Things You Need to Watch Out For PMP Exam in 2016
Project Management Institute (PMI)® has announced that they will be incorporating new syllabus in their present PMP exam curriculum, that will be effective from 11 January 2016. Project Management Institute (PMI)® has revealed that the aspirants can expect 25 percent change in the exam format and the new inclusions will be focusing over eight new tasks and topic areas. As most of you are aware that PMI® has been incorporating new syllabus in their curriculum in order to help professionals to get acquainted with the latest trends in the management practices. PMI® has also announced that the outline of the curriculum that it released is a final one, and people who take up PMP test after 11 January 2016, will have to refer to the new curriculum. PMI also made it clear that people who wanted to take test under present format, they have to enroll themselves for the examination on or before 11 January 2016, if they fail in doing so they have to take their examination in new format.
Some aspirants must be wondering that why these new changes are being introduced in the PMP test format. Well, as most of you aspirants are aware that (PMI)® conducts a “Role Delineation Study [RDS]” that conducts a survey among project mangers located across the globe and identifies tasks and roles that project managers perform in their organization. The study explains roles and responsibilities project managers have been carrying out in their organizations. Basing on this information (PMI)® incorporates new chapters in their curriculum. The RDS is carried out by (PMI)® for every 5 to 7 seven years.
There is one more piece of important information that the aspirants need to make a note of, and that is there will be a change only in the PMP Examination Content Outline and not on the PMBOK Guide. This could be a relieving news for many aspirants. And the other thing they have to take a note of is that PMI has revealed that their will be no changes made to the the structure of the exam, it will have 200 multiple-choice questions and the time duration will be four hours as it used to be. Project managers who are planning to take their test after 11 January 2016 will be tested basically on five domains. These domains are listed below:
1. Initiating [13%]
2. Planning [24%]
3. Executing [31%]
4. Monitoring + Controlling [25%]
5. Closing [7%]
And after they finish their exam, they get a display of information on their screens about their scores in each domain and if they have cleared their exam or not. One change the test taker will notice that there Executing domain pass bar has been raised from 30% to 31% and Closing has been lowered to 7% from 8% in comparison to previous format.
The good news for PMP aspirants is that the eligibility criteria is not changed. The study materials will be changed, If we look at the changes that have been made to the existing curriculum, there has been more focus on the business strategy and benefits realization. Apart from that these inclusion keeps a track of other delivering benefits. And also there has been more emphasis on lessons learned, which tells that these lessons are the documents that projects the information of the entire project cycle and how the knowledge gained is shared to the ‘organization and the project team. The project charter responsibility is now transferred to the Sponsor, and the new curriculum also focuses on the enhancement on stakeholders relationship.
According to the experts, aspirants who are planning to take the test are advised to enroll themselves before these new changes come into effect. They also recommend that the PMP exam takers refer to the study material offered PMI registered education providers and concentrate on PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition. The experts also suggest that it is always beneficial for the test takers to keep a check on the PMI FAQ's as they might come across something new and which help them in passing their examination. These are the few changes that PMI has planned to include in their curriculum for the test takers after 11 January in 2016.