About Project Management and the Project Management Institute (PMI)®

Project management is becoming an increasingly attractive field for all professionals, especially the emerging professionals who want to learn and experience various areas of business organizations through working on projects.  As a vehicle for change, renewal, and innovation, projects can be challenging, often requiring hard work, but ultimately rewarding.  PMI research indicates a need for nearly 2.2 million new project-oriented roles each year through 2027. This may be an under-estimation since the passing of the recent U.S. Infrastructure Bill (and other similar legislation in the world) could jump start project work. With the CAPM, you’ll be on the fast track to take advantages of these opportunities and build a career in project management.

How PMO Advisory Can Help You

PMO Advisory offers these resources to help you obtain the CAPM certification:

1. CAPM Exam Preparation Course (click here for more info)
2. Optimizing Project Management Course (coming soon)
3. Optimizing Project Management Book (purchase on Amazon and B&N.com)

PMO Advisory is a PMI Authorized Training Partner (PMI ATP #4172). We are dedicated to advancing project management, and we are one of the few companies in the world that provides coures in CAPM, PMP, PgMP, PfMP, PMI-RMP, and PMI-ACP. Click here for the course registration form. 

Good Practices for CAPM Exam Preparation

Here is a short summary of the best practices for exam preparation. For more information, visit the section “How to Prepare for the CAPM Credential”.

1. Strategy. Create a exam preparation strategy and a strategy for exam day.
2. Focus. Develop a reasonable timeframe to complete and spend 1-2 hours per day to study. For CAPM, 3-6 months should be sufficient.
3. Authoritative. Use credible resources only and void wasting time with mis-information.
4. Practice. Make sure you find a large exam simulator and track your progress.
5. Partner. Work with good partner(s) such as others preparing the exam or PMO Advisory where you can ask questions.

Prerequisites for the CAPM

The CAPM has very reasonable pre-requisits. Our founder, Dr. Wu, was a member of the task force that developed the latest requirements.  The only two requirements are:

• Secondary degree (equivalent of high school diploma or associate’s degree)
• 23 hours of project management education completed by the time you sit for the exam

Our full course in Optimizing Project Management and the CAPM Exam Preparation fulfill this requirement. 

For students, PMI accepts most college-level project management courses.  For example, Dr. Wu teaches at the Montclair State University (MSU) and China European International Business School (CEIBS).  At MSU, the undergraduate course, MGMT436, is 3.0 credit course which has over 35 hours of instructions. Thus, this course easily fulfills the CAPM requirement; in fact, it also fulfills the 35 hours of educational hours for the PMP.  The graduate course at MSU is MGMT565, and that course is about 24 hours of instruction, also fulfilling the CAPM requirement. At CEIBS, the course is OPER021, and this course contains about 28 hours of instruction, also fulfilling the CAPM requirement. 

About the CAPM Exam

The CAPM certification exam is 150 questions and test takers have 3 hours to complete it. The exam is pass and fail, and our guesstimate (based on the training participants and what Dr. Wu experienced with his students) is that the first time pass rate stands at 60% – 65%. This makes this exam an easy to moderate exam.

How to Prepare for the CAPM Credential

 As a knowledge-based exam, CAPM is not a difficult exam if one prepares for the test properly.  Here is a summary of my recommendations:

1. Develop an exam preparation strategy. My recommendation is to keep it to a limited but realistic duration, say 120 days, and maintain a study habit of 1-2 hours per day and every day. In my experience, CAPM preparation requires about 100-200 hours of study.
2. Select at least two good and authoritative books on project management, and one of them should be the PMBOK® Guide. The current best version to read is the 6.0 edition (even though 7^th edition is also available) as the current exam is still based on the 6^th PMI typically announce significant changes, such as moving toward the 7^th edition months in advance. For the second book, there are many choices, but here I am going to be a bit self-serving and recommend Optimizing Project Management (Taylor & Francis) as it is written by me. Both books are widely available.
   • Please note that if you are a member of PMI, which I recommend if you are serious about project management, you can download the PMBOK® Guide for free.
3. Find yourself a reputable exam simulator. After you understand the core concepts, processes, knowledge domains, tools, and techniques, there is almost no better way to prepare than using a large exam simulator.  There are three reasons why:
   • Good CAPM Exam Simulators help solidify the key concepts and knowledge of project management.
   • Repeat use of exam simulators enable you to read faster. Time is a particular issue on PMI exam. With 150 questions in 180 minutes, that’s only 72 seconds per question. The average reading speed for technical writing is about 80-100 words per minute. I am estimating that the average number of words per question plus the four multiple choices is around 80-100 words, then you only have 12 seconds per question to analyze, reflect, and determine the answer.
   • An exam simulator allows you to track your progress. This is especially important from a motivation perspective as you see your score improves (hopefully).
4. For people who are self-studying, consider getting a good examination preparation guide. Amazon has a number of solid books. For a cheaper route, consider going on Groupon and search for a budget project management course. Many of them are PMP courses, which is a viable option for those who are preparing for the CAPM. I have seen a number of sub $20 options on Groupon.
   • By the way, I believe PMP courses are a good alternative for those preparing the CAPM. PMP is clearly more difficult, but they tend to be livelier. So not only do students learn about the core concepts and tools of project management, students also get to learn various experiences.
5. For those who want to prepare quickly, and budget is not a huge issue, then I highly recommend students to consider taking a CAPM or PMP Exam Preparation Course. There are literally thousands of companies out there. My strong recommendation is to consider training provided by PMI’s Authorized Training Partner as they follow PMI’s rigorous criterial to provide high quality training.
   • My company, PMO Advisory, is a PMI Premier Authorized Training Partner (#4172), and we offer a wide range of PMI exam preparation courses for CAPM, PMP, PgMP, PfMP, PMI-RMP, and PMI-ACP.

Additional Information

PMI provides a wealth of resources for prospective professionals.  Here is a link to these and other valuable resources:

• PMI CAPM main page (click here)
• CAPM Examination Content Outline (click here) <- This is a MUST read for everyone
• Sample questions (click here)
• CAPM handbook (click here)
• Consider Dr. Wu’s latest book, Optimizing Project Management, as a companion guide to preparing the exam (click here for Amazon and Barnes & Noble)

Project Management Institute, PMI, Project Management Professional (PMP), PMP, Project Management Professional, Program Management Professional (PgMP), PgMP, Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP), PfMP, PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP), PMI-RMP, Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), CAPM, PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP), PMI-SP, PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA), PMI-PBA, PMBOK, The PMI Talent Triangle and its Logo, and the PMI ATP Logo are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. PMO Advisory is a member of the PMI ATP Program. PMI does not specifically endorse, approve, or warrant ATP’s products, courses, publications, or services.