What Is Different About the 2021 PMP Exam?

The new version of the Project Management Professional exam was released by PMI in 2021, and there are significant changes to the scope and the structure of the test. Please refer to Table 26.1 for a summary comparison of the new exam versus the prior exam format.

While the new exam was released prior to the PMBOK Guide – Seventh Edition, and PMI states the PMP exam is not based on the PMBOK, it is easy to see the same influences that drove the latest PMBOK changes are apparent in the new exam too, especially the focus on the 8 performance domains, the 12 project management principles, and inclusion of agile and hybrid project approaches. The new exam is more focused on measuring a practitioner’s ability to take a holistic, value-focused, people-first, work-smarter approach to their craft. Of course, these attributes have been the focus of this book from the first edition. A common complaint about the PMP exam in the past was that it largely measured an academic understanding of the project management fundamentals and did not gauge a person’s ability to apply this knowledge in real-world situations. The latest PMBOK and this new version of the exam are definite steps to change this.

For starters, the exam content is now organized into three basic domains for any project—People, Process, and Business Environment—and the scope now includes both traditional/prescriptive project approaches and agile/hybrid project approaches. Now, does this mean the former focus on the five process groups and the ten knowledge areas is no longer needed? Of course not…that is fundamental project management intelligence, and this information simply exists as a subset of the three new domains: People, Process, and Business Environment. In addition, the ten knowledge areas all map to the different process groups, which all closely relate to tasks that fall under the three new domains.

Speaking of…an essential tool for your exam preparations will be the PMP Examination Content Outline document (see link at the end of the chapter). This exam outline provides the checklist for what you need to know for the test. For each domain, you will see each task that is included, and for each task the set of enablers (activities, examples) that apply. I mention this here for two reasons. One, these tasks and enablers tell you what is important to PMI. And two, there are tasks and points of emphasis now on the test that were either not covered or not emphasized before. Specifically, refer to Table 26.2 for a summary of these tasks to assist your study preparations. Of the 35 tasks in the new 2021 PMP Examination Content Outline, 12 of them are on this list. Upon review, you will notice PMI is placing an increased importance on people skills, team-building, cooperation, agile and hybrid project management, compliance management, project value, and organizational change.

In addition to the scope changes, the new exam includes different types of questions now. Previously, the exam consisted solely of multiple-choice questions with one best response. In the new 2021 version of the PMP exam, the question types consist of the following:

• Multiple choice with single response

• Multiple choice with multiple responses

• Matching

• Hotspot

• Fill-in-the-blank

What Is the PMP Exam Like?

The Project Management Professional exam is a computer-based exam composed of 180 questions; 175 questions are actually scored, but you will not know which 5 are not, so you need to take the same approach for all 180 questions. As noted in the previous section, the question types are more varied now. It is not all multiple choice with single response questions anymore. Approximately 4 hours is allowed for the exam (230 minutes and a 10-minute break).

As mentioned earlier, the exam is evenly split between traditional/predictive and agile/hybrid methodologies and the questions are distributed across the three domain areas (50% from Process domain, 42% from People domain, and 8% from Business Environment domain). In addition, the domain questions are randomly dispersed throughout the exam.

The intent of the questions is to test a thorough understanding of project management. To this end, many questions are creatively designed to check both key understanding (knowledge) and the ability to practically apply these concepts at the same time. A part of this creative exam design is to utilize many different types of questions. To better prepare you for the PMP exam experience, let’s review the key question types and formats you are likely to encounter:

• Situational questions—These questions require you to rely on your knowledge, real-world experience, and judgment to answer them correctly.

• Conceptual understanding—For these questions, you must apply concepts to a new situation by using more than simple memorization. Often, PMI intentionally uses different terminology for the same concepts. This is done to test your understanding of the topic rather than your ability to simply recall a term.

• Memorization questions—The PMP exam will have some questions that are short and direct and can be answered in less than 20 seconds. For example, you might encounter some fill-in-the blanks and factual-type questions.

• Double-reverse logic questions—A popular technique of wily test designers, these types of questions ask about a topic using reverse or double-reverse logic. Generally, you need to select the exception from the four possible options.

• Story problem questions—There are long, drawn-out, story problem questions that can take several (2–5) minutes to process. The key to these question types is deciphering what information presented is essential and needed to answer the question.

• “Use the pencil” questions—There are questions that will require you to perform simple calculations and/or draw simple diagrams to select the correct answer. Frequently, questions regarding earned value, financial accounting, project network diagrams, and project schedules require the use of the pencil to get the right answer.

• Non-PMBOK questions—Estimates vary, but most people feel around 60% of the exam questions come directly from the PMBOK. The other questions originate from other reference materials, subjects related to project management, and real-world situations. In addition, past exam takers have noted “out-of-the-blue” type questions that test specific knowledge points. Project management is a broad field of study, so you can never be too prepared.

• “I need to change careers” questions—Somewhat related to the note above regarding out-of-the-blue questions, there are a few questions placed in every PMP exam to rattle the exam taker. These questions will be difficult, if not impossible, to answer with confidence. Just expect these, and see our exam-taking tips on how best to deal with them. This may be PMI’s way of testing how you respond under pressure and when things do not go as expected.

Next, let’s review the common gaps that test takers experience between their own real-world experiences and PMI expectations. These gaps will vary depending on the industry in which you work. For the IT industry, these gaps are very common.

Common “Context” Differences

Because it is important to answer the exam questions from PMI’s perspective, and not necessarily from your real-life experiences, let’s first review several key high-level differences between the PMI vision and common experiences of project managers:

• Not exactly like we do it—Because nearly every organization implements project management differently, we generally find that most implementations are not entirely consistent with PMI’s view of the world. You will want to identify those differences for your own situation.

• “The” project manager—Given the wide range of “project manager” experiences (for example, technical team leader, project administrator, project analyst, project leader, project coordinator), you might be surprised by the expectation PMI has of the project manager role and the powers that come with it.

• Unapproved practices—There are several project management practices and techniques used routinely that are considered inappropriate by PMI (for example, the use of overtime, forcing estimates down). These will appear on the exam as incorrect options.

• Bigger ballpark—For most project managers, the PMI PMBOK describes a field of project management that is much broader and more complex than what they have experienced in real life.

• The whole story—Many project managers lack experience in the complete life cycle of project management. Generally, there is minimal exposure to the Initiating and Closing phases, focus on measuring project value, and organizational change management. You must understand the complete project management process as described by PMI.

Common “Experience” Differences

This section reviews common gaps between the experiences and practices of many project managers (and their respective organizations) and what PMI expects the project manager to do:

• Project planning—PMI’s definition is much more encompassing than the project plans routinely developed by many project managers in their own organizations.

• Developing a project schedule—It is still rather uncommon to find organizations and project managers who build a project schedule the “right way.” As you can imagine, the right way is much more involved than the method routinely employed. If you do not use a four-step process, use network diagramming techniques (there are more than one), understand the three estimating methods, account for all WBS dictionary items, or identify all dependencies and level resources, you probably have some work in this process area.

• Planning project management—Yes, we still have not left this planning theme yet. PMI expects that all project management activities be planned and documented. So, if your project plan does not include supplementary plans such as a staffing management plan, a responsibility matrix, a communications management plan, a quality management plan, a scope management plan, and a risk management plan (for starters), you will want to focus on these and understand their value.

• Tracking project performance—For traditional projects, “earned value” is PMI’s recommended technique for tracking and controlling project costs, schedule, and scope. Earned value analysis is not a generally applied technique in many industries, and many project managers have limited experience in managing project costs.

• Risk management—Because a full-scale risk management process, as described by PMI, is rarely implemented in many industries, many people have not been educated in this area either.

• Quality management—Quality management, like risk management, is rarely implemented at full scale as described by PMI. However, most organizations do have some levels of quality programs in place. The issue here is that your organization’s philosophy, terminology, and processes may not match those espoused by PMI.

• Procurement management—This is not as frequent a gap as it used to be, but if you haven’t had experience dealing with soliciting, selecting, and managing vendors, you will have gaps to close in this area.

• Project selection—Although the practice of applying sound business principles to prioritizing and selecting projects is increasing each year, there are still many project managers who have not been exposed to business case development and official cost-benefit analysis using financial techniques such as NPV, IRR, and payback period.

Common Terminology Differences

A common revelation of many project management professionals, when they are first exposed to the PMBOK, is that they find terms and concepts they know in one fashion do not necessarily mean the same thing to PMI. It is important to become aware of these terminology differences to ensure exam success.

• Project charter—To PMI, this is the document that authorizes (initiates) the project and the project managers to do their work, and it’s the key output from the initiating process. In many organizations, this document is often given other names (for example, Project Initiation form, Business Case).

• Project plan—To PMI, this is the key output of the planning process and contains many subdeliverables (for example, the project schedule, WBS, and all the supplementary project management plans). In many organizations, this document may be known as the Project Charter, Project Contract, Statement of Work, and so on.

• Project plan versus project schedule—A Gantt chart (Microsoft Project) project schedule is not a project plan. A project plan contains the project schedule.

• WBS versus Gantt chart—To PMI, a work breakdown structure (WBS) is not equivalent to a Gantt chart (Microsoft Project) project schedule. The WBS is a key input into the schedule-development process, and the project schedule accounts for calendar time and resource leveling.

• Terms to verify—Here are several other common project management terms you use that might not have the exact same definition as PMI’s (these differences are less critical than the ones previously mentioned):

  • Audit

  • Baseline

  • Corrective action

  • Kickoff meeting

  • Procurement management

  • Risk management

• Uncommon terms to notice—Several terms used by PMI are not that well known in many industries. You will want to make sure you review these terms too:

  • Gold-plating

  • Integration management

  • Project expeditor

  • PMIS (project management information system)

  • Work Authorization System

What’s Important to PMI?

To better appreciate why these common gaps exist and better prepare for the exam, let’s review some of the underlying principles guiding PMI’s vision of project management:

• The project manager makes it happen and brings it all together. The role of project manager is extremely important and extremely valuable.

• Servant leadership and emotional intelligence are key fundamental project manager attributes.

• A project manager is always seeking “win-win” solutions.

• Planning is very important.

• Coordinating with other projects and operations is very important when both planning and managing a project.

• All management activities should be analyzed and planned in advance. These supplementary management plans are part of the overall project plan.

• Agile project management is much more flexible, but it still includes planning, scheduling, identifying key milestones, managing risks, and resolving issues.

• The project plan should accurately describe project activity, is based in reality, and is used as the baseline to measure progress.

• The WBS is a very important project management tool.

• Communication is the most important activity of the project manager (90% of the PM’s time is spent here). Other communication-based principles that are extremely important to PMI include the following:

  • Coordinate with stakeholders on all project aspects.

  • Clearly assign all project roles and responsibilities.

• The risk management process is very important and is a continuous project management activity.

• All estimating should be completed by the people who will actually do the work.

• All projects, regardless of outcome, should complete the closing process. The emphasized outputs from this are as follows:

  • Capturing lessons learned

  • Executing proper administrative closure

• Knowledge transfer is important and should be maintained throughout the project.

• Training of team members and stakeholders is important and training outcomes should be measured.

• Supporting organizational change is important.

• Projects should be focused on delivering value and benefits, and systems should be in place to measure both.

• The project approach taken should be tailored to manage the risk involved, skills of the team members, expectations of the stakeholders, and maturity level of the organization.

• The use of iterative and incremental practices should be encouraged.

Key PMI Assumptions and Themes

To further understand these common gaps—but more importantly, to better prepare for the exam—let’s review some of the key assumptions that guide PMI’s vision of project management:

1. The project manager is selected when the project is authorized—before any estimating or preliminary requirements gathering.

2. The project manager is ultimately accountable for the project.

3. The project plan is the baseline that the PM uses to control the project.

4. The project plan is an all-encompassing document and must contain cost and schedule baselines to determine project performance during execution.

5. PMI assumes your organization has project management methodologies and quality assurance procedures.

6. The project manager does have human resources and team development responsibilities.

7. PMI assumes the project team is involved in all planning decisions and problem-solving situations.

8. Projects should be aligned and prioritized with the organization’s strategic direction.

9. The earlier in the project life cycle, the more risk for the project and the more influence management has on it.

10. Stakeholder management is an ongoing, continuous process throughout the project life cycle.

11. The success or failure of a project is determined during project planning.

12. The WBS is a “must-have” for any project manager and serves as the basis for most project planning.

13. The WBS is the basis for all project planning.

14. The person (people) who will do the work should do the estimating.

15. The most important task and skill of the project manager is effective project communication.

16. The project team should be involved in all project planning activities.

17. Project changes will occur. Changes should be expected, planned for, and well managed when they occur.

18. Earned value is the best project-controlling technique for traditional projects.

19. The project team should solve its own problems and resolve its own issues whenever possible.

20. Quality is planned into a project, not inspected in.

21. Risk management is an ongoing, continuous process performed by the entire project team.

22. Preventing a risk event is always preferred to mitigating a risk event.

23. Closing processes (administrative closure) should occur at the end of each project phase, not just at the end of the project.

24. Lessons learned describe the knowledge the team and stakeholders gain by executing the project and are an invaluable source of project management information.

25. Historical records and lessons learned are very valuable.

26. PMI assumes you have historical records of past projects.

Exam Topics Not Covered by PMBOK

Although the PMP exam is based primarily on the PMBOK, and the PMBOK should be a central reference in your exam preparation efforts, several exam topics originate from general business management knowledge or other PMI publications and are not addressed in the PMBOK.

Although this list is not meant to be exhaustive, here are some key non-PMBOK exam topics you should understand:

• Business case development and benefits realization

• Conflict-resolution techniques

• Interpersonal skills, including active listening

• Organizational theories

• Problem-solving techniques

• Professional responsibility

• Project finance principles

• Theories of motivation

Exam Preparation Strategies

Here are key strategies to ensure that you get the most benefit from your exam preparation:

• Understand how you learn and what you need to be successful.

  • If you need to hear the material, get audio books or sign up for a class.

  • If you need to see the material, get books, sign up for an online course, or sign up for an onsite exam prep class.

  • If you need to be accountable to someone else, join a study group or sign up for an exam prep class.

  • If you learn best independently, get the learning materials that work best for you, set your schedule, and get started.

  • If you need or do better with a focused immersive learning approach, consider a 3- to 5-day exam preparation crash course.

  • If you learn best by doing, then plan to focus on taking practice exams.

• Get your target materials and/or sign up for your preparation courses.

• Schedule your study time into your calendar.

• Understand the differences between the current version of the PMBOK (that you will be tested on) and the previous version. You can expect around 20% of the questions to be focused on these areas.

• Get inside the heads of the PMI test creators. Understand what’s important to PMI and their vision of the project manager role. (This chapter focuses on this.)

• Know the Seventh Edition of the PMBOK Guide:

  • Fully understand the 12 Principles of Project Management

  • Fully understand the 8 performance domains.

• Know the 5 process groups and the 10 knowledge areas:

  • Memorize the Process Group and Knowledge Area Process Mapping.

  • Focus on the data flow diagrams for each process.

• Focus on the 2021 PMP Examination Content Outline:

  • Know the tasks and enablers for each domain.

  • Spend time on the new and/or emphasized tasks (see Table 26.2 for a reminder).

• Memorize the PMI definition of a project management plan and what supplemental management plans it contains.

• Memorize Earned Value calculations.

• Understand the differences between process groups and project phases.

• Drill, drill, drill. Take as many practice exams as you can, and continue to take them until you are scoring 90% or better on them.

Exam-Taking Tips

Let’s review some key test-taking tips to help you during the actual exam procedure.

• Anticipate that many questions will have multiple correct answers. It is your challenge to pick the best answer based on how PMI feels the situation should be handled.

• Remember to answer questions from PMI’s perspective, not from your real-life experience. Think “What should I do?” rather than “What did I do?”

• Pace yourself, and be sure to read all four answers completely. Do not just choose the first correct answer that you see.

• Be cautious of the following:

  • Answers that attract the attention of less knowledgeable, less experienced professionals.

  • Answers that reflect common project management errors and unapproved practices.

  • Answers that are factually correct but are not the correct response to the question.

  • Answers that are sweeping generalizations (that is, always, never, and so on).

  • Questions that have extraneous information not relevant to the topic or question.

• As a key strategy, keep in mind the following points when you are actually taking the exam:

  • The exam allows you to mark any question for later review.

  • Plan on making several passes (iterations) through all 180 questions of the exam.

  • On the initial pass through the exam, mark any question that you are not 100% sure of the answer.

  • On the second pass, review all the marked questions. You will often find that the answer to a given question becomes clear after dealing with the other questions and/or after a second review of the question and potential answers.

  • If you are now sure you have answered the question correctly, unmark it. If you are still not comfortable, leave it marked.

  • Continue through all the marked questions to complete your pass (iteration).

  • Continue this iterative process until the number of marked questions gets down to approximately 20 or fewer. This would mean you are very confident about 160 of the 180 questions. This should leave you with a comfortable margin.

  • At this point, just give your best guess at the remaining questions.

The map in Figure 26.1 summarizes the main points reviewed in this chapter.