PMP® Exam Content Outline

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss a very helpful handbook available
• 00:10 through the Project Management Institute.
• 00:12 It's titled the PMP Exam Content Outline.
• 00:16 The PMP Exam Content Outline identifies the focus of the exam questions.
• 00:22 You can think of it as a study guide to prepare you for the exam.
• 00:26 This handbook can be downloaded for free from the PMI website, and
• 00:29 I strongly recommend that you get one.
• 00:32 It starts by breaking the exam down into the five process
• 00:35 groups that are found in the PMBOK guide.
• 00:37 Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and
• 00:40 then finally, closing,.
• 00:42 These are referred to as domains.
• 00:44 It then takes each of those domains and lists a series of tasks for the domain.
• 00:49 Some of these tasks line up directly, one-to-one,
• 00:51 with the PMBOK Guide processes.
• 00:54 But some of them represent activities that are implied or
• 00:57 alluded to within the PMBOK Guide.
• 00:59 Either way, you can expect anywhere from two to nine questions related to
• 01:03 each task.
• 01:04 The third thing identified in this handbook is several lists of knowledge and
• 01:08 skills that are used to accomplish the tasks.
• 01:11 Most of these items are discussed in some detail in the PMBOK Guide.
• 01:16 This book is your study guide for your PMP exam.
• 01:19 Now as I go through the rest of this course, you will likely see almost all of
• 01:23 the tasks, knowledges and skills mentioned somewhere.
• 01:26 However, in this course, I will not be focusing on teaching you those items.
• 01:29 I assume you already know those.
• 01:32 A prerequisite for this course is that you have had experience and
• 01:35 training in basic project management skills.
• 01:38 Since I assume that you are experienced, I don't spend time on those items.
• 01:42 If you feel you need more information or training on the tasks or
• 01:45 skills, you should supplement this course by another course
• 01:49 that will provide that detailed training.
• 01:51 Let me recommend the GoSkills Project Management Experts course
• 01:54 as an excellent place to start.
• 01:57 Let's spend just a few moments looking at the domains and tasks.
• 02:00 In these tables, I'll show you the basic topic of a task.
• 02:04 The actual task description is one or two sentences and goes into much more detail.
• 02:09 This first table is for the initiating domain or process group.
• 02:12 These are tasks associated with starting a project.
• 02:15 Your project managers may not need to do all these tasks on all projects, but
• 02:19 this is the complete list that would be appropriate for a large complex project.
• 02:23 The task topics are project assessment, key deliverables, stakeholder analysis,
• 02:28 high level risks and constraints, developing a project charter,
• 02:32 project charter approval, a benefit analysis, and informing stakeholders.
• 02:37 The next domain or process group is planning.
• 02:39 This is the area with the most number of tasks and
• 02:42 the most number of processes in the PMBOK guide.
• 02:45 However, it is not the area with the most number of questions on the PMP exam.
• 02:49 So study this area but don't forget that there are others that are more important.
• 02:53 The task topics are assessing your project requirements,
• 02:57 developing a scope management plan, developing a cost management plan,
• 03:00 developing a project schedule.
• 03:02 Now developing human resource management plan, communications management plan.
• 03:06 Developing a procurement management plan, and a quality management plan.
• 03:09 Developing a change management plan and a risk management plan.
• 03:12 Finally, a project plan approval, project kick off meeting, and
• 03:16 developing a stakeholder management plan.
• 03:19 On to the next domain, which is the executing process group.
• 03:22 This is the area with the most number of questions on the exam.
• 03:26 In fact, you can expect as many as nine questions from each of these tasks.
• 03:30 The task topics in this domain are manage project resources, manage task execution,
• 03:36 implement quality management plan, implement the approved changes, implement
• 03:40 risk response, manage information flow, and manage stakeholder relationships.
• 03:46 The monitoring and controlling domain also has seven tasks.
• 03:49 The task topics of this domain are measure project performance, manage change,
• 03:55 verify deliverables conform, monitor and assess risk, review the issues log,
• 04:00 capture lessons learned, and monitor procurement activities.
• 04:05 The final domain is closing with the seven tasks again.
• 04:08 There are probably only two questions associated with each of these tasks.
• 04:12 The task topics are deliverable final acceptance,
• 04:16 transferring deliverable ownership, legal, financial,
• 04:19 administrative closure, preparing a final report, collating lessons learned,
• 04:24 archiving documents, and obtaining stakeholder feedback.
• 04:28 Finally, let me highlight several of the knowledge and
• 04:30 skills that are listed in the PMP Exam Content Outline.
• 04:34 There's a relatively long list that is associated with each of the domains.
• 04:38 Some of them are closely tied to typical project deliverables,
• 04:41 like the project charter under Initiation and the WBS under Planning.
• 04:46 Some are related to tools and techniques like control limits under Monitoring and
• 04:50 Controlling, and performance measurement under Closing.
• 04:53 And some represent bodies of knowledge, such as
• 04:56 strategic management under Initiating or continuous improvement under Executing.
• 05:01 You don't need to be an expert in all of these areas, but
• 05:03 you should be familiar with the key principles and concepts.
• 05:07 There's an additional area of knowledge and
• 05:09 skills listed in the PMP Exam Content Outline that cuts across all the domains.
• 05:14 Many of these are leadership or interpersonal skills, such as coaching,
• 05:18 delegating, facilitating or conflict resolution.
• 05:21 Some of them are business skills such as customer satisfaction,
• 05:24 metrics, organizational awareness or finance.
• 05:28 And some are personal effectiveness skills such as time management,
• 05:31 decision making and problem solving.
• 05:34 These are long lists, but there are also 200 questions on the exam.
• 05:39 Many of these skills will be illustrated through how a question is asked,
• 05:42 and answered.
• 05:45 By doing your study and review as you prepare for
• 05:47 the exam, the PMP Exam Content Outline can be a big help.

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