The 26-day PMP

Optimizing for time and cost in taking the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam

The Project Management Professional, or PMP, is the industry-standard certificate from the Project Management Institute (PMI) for project management. Some estimates put the study time to complete a PMP at between 4–5 months preparing at a cost of $2600+ for the exam cost and associated study materials like courses, bootcamps, & exam simulators.

Like with the CAPM, my goal for the PMP was to find lower bounds on the time and money I could spend while still earning the certification. In total, I spent 26 days preparing for the PMP and it cost me $574.98 in total. I only used the following resources with only the first three costing me money:

• PMI Membership + PMP Exam (Members Discount) for $544.00
• Joseph Phillips’ PMP Exam Prep Seminar from Udemy for $10.99
• PMP Pocket Prep App, 800 Questions, One Month Subscription for $19.99
• Ricardo Vargas PMBOK Process Flow 1hr Video, free (YouTube)
• Oliver Lehmann Free 100 Questions Practice Test, free
• PM Exam Coach Dan Ryan 200 Questions Practice Test, free
• PM Prepcast 120 Question Practice Test, free
• PMI Official India Official 200 Questions Practice Test, free (included with PMI membership)
• PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition Reference Book, free (included with PMI membership)

Here’s a summary of how I prepared for the PMP in 26 days.

Eligibility and Requirements

The PMP has two prerequisites: years of PM experience and PM education hours. These can be referenced in the PMP Handbook on the PMI website. The years of PM experience requirements options are as follows:

• 36 months (3 years) of leading projects and a 4-year college degree OR
• 60 months (5 years) of leading projects and a high school diploma

Basically, a 4-year college degree knocks off two years of required experience. These years have to be non-overlapping — basically, if I led three projects concurrently for January 2019 through December 2019, that only counts as 12 months of PM experience, not 36 months.

“Experience leading projects” does not have to be a full-time job as a project manager. The handbook specifically says “the experience does not have to be paid work, but it needs to be in a professional setting”. My interpretation of this means that things like volunteer PM work for a non-profit is acceptable. A group project for a class would not qualify. Planning for a bathroom renovation for your own house would not qualify.

After meeting the PM experience prerequisite, there’s the PM education hours. The two options here are:

• Complete 35 contact hours of formal education
• Be the holder of a CAPM certification

For the education requirement, basically it means you have to take a formal course. Most PMP courses out there will explicitly state that they meet the 35 contact hours requirement if you’re wondering.

To meet this requirement, I’d recommend Joseph Phillips’ PMP Exam Prep Seminar that I listed above. It’s around $10 off Udemy and you can watch it online at your own pace. Some bootcamps and prep seminars cost $1000+ which is not worth it at all in my opinion. Earn the 35 contact hours at the lowest possible expense, then focus your efforts on studying afterward.

Submitting the Application

There is a wonderful flowchart on page 7 of the PMP Handbook that describes this too, but basically: it takes at least a week to actually get approved to take the PMP! If you’re trying to take the test right away, apply for the PMP immediately after finishing your education requirement so that you don’t waste time.

On the PMP website, you will be asked to submit an application that lists out both your 35 contact hours of education and your years of leading projects. This application is surprisingly long: for each project-leading experience, you’re expected to write 200–500 words describing it. On Microsoft Word, 500 words is about 1 full page single-spaced!

I’d recommend you are thorough in describing your project management experience. According to PMI, around 5–10% of applications get audited. I have a strong feeling that a thoroughly complete application has a lower chance of being audited than a spotty application.

Let’s talk about the audit briefly — once you submit your application, you’ll find out in 5 days whether you were approved without a problem, or selected for an audit. If you’re audited, you’ll have to send in supplemental information confirming your PM experience (forms that need to be filled out by former managers, co-workers, etc.). I didn’t get audited, so all I can say is that sounds like a lot of work.

Exactly 5 days after submitting my application, I was approved. I paid $139 for a membership to PMI and then $405 for the members-discount exam fee. The total was $544. If you’re not a member, I’d recommend you do this. The non-member test fee is $555 so it’s actually $11 more expensive to do that, plus you’ll miss out on the free practice test that members get.

In parallel to my application process, here’s how I studied.

Days 1–18: Joseph Phillips’ Udemy PMP Course

If you’re brand new to the world of PMI and their formal approach to Project Management, a course like Joseph Phillips’ course is a wonderful starting point. This meets the 35 contact hour requirement from PMI and is probably the least expensive way of earning that pre-requisite.

As a first-pass through the content on the PMP, this course works really well. You basically get Joseph Phillips to read you the PMBOK Guide (the primary reference text that the PMP is based in). He speaks slowly so putting the videos at 2x speed can help quite a bit.

While many will argue the content of this course is more suited to preparing for the CAPM, I believe it provides the foundation necessary to then fill in the blanks in your knowledge for the PMP.

CAPM vs PMP

I should pause for a moment and say the PMP exam is very very different from the CAPM. For the CAPM, there is a greater emphasis on rote memorization of definitions and terms and being able to pick out the right one on the test. The PMP is more about application of your understanding of exact definitions and terms.

For example, here’s the same question phrased in both a “CAPM-style” and a “PMP-style”. Notice how they require you to have the same knowledge, but make you apply it differently:

CAPM: Which is an input to the Direct and Manage Project Work process?

(A) Expert judgement, (B) Data analysis, (C) Accepted deliverables, (D) Approved change requests

PMP: The change control board (CCB) has just approved a change to your project scope. What should you do next?

(A) Review the change against project baseline, (B) Escalate the issue to management, (C) Reject the change because it involves project scope, (D) Implement the change

For both questions, the correct answer is D. The CAPM question lifts a definition from the textbook and asks you to fill in the blank whereas the PMP question has more of a story and asks you to apply the knowledge.

Taking a course like the Joseph Phillips’ course is great for the CAPM. For the PMP, it’s also great because it provides the foundation on which you will build the rest of your test prep. The lectures are sometimes a bit dry, but this is the necessary learn-by-osmosis part of the test prep where you just have a ton of test content thrown at you.

Taking Notes on the Course

There are research studies out there that say people retain information better when they write it down instead of just listening to it. I took notes in Notion as I went through the Udemy course and it helped immensely.

My Notion notes sections

The thing about Notion is that it does a really good job of indexing information. I would have the Udemy course up on the left side of my monitor and Notion open on the right side of my monitor which made it super easy to switch between the two.

The most important thing to write down is the Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs (ITTOS). It’s not necessary to memorize ITTOs. It is necessary to generally understand the major routings of when each thing gets created.

For example, the Direct and Manage Project Work creates deliverables. You input deliverables to the Control Quality process, then you get verified deliverables. You input verified deliverables to the Validate Scope process, then you get accepted deliverables. Understanding the distinction between these terms (deliverables vs verified deliverables vs accepted deliverables) is worth at least a point on the PMP exam if you clearly understand them.

By the end of the Udemy course, I felt like I had a holistic grasp on PMP-related knowledge. The only thing I was missing was practice questions. I was really eager to take some actual practice tests to rigorously test myself against PMP-style questions.

Days 19–25: A Week of Practice Tests

There are an incredible number of free resources available on the internet to help prepare for the PMP. I can’t stress this enough: you can get 80% of the way to “ready” for the test just by using free resources. There are something like 620 good PMP prep questions just in the resources I found in a brief search:

• Oliver Lehmann Free 100 Questions Practice Test, free (the first full practice test I took — really excellent comprehension questions. Will test your understanding across all parts of the PMP. Distribution of questions is more “even” whereas the real PMP exam is highly concentrated on a few specific areas. I took this once and got 81%, or 81/100)
• PM Exam Coach Dan Ryan 200 Questions Practice Test, free (decent comprehension questions. You have to make an account, but it’s free and it can help narrow in on areas you need work. This has the least exam-accurate questions of the tests I took, but it definitely isn’t bad. I took this once and got 71%, or 142/200)
• PM Prepcast 120 Question Practice Test, free (the first 3/4 of this test are really really good questions that closely resemble exam questions. Toward the end, the questions got really really agile-focused and I think they are slightly outside of the true PMP scope. I took this test once and got 71%, or 93/120)
• PMI Official India Official 200 Questions Practice Test, free — included with PMI membership (this test is by far the best study resource. It’s directly from PMI and closely resembles questions on the actual PMP exam. It felt like over half the questions were change management or stakeholder/communications management. I took this test twice: once about a week before my exam (earning 69.5% or 139/200) and the second time the night before my exam (earning 81.5% or 163/200).

I cannot stress enough — these free resources are excellent. After taking the tests I described above over the first 4 days of my studying, I felt mostly ready for the exam. Since the minimum passing score for the exam is estimated to be about 66%, I knew my scores should be enough. I just didn’t feel quite confident and needed something to push me just a little bit further.

I purchased the Premium version of the PMP Pocket Prep app to get 1-month of access for $19.99. This app provided 800 practice questions and it was incredible value for the price.

• PMP Pocket Prep App, 800 Questions, One Month Subscription for $19.99

Pocket prep does not have perfect PMP-representative questions like the PMI practice exam or Prepcast, but it tests much of the same content. Content matters more than question construction in my opinion and this app was effective. I scored about 78% on average across the 800 questions in the Pocket Prep app.

Some people will also recommend PM Prepcast Simulator. I looked at it briefly and honestly, it looks like a top-shelf resource for exam prep. The interface is excellent and the questions are highly exam-representative. The problem is that it costs $139 for a license to access it. That’s a lot. It was far more palatable to spend $20 on Pocket Prep versus $139 on Prepcast.

The final two days of my studying were spent going through all 800 questions on the PM Pocket Prep App. By the day before the exam, I had reviewed a total of 620 + 800 = 1,420 questions. I was ready.

Day 26: The Exam

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I took the exam from home using the Pearson OnVUE test software. That was, in itself, stressful. I had worries the night before over whether my internet connection would hold up. I’d heard horror stories of proctors cancelling exams over the webcam for suspicions of cheating when the test-taker only did something as simple as cover their mouth to cough.

Test Setup

I chose a morning exam time of 10:45am. The check-in process begins 30 minutes before the exam, so I was logged onto my computer and ready to start at 10:15am. When you first log in to the test software, it asks you for your phone number to text you a link. Make sure your phone is on at least during the setup process. I had preemptively turned my phone off in preparation for the exam and had to go fetch it to complete the sign in process.

You’ll have to take pictures of your work space and of your ID (Driver’s License or Passport) and upload them through the app as part of the check-in process. After you finish uploading everything and you see the green check mark indicating the process is complete, turn your phone off and put it away. It’s not worth dealing with any distractions if they come up. Once you do that, use the bathroom one last time, then hit “refresh” on your computer to start.

There is a 15 minute period between when you “enter” the test waiting room and when your proctor is supposed to launch the exam. It’s supposed to be 15 minutes, but I’ve found it to be widely variable. In previous exams on Pearson OnVUE, I’ve had the test launched within 30 seconds of me reaching the waiting room. For me taking the test this time, it took closer to 15 minutes.

The Test

The test began with a 7-minute tutorial of the software. It was actually pretty useful. The test-taking tool was more advanced than some others I’ve used. It had the standard calculator and whiteboard options as well as the option to highlight or strikethrough any parts of the question or answer choices as you made your way through the test.

After the tutorial was finished, the test began. More than anything else, the PMP is a test of endurance. The 200 questions is a lot. I don’t want to discuss too many specifics that would give away details of the exam, but in general, I found the Official PMI practice test to have the questions that most resembled exam questions. By doing the official practice test the night before, I felt like I really set myself up for the challenge of the questions on the real exam.

It took me about an hour and a half to finish the first 90 questions. After you complete the first 90 questions, the exam software offers you the chance to review all 90 questions, submit them, then take a 10 minute break. The 10 minute break was useless in my opinion — all the same rules apply during the break as when you’re taking the test, so I was sitting in front of my computer screen the whole time. I ended the break early after about a minute had passed.

For the remaining 110 questions on the exam, my brain was on autopilot. The questions all started to look the same after around question 140 and the exhaustion began to set in. Annotating the questions was helpful because it helped me to keep my thoughts in front of me and progress through the questions at a steady pace.

When I finally submitted the exam, I was expecting to have to wait a while to get a result. I was surprised when literally the first screen after I hit submit had a big “Congratulations” on it. I had passed! I was so exhausted that it didn’t register for a second even after I saw it, but I celebrated shortly afterward with a silent fist pump.

The testing software closed itself and I was left sitting in my computer chair with a big smile on my face. The official result came the following day — I had scored AT/AT/AT/AT/T in the five process groups Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, Closing. The ATs stand for “Above Target” and the T stands for “Target”. It was the equivalent of getting four A’s and one B as my grades across the areas. It’s a passing score and that’s the main thing that matters here.

Final Thoughts

I had a lot of fun rush-learning the PMP on a budget. I had a realization several years ago that many people overload on study resources when they are preparing for an exam because of the psychological safety of purchasing those resources. It becomes a feedback loop — I spent $400 on study materials, so I’m prepared, because I spent $400 on study materials.

Oftentimes, only $100 of those study resources truly provide value and the additional $300 provide the placebo effect of reassurance. Those additional materials provide diminishing returns benefits not nearly as strong as those benefits provided by the best study materials.

When I began to prepare for the PMP, I could not find any accounts on the internet from people aiming to minimize their time and money spend on the certification. Oftentimes people provide laundry lists of resources without any ranking as to their quality. It was hard to parse out what was useful and what was noise.

I do not want this piece to come across as purely prideful or pretentious regarding my approach here. I’m really fortunate that the circumstances of my life allowed me to take this highly-focused, rush-study approach to the PMP. Traditional, slower-paced study plans are not worse in any way. My aim in writing this article is to help others look for and eliminate potential waste in the test-prep process. It is better to use this 26-day approach as a benchmark and add only what is necessary instead of starting at a way-too-long 3–4 month estimate of the time it takes to prepare for this exam.

In general, we should not be asking ourselves the open-ended question of “how long we need” for something. Asking that open-ended question does not create incentives for brevity and eliminating waste. Instead, we should ask “What is the lower limit I can achieve here?” and only add extra time as it is needed. I’ve written in the past about Parkinson’s Law — this time-boxing approach to studying is the best way to exploit that law.

I hope this guide shows you it is possible to pass the PMP without an insane investment of time and money. The PMP is a wonderful step in furthering one’s career —I wish the best to all those who take on its challenge.

Interested in a rush-study approach to the CAPM? Here’s another Medium article I wrote describing my 15-day process prepping for the CAPM.