PMP Certification: Why It’s Good to Get PMI Certified?

More job opportunities are waiting for someone who is PMP certified. A PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a well-recognized credential for those who crave to take on a career in project management.

By earning PMP certification, you can make your career in any industry and any location with excellent winning potential.

The value of PMP is being recognized in practically any business sector. The first benefit of hiring the PMP certified managers is the on-time completion of the project with exceptional profitability and client satisfaction.

The global demand for project managers with Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is growing fast because this qualification adds more value to their skills and competencies. Today, PMP certification has become a need for project managers with dreams of exponential growth because it brightens the chances of getting a higher salary with a better job profile.

Who Can Take the PMP Certification Exam?

PMP certification is based on the following prerequisites:

#1. Years of Project Management Experience

If you worked on multiple projects that overlay in a single month, only one of those projects could count toward your experience requirement. It does not matter if some of your project management work went due, as long as the experience you gained occurred in a professional environment.

#2. Hours You Have Spent Leading and Managing Projects

For this PMP certification requirement, it is okay to count all the hours you led and directed projects, even if the work overlapped. Just omit solo projects out of the mix. This requirement is intended for cross-functional team projects where you were responsible for every phase and managed the project across the triple pressures of time, cost, and scope.

#3. Hours of Formal Project Management Education

Before you apply for PMP certification, you will require to spend time learning the ins and outs of project management. Any course, workshop, or training session that includes center project management systems and provides an assessment or certificate of completion apply toward this requirement.

Be prepared to give the name of the courses completed, institutions and dates served, and qualifying hours accrued. There is no expiration date on the contact hours you have earned.

PMP certification conditions vary based on your level of education. If you graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree, for example, you can change to take the PMP exam with less on-the-job project management experience.

Eligibility Requirements for PMI PMP Certification Exam

Here is a breakdown of PMI’s PMP requirements:

Bachelor’s Degree or Global Equivalent:

• 36 months of non-overlapping professional project management experience

• 4,500 hours leading and directing projects

• 35 hours of formal project management education

High School Diploma, Associate’s Degree, or Global Equivalent:

• 60 months of non-overlapping professional project management experience

• 7,500 hours managing and directing projects

• 35 hours of formal project management education

Tips to Pass PMP Certification Exam

Following are some tips that can help in passing the PMP exam:

#1. Understand the Nature of the PMP Exam

Many people use PMP as an educational examination, but it is not merely that. Instead, it also involves some psychological testing. It does not only include the material you have read and studied in PMBoK, PMI articles, and other guides. It has to make sure that you can react in a positive way to various and regularly occurring challenges in the project. And, that is something your nerves can efficiently work, not the reading material.

#2. Create a Custom Study Plan

The most critical viewpoint of preparing and attempting any exam is to schedule study hours for it in your daily habit. You might be an early riser or a night owl. Also, you will have to balance your house or work or university life alongside it. So, the point is to create a design study plan according to your sleeping habits and routine so that you can manage other chores of the day as well.

#3. Understand All the Tools

ITTOs include various tools that are complicated and hard to understand. However, once you know them, everything starts making sense. So, follow all the different tools such as Cause and Effect Diagram, Flowcharts, Checksheets, Pareto diagrams, Histograms, Control charts, and Scatter diagrams.

#4. Learn and Understand All Formulas

While you are practicing the questions, you will come across a lot of formulas. Make sure you spend some time on them and read them thoroughly. Once you have followed, memorizing will be more comfortable. Then, practice a lot of questions to understand how they fit in and work.

#5. Take PMP Practice Tests

Many people tend to begin practicing any sort of questions that come in the way. Once you have learned the true nature and the outline of the PMP exam, you should be able to distinguish between the questions that are significant and relevant and the ones that are not.

While practicing, you will get to understand that many questions are easy, direct, and short. Others may be more difficult and time-consuming. There are formula-based as well as scenario-based questions. To be both useful in both cases, practice as many relevant questions as you can.

#6. Make Flashcards

Flashcards are an essential tool. Whenever you go through a new formula, a new concept, or a different term, make a flashcard. Whenever you get free time out of the day, aside from your schedule, you can review these flashcards to recall what you have studied lately. Also, while you are driving, walking, cooking, or doing any other activity, these flashcards can help revise the critical material.

#7. Be a Good Time Manager

Besides being a good project manager, it is essential to be a good time manager. It complements your skills and plans as well as their implementations. Time requires to be conducted in two areas while appearing for the PMP exam. Firstly, during the preparation and also while taking the exam itself.

If you prepare according to the registered study plan, you can continuously stay on track and complete things on time. As you practiced several questions and attempted mock tests, it helps in managing the time when the actual exam.

Doing a good breakdown of time is an important tip!

#8. Keep Motivating Yourself

Motivation is the most critical factor all along. From the start until the end, you need to keep motivating yourself not to give up. You want to remind yourself that no matter what occurs, you are not going to lose your confidence.

It does not matter if you come across the most challenging ideas or questions once you are motivated to attempt and exceed them. If you let demotivation take you, you are going to end up losing.

So, get a firm hold of your nerves and keep motivating yourself!

Also Read:

Growing PMI PMP Career Opportunities in Different Industries

PMI PMP Examination Process

#1. Scheduling the PMP Exam

Once you have been accepted and paid to take the PMP certification exam, you can plan your exam with Pearson VUE. You will have one year to take the exam from the time your application has been accepted, and you may take the exam up to 3 times during this eligibility period.

You can find a comprehensive list of testing locations on the Pearson VUE website.

#2. Take the PMP Exam

The PMP Exam is taken at your most coming Pearson VUE test center and is 200 questions with a 4-hour time limit. The questions are broken down into topics; Initiation (13%), Planning (24%), Executing (30%), Monitoring and Controlling (25%), Closing (8%). Because of the computer-based exam, you will receive your score quickly.

Why Should You Get a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification?

Whether you are an expert or newbie trying to climb up the stairs, there is a project management certification for you.

If you are still not satisfied, below are some reasons explaining the importance of project management certifications in today’s time and age.

Also Read:

Is PMP Certification Worth It Given Its Exorbitant Cost?

#1. Global Acknowledgement

There are leading institutes like the Project Management Institute (PMI) known to offer world-class education and certifications to ambitious professionals. Once you get a certification from a reputable institute, you become qualified to exhibit your skills and expertise to businesses all over the world. Being seen and desired-after name in an industry, you get the global acceptance and acknowledgment to work wherever you need.

#2. Challenging Projects and Better Job Opportunities

A project management certification aids you gain the trust of managers to manage challenging projects. As you receive the right skill set, they are not afraid or have any second thoughts before returning over a plum project to you. Also, certification presents you with both knowledge and experience, allowing you to get better job opportunities from great organizations proving your reliability to lead and manage projects in a better way.

#3. Salary Hike

Another essential reason to think about getting a project management certification is a steep hike in salary. In a recent study, it was determined that you could require up to a 25% boost in your PMP salary if you are PMP certified as contrasted to a project manager who is not approved. It means that a quality project management certification could provide a straightaway 25% of salary growth.

#4. A Smart Future Investment

Because these certifications are not that high as compared to other specific exams or courses, one should never forget the impact they could have on your career.

You can take the PMP exam for $555, and if you are a PMI member, then it is for $405. It would not burn a hole in your pocket. On average, the passing rate is around 60%. You do not require formal training to pass the test. Taking everything into account, it does seem like a smart investment for your career. The best thing is that certified professionals are safe even during an economic crisis.

What Can You Do As a Project Manager to Do Great Success in Your Field?

PMP certified professionals demonstrate to their employers that they are dedicated and skillful when it gets to carry out project management work at the highest level. Individuals also receive this benefit by earning PMP certification to bring jobs with greater responsibility.

Nowadays, it is a fact that a good Project Manager has to be PMP certified. Although, at the same time, one should know that PMP exam preparation and certification are also essential and very much useful for professionals on different proficiency levels in various areas of operations.

Product Consultants, Team Leads, Quality Specialist, Business Analysts, IT professionals, and Senior Management individuals also get the benefit of managing their particular roles with higher efficiencies.

All of them offer towards project deliverables, and therefore, they should understand the importance of schedules, efforts, quality deliverables, business conditions created, benefits obtained by completing projects successfully.

Senior management professionals must realize the importance of clear goals and directions to take short term and long term business decisions.

The process of applying for a PMP certification by PMI is accurate and very meticulously followed. PMP examination preparation training, gaining eligibility for the PMP test. Clearing the exam with flying colors boosts one’s confidence to implement the learnings practically.

Concluding

Once you achieve the PMP certification, you can work as a Project manager. The career event of a project manager is vast and very rewarding. The role of project managers is vital to the success of a project.

A project manager is accountable for managing the project from planning to completion. This is the design project managers are always in high demand. No doubt, a career in project management is one of the top level and most rewarding professions.

Moreover, a PMP certification can especially increase your earning potential. It has been noted that PMP certification holders earn 25% more than their non-certified peers.