Do you qualify for the PMP®?
[PMP-F##] tag that resolves to a fact in our store. Each fact holds a pinpoint citation into the official source. We link the source and never reproduce it. This is study guidance, not a ruling on your own application — PMI decides eligibility.Start here
Four things decide whether you can apply. Your education, your months of leading projects, whether those months sit inside the eight-year window, and your contact hours [PMP-F02][PMP-F03][PMP-F01][PMP-F05].
Your education level sets which row of the requirement table you are on. A higher degree lowers the months of experience you must show [PMP-F02][PMP-F03].
Meet Dana
Dana has an associate's degree and six years of work at a print shop. For four of those years Dana led equipment upgrades and store openings. Dana also took a 40-hour project management class in 2024.
Dana is on the secondary-degree row. That row asks for at least 60 qualifying months, counted without overlap [PMP-F02]. Dana has 48 months, so Dana is one year short today.
Dana's class covers the education side. The requirement is formal project-management education totalling at least 35 contact hours [PMP-F05].
Dana's class counts because a training company ran it. The source names six kinds of provider whose completed courses satisfy the requirement [PMP-F26].
Those are PMI Authorized Training Partners, PMI chapters, employer or company programmes, and training companies or consultants [PMP-F26]. The list also covers university and college programmes, and distance-learning courses that assess you at the end [PMP-F26].
A chapter meeting on its own does not count. Only the hours inside it spent on a learning activity do [PMP-F36]. If your provider is on neither list, ask PMI before paying for a replacement course.
Reading does not count. The source excludes self-directed study from the education requirement — books, and videos with no end-of-course assessment [PMP-F27]. These lessons are self-directed, so studying them earns you no contact hours. Use them to plan the application. Get the 35 hours from a recognised provider.
If only part of a course was project management, count only those hours [PMP-F28]. You may log the applicable classes from a degree, but not the whole programme [PMP-F33].
The three rows
- Secondary degree — an associate's degree, a high-school diploma, or the equivalent elsewhere. At least 60 qualifying months, counted without overlap [PMP-F02].
- Four-year degree — a bachelor's, or the equivalent elsewhere. At least 36 qualifying months, counted the same way [PMP-F03].
- GAC-accredited bachelor's or post-graduate degree, or the equivalent elsewhere — at least 24 qualifying months [PMP-F04].
Every row asks for the same floor of at least 35 contact hours. For an active CAPM® holder the source states that this requirement is waived [PMP-F05]. Read the row that matches your highest qualifying degree.
The eight-year window
Old experience expires. Only work done in the eight consecutive years before you submit can be counted [PMP-F01].
The window moves forward with the submission date, so work from nine years ago cannot be recovered by waiting [PMP-F01].
That window is about experience. The source tells you to record every education hour whenever you earned it [PMP-F23], and the eight-year window it states is scoped to experience [PMP-F01].
Reading those together as "old courses still count" is our inference, not PMI's words. Dana's 2024 class is recent either way; if yours is much older, confirm it with PMI.
What kind of work counts
Your months must involve leading and directing projects [PMP-F17]. Taking part in a project team does not qualify on its own [PMP-F17].
The work does not have to be paid. It must be work in a professional setting [PMP-F07]. School projects and personal-event planning do not qualify [PMP-F07].
Two ways the requirement changes
If you hold an active CAPM certification, the 35 contact hours are waived [PMP-F05]. The waiver reaches that requirement only, and changes nothing about your experience months [PMP-F05].
Graduating from a GAC-accredited degree program earns a 12-month credit toward the experience requirement [PMP-F16]. You may also use the GAC coursework toward the 35 education hours [PMP-F16] — the qualifying classes, not the programme entire [PMP-F33].
The source states the 24-month GAC row and the 12-month credit in separate places [PMP-F04][PMP-F16] and never spells out how they combine. If you graduated from such a program, ask PMI how the credit applies to your row. Do not assume either answer, and do not delay an application you may already qualify for.
What to do next
Run the numbers on the eligibility check. It does the arithmetic in your browser and shows the fact behind every threshold.
Then print the workbook and write your months down. Lesson 02 shows how PMI wants those months counted.
Check yourself
Answer before you open each one. Retrieving an answer from memory is what makes it stick.
You have a bachelor's degree. How many months of experience does the requirement ask for?
At least 36 qualifying months, counted without overlap [PMP-F03].
Name the window your countable months have to fall inside, and what it is measured from.
The eight consecutive years before you submit the application [PMP-F01].
You hold an active CAPM. Name what is waived, and what is not.
The 35 contact hours of education are waived [PMP-F05]. Our store pins no other waiver, so plan on showing the full experience months for your row [PMP-F02][PMP-F03][PMP-F04].
Name the two things an entry must be, and one thing it must not be.
Work in a professional setting, and work you led and directed [PMP-F07][PMP-F17]. Not a school project or a personal event [PMP-F07].
Evidence for this lesson
Every tag above resolves here. Each entry names the section and page to check in your own copy, with the short quote we relied on — we link the source and never reproduce it.
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”
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”
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.”
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 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”
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”
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”