CAPM Exam Guide

CAPM Exam Guide: Your Beacon for CAPM Certification

7 min. read

CAPM or the ‘Certified Associate in Project Management’ credential is a beginner level certification from the global PMI Institute – Project Management Institute for which CAPM Exam Guide sets the direction. CAPM helps in kick-starting your career and improve your earning. You need the precise CAPM Exam Guide to get your CAPM certification course and get the CAPM credential.

Participants who earned Project Management Certification: 36.84% increased their salary by 10% or more and 15.13% increased their salary by 20% or more.


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Fitness Criteria to Appear for CAPM

Are you deliberating if you have the needed qualifications to write this CAPM exam? What if you don’t have any experience? Or if you do not have a bachelor’s degree? Are you a fledgling in project management working as a junior PM/project coordinator and you want to rise up the ladder quickly? If any of these are the thoughts racing through your mind, then CAPM will help you in realizing your aspirations. But, ensure you have the suitable CAPM Exam Guide to lead you to your dream job.

Here are the minimum criteria you need to meet to be fit to write the CAPM exam:

  • Secondary Degree-High school diploma, or associate’s degree or an equivalent degree globally accepted
  • In addition to this, you must have attended in a 23 contact hours of project management education

If you meet these requirements, then let’s explore the roadmap to CAPM certification. How to apply, prepare and get your CAPM credential? What is the role of a CAPM Guide? Let’s do a deep dive to know about these and the CAPM Guide.

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100% FREE CAPM® Pack

Let us send you links for our Free CAPM Pack. Package includes:

- CAPM Question Bank
- CAPM Flash Cards
- CAPM Prep Book Sample PDF
- Free CAPM Overview Training
- CAPM Cheat Sheets & more

CAPM Exam Guide: What, How and Why?

The CAPM exam has a total of 150 multiple choice questions for which there are four answer options with only one correct answer option. Moreover, for a question answered wrongly, there is no negative mark. You need to answer these in 3 hours which is less than a minute per question for which CAPM Exam Guide comes handy.  These questions are primarily based on the PMBOK ten project management knowledge areas and five process groups.

The first step towards the CAPM certification is making up your mind to do it. Since you are done with that, the next steps are about applying, preparing and taking the exam. Therefore, your CAPM project has these three phases. You can have an overlapping/fast tracking between the applying and preparation phases or do it sequential depending on the time availability you have. Your CAPM Guide may have the project plan for this or you need to create one!

CAPM Exam Guide

CAPM Exam Preparation:

  • Choose a CAPM training online or a classroom session that suits your needs. This gives you the 23 hours of project management education that qualifies you for the application.
  • When you choose a CAPM course, check for the CAPM Guide provision.
  • Most providers give you a study plan which you can use as a guidance and modify as per your learning needs.
  • Typically, you need to go through the CAPM course or the learning material and PMBOK. Then, attempt a practice test. You have tests based on the Knowledge Area, by count- 50/100, etc. and also full-length tests.
  • After one round of the test, refer the CAPM training materials to analyze the root cause of scores. Focus on revising the concepts that you were not clear.
  • Therefore, your preparation using a CAPM Exam Guide should also have cycles/sub-phases with milestones and reviews to know your progress.
  • Are you clear on the concepts, math questions, definitions, and application? Then, go for scheduling your exam while taking full-length tests from your CAPM training resources.
  • Have sufficient sleep and be relaxed the day of the exam
  • While going for the exam, ensure you are carrying the needed identification proofs and have planned to be at the test center at least 30 minutes before the exam time.

Watch our “How should I study for CAPM® exam?” video

CAPM Exam Application:

  • You can create your user profile on pmi.org and fill the CAPM certification application online and submit. Your CAPM Exam Guide may also contain a sample application.
  • After you submit, PMI will review your application and communicate with you about the acceptance of your application.
  • Next step is to learn about the CAPM Certification cost. If you are a PMI member, you pay $225, if not you pay $300. While annual membership would cost you $139 if you are a working professional.
  • As part of their audit process, PMI picks up a few applications and if your application is selected, you may have to submit supporting documents of the information provided in the application. PMI send you a link with details which you can follow for submission.
  • Moreover, if you are a student, you get a further discount and pay only US$257 when you take both the membership and exam fee as a bundle.You can avail this offer if you are a full-time matriculated students in an accredited, degree-granting program
  • Schedule your exam from the Pearson VUE center link at pmi.org

CAPM Exam Guide

CAPM Exam Guide | During the Exam:

  • By this time you should have completed the CAPM Exam Sample Questions in the CAPM Exam Guide provided by the CAPM education courses.
  • Have a checklist of what to carry for the exam, verify that you have the requisite identity proofs and reach the Pearson VUE center well in time.
  • Do a brain dump of the important formulas after you start your exam on the scratch paper provided by the Pearson VUE center
  • During the test, implement effective time management and do not leave any question unanswered.
  • Once you submit your test, you will be elated to see the ‘Congratulations’ message on the screen.
  • CAPM is valid for 5 years. After this, you may renew CAPM or go for Project Management Professional – Project Manager certification.
  • PMP certification is for project managers with more than 4,500 hours of project management experience. You can read more about PMP certification requirements.

Enroll in our CAPM exam simulator once you complete your CAPM study. You can take a look at Free CAPM Exam Simulator Demo.


How does CAPM Exam Guide help me for certification?

A CAPM Exam guide is literally the guide that sets the direction and leads you to your goal. If you have chosen the CAPM training course online, their videos are the CAPM Exam Guide for you. What are the different CAPM Exam Guides available and which is better? You can analyze based on these points:

  • Refer to CAPM Exam Guide books available which are preparation guides. While you can get these in physical form, they are also in a soft copy.
  • CAPM Exam Guide is also provided by the CAPM training course online that you attend or the classroom session.
  • Next, Does the CAPM Exam Guide explain the concepts with examples? Are there some quick tips on what to focus on the exam? Is there a ‘how to approach’ the questions for the different types of questions
  • Is there a provision to test your understanding of the chapter/unit that you have learned in the CAPM Exam Guide?
  • Does the CAPM Exam Guide have various sample CAPM exam questions? Some online CAPM training providers let you practice exclusive Math exams.
  • CAPM Exam Guide should have cheat sheets, formulas, key points, mind maps that help you revise before the exam.
  • Ensure that they have a way to understand the ITTOs of the processes in PMBOK.
  • Check if the CAPM Exam Guide provides guidance in the exam application process and any samples.

CAPM Exam Guide is a key resource that provides constant support and direction to sail through your CAPM certification. When you are committed to getting the credential, be sure you select the suitable CAPM Exam Guide.

CAPM Exam Guide

Author Biography

Sunanda Gundavajhala, B.Tech, M.B.A, PMP has over 25 years of project management. She is a consultant, trainer on project management for different sectors and is the recipient of “Recognition of Excellence” award from PMI, USA and Woman Volunteer award from Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI. Sunanda has contributed to the “Practice Standard on Scheduling, PMI”. She has worked as the Liaison officer for PMIEF (Education Foundation) for the Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI.

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