PMP stands for project management professional by PMI and is an internationally-recognized project management certification. Nowadays, several employers prefer hiring candidates having this credential.
Also, organizations are investing in getting their current employees to acquire this certification that helps boost the company's growth and increases the employee's market value. Various firms have made holding a PMP credential mandatory as a promotion criterion for project management positions.
However, everyone cannot take this exam. There are specific requirements that I will discuss here that need to be fulfilled to take the test.
Why Are There Requirements for PMP?
You might wonder why PMI has laid down specific requirements to be fulfilled to take the PMP exam. There are two primary reasons behind this.
Reason #1:
Project management involves several project cycles. From start to finish, a deep understanding of the process is required. Also, project managers need to communicate about the project development process with various stakeholders and devise strategies to meet people's expectations. At the same time, they need to ensure the project gets completed within the specified deadline without any risk.
Reason #2:
You need to understand several project management techniques, both theoretical and practical, and you need to be an expert in all these areas. Hence during the PMP certification exam, you are tested for your ability to handle real-life cases and must score an excellent percentile to pass.
Professional work experience and educational qualification criteria have been set for these reasons. These show you have soft skills and enough theoretical knowledge to handle and manage projects effectively.
Eligibility Criteria to take the PMP exam
PMP exam requires you to fulfil particular educational and professional experiences. Your PMP work experience requirement gets changed depending on your educational qualification. I have listed below two eligibility criteria you should know about.
Eligibility Criteria #1 Educational Qualification: Secondary degree
PMP certification requirements: Project management experience: 5 years Project management education: 35 hours Handling and leading projects: 7500 hours
Eligibility Criteria #2 Educational Qualification: 4-year degree or above like bachelor's or equivalent, master's, doctorate, etc.
PMP certification requirements: Project management experience: 3 years Project management education: 35 hours Handling and leading projects: 4500 hours
The only thing common in both cases is having completed 35 contact hours of project management education to be eligible for the PMP exam.
Apart from these requirements, there are various other aspects like PMP exam score, PMP online proctored exam rules, best study material for PMP exam preparation, and how to become a PMP professional that you must know.
The Final Words
As a PMP exam aspiring candidate, you must clearly understand the requirements for the exam before applying. If you keep these in mind, it will help you effectively prepare for the exam and successfully pass it. Also, you have to earn 60 PDUs to maintain your certification and renew it upon getting certified.
