PMP Certification Exam Preparation Full Course with 35 PDUs

Understand project management as applying knowledge, skills, tools, and processes to deliver the right product on time by managing risks, issues, changes, scope, quality, schedule, costs, and resources.

Explore the Stacy model matrix, matching project types to requirement uncertainty and solution complexity. Learn when to apply predictive, incremental, iterative, adaptive, and hybrid approaches, avoiding chaos projects.

Plot nine attribute scores on a multivariate spider chart to decide agile, predictive, or hybrid projects. Identify the zones, connect the dots, and assess agile suitability.

Discover how the predictive development approach handles simple, low-complexity projects with clear requirements through upfront planning, a project charter, frozen baselines, and one-shot execution.

Explore iterative development within an agile, incremental approach, using iterations and client feedback to progressively discover and elaborate requirements, demos, and refinements until a final product is shipped.

Identify scrum ceremonies, artifacts, and roles, including sprint planning, daily stand up, sprint review, retrospective, product backlog grooming, sprint backlog, and responsibilities of product owner, scrum master, and development team.

Learn how needs assessment, conducted by the business analyst and sponsor, identifies problems or opportunities via stakeholder interviews, document reviews, and process observations, developing a situation statement and business case.

Explain how the business case document guides management through economic feasibility, $1 million investment, $4 million profit in two years, strategic alignment, and options with ROI and risk assessment.

Identify how enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets influence projects, distinguishing internal and external factors, and learn to exploit opportunities or mitigate threats.

A scrum master uses servant leadership to rapidly borrow spare software licenses from another team for five weeks, addressing a bottleneck during the sprint.

Distinguish product scope from project scope, identify final deliverables and features, and define the scope baseline using the project scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary to guide validation and control.

Identify how requirements define the how of a deliverable, not the scope of what will be produced. Learn to quantify customer and stakeholder needs—dimensions, material, and corrosion resistance—for a bolt.

Explore the four major elements of the work breakdown structure—work packages, WBS codes, controller codes, and planning packages—and how they support cost, duration, resource planning, and earned value-based control.

Demonstrates how a requirement traceability matrix links requirements to project objectives and deliverables. Explore bidirectional linkage and filtering to map requirements to work packages and business goals.

Solve a practice scope management question to identify inputs for the define scope process: project charter, requirements, risk register, and note that the work breakdown structure is not an input.

Learn how interviews elicit stakeholder needs through targeted questions, capturing qualitative insights and, in some cases, quantitative data via surveys.

Create wireframes or story frames (storyboards) as low fidelity prototypes to secure early client feedback, align user interface expectations, and test flow.

Learn how to validate scope in agile through sprint demos, obtain product owner acceptance, and use the definition of done checklist to deliver verified, accepted increments.

Sequence and estimate project activities to build a schedule network diagram using dependency determination, the precedence diagramming method, and leads and lags.

Shows how leads and lags in MS Project adjust task starts, using finish-to-start and start-to-start relationships; negative lag yields a lead and positive lag causes a delay, enabling schedule compression.

Explore the difference between total float and free float in project schedules for PMP exam prep, comparing path lengths to the critical path and delays in parallel tasks.

Crashing speeds up tasks by adding resources to compress the schedule; fast tracking is preferred first, but crashing incurs higher costs, overtime, and a change request on the critical path.

Explore the Gantt chart format for presenting project schedules, showing tasks, durations, start and end dates, predecessors and successors, dependencies, and the critical path.

Baseline the schedule by listing activities, estimating, sequencing, and mapping network, identify the critical path and floats, and review with sponsors to baseline scope and cost through formal change control.

Learn how velocity, a team-based, lagging metric, guides planning and replanning; avoid cross-team comparisons, focus on accepted story points, and track team progress through forming, storming, norming, and performing stages.

Learn to create burn up and burn down charts in excel to track release and iteration progress, using backlog, velocity, and story points.

Understand known unknowns and unknown unknowns in project risk management and budgeting. Learn how contingency reserves fund risk responses and management reserves cover unplanned in scope work.

Learn how change management affects the cost baseline and management reserve, including moving funds from reserve to baseline and updating the contingency reserve for risks and rework.

Monitor risk processes to identify new risks and update risk register; move funds from the management reserve to the contingency reserve via a change request that affects cost baseline.

Establish the performance measurement baseline by aligning scope, cost, and schedule baselines, and analyze planned value, earned value, and actual cost for EVM.

Calculate PV, EV, and AC to perform weekly EVM analyses and prepare the EVM report. Assess schedule and cost performance using earned value, planned value, and actual costs.

Learn how to plan, acquire, manage, and release project resources—humans and non-human items—through resource management and procurement processes, including RACI, resource breakdown structure, make-or-buy, and contract types.

Apply the RACI chart (RAM), a responsibility assignment matrix, to map tasks to roles (R, A, C, I) and clarify ownership, with exam tips and WBS prerequisites.

Identify resource requirements for each work package using bottom-up estimation, supported by the resource breakdown structure. Document the basis of estimates, including assumptions, methods, ranges, tolerance, and confidence levels.

Plan procurement management defines how to create procurement management plan, procurement strategy, and bid documents. Guide source selection, independent cost estimates, and market research to select the best supplier.

Explore agile contracts money for nothing and change for free, tracking value with dollar-weighted features in the backlog and deciding to cancel or substitute work based on delivered value.

Explore graduated time and material contracts, adjusting hourly rates by performance: on-time ($85), early completion ($100), and late completion ($70), using metrics and a definition of done.

Learn how to conduct the procurement process by evaluating proposals, negotiating prices, selecting vendors, and awarding contracts via bidder conferences and source selection criteria, using expert judgment.

Explore resource management and procurement management concepts, including internal and external resources, contract types, vendor selection, resource acquisition, estimating activity resources, RACI, and the resource breakdown structure, plus agile options.

Adopt a continuous improvement mindset through PDCA, Kaizen, TQM, and agile retrospectives, and leverage lessons learned repositories to drive incremental and breakthrough improvements in people, processes, and products.

Conduct retrospectives at sprint end to identify what went well and what went wrong, pursuing continuous improvement through root cause analysis and prioritized corrective actions in the next sprint.

Navigate an integration module scenario in the execution phase of a product development approach, where mandatory military-standard training affects schedule and cost, triggering a sponsor change request through change management.

Manage the issue log—tracking descriptions, ids, impact, category, owners, priorities, and status—and apply agile impediment log practices like timely updates and workarounds such as fast tracking and crashing.

Master agile vision and issue management by using plan, inspect and adapt across sprint ceremonies, recording impediments in the log and guiding scrum master support for unobstructed progress.

Compare predictive and agile change management through the integrated change control procedure. Learn roles like change initiator, change control board, and product owner, plus backlog refinement and progressive elaboration.

Learn how change requests modify baselines, project documents and deliverables through the configuration management plan and change management process, with guidance on rebaselining, regulatory updates, and corrective or preventive actions.

Close project or phase ensures final product handover, provides training and user manuals, and documents a final report with lessons learned, archived for future projects.

Explains the two types of project closure—successful closure and premature termination—and how acceptance, the scope baseline, and the requirements traceability matrix, plus the definition of done, guide closure.

Close a project by completing plan-based closing activities, obtaining formal acceptance, resolving issues and claims, closing contracts, charging costs, releasing resources, archiving data, and delivering the final report.

Complete the integration module and prepare for exam questions on integration management, spanning all five process groups, plus issue and change management. Prepare for upcoming risk management content.

Explore risk as an uncertain event that affects project objectives like scope, schedule, cost, and quality, with threats negative and opportunities positive, and plan to avoid, mitigate, exploit, or enhance.

Understand risk attitude and risk appetite in project management. Compare risk averse, risk neutral, and risk seeking mindsets with examples from fixed deposits, mutual funds, and stocks.

Learn how to structure and implement a risk management plan within the project management plan, covering risk identification, assessment, response strategies, contingency reserve, and risk reporting.

Apply Monte Carlo analysis to infer a probability distribution for project cost. Compare optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates to establish a realistic budget.

Execute risk responses per the risk management plan, update the risk register and risk report, adjust baselines, and track progress with PMIS tools using expert judgment.

Continuously monitor risk, identify new risks during execution, reevaluate probability and impact, update the risk register, audit risk management, and adjust responses to prevent issues.

Discover the salience model, a stakeholder grouping technique using a Venn diagram of power, legitimacy, and urgency to classify stakeholders into seven categories.

Use the stakeholder engagement assessment matrix to map stakeholder attitudes, plan targeted engagement strategies, and monitor shifts from resistance to support for project success.

Learn how to balance communication planning and stakeholder engagement through surveys and feedback, building trust and rapport while ensuring timely, accurate information flow.

Discover how the communication management plan guides project communications, detailing who, what, when, and how information is shared with stakeholders using emails, reports, and meetings.

Identify stakeholder information needs through communication requirements analysis, gathering preferences on what, when, how, and frequency, then develop and document an aligned communication management plan.

Explore push, pull, and interactive communication methods, with examples like emails, memos, meetings, and instant messaging, and learn how each method initiates messages and feedback.

Develop a robust communication management plan by assessing challenges and selecting methods, tools, and technology. Ensure timely, secure, and accessible stakeholder communication, considering confidentiality, policies, and accessibility.

Execute the manage communications process by implementing the communications management plan with inputs from the stakeholder engagement plan and stakeholder register, circulating project communications and reports to stakeholders on schedule.

Monitor the communication management process to convert work performance data into work performance information, ensuring stakeholders receive timely, appropriately detailed EVM reports, and update plans through change requests when needed.