subject: Exam Pattern For Pmp Certification [print this page] PMP (Project Management Professional) Certification is one of the respected and reputed certifications among professionals in the project management area. To achieve success in PMP certification, a candidate is required to satisfy all the requirements in terms of education, experience, understanding and knowledge. Each candidate has to follow PMP certification exam pattern and it changes in every five to seven years. This is a computer based exam which is offered at various PMI locations all over the world.
The PMP Certification Exam Pattern is based on PMBOK guide which is a certification book published by PMI (Project management institute). This is a four-hour exam which consists of 200 multiple choice question patterns with the four possible answers. A candidate has to make 137 correct answers to qualify for this exam.
PMP Certification Exam Pattern covers five groups including initiating, planning, executing, controlling, closing and professional responsibility. The basic exam is usually not specific to industry. An extensive preparation is essential to pass the PMP exam. You can use some tips or techniques as a part to your preparation which includes understanding of PMBOK guide, its concepts and practicing various previous exam questions.
There will be 45% of questions from PMBOK guide on several processes and knowledge areas. Among them about 25 % questions are direct and others are on the direct scenarios. 30% of questions are based on pure case consequences where the candidate is required to apply his understanding and knowledge achieved fromPMBOK guide & other sources. 25% of these questions are not found directly in PMBOK. Below mentioned is the distinctive PMP certification exam pattern and questions-
Initiating process Approximate 4% of questions in PMP exam are based on initiation which include identification, product description, feasibility, responsibilities, project manager selection and more. There are about 17 questions based on this process.
Planning process- The next phase in PMP exam is based on planning process. About 35% of questions are based on this section in PMP certification exam pattern including resource planning, project planning, risk management, project plan development, cost estimating & more. This part also includes scope planning, communications planning, activity duration, scope definition, quality planning and organizational planning etc. There will be around 47 questions based on this section.
Executing process- In PMP certification exam pattern, about 25% of questions are from executing process. This part follows the pattern where primary focus is generally on execution of project plan, contract administration & team development. The secondary focus of this section is based upon scope verification, QA & information distribution. This section also contains approximate 47 questions.
Control process- About 28% questions will be from this section with equal attention on each control process containing 6-9 questions from a process. You can also expect scenario based problems in this section.
Closing process- About 8 % of queries in this exam are from the closing processes. There are a few questions also on the professional responsibility part.
While preparing for PMP exam, you are required to spend a large amount of money on test fees, study materials, project management trainings and more. After knowing the PMP certification exam pattern, you must memorize all the things you learned. Whatever may be the patter, just prepare for the exam dedicatedly and be confident & ready that I will pass this exam.
