Feeling overwhelmed by everything you need to study for the PMP is common. This 14-day plan cuts through the noise and focuses on four key activities. Most of the resources you need are available for free.
One thing to sort before you start: you will need 35 contact hours of project management education completed before beginning this plan. If you have not done that yet, take the two or three weeks needed to complete it first and then come back here.
The Four Activities
1. Review the Exam Content Outline and Key Guides
Spend the first few days getting oriented. The exam content outline is available as a free download from PMI and shows exactly what the exam covers. Follow that with a review of three core guides:
- the PMBOK Guide 8th edition (the step-by-step process guide),
- the PMBOK Guide 7th edition (a useful high-level overview of project management) and the
- Agile Practice Guide (agile makes up a significant portion of the exam).
PMI members can download the Agile Practice Guide for free. Video summaries of all three are linked in the free study guide if you want to move through them quickly.
2. Practice Questions Every Day
Once you have reviewed the guides, practice questions become your main focus. Aim for 20 to 30 questions a day and alternate between predictive (waterfall) and agile question sets. The most important habit here is reviewing every question you get wrong and going back to the source material to understand why.
3. Review the PMP Fast Track
Alongside your daily questions, work through the PMP Fast Track. This gives you the overall strategy for answering PMP questions, which is just as important as knowing the content.
4. Take Two Full Practice Exams
Before sitting the real exam, complete at least two full 180-question practice exams at the four-hour duration. The PMP is a marathon and building that stamina beforehand makes a real difference on the day.
One Bonus Tip: Use NET Time
NET time means no extra time. Fit study into time you already have: listen to a guide summary on a commute, take practice questions during a lunch break or swap an hour of Netflix for a quick review session. Small, consistent efforts across 14 days add up faster than you might expect.
The 14-day study plan is available as a free download and is linked at the top of this page. Fourteen days of consistent effort, four focused activities and the right resources. Then you can adjust it to be longer or shorter to suit your own personal style. You can do it!
– David McLachlan
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Navigate to Free Project Management and Leadership Articles through the links on the right (or at the bottom if on Mobile)
Also available are my Project Management Templates – they’re a great way to save 100s of hours when you’re first starting out:
 50+ Project Management Templates in Excel and PowerPoint (Gantt Chart, Risk Matrix and more!) |
 Pre-made Project Management Plan Templates: Save 100 HOURS! |