An overview about PMP Exam!

PMP is the Most Valued Globally Recognized Certification.PMP Professionals can get a highly paid in the Industry. However, it is not easy to attain without a proper approach or plan.

Let us see about PMP® Exam

1. Exam Structure

• The exam consists of 200 questions out of which 175 questions are evaluated for your test and 25 questions are not evaluated but are put there to check if they are good enough to be used as questions for future examinations by PMI. 

• You will not be able to identify those 25 questions and hence it is imperative to attempt all questions to the best of your knowledge.  

• There are no negative marks for a wrong attempt, hence don’t leave any question blank.

• The exam duration is 4 hours which is more than sufficient to answer the questions

Let us see the number of questions asked in each phase

• Initiating                           13
• Planning                           24
• Execution                         30
• Monitoring & Control      25
• Closing                               8

As you can see that that Planning, Execution, Monitoring, and Control constitutes almost 80% of the exam, hence one needs to do well in these 3 process groups to pass the exam.

2.Passing Marks

There are no passing scores or cut-offs mentioned by PMI. However, PMI does mention proficiency levels of your performance in the test. There are 3 Proficiency levels

1.Proficient – Above Average Level of Proficiency
2.Moderately Proficient- Average Level of Proficiency
3.Below Proficient- Below Average Level of Proficiency

Hence an aspirant’s aim should be to achieve at-least moderately proficient level across the 5 process groups mentioned above. The exam evaluation is done based on the difficulty level of the exam and hence Proficiency levels may vary for the different set of exams.

3.Study Material

Make sure you study with a plan with clearly defined milestones. Use the weekends to the good the advantage (Studying 8-10 hrs. for the next 4-6 weeks would be ideal) but make sure you study during weekdays as well at least 1-2 hrs. to ensure the regularity in the preparation.

4.Focus on Concepts rather than Memorization

One must focus on learning the concepts rather than memorizing inputs, outputs, tools, and techniques across all 5 process groups which in turn consists of 47 Project Management Process.

5.Mock Tests and Their Analysis

One of the key things to do is to practice as many mocks as possible and on top of it analyzing those mocks after they are given. The below figure depicts the process one must follow to make the best use of the practice or mock tests.