions correctly). Additionally, PMI saw a significant drop in the number of applicants scoring at this level. The PMP passing score was then changed from 80.6 percent to 60.6 percent, and it was the final PMP passing result to be made public. It implies that candidates for the PMP exam must properly respond to 106 or more of the 175 questions.

Additionally, in 2007, PMI modified the requirements for passing the PMP test. Instead of displaying percentages for each domain in test results, it began displaying competence levels for each domain.

By using reliable psychometric research to establish the PMP passing score, PMI adopted a more scientific methodology. To ensure that the degree of difficulty on each PMP test is justified, PMI uses subject matter experts from across the world who cross-reference the data on how applicants have really performed.

What is the current PMP passing rate?

Presently, when you take the Certification test, the results will indicate your levels of proficiency, i.e., if you are “Proficient,” “Moderately Proficient,” or “Below Proficient” in every one of the 5 categories. You will no longer be informed of the actual statistic you received for each of the 5 categories.

It additionally guarantees that the test is properly conducted to give worldwide evaluations of industry knowledge and project management statistics. The PMP exam pass rate is calculated by dividing the total number of test-takers by the total number of test-takers.

Statistical data for these figures are included in PMI, but they are not made public. No one is certain of the precise pass rate for the PMP test; there are some educated estimates and interpreted data.

What are the Different Types of PMP Certification Training?

You may choose from a variety of PMP certification training programs to aid in your test preparation. Along with additional resources, you may access online courses, classroom courses, and online practice examinations. Your learning preferences and the amount of time you have to study for the test should guide the kind of instruction you choose.

Online Courses

You may study at your own speed and take advantage of the convenience of online PMP certification training courses. Online courses are often available in a range of media, such as text, audio, and video. You may also locate online practice tests to aid with your exam preparation.

In-Person Courses

In-person courses for the PMP certification are often more costly, but they have the advantage of live lectures and teacher feedback. Additionally, you may practice the topic more than you would in an online course.

Online Practice Exams

Online practice tests are an excellent approach to being ready for the real exam. The PMP exam curriculum outline often serves as the basis for these tests. They can assist you in determining your advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, you may discover online practice tests for the kind of PMP certification you want to get.

Your learning preferences and the amount of time you have to prepare for the test will influence the sort of PMP certification training you choose. To help you get ready for the PMP certification test, you may access online courses, in-person courses, and online practice examinations.

Our PMP practice tests

Free Practice Questions: 850+free PMP practice questions with detailed explanations are available for all of the required skills. All you need to pass your recruitment test is available here.

PMP Practice Tests Based On Real Tests: Same number of questions, same time limits, same structure. The exam simulators let you familiarize yourself with the test format and get totally ready for the real one.

No Sign-Up Or Login Required: All of your progress is saved without an account, even if you close your browser. But login can sync your data between web and mobile applications.

Gamification: The learning process will be divided into small milestones. Let’s make your studying exciting as if you were in some interesting games.

Personal Study Plan: Just enter your PMP test date, and a study plan will be set up for you. A clear schedule will surely exceed your expectation and get you the best preparation for the reading shot.

3 Interesting Test Modes: 3 different test modes with increased difficulty levels let you experience the PMP practice test in various ways.

Dark Mode: Experience a dark theme that is more friendly to your eyes, and get a whole new and marvelous experience.

No Internet Required: Study on the go conveniently without any Internet connection. 

PMP Test Bank:  3 features: Weak/ Medium/ Strong questions help you clearly determine which area you should pay more attention to.

FAQs About PMP Certification

Is it worth getting a PMP certification?

There is no universally accepted response to the question of whether or not the PMP certification is worthwhile. It is dependent on a variety of things like your career aspirations, previous job experience, and the expectations of the employer. Having a PMP certification, on the other hand, may be advantageous in terms of both the possibility for job progression and earnings. This qualification is recognized all around the world, and having it might help you go further in your project management profession.

How much does it cost to take the PMP exam?

The Project Management Professional (PMP) examination has a fee of $405 for PMI members but $555 for non-members. The expenditures of an employee’s education and professional credentialing may be covered, in certain cases, by the professional development perks offered by many employers.

What happens if you fail the PMP exam 3 times?

If you fail the test three times during your qualifying period of one year, you will not be able to reapply for the certification until you have waited one year from the date of the most recent examination that you have taken. Candidates who have attempted and failed a test for certification a total of three times are given the option to submit an application for another PMI certification.

How many times can I take the PMP exam?

You are permitted to retake any examination as many times as you want to provide that you have access. Just keep in mind that the learning value of an exam decreases each time you take it since you begin to answer questions based more on your recollection than on your actual knowledge.

How much does it cost to retake PMP?

In the event that you do need to repeat the test, you will be asked to pay the reexamination fee not only for the second try but also for the third attempt, if that is needed. This charge is $275 for those who are members of PMI, but it is $375 for those who are not members of PMI.

What happens if my PMP eligibility expires?

What are the repercussions if I do not take the test before my eligibility period ends? Your submission will be considered active for a period of one (1) year beginning on the day it was approved. If you let your eligibility expire, you will be required to reapply for it.

How long does it take to get the results of the PMP exam?

Within one to two weeks, you will get an email from the PMI, and after that, you will be able to see the information on your certification on the PMI registry as well as in your account. In about four to six weeks, you will be sent a tangible copy of your certificate.

Is it better to take the PMP exam online or in person?

The possibility to take the Project Management Professional test online is a more recent development. Taking your exam from the comfort of your own home offers a number of advantages, but doing so demands adequate preparation, a stable internet connection, and the absence of disruptions.

Above is information about PMP and issues related to this certification. Hope the article will help you in preparing for the upcoming PMP exam. We wish you the best of luck with your certification and the opportunity to advance in your future career.