I Think You Can Pass Your PMP in 3 Months or Less*

6 min readNov 12, 2024

You don’t need a PMP (Project Management Professional) certification to work as a project manager, but if your job or school offers resources for it, or if you are in between opportunities and looking for a way to level up, this certification can open a lot of doors.

It took me about a year to get to receive my PMP around work and other commitments, mostly because it felt like so many resources were behind extremely expensive paywalls. If I knew then what I know now, I could have done it much faster. I wanted to write a guide to share with friends and colleagues about the best way to spend their time and money.

Speaking of time and money, the PMP can be expensive toll on both.

Before starting, some things to be aware of:

You need at least three years of experience in project management to become a Project Manager. The good news is, that doesn’t need to be your official title. *
This can be an expensive undertaking. I was lucky enough to get some of this paid by work, but it can cost $500–1,000 (or more!) to get certified

*If you don’t have 3 years of experience, I would recommend working on getting that experience (volunteer projects count!) over the CAPM (Certified Associate Project Management) certification. The CAPM costs $300+, and takes over 23 hours in coursework, so at that point you’re over half of the investment that a PMP would take. This was my personal feeling, and I worked until I felt confident in my experience before applying for the PMP, but others may have different mileage!

Overall Process

Here are the main components:

*You can become a PMI member at any point. The test will cost about the same, but you’ll get a free digital version of the PMI Handbook. You can become a PMI member while you’re taking your course, but I would recommend waiting until you’re applying for your test if you aren’t sure you can finish the coursework in a year. It’s an expensive membership, and I didn’t use it much until after getting through the coursework.

Take a Course

As of 2024, the Project Management Institute requires that you spend 35 hours taking a course. I would use the course as more of an introduction to the terms and not a textbook you have to memorize. I made the mistake of trying to understand every concept from the training — I wouldn’t recommend it because the rest of the application and studying process will round out your understanding.

This will take the largest amount of time in your journey to the PMP. The PMP exam is more about understanding the mindset of a project manager, and less about exact terminology.

Resources:

There are some very expensive courses out there, but I found that Udemy has some great ones that often go on sale for under $20

Apply for the PMP

This step of the process was actually the hardest part for me because there’s a lot of competing/ambiguous information out there. I failed the first time, but was able to explain my experience clearly the second time around.

Free Resource: I used the Excel template from this website on my second attempt and found it extremely useful: https://pm-prolearn.matrixlms.com/learner_module/show/811085?lesson_id=first
Process Things: I would recommend breaking down your experience using the processes (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing) and what you did for each phase. Aim for 300–500 words per experience.
You do not have to list yourself as the PM role for each project; I used Project Contributor, Producer, etc.

Keep In Mind:

Turnaround on the application was pretty fast; it took less than a week to hear back both times
This is the point where you could potentially get audited. It happens randomly, so make sure that you have actually completed your course and can prove you have the required experience for a PMP.
Not sure if it helps you, but I accidentally had a strong cider while editing my application and just sent it off. Results may vary.

Memorizing Processes

One other recommendation; knowing your processes and applying them to your experience is extremely helpful for this section. There are 49 processes for the PMP — that’s a lot! Here’s what helped me understand them thoroughly.

A great overview of the flow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7pN8Mjot8
This Process Game will test your knowledge and help you discover weaknesses (you may want a good adblocker though): https://pmaspirant.com/project-management-process-group-and-knowledge-area-mapping-game
If you’re like me and totally bombed the first few quizzes, I found these memorization tricks extremely helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=EAz-6M-RAV0

Schedule Your Test

Once you’ve been approved (huzzah!), I would recommend scheduling your test right away. There are two(ish) reasons for this:

1) Testing times can fill up quickly

2) Many practice test resources are timeboxed and only available for 30–90 days after purchase.

ish) Personally, I find it helpful to have an exact study date to work towards.

You can take the test at a testing center or remotely. I chose to take the test at a test center because I prefer that kind of environment for focusing. I also heard a couple horror stories about cameras going out mid-test and the results being thrown out, but really it’s up to you and your preferences.

Take the Test

Practice Exams:

In retrospect, I really only needed these three resources to pass the test:

TIA PMP Exam Simulator Course (Paid $44.99): This had six exams that almost perfectly mimicked the current PMP exam. The video explanations of each problem question helped me understand WHY I was wrong. I also used PMI’s test kit, but if I just had to use one, I would choose this one. You can start with their TIA PMP Trial Version before buying
https://third3rockpmp.com/ (Paid, around $15) — A study guide of notes that has everything you need to know to pass. Really look at the Mindset section because it has some really useful tips on what words to look out for that will lead to the answer. (For example, if you see “may” or “might” in a question, the answer is going to deal with risk management).
David McLachlan’s Test Prep Videos (Free): found David’s videos super useful for understanding the logic of the questions (Free): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNIHysh2ZW4

Other Resources:

The recommendations up top were critical to passing, but I also used these.

Free Tests

Paid

PMI Study Hall: The Project Management Institute (aka PMI and the organization that runs the PMP test) has their own test prep section. They had questions from earlier versions of the PMBOK which I found confusing. I did like the games and flashcards and found those useful, but if I had to choose one, I would go with TIA.

Things to keep in mind:

Rather than knowing the right answer, I found the PMP to be more of a process of elimination when getting the correct answer. They tend to have multiple answers that are “correct,” so you have to read the question closely to see what fits best.
You only need about 65% to pass the PMP. If you’re taking the TIA exam prep, aim to get 65%+ and you’ll be in a good spot.

Next Steps

Obviously, a pizza party.

At the end of the day, the PMP is still a test, but you may want some additional resources in how to apply those concepts outside of a test environment. These are resources I find helpful:

Though I found some cheaper alternatives than PMI, they are a great resource in your day-to-day as a Project Manager (especially if you’ve purchased a membership!)
PM Happy Hour is a “slightly salty” take on Project Management, and applies real world examples to what you’ve learned for your PMP. Plus, you can earn PDUs (unit’s you’ll need to maintain your PMP) by listening to episodes!

Resources -

My PMP score is basically brought to you by Reddit. I highly recommend r/PMP and the amazing community there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pmp/comments/yg3gv4/passed_the_pmp_at_at_at_on_10242022/
Overall, I found Reddit’s https://www.reddit.com/r/pmp/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/projectmanagement/ suuuuuuper helpful