It seems that COVID-19 has an impact on us all, for better or worse. I wanted to briefly share the short and medium-term impacts of COVID-19, as well as the details of the exam changes this year.
Here’s a quick overview of the Coronavirus changes which will affect us now:
The PMI has moved the date for the PMP(r), exam changes from July 1st 2020 to December 31st 2020. Students will still be able access the current PMP (r) exam until December 31, 2020. The new PMP(r), will be launched on the 2nd January 2021.
Pearson Vue, which administers the exams, will no longer be delivering tests from March 17th to April 16th (30 Days). This means that if you were due to write within the timeframe, you will receive a notification from them. More information can be found on their website Pearson Vue updates
The PMI announced that the 1 year limit for writing the exam will be extended by 6 months for those who are already scheduled to take it.
More information about PMI here: PMI announcements
PMI Exam Changes 2020 Explained
If you plan to write after January 2, the changes will affect you. In that case, you will need to refocus and improve your learning to adapt to the new format. (See changes below). If you plan well, you can still use the old format until December 31st. But time is flying!
If you are a student, we recommend that you schedule your exam prior to the changes. Here’s a quick overview of the changes and why.
Why is it important to make the change?
The PMI is constantly researching and adapting the exam in order to reflect today’s project management environment. Their most recent ‘global practice analysis,’ revealed that there were some industry trends that were not being addressed by the current exam. The conclusion was that the exam needed to be updated in order to ensure today’s project managers have the right skills and knowledge. You can find the results in their new exam content outline, PMI exam content outline 2020
What are the changes?
Change: Domains range from 5 to 3 Domains. Domains are the knowledge areas that the Exam scores. A domain is defined by the PMI as “the high-level knowledge that is essential for the practice of project managing”.
The following diagram shows the changes in domain focus and the percentage of each exam question.
Change: Agile focus increased. About The PMI states the exam has a much more agile focus and that approximately half the examination will be dedicated to predictive project management approaches (e.g. waterfall etc.) The other half will represent agile and hybrid approaches… distributed amongst the three new Domains.
Change: From Domains to Tasks and Skills to Domains and Task (Statements), and Enablers
Although it sounds complicated, the changes are actually quite simple to understand. The goal was to make it easier to understand and to interpret the exam outline.
PMI Definitions – The PMI also defines domains.
Tasks (and task statements: The underlying responsibilities for the project manager in each domain.
Enablers: Examples of the work involved in the task. Please note that enablers do not represent an exhaustive list, but rather provide a few examples to illustrate the scope of the task.
Here’s a quick overview of the old and new formats:
Current Exam (example).
Exemple of a New Exam
You can download the current exam outline here.
Download the PMP(r), Exam Content Outline (June 2015).
I hope you find the following information useful. ExamsPM is always aware of exam changes and will update our course materials to reflect these changes.