Retired course

This course has been retired and is no longer supported.

About this lesson

The PMP® examination is a serious and difficult element of earning the PMP® credential.  The 200 question, proctored exam must be completed within four hours.

Exercise files

Download this lesson’s related exercise files.

PMP® Exam.docx
59.6 KB PMP® Exam - Solution.docx
59.6 KB

Quick reference

PMP® Exam

The PMP® examination is a serious and difficult element of earning the PMP® credential.  The 200 question, proctored exam must be completed within four hours.

When to use

When your application is approved, you will receive an eligibility letter.  This letter provides instructions for scheduling the exam.  You have one year to take the exam.  If you do not pass the exam on the first try you can retake the exam up to two more times, for a total of three.

Instructions

Refer to the PMP® Handbook for details about how the exam is administered.

The exam is a 200 question multiple choice exam.  The questions are hard.  You must thoroughly know the PMBOK® Guide to be able to answer most questions correctly.   You may be an expert at project management in your organization, but you need to be an expert in the recommended approach and practices of the PMBOK® Guide.  That means you need to know their processes, the inputs and outputs, their recommended sequence and their definition of terms.  I have worked with enough organizations to know that everyone does project management differently.  However, the exam will only test one way, the PMBOK® Guide way.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying there is anything wrong with the PMBOK® Guide way.  I am just saying that it is probably different than what you are used to doing, so you need to study and learn the PMBOK® Guide way.

The questions are spread across the five process groups and ten knowledge areas. The breakdown of questions is:

The percentage of correct questions needed to pass can vary based upon which questions you get correct or incorrect.  On every exam there are 25 questions that are being evaluated to determine if they should be added to the test bank.  Those questions will not count towards whether you achieve a passing score.  While the success rate for passing the exam does vary over time, a good rule of thumb has been that your chance of passing on the first try is only 50-50, unless you take a PMP® Preparation course. 

Your results from your examination will be immediately available to you with a printout of the areas where you scored well and the areas where you did not.

Testing is conducted at Prometric testing centers which are located in cities around the world.  When you get your eligibility letter you can go online to their site and select a location and date for your exam.  If you do not live within 240 km (149 miles) of a Prometric site, PMI will make a provision for you to take the test on paper. 

The test is administered in English with language aids available in the following languages: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

When arriving at the testing facility you will need to provide government issued identification that includes your picture and signature.  Arrive about 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the test.  This allows time to get settled so you are ready as soon as the test starts.  You have 4 hours to complete the test, and the computer will cut you off at the end of the 4 hours.  There are no scheduled breaks during the test.  You may not bring the following items into the room where you will be taking the test: food, beverages, calculators, cell phones, pagers, tape recorders, sweaters, coats, book bags, luggage, eye glass cases, children, visitors, dictionaries, books, or any other personal item.  You are allowed to have a pencil and blank note paper - which will be given to you by Prometric. 

A technique that I recommend is that you arrive at the testing center well before the start time.  Review one last time the areas that you think might be the most difficult for you.  Then enter the test room and before you start the test, write down on your blank paper the items that you just reviewed.  It might be formulas, definitions, or diagrams.  With those ready for reference during the test, initiate the exam at your test station.

PMP and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Login to download
  • 00:01 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 Well now, let's talk about actually taking the PMP exam.
  • 00:10 The test is 200 multiple choice questions.
  • 00:14 Your score will be based upon how you answer 175 of those questions.
  • 00:18 The other 25 questions are being tried out to determine, if
  • 00:21 they should be added to the test bank.
  • 00:23 Unfortunately, you won't know which question is one that counts for
  • 00:26 scoring and which one does not.
  • 00:28 A breakout of the percentage of questions in each project management process group
  • 00:32 is shown on this table.
  • 00:34 On the exam 13% of the questions will come from the initiation processes,
  • 00:38 of which there are only 2.
  • 00:39 24% are from the planning processes of which there are 24 processes.
  • 00:44 31% of the questions are from executing, which has 10 processes,
  • 00:48 25% from monitoring and controlling, which has 12 processes, and
  • 00:52 7% of the questions are from the closing process.
  • 00:55 There's only one of those.
  • 00:57 In case you're wondering, that will be 14 questions from that 1 closing process,
  • 01:02 about 13 questions from each of the initiating processes,
  • 01:05 a 6.2 questions from each of the executing processes,
  • 01:08 4.1 questions from each of the monitoring and controlling processes, and
  • 01:13 only 2 questions from each of the planning processes.
  • 01:16 The exam is a computer-based exam.
  • 01:19 You can get a paper-based exam under special conditions and
  • 01:22 those are talked about on the PMI website and then the PMP handbook.
  • 01:26 The testing is normally conducted at a Prometric test center.
  • 01:29 If there's not a center within a 240 kilometer or 149 mile radius of where you
  • 01:34 live, well, that's one of the conditions in which you can get a paper-based exam.
  • 01:39 The exam is administered in English.
  • 01:41 However, there are language aids available for the following list of languages,
  • 01:45 Arabic, Brazilian, Portuguese, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew,
  • 01:50 Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
  • 01:55 Special accommodations can be made for persons with disabilities.
  • 01:58 Once again, go to the PMP handbook to get more details on which disabilities and
  • 02:03 what the accommodation is.
  • 02:04 If you need those, be sure to highlight that in the application.
  • 02:07 Don't wait until the day of the test to try to get accommodations.
  • 02:11 Results of the exam are available as soon as you've completed the exam,
  • 02:15 if you took the computer-based exam.
  • 02:17 Once you submit your answers, it will be scored immediately.
  • 02:20 You will get a print out that tells you your score.
  • 02:22 It will also identify the areas you did well, and the areas you should study more.
  • 02:26 However, it does not give specific answers to specific questions.
  • 02:30 When you receive your eligibility letter, following the application process,
  • 02:34 you'll have one year to schedule exam.
  • 02:37 Frankly, I recommend you schedule an exam shortly after this course or
  • 02:40 whatever other PMP prep course you take.
  • 02:43 This way the information is still fresh in your mind.
  • 02:46 If you do not pass the exam,
  • 02:47 you may take the exam a total of three times within that year.
  • 02:51 The exam is a four-hour test.
  • 02:53 There are no scheduled breaks, so
  • 02:55 if you have to take a break, the clock is still running.
  • 02:58 I suggest you use the toilet before you start.
  • 03:01 Once you've received your eligibility notification from PMI,
  • 03:04 your one year of eligibility starts.
  • 03:06 You should go to the Prometric website and schedule your exam at a location and
  • 03:10 time that is convenient for you.
  • 03:12 If you need to cancel or reschedule the exam,
  • 03:15 do it at least 48 hours in advance or otherwise you forfeit the testing fee.
  • 03:19 In fact, if you cancel within 30 days, you must pay a small fee.
  • 03:24 The PMP handbook covers what to do if some emergency comes up.
  • 03:28 When you arrive at the exam center on the day of the test,
  • 03:31 you must prove that you are who you say you are.
  • 03:34 You will need to show a government issued ID, such as a passport or
  • 03:38 driver's license, that has English characters on it and
  • 03:41 that it includes your photograph and your signature.
  • 03:44 I recommend you arrive 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time.
  • 03:48 That'll allow you time to get checked-in and use the toilet facilities.
  • 03:51 Clear your head so that you are ready to go when the exam starts.
  • 03:55 Four hours is not very much for a 200 question exam.
  • 03:58 It means you only have about one minute for each question.
  • 04:01 Some of those questions will probably take longer than that
  • 04:04 if you must do earned value calculations or critical path calculations.
  • 04:09 Finally, there's some things that are prohibited from the test area.
  • 04:12 You can bring them with you when traveling, but
  • 04:14 you cannot take them into the room where you will actually be taking the test.
  • 04:18 The Prometric test center will provide a locker for
  • 04:20 you to store your valuables while testing.
  • 04:23 This test is a closed book test.
  • 04:25 All questions must be answered from memory or from manual calculations that you do in
  • 04:29 the room on scratch paper that is provided by the test center.
  • 04:33 The items you cannot have in the room include any food or
  • 04:35 beverage, no calculator or cellphone to help with the math,
  • 04:39 No communication devices such as cell phones and pagers.
  • 04:42 Also, no bulky clothes or bags that could hide a book or
  • 04:46 a cheat sheet, such as sweaters, coats, book bags or luggage.
  • 04:50 Nor can you talk with others such as children or visitors.
  • 04:54 A few other items that are prohibited are eyeglass cases, dictionaries,
  • 04:58 tape recorders, medicines and eye drops.
  • 05:01 In fact, you even have to leave your wallet in the locker.
  • 05:05 Let me suggest a testing hint to help you on the day of the exam.
  • 05:09 If you have an area that you've been studying but are still a little vague or
  • 05:13 fuzzy, when you get to the center,
  • 05:15 spend your last five minutes before entering the test room studying the topic.
  • 05:19 Then go into the room and using your scratch paper, write down the terms,
  • 05:23 equations, or whatever you were studying.
  • 05:25 You can refer to your scratch paper during the exam to help you on those questions.
  • 05:31 The exam is difficult, but it's not scary.
  • 05:35 Prepare for it.
  • 05:36 Get there in plenty of time.
  • 05:37 And then relax and take the exam.
  • 05:39 I know you can do this.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Gift this course