PMP practice questions against PMI’s July 2026 content outline

PMP at a glance, with the source for every line

Every row below is quoted from a document published by PMI and carries the date we checked it. Where PMI publishes nothing, the row says so instead of quoting a number from somewhere else.

Questions

180 questions, of which 10 are unscored pre-test questions, so 170 are scored.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Time allowed

240 minutes, with two 10-minute breaks. The first break follows the case-study section and the second falls roughly midway through the independent questions.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Official domain weights (July 2026 exam)

People 33% · Process 41% · Business Environment 26%.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Predictive versus adaptive split

Approximately 40% of the items represent predictive project management approaches; the remaining 60% is divided between adaptive/agile and hybrid approaches.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Question types

Multiple-choice single or multiple response, drag-and-drop, and practicum hands-on testing that may include tools, data and case study questions.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Eligibility

One of four paths, all with experience accrued in the last 10 years: upper-secondary completion plus 60 months leading projects; a recognized associate’s-level, higher-certificate or advanced technical/vocational program plus 48 months; a bachelor’s degree (or higher) plus 36 months; or a degree awarded by a program accredited by PMI’s Global Accreditation Center plus 24 months.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Training requirement

35 hours of project management training. Holding an active CAPM certification waives it.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Retakes

You may take the exam up to three times within your one-year eligibility period. After three attempts you must wait one year from the last attempt before reapplying.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Certification cycle

Maintained by submitting 60 professional development units (PDUs) every 3 years and paying the renewal fee.Source: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Pass rate

Not published by PMI. PMI does not publish a pass rate for the PMP. Figures quoted elsewhere are prep-vendor estimates rather than PMI data, so we do not repeat them.Checked against: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Passing score

Not published by PMI. PMI does not publish a passing score or a percentage for the PMP. Results are reported as an overall pass or fail with proficiency ratings by domain. Any specific “you need X%” figure you find online is a guess.Checked against: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Exam fee

Not published by PMI. PMI states that fees are subject to membership and regional pricing rather than publishing one global number, so we do not quote a figure.Checked against: Project Management Institute, verified 7 August 2026

Always verify: PMI published an updated PMP Examination Content Outline dated July 2026, and prices the exam by membership and region. Confirm the current content outline, your eligibility path and the fee with PMI before you apply.

What PMI publishes as the official PMP blueprint

These weights are PMI's, quoted from the source below. They are the only weights on this page that describe the real exam.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Source: PMI, PMP Examination Content Outline, July 2026, verified 7 August 2026.

What our PMP question bank covers

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

What actually trips people up on the PMP

Business Environment, at 26% and thin in our bank

PMI’s July 2026 content outline puts Business Environment at 26% of the exam. It covers compliance, organizational change, project value and reacting to shifts in the external environment. We will say the awkward part out loud: our bank holds 52 Business Environment questions out of 649, which is 8%, so it under-covers this domain against that outline. Drill it from PMI’s outline as well as from us until we rebalance the bank.

Situational judgment, not recall

People is 33% of the exam and almost every item is a scenario asking what a project manager should do FIRST or what is MOST appropriate. Two of the four options are usually defensible. The tested skill is picking the servant-leadership response over the directive one, and picking facilitation over escalation.

Agile and hybrid, at 60% of items

PMI states that roughly 40% of items represent predictive approaches and the remaining 60% is adaptive/agile and hybrid. If your day job is waterfall, that is the majority of the exam sitting outside your experience. Scrum artifacts, Kanban flow and hybrid trade-offs are examinable across all three domains, not quarantined into one.

The application before the exam

PMP is the only exam here where the paperwork can fail you before you sit. Experience must be non-overlapping, accrued in the last 10 years, and leading projects rather than working on them. PMI audits, and an audit failure costs you the cycle.

How long to study: six weeks, weighted to the July 2026 outline

Six weeks is the shape below, plus a week zero for the application. Our bank holds 649 questions split 324 Process · 273 People · 52 Business Environment. That is 8% in Business Environment against the 26% PMI’s July 2026 outline gives it, so plan your own time to the outline and use the bank where it is strongest.

Week 0: the application

Map your experience to one of PMI’s four eligibility paths and get the 35 training hours documented. Do this before you study anything, because an audit stops the clock.

Weeks 1–2: Process

324 questions, the biggest block in the bank and 41% of the exam. Work predictive and agile side by side rather than sequentially, because the exam interleaves them deliberately.

Weeks 3–4: People

273 questions, 33% of the exam, and almost all scenario-based. Answer, then read the explanation even when you were right. The reasoning is the transferable part; the scenario is not.

Week 5: Business Environment, from PMI’s outline

26% of the current exam and the thinnest part of our bank. Drill our 52 questions, then work directly from PMI’s July 2026 content outline for compliance, governance and external-environment tasks.

Week 6: timed simulations

Run full 180-question simulations. Note that the in-app simulator is set to a 230-minute limit, against the 240 minutes PMI publishes.

Is the PMP hard?

PMI does not publish a pass rate or a passing score for the PMP, so nobody can honestly tell you what percentage you need. You get an overall result plus proficiency ratings by domain, and that is deliberate: the exam is scored against a standard rather than against other candidates.

The difficulty is judgment rather than recall. Most items are scenarios asking what a project manager should do first, and two of the four options are usually defensible. Roughly 60% of items represent adaptive, agile or hybrid approaches, so if your working life is predictive, the majority of the exam sits outside your daily experience.

The July 2026 content outline is the one to study against. It puts Business Environment at 26% of the exam, so compliance, governance, organizational change and external-environment questions are a quarter of your marks. Our own bank holds 52 of 649 questions there, which is 8%, so it under-covers that domain. If your material predates the July 2026 outline, reconcile it against PMI’s current one before you rely on it.

How the PMP differs from the exams beside it

PMI publishes a July 2026 content outline for the PMP, and Business Environment carries 26% of the exam under it: governance, compliance, organizational change and external-environment items are a quarter of your marks. It is also the only exam here with a real experience gate, 24 to 60 months of leading projects depending on your education, and the only one whose sponsor tells you the format precisely while declining to tell you the pass mark at all.

Questions people actually ask about the PMP

How many questions is the PMP exam and how long is it?

180 questions in 240 minutes, with two 10-minute breaks. Ten of the 180 are unscored pre-test items, so 170 count. PMI publishes this in its July 2026 content outline.

What is the passing score for the PMP?

PMI does not publish one. You get an overall pass or fail plus proficiency ratings by domain. Any specific percentage you see quoted is somebody’s estimate, not PMI’s number.

Is the PMP hard?

PMI publishes neither a pass rate nor a passing score, so nobody can honestly put a number on it. The difficulty is judgment rather than recall: most items are scenarios asking what a project manager should do first, and two of the four options are usually defensible. Roughly 60% of items sit outside predictive approaches.

What does PMI’s July 2026 PMP content outline say?

It sets the domain weights at People 33%, Process 41% and Business Environment 26%, and lists multiple choice, drag-and-drop and practicum items using tools, data and case studies among the question types. We quote only what that outline states, so we do not publish before-and-after percentages we cannot source to PMI.

What do I need to be eligible for the PMP?

One of four paths, all with experience from the last 10 years: upper-secondary education plus 60 months leading projects, a post-secondary short-cycle qualification plus 48 months, a bachelor’s degree plus 36 months, or a degree from a PMI GAC-accredited program plus 24 months. Everyone also needs 35 hours of training unless they hold an active CAPM.

How much of the PMP is agile?

PMI states that approximately 40% of items represent predictive approaches and the other 60% is split between adaptive/agile and hybrid. Those items are spread across all three domains rather than grouped together.

How many attempts do I get at the PMP, and how long does it last once I pass?

Three attempts inside your one-year eligibility period; after the third you wait a year from that attempt before reapplying. Once you pass, PMI runs the certification in three-year cycles, kept current with 60 PDUs and the renewal fee.

Are these real PMP questions?

No, and we would not do that. Live PMP items are protected by PMI’s exam security rules. Everything in our bank is written from scratch against PMI’s published domain structure, pitched at the same difficulty, and shipped with an explanation covering the right answer and each distractor.