PMI’s most prestigious project management certificate is the PMP certification. If your career plans include working as a project manager, your best option is to get a PMP certificate. To get this crucial certification, you have to register in a PMP Exam Course. In this blog post, we will cover all the aspects of the PMP Exam Course and give some tips for choosing the best PMP Exam Course option for you.
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What Are The PMP Exam Course Requirements?
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is regarded as a highly esteemed certification over the globe. Professionals, from various industries, enhance their skills and qualifications. These skills are attributed through PMP exam course training and PMP certification. Project Management Institute (PMI) is an accredited body that awards PMP certification.
The aspirants, who are willing to obtain the PMP certification, are required to apply and pass the examination. PMI requires Project management aspirants to meet specific criteria to appear in the PMP examination.
Are you willing to apply for the Project Management Professional (PMP) examination? Are you wondering what the PMP Exam Course requirements are?
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You must meet the PMP requirements criteria to be able to apply for PMP exam. These criteria are subject to your qualified education degree:
Option 1: Do you have a four-year bachelor’s or above education degree?
If you have at least four-year bachelor’s degree (or global equivalent), you need the following:
- Experience: You must have at least three years of project management related experience. Within these three years of experience or 4,500 hours of working experience in project management activities.
- Training: you must have completed 35 contact hours of formal PMP Exam Course. You can see PMP training for this.
Option 2: Do you have a secondary degree?
If you have a secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or global equivalent), you need the following
- Experience: You must have at least five years of project management related experience. Within these five years, you must have spent at least 7,500 hours for project management related activities.
- Training: you must have attended 35 hours of formal PMP Exam Course
Can I Prepare for PMP Exam Without a PMP Exam Course?
The Project Management Institute requires the PMP candidate to possess project management skills. A formal PMP Exam Course establishes and reinforces these project management skills.
Note that, some people think that studying PMP with a PMP book will be sufficient. Although you might get ready for the PMP exam with a book, you must have attended a 35 contact hours PMP exam course in order to be eligible to sit for PMP exam.
Furthermore, attending a 35 contact hours PMP Exam Course is mandatory as per the criteria. In other words, you will only comply with the criteria provided if you have formal training of 35 contact hours. Therefore, you must attend a formal PMP Exam Course in order to be eligible for PMP examination.
What is the difference between Project Management experience hours and Training (Contact Hours)?
Project management experience hours are the number of hours an applicant has spent on project management-related tasks. In other words, you can say that these are the hours that you have spent during performing the projects.
This does not qualify you to become apply for the PMP certification. You must have experience working in project management process groups i.e. Initiation, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. You need to ensure that your experience is relevant to project management. Working experience with the Project Manager title not a must for the PMP application. You might have worked as an engineer, team leader, supervisor etc. Performing project management activities are sufficient to satisfy project management experience requirement of PMP exam.
The PMP Exam Course attributes to fulfill the contact hour requirement of PMI certification. These are formal training programs. The training can either be classroom driven or web-based. The objective of the PMP exam course training is to get the formal education and instruction that earns your 35 contact hours to fulfill the criteria.
Can my Project Management experience compensate for the Education requirement?
The Project Management Institute sets a standard to meet the criteria of education and experience on top of the degree requirements. These criteria smartly enforce the eligibility of candidates through these factors:
- They have learnt the necessary skills through training
- They have applied the skills during their professional tenure.
You may earn the 35 contact hours at any time before applying for the PMP examination. After completing the PMP exam course, you must have sit for the PMP exam in five years. Otherwise, the validity of the 35 contact hours you earned expires.
You need to acquire formal training to satisfy 35 hours requirement of project management education. In other words, additional project management experience does not compensate for the PMP Exam Course.
Why Do You Need to Attend a PMP Exam Course?
The PMP Exam course aims to provide structured information and aims you to cover all the basic concepts required to understand and apply project management skills. In case you are a fresh starter, you will get a good understanding of the project management framework to start your professional career. If you are experienced, you will get a refresher and opportunity to improve your project management career further.
The PMP exam course fulfills the criteria of PMP exam education requirement and brings you 35 contact hours of formal project management education. When you submit your PMP exam application, you need to mention the training details in the PMI application form.
Furthermore, PMP course also gets you ready for the PMP examination through:
- Project management topics,
- Practice tests,
- And project management activities.
In other words, the PMP exam course helps you to identify your current position with respect to the PMP certification level. This helps you to prepare and cover the gap to succeed in your PMP examination.
What Are The Important Points When Choosing a PMP Exam Course?
There is a variety of options for choosing a PMP exam course. Though there is no specific restriction on the choice, a careful consideration will enable you to choose the right fit for you.
You may consider the following points to choose the PMP exam course for you:
- Is an authentic education provider offering the course?
- Is the training provider experienced? And have a footprint in the market?
- Is the training flexible? Or are there any constraints like time or location to attend the training?
- What kind of materials are provided in the exam course?
- Are there any PMP practice exam materials?
- Is the PMP exam course worth the cost?
- Is there any future support available after the course? Can I contact the instructor when required?
- Do I have evidence? If PMI selects my application for audit will I be able to pass with the PMP exam course provider’s support?
Did you see PMP Certification Training of Master of Project Academy? This online PMP exam preparation training option satisfies the 35 contact hours project management training prerequisite of PMP certification requirements. It covers more than 300 lectures, over 750 practice questions, downloadable handouts, supporting documents, cheat sheets and several other PMP prep materials.
PMP success stories of Master of Project Academy proves the quality of this PMP exam preparation course. Don Wheeler is one of the several PMP success stories of Master of Project Academy. Don passed the PMP exam successfully with the PMP training from Master of Project Academy and he scored “Above Target” on all five domains of the PMP exam. This is the highest score where a PMP candidate can get from the PMP exam. You can read Don’s PMP success story.
What is the best option for the PMP Exam Course?
There are various PMP exam course offerings available in the market that can fulfill your requirement to earn 35 contact hours. You should keep the above-shared considerations in mind in order to choose the best exam course.
Master of Project Academy offers PMP certification training options that satisfy these consideration factors very well. See how well it does!
Is an authentic education provider offering the course?
Master of Project Academy courses are approved and recognized by PMI as source of PM education requirements. Several student testimonials are proof of this.
Does the training provider have experience? And have any footprint on the market?
Master of Project Academy has a global footprint as a certification preparation platform. Currently, there are more than 200,000 professionals in the platform coming from more than 180 countries.
Is the training flexible? Or are there any constraints like time or location to attend the training?
Master of Project Academy provides 100% online and self-paced courses and these online courses provide the ultimate flexibility. These are on-demand video courses which you can view whenever you are available. In other words, you are not bound in terms of time and location to attend the course.
The advantages of the PMP exam course offered by Master of Project Academy include:
- It covers all the topics of PMBOK while making it easier and interesting with practical project examples
- You will have the full-length PMP exam questions which will be very helpful to gear up for the actual exam.
- It’s 100% self-paced so you can study around YOUR schedule.
- Free courses are also available so you can try these courses to get the flavor of the training and its suitability.
- You can contact the instructor for any kind of your queries and get a response.
What kind of material will I get in the PMP certification exam course?
PMP course offering of Master of Project Academy provides the following material:
- 35 Contact Hours
- PMP Certification Training 300+ Lectures
- 750+ PMP Practice Questions
- 7/24 Instructor & Technical Support
- Sample PMP Certification Exam
- PMP Cheat Sheets and many more.
Is the course worthy of the cost being demanded?
Master of Project Academy has a 99.6% first attempt pass rate. The supporting and preparation material is very helpful for the students to achieve this success rate. You can also find testimonials of the students and other aspects in why Master of Project Academy page.
What if I have to repeat specific sessions within the course at a later stage?
You have to register for the online course. Once you have registered you will have access to the PMP exam course. You can access the course materials as many times as you want and go through specific topics to cover and prepare for the PMP exam.
This will enable you to assess your strengths and areas of improvement. And focus on those particular areas. You can repeat the video lectures and practice the test exam to ensure your readiness for the examination.
Is there any future support available after the course? Can I contact the instructors when required?
Yes, you can contact the instructor to get any assistance related to the PMP related queries.
Do I have evidence of the training, if PMI selects my application for audit process?
If PMI selects your application for PMI audit, you will have to go through the PMI audit process. Depending on the audit content, you will be required to submit the course certificate or enrollment letter to PMI along with the evidence of your professional experience evidences. PMI will approve your application if you supply the required documents.
How will PMP Exam course support me in my PMP exam appearance?
The PMP mock exam tests and exam practices are splendid tools to gain a real-like experience for the real PMP exam. You will get multi-faceted benefits from what these practice examinations offer to you:
- Identification of your strength and weakness of knowledge areas and processes areas. You can assess the areas in which you are good and the areas in which you need improvement. This will help you gain better scores to qualify the PMP exam.
- Practice time management and self-organization to keep focus for four hours PMP exam duration. In the PMP exam, you may take breaks but the clock will not stop. The more breaks you avail the less time is left to answer the examination questions. These practice tests will help you to have a full rehearsal of the PMP exam.
- You have to answer 180 questions in about four hours during PMP examination. Therefore you can test the speed of your responses to the questions. Ideally, you must complete these questions with some reserve time for breaks and reviews.
- The more you practice these practice examinations, the better you will be prepared for the real PMP exam. These will enable you to check accuracy, speed and focus. In the end, you will be confident to succeed in the PMP exam.
How does PMI assess during the PMP exam?
The PMP exam consists of PMP Exam contains 180 questions. There are 230 minutes to complete the exam. The PMP Exam Questions will be a combination of multiple-choice, multiple responses, matching, hotspot, and limited fill-in-the-blank types of questions.
The percentage distribution of questions with respect to project management process groups are as shown in the below table:
| Domain | % of Questions |
| People | 42% |
| Processes | 50% |
| Business Environment | 8% |
Will the PMP examination course be helpful in my career advancement?
PMP Exam Course is ideal for you if you are looking to advance your Project Management career by gaining PMP certification at the first attempt.
Once PMI approves your application, you will be eligible for one year to appear in the PMP examination. If you do not apply and sit for the PMP exam in a year, you have to re-apply for the PMP exam from the beginning.
- The PMP exam course provides you with the necessary skills that you are required to apply PMP framework applicability within your projects. The applicability pertains to all the project management processes areas in your projects. These process areas include: initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
- The skills you learn in the PMP exam course will enable you to identify improvement areas within your organization. You will be able to add more value to your organization through the efficiency and efficacy of your project management skills.
- Organizations do take care of the star performers and focus on the advancement of their career growth path; henceforth you will be able to accelerate your career growth path by being in the spotlight.
You can enroll in our Free PMP Training to learn more about PMP exam content and how to apply for PMP exam.