Before you start: check eligibility
PMI®'s Project Management Professional (PMP)® eligibility has three parts: your education, your project experience and 35 hours of project management training. On PMI's PMP page today, you need one of these:
High school diploma, GED or secondary school certificate: 5 years
Associate's degree or vocational trade school diploma: 4 years
Bachelor's degree or higher: 3 years
Bachelor's or postgraduate degree accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center: 2 years
Experience counts within the last 10 years. You also need the 35 hours of training, completed before you submit, unless you hold an active CAPM®. Our article on the 35 hours explains what counts.
The steps
Complete your 35 hours of training, or confirm your active CAPM covers it.
Create a free account on PMI.org.
Fill in the online application. You list each project with its dates and your role, plus your education and training.
PMI reviews your application. Some applications are selected for audit.
Pay the exam fee and schedule once your application is approved. PMI emails a scheduling link, and the link is also in your myPMI dashboard. You can book a test center (PMI recommends this) or online.
After approval you have one year to take the exam, with up to three attempts in that year.
What counts as project experience
PMI looks for professional experience leading and directing projects. It does not have to be paid, but it must be in a professional setting. Your job title matters less than the work. A coordinator, analyst or team lead can have qualifying experience if they led and directed project work. A project manager title does not make all work count either.
PMI says these do not count: school projects, academic research for a degree, personal events and home improvement. Routine, operational or administrative work does not count either. Answering customer requests every week is operations. Leading a defined effort to redesign how those requests are handled can be a project.
How PMI counts months
Experience is counted in months, not by the number of projects. Overlapping months count once. PMI's own example: one project ran 1 January to 31 March, another 1 February to 31 May. Together they give five months (January to May), not seven.
Before you apply, list your projects with names, dates and your role, and mark where they overlap. That tells you how many months you can claim honestly.
How to describe each project
For each project, be ready to say:
what the project aimed to achieve,
when it started and ended,
how you led or directed the work,
who you worked with or influenced,
which activities you led, and
what value, output or outcome it delivered.
Be specific and do not inflate your role. PMI contrasts a vague line such as "I supported a software rollout" with one that names the scope of your leadership: planning across business units, stakeholder requirements, milestones, communications, risk tracking and transition.
If your application is audited
PMI selects some applications for audit. You may be asked to show documents that confirm your education, your experience and your training. You do not upload a training certificate when you apply, so keep your records ready: completion certificates, transcripts, and contact details for the people who can confirm your projects. Write each project entry so that the person who supervised it would agree with it.
If you do not qualify yet
PMI suggests the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® as a starting point if you do not yet meet the PMP experience requirement. Many people take the CAPM first and the PMP later.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the title "project manager"?No. PMI looks at the work you led and directed, not the title.
Do overlapping projects count twice?No. Overlapping months count once.
How far back can my experience go?Within the last 10 years.
What happens if I am audited?PMI asks for documents that confirm your education, experience and training. Keep them ready before you apply.
How long do I have after approval?One year, with up to three exam attempts.
Next step
Read the exam guide for the full eligibility table, and the 35 hours article if you still need your training hours. When you are ready to practice, try the free sample exam, then see the PMP® Exam Simulator for full-length practice.