When Can You Take the PMP Exam?

Once you go for PMP training courses and start preparing for the exam, a significant decision crosses your mind: when is the best time to take the PMP exam? For most people, the question of 'WHEN' is navigated by two other questions: 

#1 How can I know whether I am ready to take the PMP test?

#2 As the exam patterns change every 3-5 years; it will be impossible to pass. So, should I take the exam before the following PMP exam change?

You might be wondering what sort of question is #2? You are right; it's pretty silly. But these are just myths and rumors that revolve around the PMP certification exam, thus demotivating several. 

Therefore, we strongly recommend you not fall for these traps and push yourself to take the exam without adequate preparations.

Before getting into the main topics, let's see other related details of PMP certification. 

Will the PMP Exam Change in 2022?

The exam often changes. The changes happen when a new edition of the PMBOK Guide is released or when the PMI reviews and updates according to the trend surrounding the project manager roles.

The change of PMP exam came into action on 2nd January 2021; however, the primary reference book remains PMBOK Guide Ed 6, though Edition 7 has been digitally published.

The latest PMP exam consists of 3 domains of knowledge, that are:

• People (42%)
• Process (50%)
• Business Environment (8%)

For those who are confused about whether PMI has brought any further PMP examination change this year, then don't worry.

The current PMP test is based on the Exam Content Outline (ECO), which, like said, started in January 2021. Therefore, the same shall continue until further notification by PMI.

The PMI does a great job of communicating the timing and nature of changes in the PMP exam; hence it must not trigger you to speed up taking the exam.

You may also like: What are the domains in PMP?

How to Know Whether I'm Ready to Take the PMP Test?

This is indeed very interesting at the same time, a crucial question. Many PMP aspirants have trouble coming up with a solution about 'how ready am I to take the PMP test?' 

Here we will see some points that will help you conclude. Are you ready? Let's get it.

#1 Do you have the following qualifying experience:

• Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate's degree, or the global equivalent)
• 7,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

OR

• 4-year degree (bachelor's degree or global equivalent)
• 4,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

If the answer is NO, stop here. It's not the time for you to take the PMP exam. But don't worry, this is not putting your career to a complete stop. First, you can go for Certified Associate Project Management (CAPM) certification. Once you clear the CAPM test, you can directly apply for the PMP exam, as PMI has waived off the PMP eligibility criteria for CAPM certified professionals.

You may also like: CAPM Certification: Everything You Need to Know

#2 Have your application for taking the PMP exam been approved? This is a counterpart to scheduling the credential test date.

#3 Have you prepared well enough? 

Some people think that the PMP examination is a piece of cake because they are good project managers with experience. Therefore, they could quickly get through the test and be PMP-certified professionals. However, this is not true. You have to understand what the PMI wants you to know, and it wants the candidates to understand PMBOK Guide. Hence if you haven't started studying, start now.

#4 How is your score in PMP mock or practice exams? Are you scoring well and good?

The PMI does not reveal a minimum passing score for the exam, making it stressful for candidates. However, PMP-certified professionals and aspirants believe that the passing score percent of PMP is supposedly 60%; hence they strive to obtain 70% during the actual test.

We are trying to say that, though you score well in your practice test, it isn't necessarily the exact prediction of your actual exam score. Hence, you don't have to achieve 100% in all your mock tests, but a range of 80-85% is more than a good score.

#5 Do you know why you miss PMP mock test questions?

You don't want to memorize the exam questions and answers; instead, you want to understand in-depth what makes the correct answer the best one.

PMP Exam Dates 2022

In 2020, our world went into complete lockdown thanks to Covid-19. That's when PMI decided to conduct the PMP exam from your home or office. A live proctor will monitor you throughout the credential test in the online mode exam.

PMP exams are happening daily, with available slots every 15 minutes. Therefore, once you complete your preparation, you can book an exam slot at your convenience.

Remember, the exam dates may not be available on short notice, so schedule your exam in advance to attend the exam on an intended day.

When is the Best Time to Take PMP Exam?

Whether the exam changes or not, if you are prepared and doing more than just good on the mock test, it's time to schedule for the exam. Suppose an exam change is on the way or getting closer. In that case, you might consider pushing yourself to take the credential test before the changes happen if it makes sense to do so.

For instance, you have dedicated a considerable amount of effort and time to shaping yourself for the exam by leveraging one edition of the PMBOK Guide. However, the guide's new edition and updated exam pattern will be launched; of course, you must push yourself to take the test before such changes happen.

If you push yourself to appear for the PMP exam without sufficient preparation, you will likely have a bitter experience. Of course, not everyone passes the test on the first attempt; however, you won't get PMP-certified with a lack of preparation and undue stress.

You don't want to look back and regret exam failure as you rushed to take it, do you?

Keep in mind, TAKE THE EXAM ONLY WHEN YOU ARE READY, not when someone compels you to do so.

How to Apply for the PMP Examination?

Before you apply for any credential exam, follow specific procedures. Here we will see a few steps needed for you to apply for the PMP credential examination:

• Confirm your eligibility to appear for the PMP exam
• Take an educational training PMP course
• Register in pmi.org and start your application
• Enter your information and complete the application
• After the application, you will receive confirmation, and PMI may conduct an audit
• Pay the PMP exam fee within one year of application approval
• Begin your PMP exam preparation plan
• Schedule the exam according to your preparation plan
• Take the exam (online or offline mode).

How to Maintain PMP Certification?

Once you're PMP certified professional, the certification stays valid for three years. The PMI needs 60 hours of project management education during these years to maintain your eligibility. After this period, you can renew the certificate by paying the recertification cost.

Enrol for the PMP training course iCert Global offers and be fit to appear for the credential test. Our experts help you finish the projects on time and within budget without much effort. We also help you track significant PMP credentials tasks, so nothing goes in vain.

Recommended Post:

• Highest Paying Project Management Certifications of 2022
• Can I Take the PMP Certification Test at Home?
• What is PMP Certification Fees?
• What are the Prerequisites to Satisfy PMP?
• How Hard is the PMP Certification Exam 2022?

Do visit our Corporate Training to know more about core offerings for enterprises in empowering their workforce.

Download Free PMP® Exam Practice Test with 200 PMP® Questions.

Full-length PMP sample test with 200 PMP exam prep questions.  You may also be interested in Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022 before you download the Free PMP® Practice Test.

Download our Free PMP Brochure for more information.

For more information about PMP® Certification Training courses worldwide, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com

OR

E-mail Us: info@icertglobal.com

Can I Pass PMP on My Own?

Can you study for the PMP® Exam on your own? The answer is yes!

 It is possible to study for the PMP® Exam independently if you have enough self-discipline and can dedicate the time required. In addition, there are many books, videos, and online courses available for purchase that can supplement your learning longer-term and in between classroom sessions.

The PMP® certification is an elite way to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, experience, and competency as a project manager. It is worth the investment of effort and time because those investments will positively impact your career.

Many PMPs take advantage of on-demand courses, which replicate the content found in a formal classroom course. These tools include videos and interactive exercises that mirror what you would do in a live class.

Eligibility criteria for the Exam

• Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate's degree, or the global equivalent)
• 7,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

OR

• 4-year degree (bachelor's degree or global equivalent)
• 4,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

Alternatives for studying on Your Own

Did you know that there are several ways to prepare for and take the PMP exam other than a formal classroom experience?

Just because you aren't sitting inside a classroom doesn't mean you can't learn. Our students find online learning more engaging and interactive than attending a live class! 

Besides, you can pace yourself through online learning, depending on your schedule.

First, participating in a study group is a great way to learn and retain information. However, it's also an opportunity to meet other people preparing for the same certification you are. 

A support system can be critical to your success, so we suggest finding a group through your local PMI chapter or perhaps on LinkedIn. 

Depending on the group and their degree of professional guidance, there may be no fee for participation or at least an affordable fee.

Participating in a study group includes mutual sharing of information and structure that provides much-needed motivation.

So find a PMP Study Group. If you are working and studying, it is often difficult to find additional time to set aside for study without disrupting your schedule. 

A good solution may be to get together with others who are also preparing for their PMP credential and apply teamwork to studying.

Second, though more challenging, self-study is an option. You'll need to dedicate a fair amount of time and money to do it right. This approach starts from scratch, studying all necessary materials, and qualifying yourself for the Exam. Traveling alone provides an opportunity to explore new surroundings without the influence of others.

Suppose you think Project Management is the career path and find that the PMP designation would be a valuable asset to your résumé. In that case, it's worth your while to research and plan for the certification process. 

Your goal is to become PMI certified. This certification carries a significant weightage in all industries because it represents your demonstrated skill, knowledge, and dedication to the field.

Is self-learning reliable?

Please consider carefully whether self-studying - without an exam preparation course - is the best option for your situation. While self-studying may reduce cost, it is also likely to increase the time commitment required to prepare for the PMP exam and affect your chances of success.

Many PMP certificate holders may not have attended a PMP Exam Preparation course before sitting the Exam. 

It may not be necessary for some to join a classroom-based preparation course. However, it would be best to keep in mind that self-studying takes more time than a course and has disadvantages. 

Self-studying involves taking in all of the information by yourself, which could result in an overwhelmed feeling. In addition, there would be no one you can ask questions during your study period. 

Also, you will probably not receive any professional input on your progress or level of knowledge as you are studying. 

And lastly, after a long and thorough day of work, having to study for another few hours at night might leave you tired and burnt out.

When choosing how to self-study, it's essential to consider factors such as your study rate and learning style. In addition, it would help if you also considered the resources available in content, community, and cost.

Tips for self-study

Find what works for you

Stick with the option that works best for you, and don't switch things up. If you find something that helps you remember information and focus more, stick with it! Every individual has different tips and tricks that work best for them, so discover yours and use it.

Study in short and frequent session

To understand why short study sessions are a more effective way to learn, think about what happens to your body when you exercise. For example, if you try to lift heavy weights for a long time, you'll burn out. 

But if you break up your lifting into short sessions with more extended rest in between, you'll be able to lift more as you build strength and endurance (hence the saying, "no pain, no gain"). The exact process applies when it comes to learning material.

Set the goals

Goals are a great way to stay organized and track what you need to accomplish. You can set weekly goals to ensure that you're making progress at the time that works best for you.

Creating a self-study schedule is crucial to the success of your learning plan. Setting realistic weekly goals for yourself and rewarding yourself with mini-breaks every week can help you stay on track.

Sequence for study

Start by reading the PMBOK Guide thoroughly at least two times. Pay special attention to definitions and make sure you understand the content. Then get some practice exams to test your knowledge.

Studying hard is the first step to success. Take practice exams excessively to fix your mistakes and correct your weaknesses. Remember, skillful examination preparators are often not just creating a test to see if you know how to recall facts but rather to present you with problems that must be solved by applying facts. The tests are to evaluate whether or not you can perform these functions under pressure.

You should seek out as many practice questions as possible when you are learning. So, although you might have access to higher-fidelity, situation-oriented, more complex questions, in the beginning, you should aim for a typical score of 60 percent or more.

Your question set is scored according to PMBOK Knowledge Areas (Plans, Stakeholders) or Process Groups (Initiate, Plan). Note which areas are lower and review them carefully in the PMBOK Guide until you can consistently answer the questions correctly.

You're ready to start timing yourself once you're answering at least 80 percent of the questions correctly. Take one or two practice exams under exam-like conditions (230 minutes). You've shown that you're ready for the test if you're still getting 80 percent or more of the questions right.

Consistency is Key to Becoming a PMP

If you want to earn the designation of Project Management Professional, you must study every day. If you study for even just an hour each day, you will be amazed at the progress you can make in a week.

Being mindful of the necessity of consistency will allow you to prepare better for the PMP.

The more consistent you are in your preparation, the better you will do on the PMP test.

Consistency is crucial to passing the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam.

Few recommendations to start PMP Exam Preparation

The PMP certification is growing fast, which means more competition for you! But, don't worry—you can still get the PMP certification with effort, dedication, and guidance. The systematic approach to deal with PMP are:

Research

Make a list of questions about the PMBOK® Guide before you begin reading. This will help you become an active researcher. The overall objective is to understand each knowledge area's meaning by using a bottom-up approach. 

After going through the guide, you will have a good grasp of what each knowledge area entails. This can be very helpful when you study the PMBOK® Guide or prepare for the Project Management Professional (PMP) ® Exam.

Survey

It's a great idea to read through all the material in your prep book and the PMBOK Guide before you start your study sessions. This will help you get oriented and make it easier to understand what you're reading when you delve into the individual topics.

 It will also help you identify where specific topics are located in the prep books, making it easier for you to figure out where to start when you study.

Motivation

Set your goal. Before you begin your work, think about what you want to learn today. If your preparation material has specific study goals or questions at the end of articles or chapters, read them first to know where you are headed and what kind of information you need to learn by the end of the day.

Disengage

Cognitive research has found that a person remembers best the first and last things they learn during a given study session. Use this finding to your benefit and take frequent breaks while studying; this should break up the monotony of studying, making it easier to recall previously learned.

Tips for PMP exam

Memorize the PMBOK® Guide

The PMP® is the premier and most recognizable project management certification. Consequently, it is one of the most highly sought-after certifications. The PMP® Credential test is based on the PMBOK® Guide created by PMI, which covers numerous project management topics. Use that to your advantage.

To prepare for your PMP® Exam, study one knowledge area of the PMBOK® Guide per week. 

Begin with the guide itself, then move on to other study material to make sure you cover all your bases.

Make sure that you understand concepts in-depth and study them with focus and concentration. The PMP® Exam will test how well you can apply these concepts, principles, and ideas. 

Search for videos in your knowledge area and add them to your playlist. Also, feel free to study with practice questions flashcards or create Quiz lets in your knowledge area.

Follow a good PMP book

Purchasing a high-quality text on project management is essential for preparing for the Project Management Professional certification exam. The PMP® certification exam assesses your ability to integrate knowledge, skills, and experience in applying project management principles. Preparing for an exam requires a significant investment of time and commitment and a high-quality study guide.

Active on study groups and forums

Study groups and discussion forums can be an invaluable resource for preparing for the PMP® Exam. If you are active in one, you can help others prepare, get your concerns addressed, learn more about valuable resources, and significantly reduce the time required to prepare for your Exam.

Recommended post

What are PMP certification fees?

What are the Prerequisites to Satisfy PMP?

How hard is the PMP Certification Exam 2022?

Download PMP Brochure for more info.

Can I Take the PMP Certification Test at Home?

Amid the pandemic in 2020 and continuing with a fourth wave, organizations and industries faced or still faced a hard time offering their services to the fullest. 

With restrictions or lockdown phases in most parts of the world, individuals couldn't attend credential tests in test centers.

Hence, the Project Management Institute (PMI) worked on bringing a different option to provide the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) credential tests online.

In March 2020, the PMI President - Sunil Prashara, posted a LinkedIn article stating that the institution plans on offering these credential tests online with a live proctor. In April the same year, PMI had announced that the tests could be taken from the office or comfort of your house, as long as you have reliable internet connectivity.

The institution has arranged a convenient approach to suit every participant's schedule and secure credential tests in the same manner as done in a test center. This was indeed a great move from PMI to never let your education and success take a U-turn.

How to Take Online PMP Exam?

The online invigilation experience will be pretty similar to the in-person ones with added benefits. You can take the credential test from your comfortable/ space with a fast and secure internet-connected computer, laptop, or tablet.

When you opt for the PMP exam in the test center, you will have to find a suitable credential test schedule in a Pearson VUE test center. However, with an online invigilating PMP exam, you can take the test as you wish.

What essential things must you ensure before taking PMP online test?

• Computer/laptop with a webcam, as a live invigilator, will monitor you during the exam
• Reliable internet connectivity
• A quiet room or space to take the PMP online exam for 230 minutes

Remember that Pearson VUE conducts the online version of the credential test. Once your application is complete and satisfies PMP requirements, you will have an option to schedule the test in your PMI profile.

Online PMP exam scheduling will follow the same step as test center-based ones. However, other than testing at the center, you have another option, i.e., invigilator valuation.

You must complete 35 hours of educational PMP training to apply for the test. For this, you can either attend a self-paced or instructor-led online training.

PMP Exam Schedule

A live invigilator will observe the PMP exam candidates during the test. Therefore, ensure that you schedule your online test as soon as possible. Keep in mind that there will be available slots every 15 minutes. Therefore, exam takers will always find a 24/7 time around their schedule, which is great flexibility offered by PMI.

Since a live proctor monitors you during the credential exam, the test is not on-demand, and you need to schedule it ahead of time. 

Once you have completed the PMP training and are eligible for the credential test, you can apply for the online mode exam via PMI. There are three main PMP application methods:

• Paper application
• Online application
• Application via the training provider

pmi.org suggests that enthusiasts apply online as it's the easiest and quickest application method. While online application reviewing and results take five business days, paper and application via training providers can take approx a month.

After completing the application, if PMI approves it, you can appear for the PMP exam. The next step is to schedule and take the exam within a year of PMP application approval. If you cannot take it, you will have to re-apply the application for reviewing.

Is online proctored testing for the PMP secure as a test center option?

PMI ensures top priority safeguarding the PMP exam integrity and is dedicated to accurately addressing associated risks with the online testing mode.

PMI has implemented numerous security protections, including:

• A stringent data forensics program to determine and take action on participant misconduct and other credential test validity problems
• Check-in process: AI-enhanced identification authentication & face-to-photo matching
• If misconduct detected: AI-assisted, live remote invigilator, which includes the potential to end a testing session immediately.

While PMI recognizes that online testing creates unique security challenges, we remain devoted to ensuring that the PMP accreditation method remains as stringent and renowned as it's always been.

How to Reschedule PMP Online Exam After Being Cancelled?

When the testing centers were closed due to the Covid-19 restrictions, PMI announced waiving the rescheduling fees. Therefore, you can reschedule the credential test and choose online mode via online invigilation in PMI website.

Furthermore, you will see the center-based option when you are rescheduling the test. Even if the centers in your premises aren't restored, you will still see this option; however, it will show no seats available.

Can I Cancel the Scheduled Test Center PMP Exam and Opt for Online Mode?

As said, the rescheduling PMP exam fee is waived off; therefore, you can cancel the previously booked center-based exam date and reschedule for the online mode exam.

How Does Online Invigilation work?

There will be a live invigilator observing your every move through your webcam. You will go through a check-in procedure before you begin your credential test - where your photo will be taken, a picture of your ID card (passport, national id, etc.), and recordings of your surroundings will be taken. 

Recording your surroundings is vital as the invigilator will check whether you have any books or a person that might help you during the exam.

Remember, you can't leave the invigilator's view throughout the examination. Therefore, you have to prepare yourself to appear for the exam for a few hours without any obstacles.

Once you schedule the date and time of the online exam, the test link will be available 30 minutes prior to the date and time you have booked.

What IF I Have Technical Trouble During the PMP Online Exam?

If you face any issue with connectivity or other technical problems, the invigilator will try to contact you through phone or your mic and speakers on your computer. This is the only time you can accept calls during the exam. Then, the invigilator will guide the process about what and how to fix the issue.

Want to get hands-on project management expertise? Enrol for the PMP training course iCert Global offers and be fit to appear for the credential test. Our experts help you finish the projects on time and within budget without much effort. We also help you track significant PMP credentials tasks, so nothing goes in vain.

Recommended Post:

• Highest Paying Project Management Certifications of 2022
• What are the Domains in PMP 2022?
• What is PMP Certification Fees?
• What are the Prerequisites to Satisfy PMP?
• How Hard is the PMP Certification Exam 2022?

Do visit our Corporate Training to know more about core offerings for enterprises in empowering their workforce.

Download Free PMP® Exam Practice Test with 200 PMP® Questions.

Full-length PMP sample test with 200 PMP exam prep questions.  You may also be interested in Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022 before you download the Free PMP® Practice Test.

Download our Free PMP Brochure for more information.

For more information about PMP® Certification Training courses worldwide, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com

OR

E-mail Us: info@icertglobal.com

What is PMP certification fees?

The Project Management Professional (PMP) ® is a prestigious credential for project managers. In almost all parts of the world, you will find a PMP-certified professional leading and directing projects. Unlike the other certifications that aim at a specific domain, the PMP is genuinely global.

As a certification holder, you benefit from working virtually in any industry verticals and any practices and locations.

It is neither easy nor inexpensive when it comes to the credential exam. However, you can pass it on to the first attempt with proper preparation. It is important to note that PMP cost involves much more than just the exam fee. 

Explore the multiple elements that add up to the total cost of your PMP certification and make an informed decision regarding your preparation strategy.

When performing your research, it's essential to know that the PMP certification cost is divided into two key areas – costs associated with exam preparation and expenses related to taking the exam. 

The certification process adds up to a significant amount, so plan and be prepared for what's involved.

In today's blog, you will get an overview of the costs and other factors that add to it, thus understanding what it takes to be a PMP-certified professional.

What PMP cost include?

PMP certification cost: Three main elements to consider. Pursuing your PMP certification is a fantastic investment, but it's crucial to assess the total cost before committing accurately.

I will show three different elements, so you can be prepared when you start the journey toward Project Management Professional certification.

Let’s get into detail of these three elements one by one: 

Training Cost

Follow the right path to PMP certification by meeting the eligibility criteria, including earning 35 contact hours of project management education or training.

You can earn these contact hours by taking on-site or online PMP classes offered by an Authorized Training Institution like iCert Global. The cost of training may be different for different regions and institutions.

Certification and the Resources Cost

Continue to get the information you need for your PMP certification. This includes the fees associated with the application and exam and any other costs necessary to prepare yourself for this certification.

The cost to sit for the PMP® certification exam is a $555 fee for non-members and a $405 fee for PMI members. But note that this is only one piece of the PMP® certification cost. 

Further costs are involved in pursuing your PMP® certification, including application fees, membership fees, and other expenses. Let’s review them in greater detail.

PMI Membership Cost

PMI offers a variety of membership options; most clients will benefit significantly from PMI membership. The annual membership fee, including the first-time registration fee, is $139.

Who doesn’t want to save money and become a PMP®? When it comes to the Project Management Professional (PMP) ® credential, PMI Membership unlocks many valuable benefits that can help you earn your PMP — and advance as a project professional.

Membership allows you to save up to $150 on the exam fee and offers a variety of benefits such as exclusive discounts and access to PMI’s vast network!

You can gain the required PMP® PDUs for free by watching the webinars and joining the annual online conferences exclusively available for members. Further, you get a free copy of the latest edition of PMBOK® Guide and other standards or guides published by PMI, which you need to be thorough with to pass the PMP® examination.

PMBOK® Guide Cost

PMBOK® Guide is the project management bible. It is one of the primary study materials for the Project Management Professional (PMP) ® exam. 

It would help if you considered PMBOK® Guide as a syllabus of PMP® exam. This book is required to be read by every PMP® aspirant. 

For PMP® aspirants, they are reading the PMBOK® Guide more than once while preparing for their PMP® exam is recommended. The PMBOK® Guide is an official reference book for the PMP® exam.

Reference Book

PMP® Certification - Passing the PMP® certification exam is not an easy task. A lot of practice and hard work goes to crack the exam in one go. 

The candidates need to prepare for the exam pattern thoroughly. 

Try online mock tests and access reference books both in hard copy and online. These resources contain tons of project management knowledge which is helpful while you prepare for your PMP® exam.

Include the training course in your preparation plan to help yourself with a better performance.

Mock Test

PMP mock test and practice exam is a tool that will help you prepare for your PMP® certification. These sample exams consist of challenging questions that closely resemble the type of question you are likely to encounter on the actual exam. 

The main motive behind giving a mock test is to ensure that you’re ready to take on the PMP® exam confidently.

 Check the PMP certification provided by iCert Global.

Renewal Cost

Most people are unaware that passing the PMP exam is only half the battle. Remember, you have to renew your PMP credential every three years, which requires you to earn 60 professional development units (PDUs). You need to pay $150 for your credential renewal, and the cost reduces to $60 if you are a PMI member.

Conclusion

A PMP certification doesn’t come cheap. However, if you are looking to get into project management or advance your current position, it could be worth the investment.

The PMP certification cost can be challenging to navigate, and it may vary depending on what country you are in. However, even though the expenses can be high, the benefits of getting certified can make it all worth it.

As the official and most globally recognized PMP certification provider, the PMI sets the price of its exam. Therefore, you must apply to sit for the exam through the PMI, whether you are a member or non-member.

The PMP certificate is a valuable certification that demonstrates that you have the necessary knowledge, experience, and skills to be a successful project manager.

We’ve heard that some people think that the PMP certificate is expensive and wonder if it’s even worth it. We disagree, as the PMP certification is a great way to ensure that you get paid competitively in your industry.

Businesses will be happy to have you on board and reward you handsomely in turn with it.

How Hard is the PMP Certification Exam 2022?

As a beginner and a proficient, you may have crossed paths with different concepts about the prestigious certification - The PMP. As said, we also have published a few blogs that offer you quick and detailed notes on the following:

• What is PMP?
• Can you get PMP without experience?
• What are requirements to satisfy PMP?
• PMP Vs Six Sigma: Which one to choose, and not the least
• The domains in PMP according to 2019 exam content outline

While searching across Google for new ideas to write on, we noticed several queries going viral about the same topic - “How hard is the PMP exam 2022?”

So here we are with a new blog focused on putting your doubts away.

In this article, we will see whether the PMP exam is challenging or not, followed by a few relevant details for newcomers on our site. So, let’s go!

Understanding PMP

1984 was when the Project Management Institute (PMI) coined the term or the course - the Project Management Professional (PMP). And over the years, the certification has gained much popularity across the industries, where companies began skimming through resumes to hire PMP professionals.

According to the PMI survey, there are more than 1,000,000 PMP certified holders across the globe. 

How shocking is that?

Hold on; it’s not over yet; there are more to the story to be shocked off.

Although there are more than 1Mn project managers; however, it doesn’t imply that the certification is easy to obtain. Candidates who strive to pursue a career in the project management field find PMP certification hardest. 

Why?

Reason: PMP being a globally renowned certification, its credential exam evaluates your proficiency level in managing a project. Its broad syllabus, complex question patterns, mind-tricking MCQs, and long duration make it one of the most strenuous project management exams globally. 

Moreover, PMI has set forth stringent requirements that you need to fulfill before appearing for the test.

The PMP Credential Exam

PMI ensures that the PMP exam is frequently revised and updated to match the present trend in project management. Until 2020, the exam used to cover five knowledge domains. However, according to the Exam Content Outline released in 2019, from 2021, the exam will cover three domains that measure the individual's knowledge and potential to excel in over 20 project management skills.

These changes have seen the integration of methodologies such as Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid into the testing policies.

Several candidates have defined the taking of the PMP exam as a rollercoaster ride. The exam format includes 180 combination-type questions, out of which 15 are pre-test or unscored questions.

Who Should Go for PMP Certification?

If you are looking for a career in planning and executing projects, then the PMP certification is for you. But if you wake up one fine morning and decide to have a career in project management and try scheduling dates for the PMP exam, then straight up, that won’t work.

PMP, a prestige certification, is for nothing if it was a cakewalk to acquire. To launch your pursuit of the credential, you must have professional work experience of not less than eight years in a project-based setting. Moreover, this experience must align with knowledge, skills, and tasks demonstrated in the PMP Exam Content Outline.

How Hard is PMP Examination?

PMP exam difficulty is the latest trending topic in the project management environment. Recent statistics show the fail rate of first-timers is 40-50%, with the percent plummeting with every subsequent exam taken.

Though many of you might say PMP exams are comprehensive and are updated, they often are the reasons for having more failure rates. Unfortunately, however, that's not it.

Every question in the exam is evaluated according to the difficulty. This means you might still fail the test if you get all the easy ones correct but fail the difficult questions. Since the arrangement of the questions is random, you will have no idea which question is easy and which one is tricky. 

Furthermore, there aren't any specific number of questions that you must correctly answer to pass the test. In other words, we can say PMP is akin to gambling.

What are other reasons for PMP exam being tough?

• Resource/material length: The PMP exam is based on PMBOK Guide Ed 6. And PMBOK Guide alone is a lengthy material that can't be covered in a day or two. With strict scheduling of time and lots of effort put forth, you can get a basic to in-depth clarity on the topics. Though everything isn't covered on the exam, yet its significant to be familiar with all the topics in each domain.
• Exam structure complexity: Creating a mental structure of the Guide is a complex task. To be honest, most of the questions can't be answered using just your personal logic or what experience have taught you. Therefore, its best to refer the PMI's standard.

Is 2022 PMP Exam Difficult?

In June 2019, the PMI released a new PMP Exam Content Outline, which took effect in 2021 January. The new exam focuses on three domains of knowledge (previously five), which are:

Process: This implies enhancing the technological resources vital for project management.

People: This entails upgrading interpersonal skills and activities for effective project team leading.

Business Environment: This includes improving the connection between the organization's scope and its projects.

The new PMP credential test consists of 180 questions with a combination of:

• Hotspot
• Multiple responses
• Limited fill-in-the-blanks
• MCQs

The duration of the new exam is 230 minutes.

There is no shortcut in excelling in the PMP exam. The most efficient and straightforward way to pass the exam with flying colors is to prepare adequately and study the content material.

The certification process needs you to be familiar with the PMBOK Guide, create a study plan, take a mock test, check your progress, and complete the required 35 hours of project management training.

How to Get PMP Certification?

Following are the steps in obtaining PMP certification:

1. Register in pmi.org to be a member
2. Take project management training of 35 hours to meet the certification requirements.
3. Schedule PMP exam online
4. Ensure to take the examination within one year of receiving your approval letter. You cannot take the exam more than three times the same year.
5. Take the exam.

Concluding Thoughts

It is not concealed that the PMP exam is complex, and the best way to obtain the credential is to prepare wholly for the exam. Unlike other credential tests, the PMP test covers a wide range of project management syllabi and goes beyond the fundamentals studied in preliminary exams.

Nonetheless, with meaningful insight into what to expect, you can certainly clear the PMP exam in 2022 and launch your pursuit of a PMP career.

About Us

Want to get hands-on project management expertise? Enroll for the PMP training course iCert Global offers and be fit to appear for the credential test. Our experts help you finish the projects on time and within budget without much effort. We also help you track significant PMP credentials tasks, so nothing goes in vain.

So, what are you waiting for? Enrol Now!

In this course, you will have:

If you still have doubts about PMP prerequisites, you can Contact Us with your query, and we will answer it for you.

Recommended Post:

• Highest Paying Project Management Certifications of 2022
• Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022
• Top 10 Roles of Project Managers
• What are the Prerequisites to Satisfy PMP?
• A Step-by-step Beginner's Guide to Project Management

Do visit our Corporate Training to know more about core offerings for enterprises in empowering their workforce.

Download Free PMP® Exam Practice Test with 200 PMP® Questions.

Full-length PMP sample test with 200 PMP exam prep questions.  You may also be interested in Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022 before you download the Free PMP® Practice Test.

Download our Free PMP Brochure for more information.

For more information about PMP® Certification Training courses worldwide, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com

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CAPM Certification: Everything You Need to Know

Project management is a drastically growing profession. According to a survey, employers will need to fill around 2.2Mn new project-based roles each year through 2027. With the CAPM certification, you will be on the fast track to new doors.

What is the CAPM Certification?

The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is an entry-level certification accredited by the Project Management Institute (PMI). It is designed for aspirants to learn skills necessary for the project management roles.

It can be the first step towards the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Irrespective of your career stage, the CAPM is an asset that will distinguish you from the crowd and improve your effectiveness and credibility working on/with project teams.

What Does CAPM Do?

The CAPM certification requires enthusiasts to demonstrate skills in five functional PMBOK framework processes, that are:

• Project initiation
• Planning and budgeting
• Project execution
• Monitoring and controlling
• Project Closure

CAPM Prerequisites

Though the requirements for CAPM certification are not as strict as PMP certification; however, it does have two basic ones that aspirants must note before appearing for the credential exam.

• Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate's degree, GED or the global equivalent)
• 23 hours of project management education, before the time of the exam

CAPM Certification Cost

Suppose you are a full-time student in an accredited degree program. In that case, you may be eligible for the student bundle, which is $257 - including a membership fee of $32 + CAPM exam fee. You can also approach faculty members who teach project management programs at your schools to see if they have a bulk purchase deal with PMI. Doing so will further save you money.

If you are employed and think the CAPM certification can be beneficial to your workforce, consider approaching your manager to check out if the company will cover the exam and training costs.

The CAPM Credential Exam

The CAPM credential exam consists of 150 questions, and the duration is three hours (180 minutes). Out of these 150 questions, 15 are pre-test questions. As mentioned in previous blogs, pre-test ones are used for testing future examination questions and not for score counting. Moreover, PMI does not release the average score required to pass the test. As the questions are scored based on their difficulty, hence it is critical for you to get these questions correct as possible.

The credential test is based on the PMBOK Guide Ed 6, and the exam topics breakdown are as follows:

You may also like: What If I Fail for CAPM Certification Exam?

Is CAPM Certification Worth It?

After knowing what CAPM certification and other details are, let's brief on how CAPM certification is worth the time and effort.

Achieving a CAPM certification opens new doors to aspirants in almost every industry vertical. Below mentioned are a few benefits of a CAPM certification:

• Better career choices: There is a growing demand for enthusiasts with project management skills in nearly every organization. A CAPM certification will allow individuals to attain good career choices globally, as the credential is a globally renowned certification.
• Professional and personal development: The credential is a stepping stone towards professional and personal growth among aspirants. The learning path of the CAPM certification course adopts competencies and confidence among the participants, making them aware of top-notch practices to lead and direct challenging projects.
• Increased pay scale: Though the salary depends on several factors such as industry, country, and job positions, the CAPM certification adds value to any resume. The credential will likely increase the certification holder's salary by 25 percent.

You may also like: Top 10 Roles of Project Managers

CAPM Jobs and Salary Prospects

CAPM certification helps you get into a wide range of entry-level project management positions where the salary varies according to the roles you perform and countries. Let's see different job roles, experience levels, and corresponding salaries followed by CAPM demands in other countries.

                                Salary Prospects According to Different Job Roles

                                           Salary Prospects in Different Countries

                                   Salary Prospects Based on Years of Experience

CAPM Exam Application Process

The CAPM exam application process begins as soon as you fill out the application form. The main points you have to remember during the process are:

• Once you start, your application must complete within 90 days.
• On submission, note that it takes up to 5 days to review your application for completeness.

For the entire application process, you can go through the CAPM Handbook. You can expect the following application procedure steps:

1. Check your eligibility for the CAPM exam. The criteria to be fit for the exam are mentioned above.
2. Fill out the application form. This step comes only if you meet the eligibility criteria. The application form is on the PMI website. Before the form submission, refer and agree with the PMI Code of Ethics and professional conduct.
3. PMI takes nearly five days to review your application form. On successful completeness notice, you get a confirmation mail, after which you have to pay the exam fee and schedule the test.
4. There are chances that PMI might select your application for audit to quality-check your application. If your application is selected, you will receive an email for which you've to submit copies of experience certificates, educational qualification certifications, and others as per CAPM exam requirements. The audit takes up to 5-7 business days. Once the audit is complete, you receive another mail stating whether the application is selected or rejected.
5. This step happens when PMI doesn't select your application for an audit. In this case, you will receive a confirmation email with a code to schedule the credential test date.

Skills Required to Pass the CAPM Exam

A few skills you need to pass the CAPM credential exam are:

• Project milestones
• Project lifecycles
• Meeting of deadlines
• Quality control
• Cost and budgeting
• Procurement
• Risks management
• Setting of timelines
• Project scope
• Meeting of stakeholder expectations

CAPM Vs PMP

Final Thoughts

The CAPM certification is the initial step towards a project management career. If you meet the eligibility prerequisites, you are fit for the credential and start your journey as a certified project manager.

If you still have doubts about CAPM certification, you can Contact Us with your query, and we are 24/7 available just for you.

 Recommended Post:

• A Step-by-step Beginner’s Guide to Project Management
• 10 Tips You Must Know to Crack CAPM Exam in First Attempt
• Top 10 Roles of Project Managers
• PMP Vs Six Sigma: Which One to Choose?

Do visit our Corporate Training to know more about core offerings for enterprises in empowering their workforce.

Download our Free CAPM Brochure for more information.

For more information about CAPM® Certification Training courses worldwide, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com

 or

Call Now!

USA: +1-713-287-1213 / 1214 / 1053 / 1355

UK: +44-2038689013

AUS: +61 272019662

SG: +65 3158 8869

BHR: +973-16-196142

IND: +91 988-620-5050

OR

E-mail Us: info@icertglobal.com

PMP Vs Six Sigma: Which One to Choose?

If you are looking for ways to challenge your potential and advance your career, achieving certification is definitely what you need to put yourself ahead of others.

Certification is being a 'THING' among the industrial sector these days. So why do people do certification courses? Either they want to upgrade their skills or are looking for a more exemplary job career.

In today's blog, we will see the two most widely recognized certifications - PMP and Six Sigma similarities, differences, how to obtain them, and which one to choose.

As these certifications depend on business success rates, employers worldwide list either or both as job requirements. Moreover, both being highly-valued credentials, they can also be expensive and need months of preparation.

PMP Certification

What is PMP certification?

The Project Management Professional (PMP) is a globally renowned and prestigious certification awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The credential is designed for professionals to test their skills in managing the project priorities - People, Process, and Business.

Now, how do you become one?

To be a certified PMP professional, you must pass the credential test. The exam deals with the Introduction to the PMBOK Guide and Project Management Process Groups. 

With the new PMP format, including predictive, agile, and hybrid practices, added across the three exam domains (People, Process, and Business), the certifications prove project leadership experience and proficiency in the working environment.

However, for project management aspirants, there are particular prerequisites you must know before you appear for the credential test. ‘How to earn the PMP credential’ will be mentioned in this blog. So, stay till the end.

What’s the PMP exam format?

• The PMP certification exam consists of:
• No. of questions - 180
• Duration: 230 minutes 
• Question type: a combination of MCQs, multiple responses, matching, limited fill-in-the-blanks, and hotspot.

You may also like: Top 50 PMP Questions with Answers 2022

How to Earn PMP Credential?

PMP certification warrants a certain knowledge level in the project management area. In addition, organizations give more value to PMP-certified professionals than other certification holders because PMI has a very rigorous application and audit process.

As you know, PMI administers the PMP credential exam; let’s see the two possible requirements where you will be eligible for the test:

• Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global equivalent)
• 7,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

OR

• 4-year degree (bachelor’s degree or global equivalent)
• 4,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

You may also like: Can You get PMP Without Experience?

Six Sigma Certification

Six Sigma is one of the most significant data-driven practices.

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is an industrial engineering quality approach based on quality control and statistical analysis. The methodology focuses on minimizing defects, eradicating wasteful processes, cutting expenses, and increasing efficiency and productivity.

What are Six Sigma phases?

The primary method of Six Sigma is Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control (DMAIC) cycle that includes:

1. Define: Identify the issue that needs to be resolved and identify the scope and objective of the project.
2. Measure: Gather data to understand the effect of the issue and present state.
3. Analyze: Perform root-cause analysis with the gathered data to understand the real reason for issue occurrence.
4. Improve: Determine solutions to the issue and execute to make processes more efficient.
5. Control: Monitor the effect of solutions and align strategies to maintain results or outcomes.

What are different Six Sigma belts?

• White Belt
• Yellow Belt
• Green Belt
• Black Belt

How to Earn Six Sigma Credential?

As for the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) certification test, there is no single certifying entity. What's more, is its different certification levels with varying educational prerequisites.

The different types of certifications are as follows:

1. White Belt: It is an initial Six Sigma certification, where candidates get an insightful understanding of the fundamental level of the Six Sigma practices. With this basic level, White Belt holders participate in projects and problem-solving tasks related to waste minimization and quality control.
2. Yellow Belt: During Yellow Belt training, candidates focus on the Six Sigma theory, including necessary tools and procedures to enhance processes. These individuals may also guide minimal scope projects and assist managers of top belt levels.
3. Green Belt: Once you proceed to the Green Belt, you are a Six Sigma expert. Here, you will learn more about data gathering or collection and participate in the methodology initiatives. This training is valuable for professionals in project management, healthcare admin, or finance management, giving them an understanding of performance metrics and tools.
4. Black Belt: Here, you are responsible for managing White, Yellow, and Green Belts. During the training, professionals exhibit what they have learned and achieve hands-on experience by performing a project for a non-profit organization or their employer.

PMP Vs Six Sigma: Differences

The PMP exam demonstrates individual project management skills through the PMI. The certification focuses on a set of concepts and skills. The credential covers the five process groups:

• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring
• Controlling
• Closing that is required to perform project management functions.

There are also ten PMP knowledge areas:

• Scope management
• Cost management
• Integration management
• Risk management
• Schedule management
• Procurement management
• Quality management
• Communications management
• Stakeholder management
• Resource management. 

Each knowledge area has its own process set, spread across the five process groups.

PMP certification has prerequisites: project managers must have specific knowledge and skills.

Six Sigma is the process of enhancing business workflows through quality engineering. The methodology uses data collection tools, statistical analysis, and more to improve 100 percent of process results at minimized costs.

Six Sigma focuses on defect minimization and eradicating wasteful processes, sales, and production. Therefore, the certification prerequisite is that individuals have a piece of specific knowledge to enhance operations.

Benefits of PMP & Six Sigma Certifications

Benefits of PMP are:

• Assess and mitigate the risks
• Prevents project failures
• Helps in determining and interacting the issue areas
• Helps managers to understand the project and its scope
• Higher pay scale

Benefits of Six Sigma are:

• Enhance business procedures and sustain quality improvement
• Excellent pay scale
• Helps organizations to minimize risk and eradicate defects and flaws
• Ensure compliance
• Obtain hands-on experience in quality management
• Promotion to managerial roles

PMP Vs Six Sigma: Which One to Choose?

If you are in a dilemma choosing between PMP or Six Sigma, remember these certifications' positive and negative sides. Depending on the career objective you have set, make an efficient choice. Remember that no certificate is better than the other, as they focus on different areas.

Whether you choose the PMP certification over Six Sigma certification depends on various factors. However, the choice is simple, i.e., if you're an aspiring project manager, it's best to get PMP certification, and if you're looking for a career in quality control, take Six Sigma certification.

Still, having doubts on which one to pursue? Then choose a training provider to walk you through the decision process. With the right training provider, you will have a basic idea of who should opt for which certification.

Take the first step towards exploring an opportunity to be either a global project management professional or a quality control/assurance professional. Prepare for the PMP or Six Sigma certification and fast track your career. Join Now!

Please fill in the enquiry form or call now on +1(713)-287-1355 or e-mail info {at} icertglobal {dot} com for our training consultant to understand your training requirements and guide you with an optimum way to achieve your learning objectives.

For more information about our PMP and Six Sigma certification, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com/

What Happens if I Fail CAPM Certification Exam?

Project Management Institute (PMI) provides several certification courses, and one such is the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). This entry-level credential is for project managing aspirants who want to take up more extensive projects and add skills to their current roles.

The certificate is highly recognized and has significantly grown over the years; the CAPM credential is a stepping stone to a successful career.

Benefits of CAPM Credential

For those entering into project management or existing managers wanting to take extensive responsibility, CAPM certification is ideal for distinguishing you among the market crowd. Similar to PMP Practitioners, you will be learning from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide.

A CAPM certification will justify the following:

• Dedication to project management and personal ability enhancement.
• Understanding global basic project management concepts such as knowledge, processes, and terminology.
• Potential to work on/with project teams.

The CAPM credential is highly valuable if you work in a project team, though you don't lead and direct any. It applies to shareholders, committee members, sponsors, and others involved in the project.

As PMP is the golden standard certification, CAPM is also highly considered. Fortune 1000 organizations recommend PMP, and so do CAPM credentials.

CAPM Vs PMP – Requirements, Examination & Renewal

One of the drastic differences between CAPM and PMP is that:

• CAPM certification requirement - 23 hours of project management education
• PMP certification requirement - a minimum project management education of 35 hours and thousands of leading and directing project experience hours.

The prerequisites make CAPM an ideal credential for non- and entry-level project managers working in project teams.

What makes PMP certification a golden standard is its stringent requirements, exam, and maintenance in recognizing the most dedicated and talented project managers.

CAPM Credential Exam

The credential consists of 150 MCQ-type questions, out of which 15 are pre-test ones. These 15 questions will not impact your scores; however, they will effectively test future exam question validations.

As the question placements are random, candidates can't identify the pre-test questions. The duration of the exam is 3 hours (180 minutes). Surprisingly, most participants who do well in the mock test use less than the provided time.

If you take the CAPM credential test online, you cannot leave your desk. If you did, you would be terminated from the exam. However, if you take the test through the exam center, you are allowed to take a break, but note that the clock will continue to tick during your break time.

With PMBOK Guide, Ed 7 is available; however, there is no mention of exam format change by pmi.org. According to PMI, the exam will depend on the PMBOK Guide Ed 6, and if there are any changes to CAPM exam 2022, it will give a notice of 6 months before the exam changes.

What IF I Fail CAPM Exam?

You will have a total of 3 attempts available within your one-year eligibility period. However, remember that you have to strive hard within that year. A failure to meet the demand means you will have to re-apply for the CAPM exam after a one-year suspension.

To prepare yourself for the CAPM credential test, you must use online training materials to test and validate your knowledge of the concepts. The training sessions allow the candidates to track and monitor the progress and identify their core weaknesses. It also ensures that you study the PMBOK Guide deeper.

Want to get hands-on project management expertise? Enrol for the CAPM training course iCert Global offers and be fit to appear for the credential test.

In this course, we offer you with:

You may also like: 10 Tips You Must Know to Crack the CAPM Exam in First Try

CAPM Certification Cost

What is the Passing Mark of CAPM Exam?

CAPM credential uses a hybrid of difficulty-based scoring and psychometrics to mark scoring. However, PMI does not release the average score required to pass the test. 

As the questions are scored based on their difficulty level, and like said, there are 15 pre-test questions. Therefore, it is crucial that you get the difficult ones right because your correct question % won't affect whether you passed or failed.

Who Should Apply for CAPM?

The CAPM certification recognizes individuals interested in project management, even if you are a beginner in this field or a project team member wishing to demonstrate your knowledge and skill.

The credential determines aspirants who have taken project management as their core domain and those who wish to prove themselves. In addition, PMI offers a cluster of terminologies, guidelines, processes, and top-notch practices in its PMBOK Guide, highlighting generally recognized practices in the CAPM exam.

Best CAPM Career Opportunities

The credential allows you to achieve a wide range of project management careers, mostly entry-level ones. In addition, CAPM will show recruiters that you are devoted to your job and are familiar with the requirements of working as a project manager. 

Some of the career choices for CAPM certified professionals are:

• Operations project manager
• Project manager
• Engineering project manager
• Associate project manager
• Business analyst

Concluding Thoughts

Project management is a drastically growing profession across the globe. Research portrays that professionals will need to fill around 2.2Mn new project-related roles every year through 2027. To fill these roles, organizations across various industry verticals look ahead to hire new project managers with the skills and educational qualifications required to affect the organization positively.

Due to the rising demands for these managers, project management is the requirement for every global giant. A CAPM, an entry-level credential, is extensively leveraged globally by different affiliations.

CAPM certification is one of the top-notch profitable credentials in the project management field that displays certified professionals’ potential with PMI standards.

Take the first step towards exploring an opportunity to be a global project management professional. Prepare for the CAPM® certification exam and fast track your career as a project management professional. Join Now!

Please fill in the enquiry form or call now on +1(713)-287-1355 or e-mail info {at} icertglobal {dot} com for our training consultant to understand your training requirements and guide you with an optimum way to achieve your learning objectives.

For more information about our Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®) Training Course, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com/

What are the Prerequisites to Satisfy PMP?

In Quora.com, we have come across a common yet significant quest lingering on PMP aspirants "What are the prerequisites to satisfy PMP?" Therefore, we, iCert Global, have come up with today's blog to put an end to your queries right then and there.

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, PMP is a prestigious certification for project enthusiasts across different industry verticals to get a hold on. This highly valued certification allows aspirants to lead projects in almost every country.

Without further delay, let's get into the main topic: What are the requirements to appear for PMP or the requirements for gaining a PMP certification? This blog will also solve your query regarding examination cost, its format, and other PMP-related topics.

The Eligibility Criteria for PMP Certification

PMP Certification criteria are a ranked validation structure that ensures you have the needed educational qualifications and work experience. Earning this credential means you must qualify for the prerequisites put forward by Project Management Institute (PMI®) in addition to appearing for the PMP test. Meeting these prerequisites is the first stepping stone to your PMP certification.

You can check PMI set credential requirements in PMI's PMP Handbook. You can now download a free version of this handbook from their official website: http://www.pmi.org

It will help you clear your quest regarding PMP certification, such as who is eligible and how to apply.

The eligibility criteria for PMP certification are tabulated below according to the PMI’s requirement 2021:

Though the institute hasn’t mentioned the hours of leading and directing project experience nor waived off in PMI's PMP certification criteria from 2021, let's consider who knows what happens at the last moment.

As per PMI's prerequisites till 2020:

• Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global equivalent)
• 7,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

OR

• 4-year degree (bachelor’s degree or global equivalent)
• 4,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

You may also like: Can You Take PMP Without Experience?

How to Gather Experience of PMP?

Suppose you are a full-time project manager or have a similar role of full-time handling project leading and directing. In that case, it's easy for you to gather the required number of hours. In case you don't have enough hours, don't be overwhelmed. You can go ahead with the current position, and with time you will gather adequate hours.

For those, not full-time project managers, earning PMI-required experience can be challenging. Suppose you are managing projects part-time or not all. In that case, your speed of collecting experience hours will be less compared to a full-time project manager.

Here are the different ways you can increase the rate of gaining experience to:

Changing Organization

Suppose you are not getting an opportunity to shift to a project managing area or similar field in your present organization. In that case, it is time for you to change the firm you are working for. Finding a suitable organization with experience uplifting opportunities earns you the required experience hours - with a quicker demand meeting.

Changing Role

The number of hours spent managing projects can increase with the change of your role. Hence go for a broader discussion regarding career development with your manager by a clear briefing on how you would like to offer more value to your employer by leading and directing projects.

By changing your role and ending up being a full-time project manager, then you can gather the required hours swiftly.

Volunteering

If you are a PMI Member and want to meet other PMI experts, join a local PMI Chapter. You can always check for any volunteering in it, exposing you to other benefits such as building your project management network and attending PMI events.

With volunteering, you can earn enough to meet the eligibility demand of PMI's PMP credential.

PMP Credential Cost

Apart from the PMP certification prerequisites, the credential exam does have specific costs. However, you will save more costs in the long-term if you are a PMI member and want to maintain your credential renewal continuously.

Content and Format Outline

According to pmi.org, the proportion of question from each domain that appear for PMP credential test:

The exam consists of 180 questions out of these domains, and you will have 230 minutes to finish the test. If you are worried about not passing on the first try, do not worry. You can take the credential re-exam up to 3 times a year.

Once you pass the test, your PMP certification will be valid for the next three years. You will have to earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) during that period, collaborating with project management education and activities that offer a profession to maintain your credential.

Meet One of Your PMP Requirements Today!

You need to meet one of the eligibility criteria put ahead by PMI to qualify for PMP certification. However, it is also essential for aspirants to finish 35 project management education experiences to appear for the credential exam.

However, questioning yourself on how to earn it? Enrol in PMP Certification training course to earn 35 hours of project management education criteria. With training, you get entirely prepared for the PMP exam and receive support from experts to pass the credential in one shot.

Want to get hands-on project management expertise? Enrol for the PMP training course iCert Global offers and be fit to appear for the credential test. Our experts help you finish the projects on time and within budget without much effort. We also help you track significant PMP credentials tasks, so nothing goes in vain.

So, what are you waiting for? Enrol Now!

In this course, you will have:

If you still have doubts about PMP prerequisites, you can Contact Us with your query, and we will answer it for you.

Recommended Post:

• Can You Take PMP Certification Without Experience?
• Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022
• Top 10 Roles of Project Managers
• Widely Adopted Steps in Creating Project Communication Plan
• A Step-by-step Beginner's Guide to Project Management

Do visit our Corporate Training to know more about core offerings for enterprises in empowering their workforce.

Download Free PMP® Exam Practice Test with 200 PMP® Questions.

Full-length PMP sample test with 200 PMP exam prep questions.  You may also be interested in Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022 before you download the Free PMP® Practice Test.

Download our Free PMP Brochure for more information.

For more information about PMP® Certification Training courses worldwide, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com

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Can You Get PMP Certification Without Experience?

The answer is NO.

Why?!

Simple, you are not fit for taking the PMP certification exam as you lack project management experience and education, which means the certification isn’t for the freshers.

You can pursue CAPM Certification, which can become a step ahead of passing the PMP credential test.

Now, if the question is ‘Whether you can get project management experience without PMP certification’? Then the answer is YES.

Find out why the first question is a big NO and the second one a YES in this blog. Make sure you read till the end!!! So, let’s get started.

Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification is a worldwide renowned and prestigious certification awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI®). If you've set your eye on obtaining PMP certification for a project management career, it may seem like a mind-boggling situation due to its prerequisites.

According to PMI's PMP handbook, the requirement for PMP highlights that you must have a minimum experience of 3 years in leading and directing projects. It is one of the reasons why PMP certification holds a significant weightage in the industry. Individuals with this badge are proficient project managers having all the needed education, including relevant credentials and ample training.

Eligibility Criteria to Apply for PMP Exam

The PMP certification being highly valued, its requirements get even more rigorous. 

PMI needs exam appearing candidates to have project management experience of at least 36 months (3 years), extending to 60 months (5 years) for those who don’t hold either a 4-year UG degree or a global equivalent.

Additionally, to be exam-fit, you are required to have 35 contact hours of project management education. This condition, however, is waived off for CAPM-certified professionals.

You may also like: 10 Tips to Crack CAPM Exam in First Try

The eligibility criteria for applying for PMP, according to PMI, are given below:

• Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global equivalent)
• 7,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

OR

• 4-year degree (bachelor’s degree or global equivalent)
• 4,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education or CAPM certification

According to pmi.org - examination content outline 2021:

PMP Experience Criteria

What is meant by project management experience?

An experience in project management means the time spent executing or performing numerous project management tasks during the complete project duration.

Until 2020, PMI demanded that professionals have a minimum of 7,500 and 4,500 hours of project management experience appear for the PMP certification exam. However, according to the exam content outline 2021 of PMI, the institute doesn't specify any minimum hours; instead shows professionals must have a minimum experience of 3 and 5 years.

©2019 Project Management Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. PMI PMP Examination Content Outline – January 2021

Though PMI hasn't disclosed removing the minimum number of hours from its system, we as the audience shall wait for any further updates. We shall consider the older version of 4500 or 7500 hours until then.

Below given are a few cases where you can obtain the required hours:

1. You have done project management activities equal in value to 4500 or 7500-hours in a single project.
2. You worked in multiple sequential projects and gained project management activities worth 4500 or 7500-hours.
3. You worked in multiple simultaneous projects and done activities worth 4500 or 7500-hours.

What are the Leading and Directing Project?

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide®) 4th Edition coins a project as a "temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service."

Leading and directing projects refers to any experience that falls under five project management activities, that are:

1. Initiation

Initiating any project or sharing your ideas and defining project goals.

2. Planning

Here, we identify the project's scope and create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the project plan (cost, quality, resources and duration) and communication strategy.

3. Execution

This stage includes executing project scope within real-time, solving issues and managing quality, cost, and risk.

4. Monitoring & Controlling

The project progress and performance are measured during the execution phase and at the phase end. It includes project tracking, reporting the project update and changes needed, troubleshooting issues, stakeholder management, resource management, and more.

5. Closing 

Lastly, the project closing. Here processes such as reviewing, documentation, finalizing and maintaining the final project report, handing over the deliverables, etc., are done.

According to PMI's PMP Handbook, the experience doesn't necessarily have to be paid one but must be in a professional setting. Moreover, it isn't necessary to have a Project Manager title in all the projects you worked on to qualify for program management activities experience hours.

How to Get Project Management Experience?

Take up small projects to lead and gain experience in any of the five project management activities said earlier, as PMI doesn't look for the candidate who carries the Project Manager designation. Hence step up the business ladder together with your organization to gain project management experience.

To qualify the criteria for appearing PMP exam, you must maintain a record of work with information like:

1. The industry you worked with
2. Project date (Start to finish)
3. Reporting manager and finally,
4. Experience overview or summary.

You must keep track of your work with specific deadlines and deliverables. Remember, project management experience is not about obtaining paid project work but working in a professional environment.

Pave ways to lead projects by taking any of the project management courses. Certified Associate Project Management (CAPM) is one of the best stepping stones towards PMP as it covers the fundamental of the PMBOK Guide.

Designations that Offer Project Management Experience

If you in search of a career change, consider roles that have project management roles and responsibilities, but without project manager designations, and they are:

Business Analyst (BA)

BAs get assigned with the accumulation of requirements that significantly become part of the project or provide tasks during project execution.

Training Organizer

As a training organizer or coordinator, you have the advantage of being both parts of a vast project and managing your own. On massive projects, training allows individuals to participate in a project. Creating a training plan for a team is visualized as a project requiring skills similar to a project manager.

Personal Assistant

Being a personal assistant will attain time management and organization skills. You will likely end up in multiple minor projects that need the right project managing responsibilities and works.

Office Admin or Manager

Now, both roles have different roles and responsibilities, mostly resembling the project manager. To be an office admin or manager requires proficiency in communication and organization skills, followed by the potential to plan and perform more significant activities. Here too, you will lead minor projects that will help you achieve project management skills.

Other leading or directing role includes supervisor, project coordinators, team luminary or leader, assistant project manager, etc.

Validation of Project Management Experience

It's not just about you gaining PM experiences. PMP credential is prestigious for project management skills and knowledge. Hence it is no surprise that PMI undergoes stringent policies to verify the applications.

They randomly review the applications before you appear for the credential test. If your application comes under audit, PMI can ask for validations regarding educational qualification or contact hours.

If you fail the audit process, there is a suspension period of 1-year to apply for that certification again.

Enrol Now for Project Management Experience

To meet the prerequisites of getting a PMP certification takes two to four years. As you move ahead with your plan on achieving the goal, ensure you maintain an accurate record of project experience hours and track them accordingly. This additional effort will help you complete the application seamlessly.

If you have the required project management experience and are looking for training, then you can check out iCert Global’s 35 contact hours of PMP training course.

In this course, you will have:

If you still have doubts about PMP prerequisites, you can Contact Us with your query, and we will answer it for you.

Recommended Post:

• Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022
• Top 10 Roles of Project Managers
• Widely Adopted Steps in Creating Project Communication Plan
• A Step-by-step Beginner's Guide to Project Management

Do visit our Corporate Training to know more about core offerings for enterprises in empowering their workforce.

Download Free PMP® Exam Practice Test with 200 PMP® Questions.

Full-length PMP sample test with 200 PMP exam prep questions.  You may also be interested in Top 50 PMP Exam Questions for 2022 before you download the Free PMP® Practice Test.

Download our Free PMP Brochure for more information.

For more information about PMP® Certification Training courses worldwide, please visit us at https://www.icertglobal.com

 or

Call Now!

USA: +1-713-287-1213 / 1214 / 1053 / 1355

UK: +44-2038689013

AUS: +61 272019662

SG: +65 3158 8869

BHR: +973-16-196142

IND: +91 988-620-5050

OR

E-mail Us: info@icertglobal.com

What is DevOps? DevOps Explained

If you are new to the software development field or while exploring different programming techniques, you may have come across many other programming-related terms. These phrases or words can be confusing, and you may feel a bit overwhelmed as you're just setting foot into the programming world.

A term that you have come across more than once in the programming area is DevOps. But what exactly is it? What does DevOps do? How does it help programmers? Should I take this as a career?

Today's blog is just for you, breaking the ice lingering around DevOps with a detailed explanation of its definition and working methods.

What is DevOps?

DevOps expert - Patrick Debois, in 2009 coined the term DevOps. Its significant potential is to increase software development and delivery speed, efficacy, and security compared to standard processes. 

The best explanation given to DevOps is people working together to obtain, create and deliver secure software at the highest speed. A thing to remember is that DevOps is not a technology. Its practices enable developers and operation teams to ramp up delivery via fast feedback, automation, iterative enhancement and collaboration. 

DevOps is one of several practices used by software workforces to perform IT projects to meet business demands. It can coexist with ITIL, Lean & Six Sigma methodologies, Agile software development, etc.

However, some IT-savvy says that a simple integration of Dev and Ops is not enough. Instead, merging several other terms such as business (BizDevOps) and security (DevSecOps) must be included.  

What are DevOps Phases?

The complexity of DevOps is driven by two factors which are:

Companies to microservices architectures. As the method evolves, organizations need more DevOps tools for each project. More projects and tools (per project) had a drastic increase in the number of project-tool integrations, leading to a transformation in the adoption of the DevOps tool. This resulted in the following 4 phases:

1. Bring Your Own DevOps

In this phase, each project handling team is given a choice to choose its own DevOps tools. But what happened is that it caused problems when teams started working together. The reason is that one group may not be familiar with other team tools and vice versa.

2. Top DevOps

Companies moved to the second phase to address the challenges faced by teams using different tools. They can standardize on the same toolsets, with a preferred tool for each DevOps lifecycle stage. This aids teams in collaborating with one another. However, this phase too had an issue - moving software changes through the tools for each lifecycle stage.

3. Do-it-yourself (DIY) DevOps

To address the problem seen in phase two, companies adopted DIY DevOps, building on top of and between their tools. Here teams can perform several customized works to merge their DevOps point solutions.

Since these DIYs were independently created, they never were suitable. For many firms, maintaining these tools was a crucial effort and expensive, with engineers controlling tooling integration than operating on essential software products.

4. DevOps Platform

A single-application platform method enhances team experience and business efficacy. The organization obtains visibility and control over the entire DevOps lifecycle stages by replacing the 3rd phase (DIY DevOps) with the final step - DevOps Platform.

The DevOps Platform is built on a single codebase with a unified data store that allows companies to solve the vulnerabilities and anomalies of unpredictable DIY tools.

As the organizations are expanding and being more agile these days, every firm looking forward to modernized software deployment and delivery do need a DevOps Platform.

The Core of DevOps

Though the DevOps definition is significantly an evolution in IT culture, it's also vital to understand the technical root of DevOps. In the case of software development, DevOps tends to use Agile methodology. This being a significant part was also a compelling reason for DevOps creation.

These days, it has been highly uncommon to practice Agile without DevOps due to the lack of efficiency DevOps as a single entity offers.

Another significant part when it comes to DevOps creation is the System Admins. Since then, it has incorporated some top-notch Enterprise Systems Management (ESM) approaches. Some of the approaches for better software development efficiency include automation and system monitoring.

You may also like: 6 Prominent Agile Certifications

DevOps Explained

While DevOps can't be described using a single definition, few of the general principles behind the approach can be found in The Agile Manifesto. Besides, the nucleus of any successful method is the DevOps Trinity. 

DevOps Trinity includes:

• Practices and Procedures: Agile and DevOps go collectively. By adopting Scrum, Agile or Kanban followed by Automation, companies can smoothen the procedures predictable and repeatable.
• People and Culture: This indicates the breaking down of traditional silos between organizational teams and working closely to achieve a business goal. The objective is to get better or quality software to the end-user at a swift turnaround time.
• Techs and Tools: DevOps is not a feasible model without suitable tools and techs. These enable configuration management, releasing, Automation, monitoring, orchestration, continuous integration, testing and packaging.

You may also like: Familiarizing with Scrum Methodology

Why Leverage DevOps?

The Internet and Software have transformed the industries, from shopping to internet banking. Software is no longer a mere thing supporting a business but a core element of every business sector.

Teams who implement the DevOps method tend to complete their project rapidly. There are very few miscommunications, and improvements or other needed changes are made in a blink of an eye.

DevOps method encourages more collaboration between development and operational teams, and everyone's targets get more organized. When an organization doesn't leverage DevOps, the teams may find that the overall project isn't efficient and end up late more often.

What are DevOps Practices and How They Help?

What are DevOps Application Lifecycle?

DevOps influences the application lifecycle throughout its phases:

• Plan
• Develop
• Deliver
• Operate

Each stage relies on the others, and the steps aren't role-specific. In an authentic DevOps culture, each role is involved in each phase to an extent.

Plan

• DevOps teams ideate, define and describe potentials and features of systems and applications they are developing.
• Progress tracking at low- and high-level granularity
• How do teams plan agility and visibility? By Creating backlogs, tracking bugs, managing Agile software development with Scrum, using Kanban boards and visualizing progress with dashboards.

Develop

• Includes all aspects of coding like writing, testing, verifying and integrating.
• Building of codes into build artifacts for implementations into several environments
• DevOps teams do rapid innovation without sacrificing productivity, quality and stability. 
• Highly productive tools automate mundane and manual procedures, and iteration in small increments are done.

Deliver

• Applications are deployed into production environments reliably and consistently.
• Includes configuration of entirely governed fundamental systems that make up production environments.
• The team defines a release management process with precise approval stages.
• Setting up of automated gates for the applications to move between steps until made available to customers.

Operate

• Involves controlling, monitoring and troubleshooting applications in production environments
• Teams ensure system reliability, top availability and focus for zero downtime.
• Groups seek to determine issues before they impact customer experience.
• Swift mitigation of problem when it occurs.

What's It Like to Work with DevOps Approach

People who have never worked in a DevOps environment might be curious about what it's like to work with DevOps. Automation is a critical component of DevOps. Its users depend on a wide range of tools for various operations throughout the software development lifecycle.

DevOps leverages an Agile methodology; its users will collaborate with the programmer's work more frequently. This is often consistent and can help reveal any issues in the earlier phase.

The users can also continuously check their code to avoid unnecessarily long QA sessions with numerous automation techniques. This helps in a drastic reduction of project time.

As a DevOps practitioner, it's also important to understand that working independently without entirely welcoming teamwork goes against what DevOps is all about. The success of the DevOps approach heavily relies on the integration between all team employees involved in a specific project.

Who Leverage DevOps?

DevOps is not just for software operators or developers, instead of practiced by different individuals in areas like IT, security and support of an organization. In one way or another, professionals like project managers, system admins and test engineers find themselves getting involved in the DevOps process. Even executives might be involved in this process or fully embrace it because of its efficient delivery.

Join DevOps Training Course and Be a Part of Talent Pool

Now we have seen what DevOps is and how it works, you may want to know in-depth how to master the DevOps approach. If you are looking to shift into a new career field that's the latest boon and can lead to several innovative doors, consider working in DevOps. Due to the high demand for DevOps practitioners, this industry can be just what you are trying to pursue better career growth.

Whether you are an experienced DevOps professional or a beginner wanting to start new programming life, here we are. iCert Global's DevOps Certification Training Course is just what you need to upskill your career potential. From scratch to advance techniques, we cover it all.

Why waste time thinking about whom to choose when you are on the right page. Learn more about our flexible course options and sign up for the courses now!

About Us

iCert Global is a one-stop solution offering certification training courses in a wide variety of techniques that will give you a head start in this competitive world. Visit our website to find out the DevOps Training Course.

https://www.icertglobal.com/ 

Our company conducts both Instructor-led Live Online Training sessions and Instructor-led Classroom training workshops for learners across the globe.

We also provide Corporate Training for enterprise workforce development

Project Management courses

• PMP Certification
• CAPM Certification
•  PgMP Agilist Certification

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•  Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt (LSSYB) Certification Training Courses
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• DevOps Certification Training Courses

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• ECBA (Entry Certificate in Business Analysis) Certification Training Courses
• CCBA (Certificate of Capability in Business Analysis) Certification Training Courses
• CBAP (Certified Business Analysis Professional) Certification Training Course

Top 35 Machine Learning Interview Questions 2022

Are you lacking the confidence to appear for the Machine Learning (ML) interview? Well, don't be anymore. Prepare yourself with iCert Global's best picked frequently asked ML interview questions 2022. 

Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are among the most popular and emerging technologies across the world. As the world's dependencies on these techs increase, so do its job opportunities or roles.

However, landing in these jobs does require a lot of effort and in-depth knowledge, as surpassing these interviews is never a piece of cake. If it was, then most around you would be ML, AI or DL practitioners.

Since we never let our audiences down nor demotivate them to pursue their dream jobs; therefore, today's blog is just for you. This comprehensive blog focuses on those striving to crack the machine learning job interviews.

Here we will see 35 sure-to-ask ML interview questions for 2022 that will revise all the required skills and necessary concepts. So, stay tuned.

You may also like: How ML Became a 2022 Tech Trend?

35 Sure-to-ask ML Interview Questions with Answers for 2022

Q1. What are different types of Machine Learning (ML)?

There are 3 types of ML:

1. Supervised Learning: Here ML models make predictions based on labelled or prior data. Labelled data means data sets that are given tags, making it more insightful.

2. Unsupervised Learning: Unlike the first type, here, there isn't any labelled data. An ML model can determine the input data's fallacies, patterns, and relationships.

3. Reinforcement Learning: Here, the model can learn based on the rewards it acquired for its past actions. For instance, consider an environment where an agent is operating. It is given a target to achieve, so every time it steps towards the target, it is given positive feedback. If the action taken is away from the objective, negative feedback is given.

Q2. What is variance and bias in Machine Learning?

• Variance: The number generates prediction difference over a training set and the expected value of other training sets. A high variance may result in significant output shifts; hence a model's output must be of low variance.
• Bias: It is the model's average prediction Vs the accurate value. If the bias value is high, then the model prediction isn't precise. Therefore, the value of the bias must be as low as possible to make the desired predictions.

Q3. What is Overfitting in Machine Learning?

Overfitting is a situation that happens when an ML model learns the training set too well, considering random shifts in the data as concepts. These affect the model's ability to generalize and not apply to new data.

For instance, when a model is provided with the training data, it shows 100% accuracy. However, when the test data is leveraged, there might be anomalies and low efficiency, and such condition is known to be Overfitting.

Q4. How to avoid overfitting in Machine Learning?

Some common ways to avoid overfitting in ML are:

• Regularization (artificial forcing ML model to be simpler).
• Cross validation (splitting datasets into two: testing and training datasets. Why? For tuning hyperparameters with only original training set).
• Ensembling (combines predictions from myriad separate models. 2 types of Ensembling - Bagging and Boosting)
• Make simple model with fewer parameters and variables.
• Remove irrelevant input features to enhance model generalizability

Q5. Name 5 popular Machine Learning algorithm?

• Support Vector Machines
• Decision Trees
• Nearest Neighbor
• Neural Networks or Back Propagation
• Probabilistic Networks

Q6. How will you handle a missing data in a dataset?

Two productive methods to handle a missing data are used in Python Pandas, and they are:

• IsNull() and dropna() - finds those missing data rows or columns and drop them.
• Fillna() - entire replacement of wrong values with a placeholder value.

Q7. How do you choose a Classifier based on training dataset size?

When a training set is small, the ML model with the correct bias and low variance works better as they are less likely to cause overfitting. 

For instance, Naive Bayes (a classification algorithm) works best with an extensive learner. Models with high variance and low bias result in better performance due to their potential to operate fine with complex relationships.

Q8. What is cross validation in Machine Learning?

This technique allows a model to increase the performance of the given ML algorithm, which is provided with some sample data.

Cross-validation in ML splits the dataset into smaller parts consisting of the same number of rows. A random part is chosen as a test set, and the rest kept as train sets. Some of the approaches used in cross-validation are:

• K-fold
• Leave p-out
• Holdout method
• Stratified k-fold

Q9. What is difference between training set and test set?

Training Set:

• It is examples provided to the ML model to analyze and learn
• 70% of the total data is considered as the training dataset.
• To train the mode, labelled data are used.

Test Set:

• It is used to test the hypothesis accuracy produced by the ML model.
• Out of the total data, the remaining 30% is derived as testing dataset
• Here the model is tested without labelled data and then outputs are verified with labels.

Q10. Explain 3 stages of building a model in machine learning?

1. Model building - Select a suitable algorithm for the model and train it according to the requirement

2. Model testing - Test the model accuracy using the test data

3. Applying the model - Once tested, make necessary changes and leverage final model for real-time projects

Q11. What is the difference between KNN and K-means Clustering?

Q12. What are the functions of Supervised Learning?

• String annotations
• Regression
• Classifications
• Time series prediction
• Speech recognition

Q13. What are the functions of Unsupervised Learning?

• Find data clusters
• Find new observations or database cleansing
• Determining interesting data directions
• Detect low-dimensional data representations
• Interesting coordinates and correlations

Q14. What is a confusion matrix?

A Confusion Matrix (error matrix) is a comparison summary of model predictions and actual value labels. It is represented using an NxN matrix, where N is the no. of classes.

Each row of the matrix indicates the predicted class instances, and each column shows the actual class instances.

For example, consider the following confusion matrix, where:

• True Positives (TP) = 12
• True Negatives (TN) = 9
• False Positives (FP) = 1
• False Negatives (FN) = 3

For actual values:

Total Yes = 12 + 1 = 13

Total No = 3 + 9 = 12

For predicted values:

Total Yes = 12 + 3 = 15

Total No = 1 + 9 = 10

Now, the accuracy of the model is calculated as

Accuracy = (TP + TN) / (TP + TN + FP + FN) = 21 / 25 = 84%

Q15. What is Deep Learning (DL)?

DL is a subset of machine learning. It involves systems that learn and think like humans using artificial neural networks. Since the model contains neural networks, the model can automatically determine which feature engineering to leverage and which not to use. DL also requires high-end system, due to huge computational power usage.

Q16. Compare Machine Learning with Deep Learning?

Q17. Name few applications where Supervised Learning is used?

• Fraud detection
• Disease diagnosis
• Spam detection
• Sentiment analysis

Q18. In what areas is pattern recognition used?

• Information retrieval
• Computer vision
• Bio-informatics
• Statistics
• Data mining
• Speech recognition

Q19. What is Semi-supervised Machine Learning?

In this type of learning, the training data will contain a small amount of labeled data (supervised learning) and a huge amount of unlabeled data (unsupervised learning)

Q20. How is the suitability of a Machine Learning algorithm determined for a specific problem?

The following steps has to be followed in identifying the algorithm for a certain problem:

1. Problem classification

• Input classification: to determine whether data is from supervised learning, unsupervised learning, or reinforcement learning
• Output classification:

If:

1. • output is required as a class (classification technique used)
   • output is a number (regression technique used)
   • output is a different input cluster (clustering techniques used)

2. Check the available algorithms

3. Implement the algorithm

Q21. What are the techniques used in Unsupervised Learning?

There are 2 techniques:

1. Association: Here, association patterns are determined between different items or variables. For instance, an e-commerce site such as Amazon or Flipkart recommends other things for you to buy, based on previous purchases you have made, Wishlist items, other user purchase habits, etc.

2. Clustering: It involves data to be separated into subsets known as clusters. These clusters contain data that are similar to each other. Unlike regression or classification, different collections unveil different object details.

Q22. What are the different methods to solve Sequential Supervised Learning problems?

The different methods to solve the issues are:

• Graph transformer networks
• Hidden Markow models
• Sliding-window methods
• Conditional random fields
• Recurrent sliding windows
• Maximum entropy Markow models

Q23. How can one know which Machine Learning algorithm to choose for the classification problems?

Though there isn't any fixed rule to choose algorithm for the problem, but you can certainly follow these instructions:

• If the training dataset is large, use models with high variance and low bias
• If the training dataset is small, use models with low variance and high bias
• Test different algorithms and cross validate them, if precision or accuracy is a concern

Q24. How does recommendation engine work?

Once we buy something from e-commerce sites, these sites store the purchase data for future reference and determine products that are most likely to be purchased. This is possible because of the Association algorithm that determines patterns in a given dataset.

Q25. When is Classification chosen over Regression?

Regression technique is used when the target variable is continuous, while Classification is used when the target is categorical.

Example of Regression problems include:

• Estimation of product sales and price
• Prediction of rainfall amount
• Prediction of team score

Example of Classification problems include:

• Type of color
• Prediction of 'Yes or No'
• Estimation of gender
• Animal breed

Q26. What is random forest?

It is a Supervised Machine Learning algorithm that is used for classification problems. Random forest operates by creating multiple decision trees during the training stage. The algorithm has to choose from the majority decision as the final decision.

Q27. Define Precision and Recall?

Precision

Precision defines how many of the total positives are predicted as positives. For instance, the metrics used in document retrievals will be defined as the no of correct documents returned by the model.

Precision is determined as follows:

                                                      Precision =          TP / TP + FP

Recall

Recall or Sensitivity is another vital metric that tells us the no. of True Positives (TPs) were predicted out of the total positive predictions. In simple words, it is said to be the ratio of TPs to all the positives in the actual values.

                                                    Recall =         TP /  TP + FN

Q28. How do we check a dataset or a feature's normality?

The normality of either can be checked using plots. However, there are a list of normality checking tests and they are:

• D'Agostino Skewness
• Anderson-Darling
• Kolmogorov-Smirnov
• Shapiro-Wilk W
• Martinez-Iglewicz

Q29. What is kernel SVM?

Kernel methods are algorithm classes for analysing patterns, and the most common one is the kernel Support Vector Machine (SVM).

Q30. What is meant by F1 Score?

It is a metrics that merges Recall and Precision into one metric for an average output value.

The formula to calculate F1 Score is:

                                                 F1 =   2 * (Precision * Recall) / (Precision + Recall)

Q31. What is meant by support vectors in SVM?

These vectors help in the creation of SVM models. The support vectors are data points which are closest to the hyperplane. It influences the orientation and position of the hyperplane. If the vectors are removed, it will alter the hyperplane position.

Q32. What is ensemble learning and why is it used?

It is a combination of results obtained from multiple machine learning models like classifiers to increase the accuracy for enhanced decision-making.

Ensemble learning is used to enhance prediction, function approximation, classification, etc., of a model.

Q33. How is Random Forest different from Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM)?

The major difference between Random Forest and GBM is the leveraging of methods, i.e., Random Forest used bagging method to advance predictions, while GBM uses boosting technique to do the same.

• Bagging: Here an arbitrary sampling is applied and datasets are divided into N. After that, using a single training algorithm a machine learning model is created. Using polling approach, the final predictions are obtained and is later combined. The advantage of Bagging approach is that it increases the model efficiency by minimizing the variance to eradicate overfitting.
• Boosting: Here, the algorithm strives to review and rectify the inadmissible predictions during the initial iteration. After that, the algorithm iteration sequence for rectification continues until a desired prediction is obtained. The advantage of Boosting technique is that it minimizes bias and variance to strengthen the weak learners.

Q34. What are the assumptions one must consider before beginning with Linear Regression?

There are basically 5 assumptions when starting with Linear Regression model and they are:

• No auto-correlation
• Linear relationship
• Multivariate normality
• No or less multicollinearity
• Homoscedasticity

Q35. Define AUC-ROC of Classification Metrics?

Area Under Curve (AUC) - Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) defines the degree of class separability by the model. The higher the score, the more the ability of the ML model to predict 1s as 1s and 0s as 0s. The curve is plotted using FP rate (FPR) on X-axis and TP rate (TPR) on the Y-axis.

The formula of TPR and FPR are as follows:

                                          TPR =      TP /  TP + FN

                                          FPR =      FP / TN + FP

If AUC-ROC = 1, then models are predicting accurately and complete separability. If it is 0.5, then there is no separability, and the model is expecting unexpected results. If it's 0, the model is predicting the inverted classes.

Achieve Your Dream and Be a Part of ML Talent Pool

With technologies increasing day by day, the ocean of AI and data science opportunities is never-ending. Individuals who upskill their careers and be top-notch in these innovative techs can find many open doors with eye-catching salaries.

Looking forward to becoming a Machine Learning practitioner but not knowing where to stop by? Well, you are in the right place. 

Enrol in iCert Global's Machine Learning (ML) course and be a certified professional now.

iCert Global is a one-stop solution that offers certification training courses in a wide variety of techniques, thus giving you a head start in this competitive world. Visit our website to find out the different technology courses.

https://www.icertglobal.com/ 

Based on the level of experience, you may be asked to display your Machine Learning skills. However, this mainly depends on the role you are trying to achieve.

The Machine Learning interview questions with answers are the best-pick from our end, which will help you clear the interview on the first try.

Apart from the interview question preparation, it is also significant to have an adequate knowledge of Data Science.

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We also provide Corporate Training for enterprise workforce development

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Top 10 Roles of Project Managers

Let's take you back to the days when we first heard the word 'Projects' during tertiary education and later became an imprint in our lives. You may remember when the professors asked us to do math or science projects or when we were assigned specific groups for the projects. During the initial time, some of us might have thought about why it's necessary for our education.

Oh… and did you know that NASA's InSight mission - the study of Mars' interior, is also known as a project? I bet you didn't. Now it's confusing, isn't it because NASA's mission is also called project and our so does our school-college assignments. So, tell me, how exactly do we define the term project?

Though the term contains several variations, a project is basically a task with a deadline, target, budget, and time to be met before delivery. If a teacher assigns us to work with a goal and wants it to be completed by a specific date, that is a project. The same goes for companies, but the only difference is its project has a more significant weightage.

However, the efficient management of a project is not a cakewalk. In fact, it's several not easy tasks throughout the initiation, planning, performing, management, and project completion. These tasks don't get done by a single person but need a team. This is where project managers and team steps in. When we see the project management phases, several groups and people are involved - helping in designing, developing, and delivering the objectives set out in the project.

Unlike our previous blogs that explain crucial concepts, we shall be highlighting main topics - Who is a project manager, what is a project team, and 10 critical responsibilities of them in an organization?

For people new on the topic - project management shall refer to our previous articles published on our website: https://www.icertglobal.com/

A few articles we think are significant for the newcomers to better understand are listed below; kindly go through them. The rest familiar with the topic shall skip this part and move on to central points.

A Step-by-step Beginner's Guide to Project Management

Why Triple Constraint Theory in Project Management?

Requirements for an Effective Program Management Office

Role of Business Analyst (BA) in Project Management

Who is a Project Manager?

A project manager is an individual that is accountable for leading the project, i.e., from initial to final project delivery phase. Being spearheads, they define project objectives, align internal & external teams, create project timelines, and monitor key performance indicators. Project managers ensure that the project is completed within the client-specified deadline and ready to be delivered without fallacies.

To make you understand better, these individuals provide the project vision to their team and keep their focus firmly fixed on the same. In other words, we can say these individuals are either ultimately praised for the victory or discredited for its failure. Either way, they are held accountable for the project's fate. 

Let's list some of the project management skills you as a project manager may obtain:

• Quality Control
• Vendor Management
• Budget Forecasting and Management
• Business Strategy Development
• Progress Reporting
• Gantt Chart and Timeline Development
• Define Work Objective etc.

What is a Project Team?

A project team is a group of personnel coming together to achieve specific business goals or objectives. Depending on the projects, these groups can either be created temporarily or for a long-run purpose. Remember that people in the project-oriented groups don't necessarily be from the same functional areas.

To manage a project efficiently and effectively, an organization can group current employees or recruit new people. The person who acts as a core to the project management team is the project manager. Along with the team, this manager contributes to the project's success.

You may like: 10 Tips You Must Know to Crack the CAPM Exam in First Try

Enough with the topic lag... and move on to what's required: the roles and responsibilities of project managers.

10 Roles and Responsibilities of Project Managers

From the beginning of the article, we have been stressing the words project, project managers and project management team. As said, the central role of a project manager is to achieve specific goals within a specified timeline. 

But we haven’t started with how these tasks are carried out or what they do for an organization. So, without a further delay, let’s get started.

The roles and responsibilities of project managers are:

1. Planning
2. Organizing
3. Leading
4. Communication
5. Monitoring
6. Risk Management
7. Tech Integration
8. Project Execution
9. Time Management
10. Documentation

1. Planning

It is the most crucial step in project management to prevent failure. A good project manager knows creating a project plan beforehand is the best way to navigate the risks and contingencies of the project execution stage.

In planning, they define the project's scope and accordingly create a plan and schedule. The manager develops efficient methods and policies for better project delivery within a specified time and budget. Moreover, this phase involves determining resource availability such as financial, human etc., considering the time factor for project completion.

If you think planning only happens at the beginning of a project and is later forgotten, then that's a big NO. Planning occurs throughout the project course, i.e., from its initial stage to when the project is actually delivered to the client.

One of the topmost skills a project manager must possess during the planning is flexibility to alter the plan according to changing demands of the client.

You may also like: Top 50 PMP Questions with Answers for 2022

2. Organizing

What will the project manager do next once they have a neat plan with needed requirements for project execution? Organize and implement the plan. But why not directly implement the plan? Well, that’s not POSSIBLE for any project or non-project cases. Let’s say budgeting, drafting an official mail, or a technology algorithm must be organized before implementing them. An improper method used without effective organizing to meet the business target could bring in a ton of obstacles to your company.

 The role of project managers in organizing is assigning functions to their team members and setting deadlines to achieve goals. In other words, they are giving structure to the project team by considering the existing system followed by the company. This includes the briefing of methodologies or tools the member can leverage.

3. Leading

Leading or leadership is considered the most essential responsibility a project manager must-have. A broad role can encapsulate all other project roles of the manager. They must take the lead right from the start by coordinating with many people for seamless project progress, regular tracking of project progress and ensuring the team meets the deadlines and follows the policies.

Several things wander inside a project manager's head, like what task to assign to specific team members or should the project be terminated as it exceeded certain resource limits. They must have the potential to make effective decisions.

Moreover, they must have in-depth knowledge regarding the technical issues that may or may not arise within the project. Apart from technical skills, the leading phase must have interpersonal skills, as managers demand excellence from their team and assist them in their personal development.

4. Communication

The best project manager must be an excellent communicator to inform the team regarding project changes, problems impacting executions, and the expectations for task completion. Hence, communication strategy paves the path towards a successful project.

However, communication isn't restricted to just team members; instead, these managers have to interact with clients, vendors, project sponsors, and other significant shareholders during the project.

It is also vital to conduct regular meetings with the team leaders to better understand where the project stands in terms of requirements, progress, and issues. Without a clear picture of the project, shareholders and teammates can easily misinterpret the significance of deliverables and tasks.

You may also like: 5 Steps to Create a Project Communication Plan

5. Monitoring

Project managers must be constantly on guard and ensure that the project is streamlined and on the right path. This means they have to monitor whether the leveraging of resources is done efficiently and is completed within the turnaround time.

To have a smooth monitoring process, many managers follow a 3-step controlling process - Measure, Evaluate and Correct. Unlike the traditional method of monitoring projects, it can be done much seamlessly through collaboration between the project manager and the team members in the modern world. 

To make the monitoring process much more straightforward, project management software can track the task, determine issues through set metrics, and alleviate risks through early issue detection.

You may also like: How to Handle Project Monitoring Process Perfectly

6. Risk Management

Risk is an inevitable part of a project. Hence, managing risks having a severe effect on the project is a critical role of project managers. These managers create a risk management plan to determine, access and control risk, thus leading to a successful project.

Those familiar with or heard about the PMI's PMBOK Guide have seen that risk management is one of the critical knowledge areas. It indicates that the managers should exhibit competency to become certified professionals.

You may also like: Risk Assessment in Project Management

7. Tech Integration

Over the recent years, the project management sector drastically changed, with more than two-thirds of companies outsourcing project managers in 2019 alone. Several organizations started shifting to innovative technology and AI to streamline, organize and monitor project-based results. However, some critics believe that technology can never replace the human mind.

In this digital revolving world, it is crucial as a project manager to use the existing tech to improve transparency, share & synthesize data, and alert internal and external shareholders to programmatic updates.

Talking about the technology, we know that email integration, file sharing, budget management and time monitoring are the top-most requested and leveraged project management software features.

8. Project Execution

Though a project managing team is required to tackle the bulk of the project life cycle, project managers must involve themselves in producing deliverables. By applying themselves in the project execution, they could better understand the management process's needs and the duration to deliver outcomes.

With these data, you as a manager can allocate resources to the required areas and even adjust them when misplaced. A thing to keep in mind is to ensure the team members are within the budget throughout the execution process.

9. Time Management

Since every project requires a schedule, project managers must ensure that the team members are on the same page. They must be involved in the project execution process and track the deliverable progress that has a margin regarding time management.

Going over a proposed delivery time is a risk that all projects must eradicate. When creating a project plan, implement schedule buffers to alleviate these risks. 

Even experienced professionals make mistakes; hence no project plan is perfect. There can be challenges that will impact the schedule. As a project manager, you have to be schedule flexible and alert shareholders regarding the changes.

You may also like: Benefits of Project Time Management

10. Documentation

Documenting is a critical role of project managers. It helps managers justify future projects, mitigate future risks, and offer the information needed to maintain shareholders in the loop.

The documentation process includes more than just planning and scheduling. Any well-documented project will have work estimates, problem monitoring, risk assessments, and more features.

This phase is of no use if documents aren't properly organized and stored at a suitable location, physical or digital. It is always better to create a formal system to collect and store documents for easy future reference.

You may also like: The Importance of Documentation in Project Management

Concluding Thoughts

It is not only the effort of project managers for a project to be successful but a complete team effort. The roles assigned to the members might be major or minor. But, at the end of the day, all responsibilities put forward by them matters resulting in a collective team effort. It is this effort that drives the project to a colourful success.

Project managers and their teams are like two faces of a coin. Hence for a successful project, both manager and team must put an effort to work efficiently.

About Us

For more information on how iCert Global can help you to achieve your project management certification goals, please visit our website.

https://www.icertglobal.com/

We provide instructor-led classroom and online training across the globe, followed by Corporate Training for enterprise workforce development.

Project management certification courses by us across the globe:

PMP Certification

CAPM Certification

PgMP Certification

PMI-RMP Certification

6 Prominent Agile Certifications for Your Career Development

Is Agile Certification Worth the Effort? Why organizations going Agile these days? What are the best Agile certification one can pursue for better career prospects?

Several businesses are still operating in a dull and inflexible-mannered environment or are stuck with traditional methods. Their vertical means of reporting, hierarchy and many other factors often leave the customers, shareholders, and what say more, the employees unhappy. This results in delayed project delivery, top project failure, non-coordination among team members, and too many contact points.

Companies started thinking differently in transforming the traditional procedures with wide adoption of a new-flanged methodology, 'Agile.' It prioritizes test-and-learn approaches over detailed planning. It has become the most implemented developmental tool in many industry verticals like education, banking, software industry, construction and many more.

Hence, organizations are looking for Agile certified professionals to meet their Agile-related company requirements. The practice is a significant choice to adopt in the changing market environment. These experts can respond to any transitions efficiently and swiftly so that their projects are widely accepted around the globe.

With Agile certification, you obtain the edge to bring shifts in your company by adopting Agile techniques, strategies and tools, followed by high perk salary and job security.

In this blog, we shall be brushing through the concept of Agile, its benefits, significance, challenges and many more.

What Exactly is Agile?

Agile principles are critical software market drivers that help learn, innovate, and adapt quickly. It is developed for quick and seamless company workflow. Agile is a tedious process to deliver software progressively from the initial phase of the project rather than providing the entire project at the end.

This term is mainly applied in project management, and if the project is classic, then the Agile practice is a great approach to follow.

The practise focuses on the product delivery to the end customers in smaller sprints than delivering at a time. This makes it easier for them to verify and validate the project module and its quality.

Agile assigns to the principles of lean development, which accentuate efficacy to optimize the delivery of value to customers. The pillars of Agile methods are provided in the Agile Manifesto as follows:

• Operating software over comprehensive documentation.
• Responding to the business transformation by following a plan.
• Interactions and individuals over tools and procedures.
• Customer alliance over contract negotiation.

Though the method is designed to simplify the procedures, adopting Agile in a company is a lot more complicated than it seems to be. It is a total rework of a business process, and it needs fundamental transformation to be made in every aspect of the venture.

Many companies recruit Agile trainers, send their workforces for methodology training or even recruit consultants to recreate their operational manuals. However, companies have too many questions and challenge to face when implementing Agile.

Understanding the implementation challenges and discussing different methods to resolve the problem beforehand could prove a critical decision whether Agile is a profit or loss.

Why Adopt Agile Methodology?

Being Agile needs a transition in the infrastructure and relation between management and the team by driving decision-making to the lowest point. The backward method makes the IT company more responsive and expertise. Teams depend on Agile practices and culture to develop into top-notch performing units that offer value throughout the firm.

When pursuing an Agile certification, you can benefit from organizational and personal levels. Let's look at how worthy the certificate is.

Organizational Benefits

Agile certification includes the complete knowledge of Agile practice to implement within the organization. The benefits of the certificate on an organizational level are:

1. Real Value to the Organization

The main aim is to offer exemplary service and products to the customer and satisfy them completely. Without an Agile professional, a company can't meet their targets as they ensure consistent value delivery throughout its project's lifecycle.

2. Time and Expense

Agile-certified individuals assign tasks to every workforce by considering their scope, thereby assisting them in gaining success in the projects. This, to an extent, helps them to offer value in the deadline. In general, these professionals know how to manage the expense, time, and team correctly.

3. Easy Adaptability

On recruiting an Agile expert, a company can respond swiftly and adapt seamlessly to the constantly transforming business environments. Whatever transitions occur in the future, an organization can take immediate actions if an Agile professional is involved.

4. Seamless Communication

Assertive communication is essential to avoid confusion among the team, making a project successful. Agile certified candidates communicate well with the teams to bring alliance while dealing with specific projects, helping them maintain proper track of the daily progress. They enhance their daily communication by conducting meetings on the task status.

5. Relationship Reinforcement

Agile projects often lead to robust relations between the team members. However, it is essential to create a good connection within the team of an organization for a successful project. Agile practitioners can bring the entire group together, communicate efficiently and reach a conclusion.

Personal Benefits

The certification can also have a personal benefit, as Agile-related organizations are drastically growing. Some of the personal benefits are:

1. Career Boost

Agile plays a significant role in software development and project management within the company. Since the accreditation is of top-notch value, companies constantly hire Agile certified professionals with a higher pay scale and opportunities to work abroad.

Moreover, you are open to several job positions in the Agile area. The companies are looking for those who can bring value to their business.

2. Leadership Skills

Agile certification benefits a lot to be an Agile leader, providing you with leadership skills for management and control of organizational teams. With the accreditation, you can set targets, guide the team, conduct meetings and have complete authority over the Agile team.

By bringing alliance and solving conflicts within the team, you can move towards the project's success and become an efficient company lead.

3. Gain Agile Methodology Insight

The certification offers the knowledge of Agile methodologies to the individuals. Moreover, it teaches how to adopt the techniques within a firm to achieve the business targets. A person with Agile, practical skill helps them work in a reputed firm with a decent pay scale.

What Are the Top Agile Certifications?

PMI-ACP Certification

PMI is an internationally recognized certification exam. The Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) provided by PMI is PMI-ACP certification. The certification represents that you have deep insight into Agile principles and are skilled enough to execute Agile techniques efficiently. It covers primary Agile methods, Kanban, Test-driven Development (TDD), Lean, Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP).

Unlike other certifications, PMI-ACP has prerequisites, and they aren't negligible. Following are the eligibility criteria to know before attending the exam, they are:

     1. General Project Experience

• 2,000 hours of general project management experience in the last 5 years.
• Requirement satisfied by Active PMP or Program Management Professional (PgMP). 

     2.  Agile Project Experience

• Least experience of working 1,500 hours on Agile project teams during last 3 years.
• These are in addition to 2,000 hours of General Project Experience. 

     3. Training in Agile Practices

• 21 contact hours must be earned in Agile practices.

According to Glassdoor.com, project manager with PMI-ACP certification earns:

• India - INR 15lakhs
• US - $90,890
• UK - £50,943
• Canada – CA $82,968

AgilePM Certification

The APGM International Agile Project Management (AgilePM) certification validates a workforce's potential to understand and incorporate Agile methodologies in project management. This results in swift, successful project delivery, minimized expense, better communication and cohesion to principles in the working environment.

Sectors, where AgilePM accreditation is beneficial, are IT, business, project management, aerospace and cybersecurity. The certification is offered at 2 levels:

• Suitable for project management practitioners with limited Agile knowledge or Agile teams looking to become project managers.
• Considered as the next step for candidates who have achieved Foundation-level certificate.

According to Glassdoor.com, project manager with AgilePM certification earns:

• India - INR 6-19 Lakhs
• US - $ 77K-125K
• UK - £ 30K-65K
• Australia – AUD 100K-150K

CSPO Certification

The Product Owner (PO) is the creative shareholder on most Scrum teams. The role can vary from company to company, depending on the context. A Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) understands five basic levels of product ownership: understanding the role of PO, describing strategy and purpose, understanding customers and users, testing product assumptions, and working with the product backlog.

According to Glassdoor.com, CSPO certification earns:

• India - INR 13 Lakhs
• US - $ 1,03,321
• UK - £ 53,174
• Canada – CAD 86,937

CDA Certification

The Certified Disciplined Agilist (CDA) is a software development certification that demonstrates a person's fundamental understanding of Disciplined Agile methodologies and is ready to execute them. It provides different competencies, from a beginner to the highest level of expertise.

CDA is an entry-level certification, is the best choice for people who are new to software development or individuals with prior experience but want to advance their career.

SAFe Agilist Certification

It is also known as a Scaled Agilist (SA), is the central part of the introduction into the SAFe principles and is awarded to individuals who can prepare with the guidance of a 2-day course called Leading SAFe. As companies strive to apply the basic Agile foundations to their company, SA dilutes the principles of popular practices into an easy-to-use mode called SAFe.

These certified SA knows how to incorporate Agile profile management into an efficient organization that offers constant value to their shareholders and end-users with a short turnaround time.

The average salary earned by a certified SAFe Agilist:

• India - INR 1200K-2 Lakhs
• US - $ 80K-135K
• UK - £ 33K-75K
• Australia – AUD 100K-157K

PSM I Certification

It is a highly look for certification as it permits IT experts to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of Scrum methods within the Scrum Master role. The Professional Scrum Master (PSM I) is recommended for individuals in the role but merely has the basic Scrum Master concepts.

This certification is for anyone who wishes to demonstrate their basic knowledge of Scrum principles and apply them to real-life scenarios. Once you are done with PSM I, Scrum professionals can continue to advance to Level III by taking corresponding exams.

The average salary earned by a certified PSM professionals:

• India - INR 564K-2 Lakhs
• US - $ 61K-142K
• UK - £ 42K-56K
• Australia – AUD 95K-145K

What are the12 principles of Agile?

The 12 principles of Agile Methodology are:

• Customer satisfaction through continuous quality delivery
• Welcome changes according to customer’s demands
• Business and development go hand in hand
• A collaborative approach to work
• Establish projects around motivated individuals
• Encourage sustainable development
• Precise in-person conversation
• A measure of progress is working software
• Continuous attention to excellence
• Simplicity
• Self-organizing teams
• Reflect for Effectiveness

What Are the Challenges Faced by Companies on Agile Implementation?

Challenge 1: Boosting the communication

One of the leading reasons behind the failure of Agile in a company is the lack of communication. To go Agile, all senior management, executive, and middle-tier management must be aware that there will be some transformations in project management practices. They must understand the advantages of the Agile changes and how the changes will impact the organization's workflow. Hence, companies need to develop proper channels to interact for smooth and efficient communication among different teams.

This creates a good flow of information among the employees, keeping them up-to-date on the project progress. If the teams are located in one place, it helps in the swift adoption of the methodology as it takes place more organically and assists in creating a proper feedback system on each project.

Challenge 2: Developing ownership

The prime objective of Agile transition is to create a sense of ownership with the teams. For a project to be successful, the crucial point to understand is the responsibility of completing the task on/before the deadline.

Once ownership is developed among the members, they will be more prone to work dedication and time-oriented to complete the projects. Tasks' independence is also a factor that will aid the teams to finish their task on time and create engagement with the project.

This will also help the members to have the freedom to come up with solutions to the issues that arise during the project without approval from their superiors due to full task ownership, thus motivating the workforce to achieve better outcomes.

Challenge 3: Resistance to change

Resistance to the change by the company's internal infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges faced by the organizations. It is challenging to transform people's way of thinking and work.

The belief and habits of technology giants are naturally well-established. People often argue against the change of traditional software processes, and when Agile transition is leveraged to challenge them, they create a barricade or an obstacle to resist the transformation.

For instance, a project manager takes a one-hour-long meeting with the developer to discuss the essential requirements for their latest projects. The manager is adjusted to this type of working environment.

Imagine if the manager is asked to shorten the meeting to 15 minutes and develop the product updates in sprints? What would happen? The person would find it a challenge, which they might try to resist and lead to Agile implementation failure.

Challenge 4: Inconsistent practices and procedures

Customer satisfaction is the central part of the Agile methodology, or in other words, we could say customer satisfaction determines whether the method is a success or failure.

To meet customers' demands, Agile frameworks like Kanban create service networks within the company, where all teams, departments and individuals can self-organize around the task, evolve and collaborate their operational method by quality enhancement.

For optimal working of service network, the employers must follow the same rules and apply the same principles. A team that collaborates and communicates entailing the project delivery's cross-functional responsibilities.

Challenge 5: Lack of education and training

Another top reason for Agile methodology failure is insufficient education and training. For the method to work, one must have a thorough knowledge of its concept, principle, frameworks, values and practices. This is when an Agile coach or trainer comes into action.

They ensure that the company succeeds with flying colour with the implementation of Agile. They will train on how the process works and approach decision-making according to the Agile mindset.

Challenge 6: Fragmented measurements and tooling

To choose an apt solution to the existing problems in your company, you must consider the business nature, pros & cons of different agile methods and company characteristics.

To be successful with Agile, a crucial requirement is to choose the right tools such as Jira, Kanbanize and ClickUp. But for these tools to be beneficial for an organization, you must be consistent in its leverage.

After leveraging any of the tools mentioned above to an extent where you have gained significant experience, start customizing the tools to suit your company or project prerequisites. To keep in mind, project-related measurements and data are precisely defined.

Which Are the Industries That Benefit by Agile Implementation?

1. Marketing and Advertising

Agile practices help advertising and marketing companies to make better decisions to produce valuable content for attracting consumers. Some of the successful companies in this industry, thanks to Agile methods, are:

Teradata Applications that sell software for marketing support. They leveraged the Agile approach to automate their work procedures and approval processes. It helped them in enhancing the project communications.

Next is a business named CafePress that sells customized designer gifts and services to people interested in launching their own merchandise. The company adopted the method to communicate with their customers and assist them in uploading their designs in no time.

2. Healthcare

It is one of the most profitable industries with numerous breakthrough innovations. Agile adoption in the healthcare industry is more likely to benefit the owners and their customers.

Healthcare is the most booming industry vertical as people require treatments. However, in several countries getting proper therapies has been a daunting task due to its lack of seamless procedures. People feel hectic and frustrated with the setup.

If healthcare marketers are willing to create real-time solutions and connect with the customers, then Agile principles can help. By leveraging the technique, the industry can quickly transform the features that are not working as expected. By using Scrum, weekly Sprints can maintain privacy and security when new features are rolled out.

3. Engineering and Product Development

Agile methodologies are leveraged in IT sectors where people leverage traditional software like a waterfall to create their products. Agile practices became a perfect approach to stay on top of their games due to increased market competition.

With the introduction of the practice, companies can plan for a short period and choose to execute and organize their projects or tasks. It helps businesses to bridge the gap between employees and shareholders. It also minimizes the risk of reworking in product development, saving its budget and time.

About Us

For more information on how iCert Global can help you to achieve your Agile Certification goals, please visit our website.

https://www.icertglobal.com/

We provide instructor-led classroom and online training across the globe, followed by Corporate Training for enterprise workforce development.

Crack Your ECBA Certification Now!

Top Strategies Used by ECBA certified professionals to surpass the exam in the first attempt.

For individuals just starting up on their career, ECBA certification can prove to be a perfect step towards a successful BA domain. It is basically targeted at freshers, professionals looking to switch over to a BA career, and any professional graduates looking to develop their career in the same.

While experience is a significant factor in taking a BA role, having the ECBA on your resume effectively strengthens your credibility when you lack or have minimal experience.

This article will explain the preparation strategy for passing the ECBA certification exam. Though people have different ways of preparing for the exam. However, this is a basic form you can follow to pass the test on the first attempt.

Before that, let us know what this certification is, why it is crucial, and how it is exam format and other related subjects.

What is an ECBA Certification?

An ECBA (Entry Certificate in Business Analysis) is the first level in the business analysis certification framework from the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). The ECBA certification demonstrates the core knowledge and competencies in Business Analysis. It earns recognition as the accreditation is by the leading governing body IIBA.

Unlike the higher-level IIBA certifications, the ECBA doesn't need expertise experience to sit for the exam, which opens a wide range of opportunities for BA enthusiasts.

The accreditation is aimed at entry-level BAs that focus on modelling, requirement analysis, requirements life-cycle management with sound knowledge of tools and concepts.

Is ECBA Certification Worth It?

With more than thousands of certifications available to shape your career in the market, it is common for people to get confused about why ECBA certification is worth it or why it is essential to your career? 

Here are a few top benefits to substantiate the claim:

• Better job prospects
• High pay-scale
• More market opportunities 
• Enhancement of overall performance
• Be recognized for your competency, insight and knowledge of the BA principles and industry best methodologies
• Personal satisfaction of gaining the first step in BA careers
• Individuals with domain experience can shift to the IT sector by becoming a BA professional

What is ECBA Exam Pattern?

ECBA covers the fundamentals of approaching BA according to the BABOK® Guide. This offers individuals a solid base for entering into the BA profession and assists with global certification.

Last year, IIBA changed the syllabus for ECBA, where three out of six knowledge areas have a weightage of 65% and the techniques section has 17.5%. Good news: With the recent update from IIBA on the ECBA syllabus, you can entirely skip two of the knowledge areas because of its 0% weightage.

                                                                             ECBA Syllabus

ECBA exam pattern include:

• Duration: 1-hour (60 minutes)
• Exam type: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
• No. of Questions: 50
• Type of Questions: BABOK knowledge areas and key concepts
• Negative Markings: No
• Passing Score: Above 70% (Score based on individual marks in all knowledge areas)

How to Pass ECBA Exam in First Attempt?

Step1: Familiarize BABOK Terminology

When learning new material, one must understand the primary keywords in the context before understanding the entire content. A glossary review will help in retaining the information better. Familiarizing yourself with BABOK terminology is vital to pass the ECBA exam if you are new to the BA field.

Remember that glossary review alone won't get you passed in the first attempt. The ECBA exam might have a few terms used throughout the BABOK Guide; however not defined in the glossary. Hence it is ideal for reviewing an extensive BABOK glossary created by an IIBA-certified training provider.

Step2: BABOK Content Proficiency

For those new here, BABOK Guide consists of more than 500 pages. Shocked? That's right but if the thought of reading through these pages is intimidating you, then make use of BABOK Guide material from an IIBA-certified trainer. A good and neatly specified detail guide will be much more concise and less tedious than the actual one.

Step3: Take an ECBA Exam Training Course

An ECBA training course is essential for enthusiasts who require more discussion and structure during the study process. Some may find the material covered in the BABOK Guide simple. At the same time, the exam format makes it critical to gain deep conceptual knowledge.

One of the advantages of getting trained before attending the exam is that you get good advice on where to focus for the ECBA exam. This will further increase the chance of getting yourself a great score on the first attempt.

When it comes to the selection of ECBA training course few things have to be kept in mind: