PMP® Certification Changes 2019

If you’re planning to sit your PMP® exam in the near future, you’ll need to know about the upcoming changes to the exam.
What does this mean for you?

PMI are making changes to the way the exam is delivered and also to the PMP® Exam Content Outline. Below are the key changes which you’ll need to be aware of, with more information provided from PMI.

Exam Delivery Changes

In July 2019, PMI ended their partnership with their previous testing solutions provider (Prometric). From this date, all PMI examinations will now be conducted through Pearson VUE. The good news is that there are many more Pearson VUE centres across the country, so less travel is required. All exams will now be computer based, which means you’ll be able to schedule your exam on-demand at a testing centre to suit you.

Find a Pearson VUE testing Centre here or for a full list of New Zealand centres that you can sit your PMP® exam, please see the table below.

The PMP® exam is changing

Further to the change above, from 30 June 2020 the PMP® exam content outline will also change.

Currently there are 5 Domains across one process (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing). Following their latest Project Management Role Delineation Survey, PMI are now moving to amplify the People element of project delivery. The new Exam Content Outline consists of the following three Domains;

  • People: Our ability to Lead, Support, Manage, Empower, Train and Build a high performing team. 42% of the exam questions will be based upon this domain.
  • Process: Our understanding of what it takes to Initiate, Plan, Execute, Monitor and Control, and Close a project. 50% of the exam will be based upon this domain.
  • Business Environment: Project compliance, benefits, constraints and organisational change management. 8% of the exam questions will be based upon this domain.

The Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam will be updated to ensure it reflects up-to-date practices and equips project managers with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in today’s modern project environments.

Our advice if you want to beat the PMP® exam changes:

  • Allow yourself enough time to complete your application. Make sure you are able to follow the PMP® timeline:
    • Once you open the application, you have 90 days to complete and submit it.
    • You have one year from the date of your application approval to pass the exam.
  • It is your job to submit your application to pmi.org asap and get your exam booked.
  • Pay for your exam promptly. You can only schedule your exam after you’ve paid for it.
  • Schedule your exam early. This will allow you to select the date and location that will work best with your schedule. Most people reserve their exam date 3 months in advance.

We’ll continue to update you on these changes. If you’re planning to complete your exam preparation training with Millpond, rest assured that we’ll be aligning our PMP® training materials to the updated exam content.

If you’d like more information on the updated exam content outline, further details can be found on the PMI website here

Pearson VUE Testing centres in NZ who offer the PMP® exam, as at 1 July 2019

Location Organisation
Auckland ELA – University of Auckland
Auckland Northland Polytech
Wellington The Campbell Institute
Wellington Massey University
Lower Hutt WelTec
Christchurch Ara Institute of Canterbury, Auldhouse
Invercargill Southern Institute of Technology

Best of luck with your certification and your projects!

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