CAPM Exam Preparation: 7 Sure-Fire Steps to Pass the CAPM Certification Exam

CAPM is the entry-level project management certification provided by PMI. Increasing demand for the project management profession in the job market made CAPM certification more valuable over recent years.
To get the CAPM certification in your first attempt, you must have a regular CAPM exam preparation plan to learn the exam content.

In this article, I have listed the CAPM exam preparation tips. Before jumping into CAPM exam prep tips, it is better to know the fundamentals of CAPM certification.

CAPM Certification in a Nutshell

PMI offers PMI Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification for aspirants who are joining the project management profession or those who wish to acquire the fundamentals of project management awareness.

In any typical project, there are team members who share their expert skills such as software testing or coding in a software project or landscaping in a building project.

CAPM is proper for such individuals, who can think this CAPM certification as an entry-level to acquire the relevant skills and knowledge. It will help them to work better in a project environment, understand the challenges, and work with the project manager in a more aligned manner.

CAPM exam preparation requires a considerable investment of both time and money. Therefore, it is essential to prepare well to clear the exam in the first attempt and avoid the pains and effort of return.

Understand the CAPM Exam Structure and Content

As part of CAPM exam preparation would be to know the structure of the exam and what is the content of the exam and the proportion given to various chapters of the PMBOK.

Eligibility:

• To appear for CAPM, you want to have a Secondary Degree-High school diploma. You require to have either 1500 hours of Project experience or 23 hours of Project Management education. You can get the 23 hours from CAPM Exam Preparation Training.

CAPM Exam Cost:

• You require to pay $225 or $300 depending on whether you are a member or not. Membership is always fit as you get not the only discount on exam fee but access to a host of resources from PMI.

We will discuss various CAPM Exam preparation tips. It will help CAPM aspirants to be well informed, plan better, and pass the CAPM Exam in a single attempt.

Steps to Pass the CAPM Certification Exam

#1. Prepare a CAPM Study Plan:

As a CAPM aspirant, once you do the groundwork and understand the CAPM syllabus content and structure of the exam. The next most crucial phase would be to create a personal plan for the CAPM Exam preparation.

Based on your work plan and available time for study over the weekdays and weekends, determine the time available for allotting to CAPM Exam every week. You may not be in a position to decide how much time you want to cover the portion at the start of the CAPM Exam preparation.

Try reading the book randomly and check your convenience level with the subject and consider the overall time required.

#2. Scheduling the CAPM Exam Carefully:

Scheduling for the CAPM exam and booking a slot without a baseline plan may be risky. It is necessary to assess where you stand and what work needs to be put in before an exam date is decided when everyone wishes to pass the exam in the first attempt.
Before scheduling the date for the exam, It is always a good idea to spend a few early hours of preparation in understanding the exam, knowing your knowledge level, estimating the available time for study. This initial planning will vastly increase your chances of passing the exam in the first attempt.

#3. Learning Project Management Principles:

Specific principles discussed in the CAPM exam include learning project management and processes in context, as well as integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, communication, risk, procurement, and stakeholder management.

Each of these principles is covered in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. You must know them individually and how they work together to assure overall success in project management. It is required to use the most current version of the PMBOK Guide for studying and review.

#4. Take the CAPM Practice Exam:

CAPM Practice exams are available from a kind of test preparation website. Practice exams ease with becoming familiar with the style and format of questions and allow for the practice of taking a three-hour exam.

It is usually suggested that consistently scoring above 80% on practice exams is a reliable indicator of success for the real thing.

#5. Know Your Strengths:

Depending on their background, abilities, learning, and experience CAPM aspirants tend to be comparatively stronger in specific areas. Strategize answering in a method so that you answer the questions of your strength at the start and gain confidence.

During the CAPM practice exams, make a summary of the areas of your strengths and weaknesses. While it is good to practice hard the topics, it is equally, if not more important, to combine your active areas and assure good scoring in the test.

#6. Go Through the PMI PMBOK:

While CAPM exam preparation makes it easy to go through the concepts in a friendly way. The importance of reading PMBOK and referring it as often as possible throughout the preparation. It is necessary to spend sufficient time for reading PMBOK as a CAPM exam preparation plan.

As CAPM is for those practitioners who are starting their career in project management, there is more focus on an examinee’s knowledge of PMBOK. Whereas, in PMP, which is for experienced project professionals, there is an additional focus on the application of the experience.

#7. CAPM Exam Day:

Specific tips for test day strategies involve sleeping well the night before, eating a healthy breakfast, wearing comfortable clothing, and arriving early. Before starting the exam, many like to use the paper given to write out things like lists of processes with their inputs and outputs, formulas, tools, and techniques that will be useful throughout the exam.

Breaks are not built into the three hours allocated for the exam but think planning on practicing one or two. Don’t waste too much time on a single question; if you get the mark it for review and move on.

The durable finish of the CAPM depends on your capacity to learn and apply project management principles, to adequately prepare with a solid study plan, and to make everything smoothly together on a stressful exam day. Preparation is the key to decreasing stress and assuring success.

Assess your progress each week to determine how comfortable you feel with each topic area. Arriving at the test canter with reliance on CAPM exam day means half the battle is already won.

Apply for the CAPM Certification Exam

Once you are much confident that you are eligible to take up the CAPM certification, the next step is to fill the application form and take up the exam.

After lodges of your application, PMI needs 5 to 10 days to check your application. Once your online application has been processed and prepared to be complete, PMI will send you a message requesting for the payment.

You can then take your examination delivery mode computer-based or paper-based and make the payment. Once PMI has received the amount of the certification fee, it indicates your application is ready for the audit process.

Read: Is CAPM Certification Worth It?

Apply for the CAPM Exam in the online which is available in the PMI site. A printable version of the application is also available. Once you begin filling the form, you can save it unfinished so that you can edit the information whenever needed.

When you are filling the application form, you require to give four essential details, which include:

1. Fill General Information like Name, address, and educational background, etc. in the application. It is the necessary information that an applicant should provide while filling up the application form.
2. Document your 23 contact hours certificate in Project Management while filling your application. Be assured to always keep your 23 contact hours certificate with you.
3. Document each project you require to use for your experience requirement. For this section, you need to be careful and fair. Gather all the Project names, the organization for whom you did these projects. Brief the work and the main jobs which you have done.
4. Make the payment for certification exam CAPM. Always be conscious that PMI verifies received applications at random in such cases, they will inform you and audits your forum.

Final Views

The CAPM exam is complicated. But you can succeed in it by following decent preparation. To start with, you should prepare an appropriate strategy and exam preparation plan. You should not skip any of the above tips.

Over to You            

What plan are you following for CAPM exam preparation? Which tip do you think is least important for the CAPM preparation?

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Is PMI-ACP Certification Valuable to Your Career?

Introduction to PMI-ACP

ACP is an abbreviation of an Agile Certified Practitioner. Project Management Institute PMI provides this certification, and hence, it is PMI-ACP. PMI-ACP Certification holds a high level of professional honor as it is an aggregate of agile training working on Agile projects and examining Agile fundamentals and tools.

PMI-ACP certification is globally acknowledged. It helps people in addressing the requirements of associations that depend on certified Agile practitioners to use their varied skills to undertake the projects efficiently.

Reasons to Get a PMI-ACP Certification

Agile is a new technology from the software industry intended to displace complicated old business techniques. Hence the importance of the PMI-ACP Certification, which can make you ready for the latest difficulties in the software profession and business initiatives.

PMI-ACP Exam Summary

• Exam Name: Agile Certified Practitioner
• Exam Code: PMI-ACP
• Exam Fee Member: USD 435
• Exam Fee Non-member: USD 495
• Exam Duration: 180 Minutes
• Number of Questions: 120
• Passing Score: Above Target/ Target/ Below Target/ Needs Improvement
• Format: Multiple Choice Questions

PMI Agile Practitioner Syllabus Domains

1. Agile Principles and Mindset (16%)
2. Value-Driven Delivery (20%)
3. Stakeholder Engagement (17%)
4. Team Performance (16%)
5. Adaptive Planning (12%)
6. Problem Detection and Resolution (10%)
7. Continuous Improvement (Product, Process, People) (9%)

PMI-ACP Eligibility Requirements

General Project Experience:

• 2,000 hours working on project teams
• These hours must be obtained within the last five years
• Active PMP or PgMP will fulfill this requirement.

Agile Project Experience:

• 1500 hours working on agile project teams or with Agile methodologies
• These hours are in extra the 2,000 hours expected in overall project experience.
• These hours must be taken within the last three years.

Training in Agile Practices:

• 21 contact hours
• Hours must be received in agile practices

Attend PMI-ACP Online Practice Tests
The PMI-ACP exam is not just about your knowledge in Agile, Scrum, Kanban, etc. It is about your reading and comprehension skills, as well. You need to practice before you take the real exam.

It is recommendable to take at least 4-5 online practice tests before appearing for your PMI-ACP Certification.

Create a PMI-ACP Study Plan in Advance

• While planning your exam plan, keep the following points in mind:
• Keep 10-12 weeks of study to preparing thoroughly, while registering the exam.
• Manage your work and personal responsibilities such that you get the right amount of consecutive study time every day.
• Avoid reading on a lot of books when there is a limited amount of time to study.
• Take as many Online PMI-ACP Practice exams as possible.

PMI-ACP Exam Day Tips

The PMI-ACP exam is a multiple-choice test that asks one to recognize correct answers among a set of four options. The extra options that are not the right answer are called the distracters; and their purpose, unsurprisingly, is to confuse the test taker from the actual correct answer among the bunch.

Students usually think multiple-choice exams as much more convenient than other types of exams; this is not significantly true with the PMI-ACP certification exam.

The PMI-ACP exam comprises a broad set of material, frequently in greater depth than other certification exams.

Although 3 hours may look like more than enough time for a multiple-choice exam, when faced with 120 questions, time management is one of the most critical factors in achieving and doing well.

You should always attempt and answer all of the questions you are sure about first, and then go back about to those parts you are not sure about afterward.

Always read carefully through the whole test. Do your best not to leave any question blank upon submission even if you do not readily understand the answer.

Just because you have completed a practice test, be aware that you are not done working. After you have rated your test with all of the necessary corrections, review it, and try to see what happened in the answers that you got wrong.

It may be a lot of other work, but in the long run, going through your corrected multiple-choice tests will work miracles for you in preparation for the real exam.

See if you possibly misread the question or even missed it because you were unprepared. You are going back and seeing what you did on the big stage in the past so you can help fix and fix any errors that could.

PMI-ACP Certification Exam Application Process

• Register to become a member of the Project Management Institute. This step is optional.
• It charges $139 to become a member, but it saves you $60 on exam charges.
• The PMI Non-member fee to take the exam is $495. The PMI member rate for the exam is $435.
• Submit your PMI-ACP application by the PMI website and pay the fee.
• PMI will review your application and reply within 3 to 5 business days.
• Once your application is accepted, you will receive an invite to pay for and schedule the exam.
• Register your exam with Pearson VUE.
• You have one year to take the exam after your request has been approved.
• You may take the exam up to three times during the qualification period.
• To get more information about the testing centers, please visit Pearson VUE.
• Take and Pass the PMI-ACP Exam.
• One year to take the exam later, your application is approved.
• The moment you pass, you are certified for a three-year cycle, need 30 PDUs to renew after three years.

The Demand for PMI-ACP

There is present a shortage of professionals who know Agile correctly and can complete the process in the current Project Management sense. Therefore for professionals who already have an opinion of Agile as developers or Project Managers, PMI-ACP gives a platform to showcase their credentials.

The Agile community is increasing, and the world has begun to slowly implement Agile methodology at a fast pace to execute projects in a changing environment.

PMI-ACP is one of the several certifications which meets the methodological limits and does not concentrate on only one of the methods commonly Scrum. Agile, on the other hand, is a prevailing framework that is a collection of ways such as Scrum, XP, DSDM, Lean, Kanban, Chrystal Clear, and more.

Most companies tend to use many or a blend of these methodologies, so the PMI-ACP certification gives more comprehensive coverage of these tools, skills, and knowledge areas.

The certification requires proof of experience with Agile instead of being training-related only. Instead of merely attending training and being certified referred to as a certificate in the certification arena, you have to show experience with Agile and pass a thorough examination with an authorized certification body.

PMI Agile Practitioner Certification: Career with Large Array of Agile Practitioner

As a professional organization, PMI is credible, and the best place to make some standardization and certification rigor to what is now a relatively young and inconsistent field.

Improving Job Comprehension

The most significant advantage of this exam according to experts is that since there is more skill involved that can be applied in lesser time than before, people with such certification really could lead a relatively less stressful life.

Most of those people who have suited for this job believe that they have a better knowledge of what they have to do and how to execute it about the position before this certification exam.

Conclusion

PMI-ACP is one of the latest but most complete and in-demand certifications offered by the PMI. PMI-ACP Certification provides an integrated study of the full Agile Methodology rather than focusing on one singular method. It makes it an in-demand and popular career choice, which has immense job opportunities.

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Why Are Only a Few People Able to Successfully Achieve the PMP Certification?

The Project Management Professional exam is tough. Anyone who wants to achieve PMP certification should be prepared for the exam. Consequently, first-time test takers should also be informed that the PMP certification exam is complicated.

Getting the PMP certification means you must qualify for the requirements in interest to studying for and passing the PMP exam.

Although the PMP is not the best certification for every project manager, the following information will encourage you to decide if it is in your best interest to get certified in this field.

The PMP Certification

The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is the industry standard for Project Managers global.

Established in 1984 by the Project Management Institute, the PMP has since become the de facto standard in the field.

Today, more than 500,000 project managers take this certification, and many companies see for the PMP when using project managers.

The exam has also got the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 Accreditation from the International Organization for Standardization, making it universally applicable.

PMP qualified instructors supervise the exam, and examinations are organized around roles that employ both knowledge and task-driven guidelines that test your skill in every area.

PMP Certification Requirements

Candidates must meet specific requirements to obtain PMP certification and sit for the exam. The education requirements are relatively soft: you will need either a secondary or primary degree or a diploma with the right education and work experience. Your main options cover the following:

Primary Degree:

If you have a bachelor’s degree or higher degree. You can be eligible for the PMP certification with three years of work experience, at least 4,500 hours of leading and managing projects, and 35 hours of certified project management education.

Secondary Degree:

You can be eligible for the PMP with a secondary degree, comprising a high school diploma or associate degree. The global equivalent of 35 hours of certified project management education, five years of project management experience, and at least 7,500 hours of experience.

PMP Exam

The PMP Exam comprises of five parts or domains, each of which tests your competence in more than 20 skill areas. The exam also tests your ability, knowledge, and knowledge of each of the skills that are required of industry-standard project managers.

Because PMP exam questions are regularly reviewed and revised, the content is highly relevant to actual project management, and therefore also improves every few years.

The exam comprises 175 scored questions and 25 unscored questions. Unanswered questions are marked as incorrect, so you should attempt to answer all questions.

How Tough is the PMP Certification Exam?

The fail ratio for the PMP exam is quite high at approximated 40-50% for first-time test-takers. There is no definite number of questions that must be answered accurately to pass the PMP exam.

Each question is rated based on its relative complexity, meaning that if you get all of the simple questions right but get all of the hard ones wrong, you could still fail the exam.

There is no way to admit the questions that are scored from those that are not, which means you will have to do your most considerable to answer all questions accurately.

The best method to prepare yourself for success is to study as much as potential with quality materials, make sure that you are close with the type of content and questions that are expected to appear on the exam and take several practice exams.

Many prep courses give practice questions and explanations, one-on-one time with live tutors or instructors, and many full-length exams. Experts recommend scoring a minimum of 80% on PMP practice exams because the minimum pass rate on the actual exam floats around 65%.

You can also study prep course that gives a money-back guarantee or pass or re-enroll plan so that if you fail the PMP exam, you will have a way to additional help.

If you fail the PMP exam, you can retake it, up to three times in one year. If you fail three times within a year, you need to wait for a year to re-take your exam.

PMP Exam Syllabus Domains

The five domains of the PMP exam cover a selection of tasks and questions directed at evaluating your skill and knowledge of more than 20 distinct areas.

These include:

1) Initiating the Project (13%)

This knowledge area, and consists of an average of 6 tasks, plus a knowledge and skills section. Jobs might want to analyze documents, developing a project charter, obtaining consent for a project, and so on.

2) Planning the Project (24%)

These might involve setting up and planning a project, real-world tasks. The article ends with a knowledge and skills test that measures your methods and planning skills. creating project plans, handling meetings and stakeholders, and others.

3) Executing the Project (30%)

These take longer to make than the previous functions, as they involve making changes, obtaining resources, and following plans. The knowledge and skills section covers quality control, tools, techniques, budgeting, scheduling, and more.

4) Monitoring and Controlling the Project (25%)

This section typically includes quality control, project performance, assessing actions and risks, and taking steps to ensure that deliverables are completed and handed in on time. The questions part checks your ability to monitor, use analysis, and management techniques.

5) Closing the Project (8%)

These revolve around getting deliverables and acceptance, transferring ownership, obtaining financial and legal closure, sharing projects, archiving, and customer relationships: the knowledge and skills
section tests, techniques, feedback, close-out systems, and agreement.

PMP Exam Length

In past years, the PMP exam took an aggregate of 7 hours to finish; the test is much smaller and typically needs about 4 hours to complete.

Scheduling the PMP Exam

You can register the PMP Certification online or by phone. It is allowed in different locations throughout the year. Subject to your qualifications, you might have to take a paper or a network test.

There is a $70 fee for rescheduling your PMP exam within 30 days of the exam, but you can reschedule the exam for available if you do so more than 30 days before your first scheduled exam date.

If you need to reschedule your exam within two days, you will become to cancel and abandon the full exam fee.

On the Day of PMP Certification Exam

On the day of the PMP exam, you must enter at least 30 minutes before the exam is scheduled to begin, and before earlier in case, and there is a line. You must sign in, show your identification, and give your PMI code a minimum of 30 minutes in advance of the exam.

Growing PMI PMP Career Opportunities in Different Industries

In some cases, your force also is asked for your consent notice. Your ID should be in English or must an English translation and highlight your signature and your photograph.

You will have to receive to a built-in calculator on the exam, but you may request for a handheld calculator, and either cut paper or marker board to make notes.

You will also be asked to take a voluntary 15-minute study and questionnaire before the exam. The exam is four hours long, and there is no recorded break.

You may take small breaks when you want, despite the fact that you will have to sign in and out again, and the exam clock will not stop. If you take a 10-minute break, this time will be subtracted from the time you have to take the test.

You will only have just over one minute to answer per question, so breaks are not desirable unless you are a quick worker and you are ahead on the test. For this reason, you should plan, bring water, and try to limit any bathroom breaks.

PMP Exam Scoring

Until 2005, to pass the PMP, a minimum of 61%, correct answers were required. However, this is no longer the case. Unhappily, PMI no longer publishes their minimum required a passing score.

Alternatively, questions are graded and scored based on their difficulty, which makes it challenging to pass quickly by answering a certain number of questions correctly. Also, only 87.5% of the questions are scored.

PMI notifies on their website that passing scores on the exam are prepared based on psychometric analysis of candidates’ answers that show their capacity to perform well in their job. This means that one person might pass with 60% while another might fail with 65%.

In other words, every exam is scored individually based on the complexity of the questions that are answered right.

PMP Costs

The PMP exam fees $555 for Non-PMI members or $405 for PMI members. PMI membership price $129 a year plus a $10 annual renewal fee.

You will also want to purchase the PMBOK Guide to study for the test, which costs $65.95 for non-members and $49.50 for members. Should you wish to take a previous class or program, you should factor that into the costs as well and think that some prep courses include the PMBOK Guide in their study materials.

Global Recognized PMP Certification

The most meaningful benefit of PMP certification is that it is globally recognized and internationally accredited.

This means that as long as you hold your certification by completing a minimum of 60 hours of proceeding education every three years and proceed to work in the area, you can use your certification to looking for work anywhere in the world.

PMP Benefits

PMP is one of the most well-known project management certifications in the world and is undoubtedly one of the most valuable. Some companies do not admit candidates without a PMP certification for particular positions, so having the certification can aid you in the hiring process for higher-paying jobs.

Best PMP Careers

PMP certification demonstrates that you have particular experience and dedication to your field, which gives you eligible for more senior positions, often with higher pay.

However, the following kinds of positions may be held with or without PMP certification:

1) Program Manager

• Salary Range: $87,658 - $127,000.

Program Managers typically manage short, continuing projects, hiring and outsourcing tasks and work as required, manage quality control, budgets, and timelines.

Most program managers communicate with all individuals involved in a project, including stakeholders, and may form plans and schedules, and often execute plans for distribution, revenue, and visibility.

2) Project Manager in Engineering

• Salary Range: $90,814 - $132,000.

These managers supervise engineering projects on and off the field. Tasks typically include securing safety agreement, promoting a culture of best practices, preparing cost proposals, managing financial records, creating product strategies, and designing product development plans.

3) IT Project Manager

• Salary Range: $97,312 - $128,000.

IT Project Managers supervise technical teams in design, development, and maintenance or repair tasks. Tasks usually involve coordinating deliverables, quality assurance, resource allocation, project
plans, and schedules.

4) IT Program Manager

• Salary Range: $121,669 - $153,000.

IT Program Managers have technical IT skills. Their jobs often entail working with developers and testers to guarantee product viability, planning projects, assigning duties, outsourcing, or finding skilled labor as required, as well as developing and maintaining long-term plans and
strategies.

5) Senior Project Manager

• Salary Range: $114,611-$150,000.

This job may include managing large teams in a large industry or company, usually with the aid of other managers. Tasks typically include customer relations, budgeting, project planning, leading meetings with stakeholders, and creating comprehensive project plans.

Conclusion

Qualifying for and getting the PMP is a challenging process, but getting your certification will open up job opportunities throughout the world.

I hope the above information was useful in helping you decide whether to pursue PMP certification to advance in your industry.

Best wishes for your PMP Career.

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