The PMP Certification USA is a project management certification that has gained popularity among project managers and aspiring project managers in the United States. Its popularity is linked to its credibility and rigorous means of testing. The certification is also globally renowned and accepted. Moreover, it showcases your transferable skills across many different verticals.
Does the PMP certification seem like a lucrative option for you? If yes, here’s everything you need to know in this complete guide to PMP Certification in the USA.
What Is PMP Certification?
Project Management Professional certification, or just the PMP, is a globally recognized accreditation for hiring project managers offered by Project Management Institute (PMI). It is considered the most valued program among project management certifications in the United States. The PMP exam has 180 questions that test you on three domains: People, Process, and Business Development. The questions are segmented according to these domains, with real-life based scenarios forming their context.
Today, the PMP certification is highly preferred while hiring as it undertakes thorough training of the candidates, thereby better equipping them with the vital skills, knowledge, and other nuances of Project Management. The exam accurately reflects the practices of efficient project managers of today. Moreover, all the questions on the PMP examination are produced and thoroughly reviewed by subject matter experts with a valid PMP certificate. The experts ensure that the questions are tracked to at least two references and mapped to the latest PMP ECO to ensure a pertinent number of questions are in the test. All these factors make the PMP Certification an essential qualification during recruitment in the project management field.
The Importance Of PMP Certification USA
In today’s demanding work environment, where every task is bound by time and resource constraints. Hence, project management is essential to bring efficiency and success to the workplace. Irrespective of the nature and magnitude of the work, project management is crucial for delivering services, products, or results as per your customer’s needs. It requires the project managers to have an extensive working knowledge of the project management field and be equipped to apply the learned concepts to on-the-job tasks. The individuals who complete their PMP certification in the US become seasoned project managers. They become well-versed in cost estimation, risk mitigation, conflict resolution, planning, and managing resources, and other key project management concepts.
The certification is a boon for professionals that helps them stand out. There is an increase in the global demand for skillful and experienced project managers to manage crucial projects with a huge amount of capital. With the company’s reputation at stake and everything relying on the project’s success, organizations rely on qualified, decisive, and skilled project managers to lead complex and often tedious projects. PMP certification training hence turns out to be an excellent choice that ensures steady growth of career prospects.
More than 300,000 active PMP holders are in the United States (as per data available in PMI’s registry). You, too, can join this big league of certified project managers with the help of quality PMP training and guidance.
PMP Certification Requirements
Since the PMP certification is demanding in terms of experience and subject knowledge, it is an all the more credible certification to hold. The applicants must complete PMP certification requirements to be eligible for the test. This includes their study on project quality, scope, schedule, budget, risk, procurement, cost, resources, integration management, and effective communication skills to interact with the stakeholders. All this comes from the 35 hours of PMP training that each candidate must undergo to be eligible for the test.
The PMP Certification in the US demands non-overlapping project timelines as a prerequisite. By non-overlapping projects, they mean that even if an individual works on two projects simultaneously, the period won’t contribute twice to the experiential criteria. For example, if you have worked on Project A for three months, from February to April, and Project B, from March to June, the total experiential hours wouldn’t be 7 months but 5 months. The period from March-April would not appear twice in your project management experience records.
In addition to these factors, the PMP Certification requirements also state the need for the candidates to have either a 4-year bachelor’s degree, a high school diploma, or their global equivalent. The detailed eligibility criteria are mentioned in the subsequent section.
How Much Does The PMP Certification Cost?
The PMP Certification Cost varies from region to region. It also depends on other side costs, such as the PMP training or PMI membership fee. The following is the breakdown of PMP Certification Cost in terms of USD:
| Particulars | Amount |
| PMP Exam Fee for PMI Members | $425 |
| PMP Exam Fee for Non-Members | $675 |
| PMI Membership Fee | $159 |
| Training Costs* | $275- $375 |
*variable
The training costs depend on the institute you pick for your PMP training, the mode of learning you opt for, and the inclusion or exclusion of study materials.
ProThoughts offers the best in class PMP training, with industry experts conducting sessions for you with 15+ years of experience in the field. We also provide the latest edition of Rita Mulcahy’s PMP Exam Prep and the PMBoK slides book, mind maps, flashcards, and more. Our materials equip you to pass the exam and ensures you are industry-ready to apply the learned methodologies hands-on in your projects!
How To Earn The PMP Certification?
We have understood that the PMP is a prestigious certification that uses the best practices to train future project managers. We have also dived deep into the PMP requirements and the overall costs you will incur while pursuing the certification in the US. Now, let’s look at the roadmap for the PMP certification journey broken down into four steps.
1. Check The PMP Certification USA Requirements
The PMP Certification has certain eligibility criteria that you must meet to appear for the examination. The candidates should have at least 3 years of project management experience and a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. If the candidates only have a high school diploma or its global equivalent, they must have 5 years of project management experience. In addition, the candidates must undergo 35 hours of PMP training from an authorized training partner PMI or furnish a CAPM certification. One must note that if the individual has an active CAPM certification, they do not need the 35 contact hours certificate.
Key Feature: You can go through the CAPM course offered by ProThoughts.
If you’re finding it difficult to figure out if you’re eligible for the PMP examination, you can use our PMP Eligibility Calculator. Simply fill in the questionnaire and our team of consultants will be happy to guide you.
2. Apply For The PMP Certification USA
To start the application process for the PMP certification USA, one must first create an account on the PMI website. You can log in with your existing credentials if you already have an account. After this, you can enter your personal information and experiential data per the eligibility criteria. You will have to fill in projects you’ve led, where you’ve worked, role and responsibilities, project duration, institutions attended, courses completed, and qualifying hours. You can also save the application as you go, so that you can fill it as per your convenience.
Once you apply, the application completeness review takes around 5-7 days. Sometimes PMI randomly selects an application for an Audit. If your application gets picked for an audit, you must provide all your documents supporting your experience. It includes a copy of your degree, proof of experience signed by your supervisors, and a certificate of 35 hours of project management training. Once your eligibility is verified and your application is accepted, you’ll be prompted to pay your Exam Fee. After the fee payment, you can schedule your examination using the Pearson VUE testing platform.
3. Enroll In A PMP Certification Training Course
As mentioned in the previous sub-section, PMI has set eligibility criteria for the PMP certification. This criterion demands 35 hours of intensive PMP training from the candidates. You must enroll in a PMP training course with any of PMI’s Authorized training partners. ProThoughts Solutions is the premier authorized training partner of PMI. We are proud to be among the first globally to hold this title. Moreover, ProThoughts offers PMP training online in the US so that you can learn from the comfort of your home at your convenience. We are a leading education provider in the US for PMP training. Also, we give you a 100% guarantee that with the guidance of the mentors at ProThoughts, you will clear your PMP exam on the first attempt.
4. Attempt The PMP Exam
The PMP examination consists of 180 questions. Of the 180 questions, there are 5 pretest questions. These Pretest questions do not add to your PMP exam score but test the legitimacy of future examination questions as a general quality test. All questions are randomly placed but are as per the weightage set beforehand by PMI in the PMP ECO.
The allotted time to complete the center-based examination is 230 minutes. In addition, the exam first showcases a tutorial so the candidates get the hang of the exam interface and its general guidelines. After the exam, there is also an optional survey for you to fill in. The time taken to complete the tutorial and survey is around fifteen minutes. But it does not interfere with the examination time of 230 minutes. For the PMP exam, there are now two 10-minute breaks in the exam, as compared to the previous single 10-minute break. The first will appear after completing the first 60 questions and reviewing your answers. The second break will appear after you complete and review the next section of 60 questions, up to question number 120.
Please note: Once you review your responses and start your break, you cannot return to the questions from the previous section. When you sign back in after each break, you will have the remaining allotted time to complete the remaining sections. In total, you will have 230 minutes to respond to 180 questions.
How To Reapply For PMP Certification USA?
You can attempt the PMP examination up to three times within your one-year eligibility. We urge you to undergo several mock tests before actually appearing for the PMP exam. This is to ensure that you secure the credential in further attempts. Suppose your one-year eligibility period expires without passing the examination. In that case, you will have to wait one year from the last examination date before you reapply. PMI designed these policies to uphold exam security and to prevent the exposure of examination question banks to individual candidates. However, you can apply for any other PMI certification in this timeframe. To reapply, you must follow the previously mentioned four steps again.
Renewal Process For PMP Certification USA
Once you finish the PMP certification exam, you must earn PDUs to maintain your credential. The renewal process follows:
- Earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) to meet the Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR). You must earn 60 PDUs per 3-year cycle to renew your PMP certification.
- Upload your PDU details in the online CCR system (CCRS).
- Pay the renewal fee. The PMP renewal fee is $60 for PMI-Members and $150 for Non-Members.
- Once you’ve renewed your PMP certification, you can prepare for your next 3-year renewal cycle. This continuous upskilling cycle makes PMP the most credible certification in the market.
How Long Does It Take To Get PMP Certification?
The application process takes 5-7 business days for review. Your eligibility period of one year starts at your application acceptance and after your fee payment is complete. In this period, you have up to three attempts to pass the examination. If you end up using all three attempts, you must wait another year after your last attempt to apply. Once PMP-certified, you must keep earning PDUs in a three-year timeline. With ProThoughts, you can get an entire 60 PDUs package and continue your upskilling journey hassle-free.
Get The Best PMP Certification Training In The USA
As mentioned in the previous sections, the candidates must get the right PMP training to appear for the PMP certification exam. The right training comes from good study resources and experienced instructors. Both of these factors and checked off by ProThoughts Solutions. ProThoughts offers a PMP certification training course in the US. With our in-house team of expert consultants, free exam counseling, exhaustive training material, the latest software tools, and real-life simulation tests, ProThoughts creates an interactive environment. Thus, ProThoughts offers a great learning avenue with the all these elements of the PMP certification training online course. The unique training methodology aims to inspire creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to overcome day-to-day problems faced during project management. Our expert instructors share their insights from practical experiences, so you are ready to tackle any on-the-job challenges right.
PMP Certification Salary Perks and More
As per PMI’s 12th edition of the Project Management Salary Survey, the United States has recorded the second-highest median salaries for project professionals, marking a staggering $115,000. Moreover, the same survey conducted across 40 countries shows that in the US, PMP certification holders report a 32% higher median salary. This number is in comparison to those who do not hold the PMP certification. In addition, these numbers indicate that the rigorous PMP certification process ensures you are compensated well for your demonstrated abilities. It also improves your marketability and makes you the preferred candidate amongst your non-certified peers. Besides the monetary perks, you also learn to lead teams better and lead your projects to success. Thus, you can work in billion-dollar industries, earn the top dollar, and prosper in your career path with the help of the PMP certification.
Other Project Management Courses in the USA
If you’re unsure about the PMP certification or don’t meet the eligibility criteria, you can begin your project management upskilling route via the CAPM certification. The PMP certification covers predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches. On the other hand, if you want to focus only on the agile aspect of your projects, you can opt for disciplined agile certifications. These certifications come in a wide variety of seniority levels – DASM for beginners, DASSM for intermediate-level practitioners, and the DAC and DAVSC being advanced-level certifications. Moreover, you can also learn how to lead multiple, complex, interlinked projects with the help of the PgMP certification. This course curriculum comes into play when two or more projects are better led together as a program than as separate individual projects.
Kickstart Your PMP Journey
We hope we have covered everything you need to know about your upcoming PMP certification journey. At ProThoughts, we provide a 360-degree learning solution for the PMP certification examination. Moreover, we will be happy to assist you throughout your certification process. Reach out to our team of consultants to start your PMP journey today!
