Last updated on March-2024 by Nilotpal Ray, PMP
What are the PMP Certification Exam Eligibility Requirements?
Imagine yourself that preparing very hard for your PMP Certification exam for over a month now…and then suddenly you get to know that you are not even eligible for the exam!
Additionally, also imagine that your PMP exam application getting rejected/cancelled since you tried to force-fit your ‘administrative’ and ‘ongoing operations’ experience as ‘project’ experience while writing essays for PMI in your application!
Well, you may argue that “I didn’t know the details”…” nobody informed me about this”…but the damage has been done.
A lot of things like this can go wrong if you jump right into the preparation stage of the PMP exam without even understanding the basic requirements and nature of the exam.
And one of the key components for doing due diligence before you even plan for writing the PMP exam is to first ask yourself the question:
Am I Eligible for the PMP Exam?
So, to play safe and to avoid yourself from being in a sorry state later, keep reading this post to understand the PMP Certification Exam eligibility requirements in detail and the common pitfalls aspirants make while assessing the eligibility criteria of the exam.
3 key components of PMP Certification Eligibility Requirements:
- Your educational background
- Your project related work experience
- Your formal project management education
Important note: All of the project management-related experiences viz. (2) and (3) should have been accrued by you over the last 8 consecutive years prior to the submission of your application.
Eg. If you are submitting your PMP Exam application on PMI website on 17-Jan-2025, then you can only report (2) and (3) within the period of 18-Jan-2017 to 17-Jan-2025. Hope
this is clear to you now.
Now let’s delve a bit deeper into each of the key components of the PMP Certification Exam eligibility requirements.
PMP Exam Eligibility – Educational Background & Project Management Experience:
First, let’s talk about the educational background and its link to reporting of project management experience. To do that have a look at the following screenshot from the PMP Exam Handbook:
| Educational Background | Project Management Experience (months) | Eligible for PMP |
|---|---|---|
|
B. Tech (4 years), MBA |
40 |
Yea |
|
B. Tech (4 years), MBA |
30 |
No |
|
B. Tech Diploma (3 Years),
MBA/PGDM (full time Master’s
Program) |
36 |
Yes |
|
B. Tech Diploma (3 Years)
|
70 |
No |
|
Graduate Degree (3 Years) |
40 |
No |
|
Graduate Degree (3 Years) |
60 |
Yes |
|
Secondary apprenticeship (12 th
level) |
120 |
Yes |
|
Secondary apprenticeship (12 th
level) |
50 |
No |
|
**Fresh college graduate or
post graduate from an GAC
accredited institute (3 year/4
year) |
0-23 |
No |
|
**College graduate or post
graduate from an GAC
accredited institute (3 year/4
year) |
> = 24 |
Yes |
PMP Exam Eligibility – What is meant by project management experience?
When PMI asks for project management experience, it is unique non-overlapping professional project management experience This in black & white means that you need to direct and lead the project by yourself end-to-end, as a ‘project manager’.
However, PMI is reasonable enough to understand that there are scenarios where you can actively manage a project without holding the position/title of a project manager. In that case, you should at the minimum have a substantial & significant contribution in a project with you playing a primary part in leading and directing the project yourself.
The key thing is, you need to perform the roles & responsibilities of a project manager such as managing budget, managing funds, managing resources, quality, delivery etc. etc…..if you have done those, you can definitely apply for PMP. Note that a ‘project’ should have a definite start & end + convey a very tangible before/after scenario. Routine roles such as of maintenance, administration etc. are not treated as projects.
One shouldn’t try to fool the application and shouldn’t write that they have been involved in leading and directing project when in reality they didn’t do it and just piggy-backed on the PM or the CSM. PMI does random audits of applications, so if you lie in your application and your application comes up for an audit, you’ll have a tough time explaining to PMI about your role in managing projects.
So a good gesture would be to take an approval/alignment from your manager about what you are declaring in your PMP application. You have nothing to worry if you have nothing to hide!
PMP Exam Eligibility – What is meant by non-overlapping project experience?
PMP Exam Eligibility – 35 hours of formal PM Education
Now the third eligibility requirement is project management education, which is the same for both secondary degrees and four-year degrees. This eligibility criterion requires 35 contact hours of formal education. This one you can achieve through a lot of online courses from Udemy, Coursera or Simplilearn. Also, you can consider registering for my 35 PDU PMP Perp Masterclass session as well.
Summary of PMP Certification Exam Eligibility Criteria:
- Your educational background
- Your project related work experience
- Your formal project management education
I would also encourage you to check out the articles on this website where I discuss the details of PMP Exam cost & retake fees and PMP exam passing score.
Hope you enjoyed reading the article. If you are preparing for your PMP Exam, don’t forget to check out my Udemy Courses and PMP Masterclass Sessions as below:
The last one is the best if you are struggling to learn EVM during your PMP and CAPM
preparation.
Best Wishes,
Ray
