They Took the PMP Exam Before It Was Released. Here’s What They Said.

The PMP exam changed in July 2026 and feedback has come in from people who sat the pilot exam. Here is what they found.

The Basics

There are still 180 questions. You now have 240 minutes to complete them, up from 230, giving you a clean four hours. The two 10-minute breaks remain, but the first break now comes after the new case study section rather than at the midpoint.

The Case Study Section

This is the biggest structural change. The exam now opens with a long scenario that you read once and then answer multiple questions about, sometimes two, three, four or five questions from the same block of text. It sounds daunting but the early feedback is positive. People who sat the pilot said the case study section actually made the exam feel like it moved faster than expected.

Question Types

Scenario-based questions remain the most common format. Something is going wrong on a project and you need to apply your project management knowledge to fix it.

But you will also encounter several other formats:

Enhanced matching, where you match items to a visual such as a burndown chart.
Graphics-based questions, where a document or artifact is shown and you answer questions about it.
Point and click, where you click directly on part of a chart or diagram to select your answer.
Drag and drop matching, where you match roles or concepts to their descriptions.
Pull-down lists, where you select the correct answer from a dropdown.

Some of these formats have been on the PMP exam for a while, such as drag and drop and point and click.

Others, like the enhanced matching and graphics-based questions, are newer additions. Either way, knowing what to expect means they will not catch you off guard.

One More Piece of Feedback

Several pilot candidates noted that some answer choices felt like none of them were clearly correct. This is not unusual for the PMP. When that happens, eliminate the answers that are definitely wrong and choose the most correct of what remains. That approach has always worked and it still will.

The content being tested has not changed dramatically. If you know your processes, your artifacts and how to work with people on a project, you are still well prepared. The format is just a little different.

– David McLachlan

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