In order to become certified as a Project Management Professional, one must pass the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI).
This exam is designed to guarantee that certified individuals will have the knowledge and skills to appropriately apply project management methodology to any project with reasonably well-defined project requirements and deliverables.
The questions on the examination have been psychometrically analyzed, referenced to at least one current project management source, it determines to satisfy the test specifications of job analysis.
They come from the following six content areas:
- initiation (11%)
- planning (23%)
- executing (27%)
- monitoring and controlling (21%)
- closing (9%)
- professional and social responsibility (9%)
The PMP examination consists of 200 multiple-choice questions, 25 of which are pretest questions used to develop future versions of the exam. It is impossible to tell which questions are the pretest questions. All 200 questions must be completed within four hours.
On the day of the exam, candidates must bring a government-issued identification written in English and including both a photograph and signature. If the identification and does not include both a photograph and a signature, the candidate must provide secondary identification with the missing component.
Candidates who take the computer-based version of the exam will receive a printed copy of their score report immediately after finishing. Candidates who take the paper-based version of the exam will receive their scores in six to eight weeks. The score report will indicate whether the candidate has passed or failed, and will provide a percentage breakdown of the candidate’s performance in each content area.
The minimum passing score is determined by a modified Angoff procedure, overseen by a group of test experts. Individuals interested in sitting for the PMP exam may apply at the PMI website.