My Top PMP Tips for 2024

I’m not receiving compensation for any of the products I endorse in this blog post.

If you read my blog regularly, you might be working toward earning your Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification—the premier international credential that proves you’re a competent project leader. That’s awesome, and I want you to succeed! There are a ton of resources out there to help you achieve this goal. Projects with Impact (this blog) is less about PMP prep and more about giving you highly practical, apply-today advice and strategies for your projects, and cheering you on as you grow into a project leader who has a greater and greater impact.

That being said, because the PMP is important to many of you, I’m using this blog post to share all my best PMP advice. I passed the PMP in June 2022 on the first try with “above target” scores in all three categories, and in this post, I’ll tell you everything I would do if I were starting over studying for my PMP in 2024—both what I would repeat from my experience and what I would change. Are you ready to set yourself up for success?

What I’d do again

1. I’d use practice exams, probably from PM PrepCast™.

My number-one piece of advice is that you take practice exams. Practice exams are the tool that helped me understand when I was ready to take the exam and what areas needed the most study attention.

There are many practice exams available online. I mostly used the PMP Exam Simulator™ from PM PrepCast™. I was very happy with what it offered, and if I were starting over today, I could see myself using it again. But no matter what practice exam tool you choose, these are the features you should look for:

• Practice the real number of questions (180) in the real number of minutes (230). This will give you a consistent gauge of your progress from one practice test to the next, while also making sure you’re answering enough questions to test your competence in all areas and helping you practice how quickly you’ll need to answer them on the real test.
• Look for indicators (such as good reviews from independent sources) that you’re getting high quality, realistic questions based on the newest exam format that was rolled out in January 2021.
• Look for something you can have access to for the entire time you’re studying, not just near the end of your studies. I’ll explain why in the “What I’d do differently” section.
• Make sure your practice exams include an indicator of whether you’ve “passed” or not, because once you’ve passed a few of them in a row, you’ll know you’re ready for the real exam.

2. I’d read (not just skim) the PMBOK® Guide.

With the rollout of the January 2021 PMP exam, the exam is no longer based directly on one source, but there is a list of recommended resources with the PMBOK Guide among them. So, should you read the PMBOK Guide? If so, should you read the sixth edition or the seventh? Should you read everything on the reference list? What can you skim? What can you ignore?

I read the sixth edition and skimmed the seventh edition, and that served me well in passing the still-current exam. I recommend you read at least one and skim the other—you could pick either to read in full—and then let your practice exams show you what you need to go back and read or reread more closely. I recommend a close read of at least one PMBOK because even though the exam is based on many sources, the PMBOK Guides are still your most complete guide to international project management best practices, and it’s these best practices the PMP is proving you can bring to bear on your work.

I didn’t look directly at anything else on the resource list, but I let other study materials bring me up to speed on what I needed to know from them. I was happy with this approach and would probably repeat it; it made studying more efficient. I got the value I needed from study materials from PM PrepCast, but if I were starting my study journey over in 2024, I’d start my studies with the PMBOK Guides, take practice exams, and then look for study materials that specialized in the areas my practice exams were showing me I needed more work in.

3. I’d take my time to absorb the material.

When I set out to prepare for the PMP exam, I intended to take my time and learn the material at a deeper level, rather than rush through it and “cram” for the test. I would repeat this approach and plan on taking six months to a year to prepare, rather than the three months I often hear recommended. This is largely a test of how you think, not just what you know, and it’s hard to shortcut changes to how you think. Plus, I still appreciate today the deeper exposure I got to the material a few years ago. If I needed to dust off something from that material in my memory to start using it in my job now, I could do so much faster.

4. I’d take the exam in person.

The online PMP exam became an option while I was partway through my studies (and the world was partway through a pandemic). This option may be great for you if your access to a testing center is limited, or if a testing center gives you significant anxiety.

But I took the exam in person, and I was happy with that choice. I’d heard about people who took the exam online having to wait for long periods for their proctors to show up, and about all the preparations they had to make to their test-taking space to prove they weren’t cheating. These sounded, and still sounds, more stressful to me than a testing center where real people around you will assure you that you’re doing the right things at the right times.

I also visited the test center before the day of my exam to figure out where I needed to park and where I needed to go in the building. I’d do this again. It was one less thing to worry about on test day.

5. I wouldn’t worry about getting my CAPM® first.

The CAPM® is the certification from PMI® for people who have studied project management, but haven’t accumulated enough experience for other credentials yet. I’d intended to get my CAPM in advance of getting my PMP, but before I knew it, I was approaching the three years of project management experience required for the PMP and it made sense to shift my focus in that direction. If you’re at the very beginning of your project management journey, three years of experience can feel far away, but it goes fast. I don’t think I’d worry about fitting two applications and two tests into three years. I can’t say I’ve ever seen CAPM on a job posting, while I see PMP (or “pursuing PMP”) on job postings regularly. Having your CAPM could help you get a job, but I think proving your skills will matter more.

That being said, PMI now makes it explicit that having your CAPM counts as your thirty-five contact hours toward getting your PMP, so despite the drawbacks I mention above, it’s at least worth looking into. I have a coworker who has just passed his one-year anniversary in a project leadership role and has decided to pursue his CAPM. While I wouldn’t go that direction if I were starting over today, I recommend you explore the pros and cons and make your own decision—and then don’t stress over whichever decision you make, because you really can’t go wrong.

6. If I had the same budget, I would use the online course from PMI for my contact hours.

While I can’t testify to exactly how the PMI® Authorized On-demand PMP® Exam Prep course has been updated since I took it—and I’m sure it’s updated on a regular basis—my experience with it was OK. On the one hand, I appreciated getting exam preparation directly from PMI and knowing I was reviewing material and thinking through situations in a way that was meant specifically to prepare me for the test, from the organization that sponsors the test. On the other hand, the course led me through a high volume of material with somewhat repetitive visuals and repetitive types of interactive scenarios. Unfortunately, this repetitive approach wasn’t the most conducive to making the many different pieces of information memorable.

Yet despite the drawbacks, it is one of the most affordable and flexible ways to get your thirty-five contact hours required to apply for the exam, and it does have some value in terms of exam prep. So if I were preparing for the exam again this year and I had the same budget, I’d use the course again to earn my contact hours. The course also comes with a practice exam, which is a useful bonus.

7. I’d use a flash-card tool like Quizlet to study the material I got wrong on practice exams.

When practice exams show you need more study in a certain area, you’ll of course need to read, watch, or listen to material in that area. But whenever I found myself not remembering material after reviewing it multiple times, I made myself a digital flash card in Quizlet. Flash cards gave me a way to prove to myself I was remembering certain information when given certain prompts, rather than just reading and hoping it would stick. This was particularly helpful when it came to remembering specific formulas and how to use them, or when I needed to remember a whole list of things in response to a single prompt.

You could just as easily use paper flash cards, but I appreciated the conveniences of always having my flash cards with me, quick editing, quick reordering, and automatically re-seeing cards I got wrong that come with a digital flash-card tool like Quizlet.

What I’d do differently

1. I’d take practice exams sooner and more often.

I’ve alluded to this earlier, but I’d recommend you place even more emphasis on practice exams in your studies than I did. I would start your studies with a full practice exam and take more full practice exams at regular intervals. There’s no better way to know what to focus on when you study or to estimate how much longer it will be until you’re ready.

This is also why I recommend picking a practice exam tool you can have access to for your full study period. I waited to start taking practice exams because the ones I purchased only gave me access for three months, so I wanted to feel a certain amount ready on my own before I started that three-month clock. In hindsight this was a mistake; regular tests earlier could have provided so much more value by focusing my studies and saving me time on things I didn’t really need to review.

2. I’d implement a structured study plan sooner.

I’d originally hoped to study for the PMP in a year (as I’m recommending you aim for), but it ended up taking me about four years. This was partially because, as they say, “life got in the way.” But another reason it took me this long is because I didn’t dedicate regular time to studying at first; I told myself I’d only do it when I felt like it so it wouldn’t feel like a chore. I had good intentions, but this approach wasn’t effective. Once I implemented a study plan, that’s when I saw progress.

In creating your study plan, strike a balance between making studying a priority, and not burning yourself out. When I was studying most regularly, I wrapped up work a little early on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (see if your boss or employer supports studying during work hours! It helps!) and spent the last hour or so before dinner pouring over the PMBOK Guide–often with a glass of wine to make it less painful that I was still asking a lot of my brain at the end of the day. I’d add some study time on the weekend if I felt up to it, but I didn’t make myself…because I knew I’d only be willing to keep going if I also gave myself enough time to rest.

My schedule writing these blogs for you is similar in terms of pace: I try to fit in about 3 hours of writing during the week—first thing in the morning after a little exercise if possible, because that puts my brain at its sharpest—and I only write on the weekends if I’m feeling particularly motivated. I quit my role as editor of my neighborhood’s quarterly newspaper to make time in my life and space in my brain to write this blog for you, because it was important to me. I think I would make similar decisions if studying for my PMP was the thing I was trying to make time for today.

3. If I had more budget, I’d try a boot camp.

I mentioned earlier that I’d use the PMI® Authorized On-demand PMP® Exam Prep course again if I had the same budget. But if I had more budget, I’d sign up for one of those one-week courses (often called “boot camps”) instead, with a real instructor that leads you through all the most important PMP material. They usually cost at least four times as much as the online course, plus you need to be able to rearrange your life to miss a full week of work. Those things didn’t seem worth it to me at the time when I could potentially learn at my own pace for less money.

But for me, learning from a person in a group would make such a big difference in my ability to absorb the high volume of material, as opposed to the self-paced resources that tend to present the material (in my experience) in a repetitive way that doesn’t stick in my brain as easily. If I was studying for the PMP over again and had the financial resources, this is the route I’d go.

4. I’d try PMI Study Hall™.

I haven’t tried the PMI Study Hall app because it didn’t exist when I prepared for the PMP, but based on the landing page, here’s what I like about what it offers:

• You get decent number of practice exams. I would sign up for the “plus” plan so that you get five full exams (instead of two in the “essentials” plan).
• I like the pricing structure: you pay a smaller amount every three months to have access as long as you need it, rather than paying a larger amount once to have access forever, as you'd have to with some resources. This would keep me motivated to keep moving so I might not have to pay again, but if I needed more time, it would still be relatively affordable.
• It has a wide variety of lessons, tools, and even games for learning the material, which could be an improvement on repetitious ways of presenting the material I’ve seen in other resources that make it harder to distinguish the material in your mind.

Again, I have not personally used this tool, but the aspects of the product highlighted in the promotional materials appear to solve pain points I had during test prep, so I would try it.

An app I did try was PMP® Pocket Prep. It emphasizes having you answer single questions or short quizzes. It appears that it does also offer full mock exams, which is where I recommend you focus your time, so if you need additional full exams, or are looking for an alternative to PMI Study Hall or PM Prepcast, I’d trust their questions to be quality. But I wouldn’t personally use it just for the short quizzes, as those didn’t really move the needle on studying for me.

Good luck! I hope you take something valuable from my experience into your own PMP studies. It is an intensive project, but if anyone can do it, it’s a project manager like you. When it feels like a slog, keep your eyes focused on all the people you’ll be able to impact through your projects on the other side.