The PMP (Project Management Professional) certificate is very prestigious certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI), USA. PMI is the world's largest association of the project professionals. PMI offers many credentials out of which the PMP certification is the most famous and globally recognized certificate. Every project professional wants to earn this certification to add the "PMP" title with his name. However, many of them do not know the exact process to become a PMP.
Therefore, I am writing this article to help the professionals who want to become a PMP but not aware of the procedure.
To make things easy, I have divided this process in to eight logical steps. These steps are as follows:
Check Your Eligibility: This is the first step towards your journey to become a PMP. Go through the latest version of the PMP handbook to check the eligibility requirements. You cannot move further from here, unless you are eligible for the exam.
Join the PMI: This should be your next step. Once you find yourself eligible for the PMP Certification Exam, you should join the PMI membership. PMI membership offers many benefits such as, reduced exam fee, free access to many books at eReads and Reference and you can also download the PMBOK Guide at free of cost. These are just few examples of benefits of PMI membership. There are a lot of more things to explore.
Get Trained: Attending a 35 hours training for the project management education is a mandatory condition to apply for the PMP Certification Exam. In this step, you have to join the training program to earn these 35 contact hours.
Apply for the Exam: Once you complete your training program, apply for the PMP Certification Exam. PMI takes about one week to review your application. If your application gets approved, you will receive the mail from the PMI advising you to go ahead with the payment process.
Submit the Exam Fee: Pay the exam fee to PMI. One important thing you have to note that, after paying the examination fee, there is chance that you may be selected for an audit. If you are selected for an audit then you will have to send copies of your education, experience and training program certificates to the PMI to verify your credentials. After reviewing your documents PMI will send you the code to schedule the exam. After it, you would be able to schedule your exam.
Schedule the Exam Date: Schedule your exam date. Keep your exam date not more than three months. Most experts believe that three months' time is enough for you to prepare for the exam. Also don't cancel and reschedule the exam many times. It will hurt your concentration and ultimately you may lose your interest in the exam.
Start Preparation: Now, time to start study seriously. Buy any two good PMP Exam preparation books. Go through these books and refer the PMBOK Guide. Research on internet for topics you find difficult to understand and participate in various PMP exam preparation forums. Read the lesson learned from the professionals who have passed the PMP exam recently.
Take the Test: This is the last step. Go to prometric center at scheduled date and complete the formalities. Once you complete all formalities, your test will be started. PMP test consist of 200 multiple choice questions and duration of exam is four-hours. Complete the exam; review the answers before the final submission. Once you press the submit button, there will be a short survey and then you will see your result. If you pass the exam PMI will give you congratulation otherwise they will be sorry. I hope that you will see the congratulatory message from the PMI.
These are the eight steps to become a PMP and I believe that these steps will help you in your endeavor.
Fahad Usmani, PMP, PMI-RMP is a blogger on Project Management topics. He writes on his blog PM Study Circle to help professionals with PMP Certification Exam Preparation. Visit his blog to find various PMP Study Materials.
