Changes are coming to the PMP exam

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has performed a role delineation study. As a result of this, they are going to issue a new PMP exam starting on Jan. 12, 2016. Note that this exam is still very much based on PMBOK 5 Fifth Edition. The changes mostly seem to revolve around what they call the Examination Content Outline (ECO) which – as the title indicates – is an outline of what is on the exam and in what proportion. (So, how many questions in Initiating, how many in Closing, etc.)

One of the things the ECO has always detailed is what PMI calls ‘tasks’, which are performed by the project manager. I am in the process of comparing the previous Content Outline with the new one (dated June 2015) and a thus far cursory review tells me that – as I suspected – this is much more of an evolutionary change than a revolutionary one.

I will write more about this after I’ve had a chance to digest it. But for now, if you’re planning on taking the exam in January – and you’re going to take a prep class – be assured that it will still cover the topics you need to know. Any good class should provide information (even post-class) detailing the delta between exams. From where I sit, it seems to be mostly emphasizing to a greater degree things like stakeholder management and benefit analysis which are already very much part of the exam. PMI periodically does these “upgrades,” saving big changes for the release of new PMBOK’s.

If you can’t wait for my review – which I will complete in the next few days –  check out this video from PMI which details changes at a high level.

JPS