Preparing PMP Exam Study Plan The Right Way

A PMP study plan is a necessary ingredient for successfully passing the PMP certification exam. It will help you to follow a strict learning schedule and prepare diligently for the credential test.

In this post, I will tell you how to estimate the number of hours required for exam prep and how to convert them into a formal study schedule.

In order to jump-start your studies, you can use a sample 60 days study plan that I have shared at the end of this article.

Table of Contents

3 Steps to Create a PMP Study Plan

I. Finalize the Exam Prep Material

This is an important first step in the preparation of a study plan. We can define a timeline only after knowing what all do we need to study. There are five important things that we need to finalize:

1. 35 Hours Training Course

A 35 contact hour project management training is mandatory to appear for the exam.

I would recommend you to join an online PMP facilitation program since it is the cheapest and most flexible way to get a 35 hours certificate.

I have written an article to review the top PMP online training programs. You can read it to find a suitable course for yourself.

A good PMP facilitation course will give you the necessary tools and study aids to pass the exam in your first attempt. It will enable you to fully understand the exam’s structure and syllabus.

Many people start their preparation by studying on their own. They enroll in a PMP training program after a bit of self-study; thinking that their studies will help them to follow the training content.

In my opinion, this is an incorrect approach. A good training program will spur you into action. It will give you the necessary momentum to kick-start your preparation and speed up your learning. On the other hand, studying on your own may be demotivating because of vastness and complexity of the PMP certification exam syllabus.

It is not worthwhile to delay investing in a training program especially when PMP certification can improve your job prospects and increase your salary.

2. PMBOK Guide

To pass the exam, you must read the PMBOK Guide and Agile Practice Guide. The exam is based on the PMBOK Guide’s terminology and concepts.

PMI members can download a pdf copy of the Guides free from the PMI’s website. However, if you’re like me who prefers the touch of a paper while studying then you should buy a hard copy of these books. You can use them to make notes or mark important things.

You can purchase these Guides from Amazon. You can click on the links below to check their prices:

Note: You can get a discount on PMP exam fees by becoming a PMI member. I would recommend you to take PMI membership before you apply for the exam.

3. Reference Book

You would not need a reference book if you have chosen a good training program then. Secondly, if you feel confident about your studies then also you can skip an additional book.

Having said that, a PMP reference book will increase your chances of passing the exam. It will assist you in understanding the concepts of the PMBOK Guide.

You can buy a book at a reasonable price. Its cost is insignificant as compared to the overall cost of the PMP exam. You can buy a good book anywhere between $40 to $100. If you decide to buy a book then I would recommend you to buy any one of the following books:

You can click on the above links to check the prices of these books.

I have considered a reference book while creating the sample plan as a plan should be broad enough to consider every learning resource that you might use. You can ignore this part of the plan if you decide not to purchase a book.

4. Practice Questions

You must practice a lot of questions in order to successfully pass the exam. Practice questions will not only validate your learning but also boost your confidence for taking the PMP exam. You must do 4-5 full-length tests having 180 questions before taking the exam.

A good training program will include enough mock questions to give you a feel of the real exam. However, if your chosen training program does not have enough practice questions or if you need more variety or if you have already bought a training course before reading this article then you should buy a good simulator.

You can read my article on the best practice PMP tests to purchase a simulator that meets your needs and is within your budget.

II. Estimate Study Hours

After you have finalized the study material, the next step is to estimate the number of hours it will take you to complete your chosen study material.

In the following paras, I have given some ballpark estimates that you might need to finish your study material. You should refine these estimates as they depend upon your chosen study material and also your learning speed.

Training – A PMP facilitation training is designed for 35 hours. You might need 35-40 hours to complete the videos, quizzes, and other learning material that is part of your training course.
PMBOK Guide – In order to prepare for the 2022 exam, you would need to study from both PMBOK Guide 6th Edition and 7th Edition and also from the Agile Practice Guide.PMBOK Guide 6th Edition has 13 chapters and they are slightly cumbersome to read. It will take you about 35-40 hours to read these chapters.The Agile Practice Guide has 7 chapters but the whole book finishes in less than 90 pages. Its language too is a lot simpler than the PMBOK Guide. You would need about 5-7 hours to read this book.PMBOK Guide 7th Edition is a much smaller book to read. Many of its topics overlap with the 6th Edition. It will take you about 8-10 hours to finish this book.PMBOK Guide is serious study material. It is very difficult to read 100 pages from it in a day. You would need to read it slowly and absorb the matter that is written in there. You would also need some time to cogitate after reading it.Altogether, you might need 55 hours to finish these books.

Reference Book – A reference book is slightly easier to read than the PMBOK Guide. The content of a reference book is based on the PMBOK Guide and the Agile Practice Guide but it has much easier language and many more examples. You might need about 30 hours to go through a reference book. I would suggest you to read the reference book before reading the PMBOK Guide/Agile Practice Guide.
Practice Tests – You would need to do about 4-5 full-length practice tests before feeling confident about the exam. This means that you will have to do about 900 questions. Each question would take you about a minute and you would need another minute to revise the questions. In total, you would approximately need 1800 minutes to complete 5 full-length tests, which is equal to 30 hours.

The total study time comes out to be about 150-155 hours. You can round it up to make it a total of 160 hours.

Now, 150 hours is my ballpark estimate. Your personal situation and background could be very different from what I perceive. I have seen people who pass the exam after studying for just 100 hours. On the other hand, some other people need 180-200 hours. So, you must adjust the above estimate to suit your personal situation.

III. Prepare Study Schedule

Now that we have an estimate of the total number of hours, we can prepare our final schedule. Our final schedule will depend upon how much time you can spend studying on a daily basis.

The life of a working professional is not easy. There is pressure from work and expectations at home. You will need to figure out how much time can you take out for studies on a weekday and on a weekend.

If you can spend 2 hours on a weekday and 5 hours on a weekend, you will get 20 hours in a week. If you divide 160 hours by 20, you get 8 weeks.

So, if you can study 20 hours per week then you can target to pass the exam in about 8 weeks or approximately 60 days.

On the other hand, if you can study only 10 hours per week then you would need about 16 weeks to pass the exam.

In the following section, you will find a sample study plan. You should tweak it and personalize it according to your needs.

60 Days Study Plan

I have compiled an 8-week plan based on the discussion in the previous section. I have split this planet into 8 weeks which are roughly equal to 60 days.

Let me reiterate that this plan is based on a few assumptions about the chosen study material, study time per week, and your reading speed.

The contours of this plan would change based on your personal situation. You should follow my recommended approach (as discussed in the previous section) to create a plan rather than using this plan itself.

Let’s look at the 8-week plan.

Week 1: Get Familiar With the Terrain

1. Refer to the section on study material and choose your training provider, reference book, and simulator.

2. Take PMI membership and download the PMBOK Guide. Otherwise, you can choose to buy these books. You can click on the following links to check their prices on Amazon.

3. Get familiar with the structure and content of the PMBOK Guide and other PMI publications. You should understand how Guides are written. Specifically, you should get familiar with the 5 process groups, 10 knowledge areas, and 49 processes. Just don’t get overwhelmed by the vastness of the content.

4. Understand how the exam is conducted and what is involved in filling up the PMP exam application form. You can look at the training videos to do this.

Week 2-4: Study PMBOK Guide Chapters

Your actual studies should start from Week 2. You should do the following things in Week 2-4.

Watch the training videos for a specific PMBOK Guide Chapter.
Read the same chapter from the PMBOK Guide.
Read the same chapter from the reference book.
Do chapter-end quizzes from your training program and reference book.

Week 5: Study Agile Practice Guide

You should follow the same approach for studying the Agile Practice Guide as mentioned in the previous section.

Week 6: Study PMBOK Guide 7th Edition

There is an overlap between some topics that are part of PMBOK 6th edition and 7th edition. You should start by understanding the difference between these additions and after that follow the same approach as mentioned in the previous section.

Week 7: Revise

Revise all the study material that you studied in the last few weeks. Do 1-2 full-length tests in order to gauge your knowledge.

Week 8 – Final Push

You should take a few days off from your work in the final week. This will give you unhindered time to concentrate only on the PMP exam. You should do 3-4 full-length tests this week and put together the missing links.

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