The current PMP exam has 180 questions in 240 minutes across People (33%), Process (41%) and Business Environment (26%). Check your eligibility and training, map gaps against the July 2026 outline, and practise decisions using the authority and constraints stated in each case.
What the PMP credential covers
The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, issued by the Project Management Institute (PMI), tests your ability to lead projects across predictive, agile, and hybrid ways of working. The current exam follows the July 2026 update of the Exam Content Outline.
This is PMI’s global project management credential. Energy-project context can support your learning; it does not create a separate energy PMP exam or establish engineering and regulatory requirements.
The July 2026 update adds AI and sustainability to project scenarios and emphasizes outcomes and business value. Use the Exam Content Outline (ECO) to check coverage; the PMBOK Guide is a useful reference rather than the complete syllabus.
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update; PMI - What's new in the updated PMP exam — pmi.org exam update page, retrieved 2026-09-14
Eligibility: education, experience, and training hours
You qualify through one of four education-plus-experience paths, plus 35 hours of project management training. All experience must be non-overlapping project leadership in a professional setting within the last 10 years.
Every path requires professional experience leading and directing projects, accrued within the last 10 years before you submit your application, and the months must not overlap. Tenure is counted in months, not in number of projects.
Work must be in a professional setting and involve actual project leadership. School projects, academic research for a degree, planning personal events, home improvement projects, and routine operational or administrative tasks do not qualify. Unpaid professional project work can qualify.
A non-degree qualification titled advanced, professional or graduate meets the bachelor-equivalent tier only if a competent authority formally maps it to EQF 6 or a national bachelor-equivalent level. A title alone is insufficient; retain the supporting framework documentation.
| Education background | Required project leadership experience |
|---|---|
| Upper-secondary school completion (EQF 4 / ISCED 3-4) | 60 months within the last 10 years |
| Associate-level, higher-certificate, or advanced technical/vocational program (EQF 5 / ISCED 5) | 48 months within the last 10 years |
| Bachelor's degree or higher, or a qualification formally mapped to EQF 6 / ISCED 6 | 36 months within the last 10 years |
| Bachelor's or postgraduate degree from a PMI GAC-accredited program | 24 months within the last 10 years |
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update
Counting overlapping project months on the application
You record each project separately, but overlapping months count only once toward your eligibility total. A short worked example shows how the arithmetic works.
The application tracks months, not projects, and you cannot count the same calendar months twice across projects. Work through the example below so the rule is concrete before you fill in your own entries.
Worked example
Assumptions: you hold a bachelor's degree, so you need 36 months of non-overlapping project leadership within the last 10 years. You led Project A in a professional setting from 1 March 2021 to 31 August 2021, making the planning and delivery decisions. You led Project B, also in a professional setting with real leadership responsibility, from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022. How many qualifying months do you record?
Show answer
16 months.
Experience is tracked in months, and overlapping calendar months count once. Project A covers March through August 2021, which is 6 months. Project B covers July 2021 through June 2022, which is 12 months. The projects overlap in July and August 2021, so those 2 months are counted once instead of twice: 6 + 12 - 2 = 16 months. That leaves you 20 months short of the 36-month threshold for the bachelor's-degree path, so you would need additional qualifying leadership experience before applying.
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update
The 35-hour training requirement
You need at least 35 hours of qualifying project management training aligned to the ECO. An active CAPM satisfies this training requirement.
Eligible training includes PMI Authorized Training Partners (ATPs), China Registered Education Providers, GAC-accredited coursework, project management courses from accredited higher education institutions, employer-sponsored programs, training companies, and self-paced on-demand courses with an end-of-course assessment. Books and practice exams alone do not count as eligible training. Training is subject to audit.
If you hold an active Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification, your 35-hour training requirement is waived through that credential. This credit does not replace the education and experience requirements; you still need a qualifying path above. GAC degree coursework can also count toward the 35 hours.
One change is scheduled but future-dated: starting 1 December 2026, live instructor-led classes count only if delivered by a PMI ATP, a China REP, or an eligible accredited academic program. Self-paced courses remain available from any organization. Training completed before that date stays eligible under the current rules, so as of September 2026 this is a scheduled change, not one already in force. Self-paced courses must still meet PMI’s qualifying-content and assessment requirements.
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update; PMI - Project Management Professional (PMP) certification page — pmi.org certification page, retrieved 2026-09-14; PMI - What's new in the updated PMP exam — pmi.org exam update page, retrieved 2026-09-14
Exam format, question types, and delivery
The exam is 180 questions in 240 minutes, with 170 scored and 10 unscored pretest questions scattered throughout. Two 10-minute breaks split the sections, and several interactive question formats appear alongside multiple choice.
The 180 questions include multiple-choice single response, multiple response, matching, drag-and-drop interactions, case or scenario items, and graphic-based questions that require interpreting charts, graphs, or diagrams. Case scenarios present a detailed situation, possibly with visuals, followed by a series of linked questions. Some interactive formats, such as point-and-click and pull-down list items, are available only on computer-based testing.
The first 10-minute break comes after the case-study section, and the second comes roughly midway through the independent question portion. Once you start a break, you cannot return to questions from the previous section. An optional tutorial and survey sit outside the 240 minutes.
Delivery options: in person at a test center by computer or paper, or online with a proctor. Mainland China professional exam delivery is paper-based through ATA. Online proctored testing runs through OnVue with system checks and an extended check-in, and candidates in Japan and South Korea taking the exam in their local language are proctored by ATA. Your booking instructions live in the PMI Certification Handbook.
You have up to three total attempts within the one-year eligibility period. After three failures, wait one year from the last attempt before reapplying for PMP. If eligibility expires without a pass and with fewer than three attempts used, you must reapply; the ECO states no waiting period for that expiry case.
Check the fee shown for your region and membership status through PMI’s application and booking process before paying.
Once certified, you maintain the credential through the Continuing Certification Requirements program: 60 professional development units (PDUs) every three years, plus a renewal fee.
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update; PMI - Project Management Professional (PMP) certification page — pmi.org certification page, retrieved 2026-09-14
The three domains and the delivery-approach mix
The exam draws from three domains: People (33%), Process (41%), and Business Environment (26%). Roughly 40% of items reflect predictive project management, with the remaining 60% split between adaptive/agile and hybrid approaches across all three domains.
Predictive, adaptive/agile and hybrid approaches appear across the domains. After reviewing their differences, practise applying each to relevant People, Process and Business Environment tasks.
Each domain contains task statements with enablers, which are illustrative examples of the work rather than an exhaustive list. Every task in a domain can appear on your exam form. The table below summarizes each domain's coverage; download the official outline for the full task and enabler lists.
AI and sustainability appear as contextual topics within scenarios and compliance-related tasks, not as a standalone exam domain with its own weight.
| Domain | Weight | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| People | 33% | Shared vision, conflict management, team leadership, stakeholder engagement and expectations, knowledge transfer, planning and managing communication |
| Process | 41% | Integrated planning, scope, value-based delivery, resources, procurement, finance, quality, schedule, evaluating project status, project closure |
| Business Environment | 26% | Project governance, compliance, change control, impediments and issues, risk management, continuous improvement, organizational change, external business changes |
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update
Can you keep using older study materials?
Older resources may still help with core principles. Compare their contents with the current ECO before relying on them.
Check coverage of business value, AI and sustainability contexts, the current domain weights, and case/graphic item formats. A resource can explain fundamentals well while leaving gaps in current exam preparation.
As a study task, mark the ECO tasks your materials cover well, cover thinly or omit. Fill those gaps and practise interpreting charts and multi-question cases.
Official sources: PMI - What's new in the updated PMP exam — pmi.org exam update page, retrieved 2026-09-14; PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update
Practicing scenario-based questions
Read the actual situation before choosing a response. A problem’s status and your decision authority matter more than isolated keywords.
Use the approach explicitly stated in a question, or infer it carefully from the whole context. A backlog or baseline alone does not conclusively identify an approach; hybrid projects can combine practices.
The ECO includes recognizing when a risk becomes an issue, assessing impediments and managing changes. Distinguish an uncertain future event from a confirmed problem, and distinguish a forecast update from a change to an approved baseline.
The original exercise below supplies the project rules needed for its answer.
Worked example
You manage an energy-site reporting project using a predictive approach. A required data-integration component was due at 09:00 today and has not arrived by 09:30. The supplier now confirms delivery two weeks late. This missed-delivery event was previously recorded as a risk. No emergency or pre-authorized response applies. The project’s governance requires an impact assessment before the designated authority decides on any proposed baseline change; the project manager cannot approve one alone. The sponsor asks whether the launch date still holds. What is a defensible next step?
Show answer
Record the confirmed missed delivery as an issue, assess its effect on the launch and related constraints, and communicate what is known and still uncertain. Submit any proposed baseline change through the stated approval process.
The delivery deadline has already been missed, so this is a confirmed problem rather than merely a future possibility. The two-week component delay does not prove a two-week launch delay: dependencies and available responses still need assessment. The supplied governance determines how a proposed baseline change is approved. Updating a forecast or issue record is not itself approval to change a baseline. A reassurance that launch is unaffected, or an immediate unapproved baseline change, would go beyond the evidence and authority given.
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update
Your preparation checklist
Check the evidence for your application, your syllabus coverage and your appointment arrangements.
- Count unique qualifying leadership months and identify the correct education path.
- Document qualifying training or active CAPM credit; check the December 2026 provider change if taking live classes.
- Keep application evidence ready and follow any PMI audit request.
- Map your resources against every current ECO task and practise case/graphic questions.
- Confirm the location, language, delivery method and identity or system checks in your appointment.
- Review the break rules and plan maintenance requirements after certification.
Official sources: PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline - July 2026 — PMI published PDF, July 2026 exam update; PMI - Project Management Professional (PMP) certification page — pmi.org certification page, retrieved 2026-09-14
Official sources
Facts checked: