The PMP certification is the most popular certification for professionals working in project management.
PMP stands for Project Management Professional, a certification awarded to project management professionals by the PMI (Project Management Institute, USA) after they pass an exam in a controlled environment.
Although many other project management certifications are available, the PMP certification is the most famous and has been earned by more than half a million professionals.
Attaining this certification is not an easy task. To become a PMP credential holder, you must fulfill certain conditions, attend a training program, and pass a closed-book exam conducted by Pearson VUE.
These checks make this certification highly credible, and it is recognized in all industries and throughout the world.
In today’s competitive environment, every organization strives to improve its process efficiency and reduce project failures. A project failure is costly, and no organization wants it to happen.
A PMP certification holder can help organizations improve efficiency and help projects become completed because they know all project management processes, including risk management, and they know the industry’s best tools and techniques.
They also understand how and when to use a particular tool or technique.
Many organizations prefer a PMP credential holder more than a non-credential holder if all other criteria are similar.
How to Get the PMP Certification
To become a PMP certificate holder, you must fulfill certain eligibility requirements, attend a training program, study and prepare for the exam, and finally pass the exam.
Now we are going to discuss each step briefly.
PMP Certification Eligibility Requirements
You should fulfill the following requirements to apply for the PMP exam:
- You should be either a diploma or a degree holder. If you are a diploma holder, you should have five years of project management experience. If you are a degree holder, you should have at least three years of experience in leading and directing projects. The project management experience should not overlap.
- You must attend a 35 contact hours training program. The training program should explain the concepts of the PMBOK Guide.
Prepare for the PMP Exam
You have fulfilled the eligibility requirements and attended the training program. Now it’s time to prepare for the PMP exam.
To prepare for the PMP exam, you should buy a good PMP exam reference book and study it thoroughly, and then move on to the PMBOK Guide.
The PMBOK Guide is the basis of the PMP exam, and there will be many questions directly from this book. You must understand the PMBOK Guide well.
After studying these books, you can subscribe to any simulation program to practice some PMP exam sample questions.
Apply For and Attempt the PMP Certification Exam
You can apply for the exam before you start your preparation, or you can do so when you are confident that you can pass the exam. The choice is yours.
Apply for the exam and schedule the date.
Please note that there is a chance that you may get selected for an audit while applying for the exam. If this happens, don’t worry; you only need to send photocopies of your educational certificate, experience certificate, 35 contact hours, etc. Send these documents to them, and you are done.
The PMP exam consists of 180 questions. Out of these 180 questions, 15 are pretest questions placed randomly to check the validity of the exam and future updates. Marks for these questions are not added to the final result.
Since you cannot identify these questions, it is best to assume that all 1800 questions are scorable, and you must complete them all. Keep in mind that there is no negative marking in the PMP exam.
The time allotted for this exam is three and a half hours.
The PMI gives you three attempts to pass the exam in one year. The first day of this year is the day when your application for the PMP exam is approved. If you cannot pass the exam in one year, you must wait another year to apply for the PMP exam again.
Passing Marks for the PMP Certification Exam
Until November 30th, 2015, the passing score for the PMP exam was 61%; however, after that date, the PMI stopped publishing the passing marks for the PMP exam.
Since then, the passing mark for the PMP exam is unknown. However, to be safe, you should assume more than 70%.
Conclusion
The PMP certification is the most prestigious certificate for professionals working in project management. To date, this certification has been awarded to more than 1,000,000 professionals, and many more are attaining it. If you want to grow your career in project management, this certification will surely help you achieve your objective.
Although the process is a little tedious and tough, you can be a PMP if you are determined and motivated.
I hope now you have a better understanding of the PMP certification. If not, you can post your queries in the comments section, and I will reply there.