Top 10 Tips to Prepare for the CAPM Certification Exam

Top 10 Tips to Prepare for the CAPM Certification Exam

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PMI stands for Project Management Institute, and it holds out several certifications and courses based on project management. The several certifications offered by PMI are PMI – ACP, PMI – CAMP, PMP, etc. Of the available wide range of options in certifications regarding project management, the CAPM certification has been deemed the best to date due to its simplicity, the lesser requirements, cost-effectiveness, and easier cracking of job interviews with the certification. Below are thus the details of the examination and the top 10 tips that would help for clearing the certification examination.

Prerequisites required for applying the test- there are two sets of requirements based on the number of years a candidate has collected as experience. If the candidate does not have any experience, he or she must possess a high school degree or any equivalent secondary degree and a minimum of 23 hours of project management education. At the same time, applicants with experience should hold at least 1500 hours of formal project management hours along with a secondary degree to be eligible for the CAPM certification examination. Project management education hours are the formally recorded hours dedicated to learning project management course (s).

Cost of the certification examination: – The certification examination costs differently depending on membership. A member of the PMI has to pay less to apply for the certification, whereas a non – member has to pay slightly higher. The certification cost for a member is only $225 USD, whereas a non – member has to pay USD $300.

Medium: – English is the main language of the examination, but PMI also provides aids in 13 different languages.

Questions: – The questions are 150 in number total, of which 15 include only feedback questions and are not scored for obtaining the certificate.

Duration: – The certification test continues only for a time period of 3 hours, within which the candidate is expected to answer all of the questions to the best of his or her knowledge.

Passing score: – Although the exact criterion has not been specified by the PMI, scoring well between the ranges of 61% – 70 % should land you on the certificate easily.

Preparation To Crack The Exam On The First Attempt:-

  • The 5 groups under the CAPM syllabus are: – initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. These need to be mastered to the utmost level of understanding to clear the certification examination, as these are the basics to project management.
  • The syllabus is again subdivided into ten knowledge areas which follow in the hierarchy as – management of project integration, management of project scope, management of project time, management of project cost, management of project quality, management of project human resource, management of project communications, management of project risk, management of project procurement and management of project stakeholder. These signify the underlying processes of project management a project manager should be well versed with.
  • Chalk out the time remaining with you and the concepts that need to be covered.
  • Schedule a plan and set to study right away. Stick to the plan. It is rightly advised to be better than your excuses. In order to be successful, prepare the best you can.
  • PMBOK is the best study material for CAPM aspirants.
  • Undertake CAPM training courses provided by PMI as well as other training centers online as well as offline as per your convenience.
  • Once done with the syllabus once, revise, and appear mock tests.
  • The day before the certification test, get enough sleep to rest your mind and calm your soul.
  • On the day of the exam, do not stress out and check all the necessities before starting the exam.
  • Fill out to the best of your wisdom and submit on time.

CAPM certification is no doubt the best project management certification owing to the minimal application cost, better availability of training materials, easiness of clearing the exam, better future prospects, etc., and other benefits it provides. Thus, it would probably be the best decision on the part of a candidate to get certified with CAPM and, on the part of the organization, the best quality to look out for in CVs of applying candidates.