What is PMP Certification? Cost & Course Details

What is PMP Certification?

Project Management Professional (PMP) is a certification administered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), U.S.A. It is a project management credential recognized all over the world. The exam content is based on PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) and the PMP Examination Content Outline. The certification is valid for 3 years.

Pre-requisite

The pre-requisites for the PMI-PMP examination include:

1. A four-year bachelor’s degree
2. A minimum of 4500 hours of project management experience

OR

3. A secondary degree (high school diploma, associate degree, etc.)
4. A minimum of 7500 hours of project management in the last five years

AND

5. 35 hours of project management education from a registered education provider (REP)

PMP Certification Cost

The cost of earning and maintaining the PMP certification includes the following:

• The fee structure to earn the 35 required education hours varies from country to country; it may range from $300 to $5000.
• Fee structure for computer-based Testing (CBT):
  • For PMI members: $405.00
  • For non-PMI members: $555.00
• Re-examination fees:
  • For PMI members: $275.00
  • For non-PMI members: $375.00

PMP Exam Structure

The following points and table show the current PMP exam structure and the weightage of questions.

• To clear the exam, you need to pass a computer-based, multiple-choice examination.
• The current exam contains 180 questions to be answered in 230 minutes.
• The exam is offered in multiple languages globally.

Since January 2021, the exam assesses a candidate’s management knowledge across three domains. The weightage of questions for each domain is as follows:

Project Management Domain	Percentage of Questions
People	42%
Process	50%
Business Environment	8%

There are other various courses available related to project management on PMI, like PgMP, PfMP, CAPM, etc. For more information, you can visit the PMI website.

Benefits of PMP Certification

Earning the PMP certification offers several career and professional advantages:

• Global recognition: PMP is recognized and respected across industries and countries, making your skills portable worldwide.
• Higher earning potential: Certified project managers often command higher salaries than their non-certified peers.
• Career advancement: The credential strengthens your resume and improves eligibility for senior project roles.
• Validated skills: It demonstrates a proven ability to lead and direct projects using standardized best practices.
• Professional network: Membership and certification connect you with a global community of project management professionals.

PMP Professional Responsibility

PMP professionals must follow a code of conduct and ethics. This code of conduct and ethics defines:

• Responsibility to the profession
• Responsibility to customers and the public

The code of ethics and professional conduct includes:

• Maintain high standards of professional conduct and integrity
• Encourage others in the profession to act in a professional manner
• Continuously seek guidance to enhance professional capabilities
• Upholding the code
• Compliance with all mandatory rules and regulations
• Be responsible for your actions
• Practice the code of ethics with fairness and honesty
• Stick to ethical standards and legal requirements
• Protect stakeholders and balance stakeholders’ interest on the project
• Make sure that a conflict of interest does not compromise the customer’s legitimate interest
• Maintain confidential information
• Act in an accurate, truthful manner
• Reporting illegal or unethical behavior
• While dealing with other cultures, maintain professional sensitivity
• Be aware of cultural differences

Other professional responsibility

• The project manager needs to ensure that company policies are followed
• Copyright laws are not violated
• Budget tampering – do not present anything besides your original estimate
• Rights – do not do business with a country where there is a clear violation of the fundamental rights

Code of conduct and ethics sample questions for PMP professionals:

1. After a person is hired, he presents ideas which were already developed by a competitor company. Are you going to use the same ideas?
2. As a manager, what would you do to resolve the conflict between team members?
3. You are a project manager, and a large and unexpected problem occurs that will cause a delay in the schedule. What should you do?

FAQs