The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® certification, provided by the Project Management Institute (PMI), is an essential first step in building your career as a project manager and a stepping-stone to the Project Management Professional (PMP)® Certification. It signifies to the professional realm that you possess the fundamental aptitude and competencies required by project teams. This certification validates your readiness to undertake a wide range of projects, encompassing predictive project management, agile principles, and business analysis methodologies. Acquiring the CAPM® not only initiates your journey into project management but also furnishes you with the essential toolkit for success in the field. Recognized globally, the CAPM® provides candidates with a robust groundwork in practical project management skills and knowledge. The comprehensive CAPM® exam delves into various project management methodologies, equipping candidates with the requisite skills, tools, and techniques applicable to project management endeavors. Furthermore, the CAPM® also positions you to pursue the gold standard in project management certification, the Project Management Professional (PMP)®.
To be eligible for the CAPM® certification, you need a high school diploma, GED or global equivalent and must meet the project management education requirement. The eligibility criteria are as follows:
| Educational Background | Project Management Education | |
|---|---|---|
| Secondary degree, such as a high school diploma, GED (general educational development), or global equivalent | AND | Minimum 23 hours of Project Management education |
Use the project management education section of the online registration to record your project management education.
When you choose to record 23 contact hours of specific instruction that addressed learning objectives in project management, you must record all education hours regardless of when they were accrued. The coursework must be completed at the time of your examination.
The course hours may include content on project quality, scope, time, cost, resources, communications, risk, procurement, integration management, agile and business analysis.
You can satisfy the education requirements with the successful completion of self-study guides, courses, workshops, or training sessions offered by one or more of the following types of education providers:
PMI Authorized Training Partners (ATPs)
Employer/company-sponsored programs
Training companies or consultants
Distance-learning companies, including an end-of-course assessment
University/college academic and continuing education programs
The proper fees for payment are determined by your PMI membership status. The PMI membership rate will apply only if you are a member of PMI in good standing at the time you submit payment for the certification. If you apply for membership right before you apply for the certification, make sure you receive confirmation of your membership before you pay for the certification. If your membership has not been completely processed before you pay for the certification exam, you will be charged the nonmember rate. If PMI membership is obtained after you submit payment for the certification, PMI will not refund the difference.
You are granted a 1-year eligibility period in which to pass the examination. During the eligibility period, you may take the examination up to three times, as candidates do not always pass the examination on their first attempt.
If you need to retake the exam and your eligibility period is still current, you may do so for a discount subject to regional and membership pricing rules. Additionally, once an examination date is confirmed and scheduled, you may be subject to cancellation or no-show fees.
Once scores are received, you may request a manual score if your original test was delivered using a paper-based administration instead of online. The fee for a manual rescore is US$45.
Lastly, renewing your CAPM certification requires a payment based on regional and membership pricing rules.
Any candidate whose score is invalidated or canceled on the basis of statistical evidence alone shall be entitled to a free retake of the examination, although PMI may place date, time, or location restrictions on the administration.
The CAPM® examination is comprised of 150 multiple-choice questions, drag-and-drop-style questions, and animations/comic strips. You may also see hot spot questions. Of the 150 questions, 15 are considered pretest questions. Pretest questions do not affect the score and are used in examinations as an effective and legitimate way to test the validity of future examination questions. All questions are placed randomly throughout the examination.
| No. of Scored Questions | No. of Pretest (Unscored) Questions | Total Examination Questions |
|---|---|---|
| 135 | 15 | 150 |
The allotted time to complete the CAPM examination is 3 hours.
| Allotted Examination Time |
|---|
| 3 hours |
It may take some certification candidates less than the allotted 3 hours to complete the examination.
For the CAPM exam, there is now a 10-minute break in the exam. The break will appear after completion of questions 1–75 and after you have reviewed all your answers. Please note, once you review your responses and start your break, you will not be able to return to the questions from the previous exam section.
The examination is preceded by a tutorial and followed by a survey, both of which are optional, and take 5 to 15 minutes to complete. The time used to complete the tutorial and survey is not included in the examination time of 3 hours.
At CoachPro Consulting, we are committed to assisting program managers in achieving their CAPM® certification objectives. Our comprehensive CAPM® training courses provide the necessary knowledge and guidance to excel in the CAPM® exam and take your program management career to the new heights.