The Project Management Institute (PMI) announced some changes in the PMP exam that were expected to roll out in July 2020. However, due to the global pandemic, PMI postponed the changes and they went into effect from January 2021.
As a Project management professional (PMP) certification aspirant, it is important for you to be aware of the new changes to best prepare for the exam. In this guide, we will discuss all the new changes to the PMP exam pattern 2021.
Key changes that PMP aspirants should be aware of
The significant changes in the PMP exam pattern revolve around the following:
- Exam Content
- Exam Format
Let’s dive into a detailed study of each of the following changes.
PMP Exam content
The new PMP exam content will revolve around 3 domains of project management- People, Process, and Business Environment. While the old PMP exam content was based on 5 domains i.e Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing.
Domains of new PMP exam
- People- The people domain includes everything related to the workforce or people in an organization. It includes tasks such as managing conflicts, creation of teams, mentoring stakeholders, and so on. The candidates will get 42% of questions related to the people domain in the PMP exam.
- Process- The process domain includes activities and practices related to the process groups of the project life cycle. Tasks that are involved in the process domain are stakeholders engagement, communication management, etc. The weightage for the process domain in the PMP exam is 50%.
- Business environment- The business environment domain is associated with organizational structure and environment. It holds 8% weightage in the PMP exam.
Here is the weightage comparison of the new exam content vs the old.
| OLD PMP EXAM | NEW PMP EXAM | ||
| DOMAIN | WEIGHTAGE | DOMAIN | WEIGHTAGE |
| Initiating | 13% | People | 42% |
| Planning | 24% | Process | 50% |
| Executing | 31% | Business Environment | 8% |
| Monitoring and Controlling | 25% | ||
| Closing | 7% | ||
| Total | 100% | Total | 100% |
Exam Format
There are significant changes in the new PMP exam format as of January 2021, the earlier 2015 version included 200 multiple-choice questions that revolved around 5 domains of Project management, where the candidates get 3 hours to complete the examination.
On the other hand, the 2021 PMP exam format consists of 180 multiple-choice questions that revolve around the 3 new domains of project management and the candidates get 230 minutes to complete the examination.
Here is the overview of the PMP exam format.
| OLD EXAM FORMAT | NEW EXAM FORMAT |
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Conclusion
These are the significant changes in the PMP exam pattern that you have to be aware of before you start preparing for the PMP examination. You can learn more about the new PMP exam pattern on the official PMI website. If you liked this informational guide, let us know in the comment section.
