PMP Certification Requirements For 2021
Last updated: 01/04/2021
* A secondary degree is defined as a high school diploma, associate's degree, or global equivalent.
PMP Certification Examination Requirements
If you’re reading this right now, then you understand how important a PMP Certification is to get ahead in your career. By earning a PMP certification you’ll get a significant advantage over your colleagues, make more money, and increase your value by equipping yourself with high-level project management skills. PMP certification salary is 25% more than non-PMP employee compensation in the United States. This has resulted in exponential growth of PMP certificants each year.
You believe that although it’s notoriously difficult, it’s worth the extra effort. And you’re absolutely right. In this page, we’ve compiled all the important information that you need to know about the PMP certification exam. So that you’ll be well-prepared for your PMP certification journey and that all of your time, investment, and effort will not go to waste.
Before starting your PMP certification journey, first you have to make sure that you’re eligible to take the PMP certification exam. PMP eligibility is based on academic education, project management experience, and project management professional training.
You can view this as a PMP certification process infographic here.
Once you’ve satisfied all the PMP certification requirements, you can submit your application online via PMI’s online portal. Once you’ve been approved, you can take your PMP online proctored certification exam in the comfort of your home using OnVue platform from Pearson VUE or at your nearest Pearson VUE Test Center.
The exam will be computer-based, so you’ll be able to receive your score immediately. After passing the PMP certification exam, you’ll be approved to use the PMP credential for 3 years. During these 3 years, you have to earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) to maintain your PMP status for an additional 3 years.
The PMP Certification Roadmap
Here are the 8 steps to get the PMP certification:
- Determine if you are eligible for the PMP certification
- Signup for the PMTI PMP Boot Camp to get the required 35 contact hours (PDUs)
- Register to become a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI)®
- Complete our PMP certification training course
- Follow the PMP application process below and submit to PMI®
- Schedule your exam with Pearson VUE
- Take and Pass the PMP exam
- Maintain PMP certification with PMTI’s free PDU courses (extra 3 years)
PMP Certification Requirements Details
The first PMP eligibility requirement is for the applicant to have a degree or a secondary diploma.
On the PMP certification exam application, you’ll be required to name the institution you attended, the year you graduated, and the field of study you took during your academic education experience.
Next, it’s about your experience. The experience referred to here includes leading or directing projects that are non-overlapping, whether in traditional, hybrid, or Agile approach and only those that happen within the last eight (8) years will be counted by PMI on your PMP application.
See the table above for details of the experience requirement.
Lastly, you’ll also be required to show proof of 35 contact hours of project management education.
4PMTI can help you fulfill this requirement with our in-class or live-online class that will help you pass your PMP certification exam with flying colors.
PMI will waive this requirement if you have a CAPM certification.
Find out if you are eligible for the PMP Certification with our free assessment tool. You may also send your resume to us at [email protected] and our experts will be happy to provide guidance on your eligibility.
Check out the Project Management Professional (PMP) Handbook for the complete eligibility documentation & requirements.
Grab your copy of a PMP Certification Success Guide that outlines:
- All about PMI
- PMP Certification & Benefits
- Exam Content & Sample Questions
- How To Pass The Exam on Your First Try! (Strategy)
PMP Application Process
- As a benefit to students, PMTI provides a simple easy-to-use PMP application prep tool to prepare all the information necessary to plug into the PMP application. This tool includes suggestions and best practices to improve your chances of approval to take the PMP exam.
- Begin the application process by registering at Project Management institute (PMI) to become a member. PMI Membership will cost you $139. The PMP exam will cost you $405 as a PMI member or $555 if you are not a PMI member. It is clearly beneficial to be a PMI member.
- Head over to certification.PMI.org to get started with the PMP application. PMI will require information on a) Academic Education b) Professional Education c) Experience and d) Exam Details. Use the information collected in step 1 to fill in the following.
- Academic Education: You will need to input your highest level of education, years attended, name of institution, and field of study.
- Professional Education: Here you will provide PMTI’s PMP training course title and when you attend it to satisfy the 35 contact hours requirement.
- Experience: Provide your project’s title, job title, approach, dates, project description, and other information.
- Exam Details: Confirm the country where you intend to sit for the exam and if you need special accommodations.
- Our experts will be happy to review your PMP application to determine if it meets PMI rigor and expectations. Submit the application.
PMP Approval & Eligibility Period
It generally takes PMI 5-7 business days to review & respond to your application. But if you’re selected for an audit, PMI will wait until they receive your completed audit documents to verify their accuracy & completeness before they approve your application. So, plan accordingly.
Important: A very small percentage of applications will be subject to a random audit process that’ll require anyone being audited to present evidence to validate all of the information they submitted with their application.
Failing the audit process or submitting an incomplete or inaccurate PMP application could result in resubmitting your application and further delays. You can use the PMTI PMP Application Exam Prep Tool and our complimentary expert review to help you apply for and succeed through the PMP certification exam after you register for one of PMTI’s PMP Exam Prep classes.
Paying for the PMP Exam
Once your application is approved, you’ll receive an invitation via email to pay for the exam at PMI’s website. See the table below for membership and exam fees. Once the payment is made, you’ll receive a PMI Eligibility ID both online and by email.
PMP Application Fees
| Cost Category | PMI® Member | Non-Member |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Member | $139 | N/A |
| PMP Exam Fee | $405 | $555 |
| PMP Retake Fee | $275 | $375 |
For more information on the complete value of being a PMI member, see our PMP Certification Guide.
PMP Examination Process
Once your application has been approved & you’ve paid the PMP certification exam fee, you can schedule your exam with Pearson VUE. You’ll have 1 year to take the exam from the time your application has been approved and you may take the exam up to 3 times during this eligibility period. You may take an online proctored exam at your home or schedule one at a Pearson VUE test center. You’ll find the complete list of test locations on the Pearson VUE website. Or you can find the Pearson VUE test center in your city at 4PMTI’s PMP course pages.
Take The PMP Exam
The PMP certification exam can be taken at your nearest Pearson VUE test center. The computer-based exam will have 180 questions with a 230 minutes time limit.
Pro-tip: The questions will be broken down into three (3) domains: People (42%), Processes (50%), Business (8%). You’ll receive your score immediately after you completed the test. PMI will be updating to new domains and breakdown starting January 2021. Find out all the details about the PMP exam change coming in January 2021.
If your test results show that you’ve received an overall target or above target score in the PMP exam, then congratulations! You are now a Project Management Professional! You may use your PMP credential immediately for the next 3 years. And during this time, you must earn 60 additional Professional Development Units (PDUs) to maintain your certification for another 3 years. Learn more about earning & reporting PDUs at PMI’s Continuing Certification Requirements Program documentation.
Maintain Your PMP Certification
I Passed my PMP Exam, Now What?
Congratulations! You have successfully achieved one of the most difficult certifications in the project management industry and become one step closer to reaching your career goals.
Your PMP certification is valid for 3 years. And within those 3 years, you need to acquire 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) to maintain your PMP credential for the next 3 years. You can claim a maximum of 8 PDUs for being a project management practitioner as a part of your job, 17 PDUs by means of “Other Giving Back”, and a minimum of 35 PDUs as a part of the continuing education. You must earn a minimum of 8 PDUs in each of the categories of Technical Project Management, leadership, Strategic and Business Management.
That sounds very complicated. So, we made it easy! If you’re a 4PMTI student, we offer you FREE online courses that meet the above requirements and are qualified to provide you with the remaining 52 PDUs when you enroll in our PMP training courses*.
If you’re not a 4PMTI student, you can enroll in our other certification courses that are qualified to provide the PDUs, such as: PMI-ACP certification (24 PDUs), Risk Management Course (24 PDUs), Critical Chain Management (24 PDUs), Earned Value Management (24 PDUs). Click here for our PDU courses.
Introducing PMTI: The most effective way to pass your PMP Certification Exam
Now you know how important it is to be well-prepared for your PMP Certification Exam. Failing to pass means you’ll be losing time, money, and opportunities to get ahead in your career faster.
We understand that, and that’s why we want to help you ace your PMP Certification Exam on your first try— guaranteed. We want to give you a way to become PMP certified in as little time as 5 days from now and 100% money-back guarantee. If you’re interested, click enroll now & let’s start your journey to being a PMP certified Project Manager.
Top 10 PMP Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the 8 steps to get the PMP certification:
- Determine if you are eligible for the PMP certification
- Signup for the PMTI PMP Boot Camp to get the required 35 contact hours (PDUs).
- Register to become a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI)®.
- Complete our PMP certification training course.
- Follow the PMP application process below and submit to PMI®.
- Schedule your exam with Pearson VUE.
- Take and Pass the PMP exam.
- Maintain PMP certification with PMTI’s free PDU courses (extra 3 years).
The PMP exam is hard because of two reasons - a) The pmp exam content is vast and difficult and b) There is very little time available to answer questions. PMP questions present very close answers with hair-splitting differences which poses tremendous challenge unless you are pretty well prepared and practiced well-designed questions. Download PMTI’s PMP certification success guide for strategies and sample questions. Find out your readiness with PMTI’s PMP simulated practice test.
PMI Membership will cost you $139. The PMP exam will cost you $405 as a PMI member or $555 if you are not a PMI member. It is clearly beneficial to be a PMI member.
Selecting the best PMP training course whether it is online or in-person requires evaluating several factors. PMTI understands it could be a huge challenge deciding where to invest your PMP training dollars. PMTI has developed a set of criteria and an easy worksheet to assist you in selection. Find out why the best PMP online training is the one offered by PMTI for you.
As of July 2020, PMI no longer checks for the 4500 hours of project management experience to qualify for the PMP exam. PMI will continue to require 36 months of non-overlapping project management experience if you have a four-year degree. If you get audited, you will need to prove it by submitting a signed document of your submitted experience from your PM contact (or supervisor).
PMI will not require or ask you to upload any documents of proof at the time of PMP application. However, if you are selected for a PMP audit, you will need to submit documents to verify your academic education, professional education (PMTIs PMP training certificate), and PM experience.
TPMI no longer checks for a certain number of hours of experience in project management. If you have a four-year degree, PMI requires 36 months of PM experience. If you have a secondary degree such as a high-school diploma, PMI requires 60 months of PM experience.
According to PMI’s “Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey 11th Edition”, professionals with PMP certification earn 22% more with a median salary of $116,000 in the United States and $73,355 in Canada.
You can download the PMP handbook from Project Management Institute at https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/certifications/project-management-professional-handbook.pdf
PMI has authorized Project Management Training Institute as a PMI Approved Training Partner (ATP) to provide PMP certification online virtual training. PMTI instructors are trained and approved by PMI to address the modern onliner learning practices in project management.
