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All project management experience counted toward PMP eligibility must fall within the eight consecutive years before the application is submitted.
“accrued within the last eight consecutive years prior to your application submission”
With a secondary degree — an associate's degree, a high-school diploma, or the equivalent elsewhere — an applicant must show at least 60 months of qualifying project management work, counted without overlap.
“Minimum five years/60 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience”
With a four-year degree (bachelor's or global equivalent), an applicant must show at least 36 months of qualifying project management work, counted without overlap.
“Minimum three years/36 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience”
Where the applicant's degree — bachelor's, post-graduate, or the equivalent elsewhere — came from a GAC-accredited program, the stated requirement drops to at least 24 months of qualifying project management work, counted without overlap.
“Minimum two years/24 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience”
Beyond the experience months, an applicant must hold no fewer than 35 contact hours of formal education in the discipline. An active CAPM certification holder is exempt: the source states that this education requirement is waived for them.
“at least 35 contact hours of formal project management education unless they are an active CAPM holder”
Experience is counted in months of tenure, not number of projects; months in which multiple projects overlap count only once toward the eligibility requirement.
“Tenure is tracked in months, not number projects”
Qualifying experience recorded on the application need not be paid work, but must be in a professional setting; school projects and personal-event planning do not qualify.
“does not necessarily have to be paid work, but it does need to be in a professional setting”
PMI's stated processing time for online applications is 5 calendar days, unless the application is selected for audit.
“processing time for applications submitted online is 5 calendar days”
PMI membership is not required for the PMP; fees vary by membership status and region, and the initial exam fee is paid after application approval, before scheduling.
“Membership is NOT required to obtain the PMP.”
Under the January 2021 ECO (in effect for exams before the July 2026 update — see PMP-F15), the exam ran to 180 questions, 5 of them unscored pretest items (175 scored), and the document states that every question, scored or not, is placed at random in the exam.
“comprised of 180 questions. Of the 180 questions, 5 are considered pretest questions”
Under the January 2021 ECO (see PMP-F15), candidates sitting the center-based exam were given 230 minutes of examination time.
“the center-based examination is 230 minutes”
A candidate gets up to three attempts inside the one-year eligibility period. Reapplying for the certification is then barred until twelve months after the most recent exam date, though other PMI certifications stay open in the interim.
“up to three times within your one-year eligibility period”
If the eligibility year runs out before the candidate passes, a fresh application for the certification is required.
“eligibility period expires without you passing the examination, you must reapply”
If the original test was administered on paper rather than computer, a manual hand rescore may be requested for a fee of $45 USD.
“The fee for a hand rescore is $45 USD.”
PMI has published an updated PMP Examination Content Outline that takes effect for all PMP exams from July 2026, replacing the January 2021 version.
“will come into effect for all PMP® exam tests from July 2026”
Graduating from a GAC-accredited degree program earns a 12-month credit toward the experience requirement, and the same coursework may be put toward the 35-hour education requirement.
“you will receive a 12 month credit towards the work experience requirement”
The applicant's experience has to cover project leadership and direction, not participation alone.
“Experience must include leading and directing projects.”
Under the January 2021 ECO (see PMP-F15), the PMP exam included two 10-minute breaks — the first after completing and reviewing questions 1–60, the second after question 120 — and after starting a break you could not return to the previous section's questions.
“there are now two 10-minute breaks in the exam”
As of 2026-08-08 (UTC), PMI's canonical PMP handbook URL served the document self-identified as the Examination Content Outline – January 2021 (whole-file SHA-256 3a840ea9bc8afa0c360362fa03b6879003cfe680ba9f018b6d4760fc9f98b63e), i.e. the pre-July-2026 version remained the one PMI distributed at that address.
“Examination Content Outline – January 2021”
Under the January 2021 ECO (see PMP-F15), the stated total across all sections of the exam was 230 minutes, covering 180 questions.
“In total, you will have 230 minutes to respond to 180 questions.”
Once a candidate's exam date is confirmed and scheduled, the source states they may owe charges for cancelling or for failing to appear.
“you may be subject to cancellation or no-show fees”
The source states that a retake is offered at a substantially reduced price while the candidate's eligibility period has not yet lapsed, with membership and region still affecting the amount.
“you may do so for a substantial discount subject to membership and regional pricing”
The source tells applicants to log every hour of qualifying education, whenever it was earned.
“Record all education hours regardless of when they were accrued.”
The coursework behind the contact hours must be finished before the application is submitted, not merely under way.
“The course work must be completed by the time you submit the application.”
Under the January 2021 ECO (see PMP-F15), the source states that the time spent on the tutorial and survey was not part of the 230 minutes of examination time.
“The time used to complete the tutorial and survey is not included in the examination time of 230 minutes.”
The source states the education requirement can be satisfied by successfully completing courses, workshops or training sessions from any of six provider types it lists: PMI Authorized Training Partners, PMI chapters, employer or company-sponsored programmes, training companies or consultants, distance-learning companies whose course includes an end-of-course assessment, and university or college programmes.
“the following types of education providers”
Study a candidate runs themselves does not meet the education requirement: the source names books, and instructional videos that carry no assessment at the end.
“Self-directed learning (e.g., reading books, watching instructional videos that do not include an end-of-course assessment)”
Where a course only partly addressed project management, the source allows just the portion of time devoted to it to count.
“only the hours spent on project management can be applied toward the total”
The source defines a project as temporary work that yields a unique outcome, and credits the PMBOK Guide for that definition.
“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result”
Under the January 2021 ECO (see PMP-F15), a tutorial ran before the examination and a survey after it. The source states both were optional and puts them at 5 to 15 minutes.
“both of which are optional, and take 5-15 minutes to complete”
Under the January 2021 ECO (see PMP-F15), the source states that a candidate returning from each break had whatever time was still left in the allowance for the sections not yet done.
“you will have the remaining allotted time to complete the remaining section(s)”
The source states PMI accepts credit card and wire transfer.
“PMI accepts the following payment methods: credit card and wire transfer”
A whole degree programme may not be logged toward the education requirement; the source allows the applicable classes from it, because some classes in a programme will not qualify.
“you cannot record the degree program in its entirety”
The source states that renewing the credential also requires a payment, with membership and region affecting the amount.
“renewing your PMP Certification will require a payment based on membership and regional pricing”
For the current list of item types used in the exam, the source directs readers to PMI's PMP Exam Updates page.
“please refer to the PMP Exam Updates page on pmi.org”
A PMI chapter meeting does not by itself meet the education requirement; the source counts only the hours within a meeting that are spent on a learning activity.
“If at least one hour of a chapter meeting is spent conducting a learning activity”
Each project must be entered on the application separately, however many projects the applicant includes.
“must be recorded individually regardless of the number of projects you include”
The source states PMI currently supports US dollars, euros, Brazilian reais and Indian rupees.
“We currently support USD, Euros, BRL, and INR currencies.”