P.U.L.L.People
Leading and supporting the project team: building teams, managing conflict, removing impediments, mentoring, negotiating agreements and engaging stakeholders.
Exam content outlines explained
Every PMI certification exam is built from an exam content outline, a public document that lists the domains the exam tests and the tasks inside each domain. The outline is the exam's blueprint, and it is the best single guide to what you should study. This page explains each certification's outline in plain English. The structures below are per PMI's current outlines at the time of writing; PMI revises outlines periodically, so confirm the current version on pmi.org before you plan your study.
PMP®
PMP® exam content outline
The Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam is organized, per PMI, into three domains: People, Process and Business Environment. Questions are mostly situational: they describe a project scenario and ask what the project manager should do next. The outline covers predictive, agile and hybrid approaches, so you must be comfortable recognizing which approach a scenario is using and responding in a way that fits it.
Inside each domain, the outline lists tasks and enablers. A task is something a project manager does, such as managing conflict or planning procurement; enablers are examples of how the task is carried out. Studying by task, rather than by textbook chapter, keeps your preparation aligned with the questions. The PMBOK® Guide and PMI's agile references are useful background, but the outline, not any single book, defines the exam. P.U.L.L.'s PMP training is delivered under our PMI Authorized Training Partner license and follows this outline task by task.
Process
The technical work of delivering the project: planning and managing scope, schedule, budget, quality, resources, procurement, risk, communications and change, and choosing the right delivery approach.
Business Environment
Connecting the project to the organization: compliance, delivering business value, responding to external change and supporting organizational change.
PgMP®
PgMP® exam content outline
The Program Management Professional (PgMP)® exam tests how you manage a group of related projects to achieve benefits that the projects could not deliver alone. Per PMI, the current outline has five domains: Strategic Program Alignment (15%), Program Life Cycle Management (44%), Business Alignment (11%), Stakeholder Engagement (16%) and Governance (14%). The Program Life Cycle domain is the largest and is itself broken into initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing the program.
Questions are set at the program level, so the right answer usually involves alignment to strategy, coordination across projects and decisions about benefits rather than hands-on project tasks. Candidates who think like a project manager tend to pick answers that are too tactical. PMI's Standard for Program Management is the primary reference, and PgMP applications also go through a panel review in addition to the exam, per PMI. This is a program offered by P.U.L.L.
Strategic Program Management
Assessing opportunities and building the business case so the program advances the organization's strategic objectives.
Program Life Cycle
Initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing the program, including coordinating component projects and managing the program roadmap.
Benefits Management
Defining, planning, delivering, transitioning and sustaining the benefits the program exists to produce.
Stakeholder Management
Identifying stakeholders, understanding their expectations and keeping their engagement throughout the program.
Governance
Establishing the structures, decision rights and oversight through which the program is directed and controlled.
PMI-RMP®
PMI-RMP® exam content outline
The PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)® exam focuses on the specialist discipline of identifying, assessing and responding to uncertainty. Per PMI, the current outline has five domains: Risk Strategy and Planning, Risk Identification, Risk Analysis, Risk Response and Monitor and Close Risks. The outline covers both threats and opportunities and applies to predictive, agile and hybrid environments.
Expect scenario questions that ask you to pick the appropriate risk tool, interpret analysis results or choose the best response strategy for a situation. Strong candidates understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative analysis, know when each is worth the effort and can explain how risk connects to schedule, cost and stakeholder decisions. PMI's Standard for Risk Management in Portfolios, Programs and Projects is the core reference. This is a program offered by P.U.L.L.
Risk Strategy and Planning
Setting the risk management approach, tailoring it to the project and organization, and establishing risk thresholds and the risk management plan.
Risk Identification
Finding and documenting individual risks and sources of overall risk using interviews, reviews, data and the team's knowledge.
Risk Analysis
Prioritizing risks qualitatively and, where justified, quantifying their combined effect on objectives.
Risk Response
Planning and implementing responses to threats and opportunities, assigning owners and allocating reserves.
Monitor and Close Risks
Tracking risks and responses, reassessing exposure, communicating status and closing risks as the work completes.
PMI-ACP®
PMI-ACP® exam content outline
The PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® exam measures how well you apply agile principles and practices across frameworks rather than in one method alone. Per PMI, the current outline has four domains: Mindset, Leadership, Product and Delivery. Questions draw on Scrum, Kanban, Lean, extreme programming and scaled approaches, and many ask you to choose the response that best reflects agile values in a messy, real-world situation.
Because the exam is about mindset as much as mechanics, memorizing ceremonies and artifacts is not enough. You need to understand why teams limit work in progress, why feedback loops are kept short and how servant leadership differs from directive management. PMI's agile references and the Agile Practice Guide are the core reading. This is a program offered by P.U.L.L.
Mindset
Living agile values and principles: embracing change, learning through experiments, fostering psychological safety and continuous improvement.
Leadership
Serving and growing the team, removing impediments, enabling self-organization and managing stakeholder engagement in an agile environment.
Product
Shaping and refining the product vision and backlog so the team delivers the highest value first and validates it with customers.
Delivery
Planning, executing and adapting iterative and incremental delivery, measuring flow and quality and responding to what the data shows.
CAPM®
CAPM® exam content outline
The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® exam is PMI's entry-level credential and does not require project experience. Per PMI, the current outline has four domains: Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts, Predictive Plan-Based Methodologies, Agile Frameworks and Methodologies, and Business Analysis Frameworks. The outline reflects how modern teams actually work, so it covers both traditional planning and agile delivery, plus the basics of business analysis.
Questions are more knowledge-based than the PMP exam but still include short scenarios. You should be able to define core terms, recognize the stages and documents of a predictive project, describe how an agile team plans and delivers, and explain how requirements are gathered and validated. The PMBOK® Guide, the Agile Practice Guide and PMI's business analysis references are the main sources. This is a program offered by P.U.L.L.
Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts
Core vocabulary, project life cycles, roles, organizational structures and how projects relate to programs, portfolios and operations.
Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies
When a predictive approach fits and how scope, schedule, cost, quality and risk are planned and controlled in it.
Agile Frameworks and Methodologies
When an adaptive approach fits, how agile teams plan and deliver in iterations and the common frameworks and their events and roles.
Business Analysis Frameworks
How requirements are elicited, analyzed, documented and validated and how business analysis roles work with the project team.
PfMP®
PfMP® exam content outline
The Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)® exam tests how you select, prioritize and govern the collection of programs and projects that an organization funds to deliver its strategy. Per PMI, the outline has five domains: Strategic Alignment, Governance, Portfolio Performance, Portfolio Risk Management and Communications Management. The exam sits at the executive level, so answers focus on investment decisions, capacity and strategic fit rather than delivery mechanics.
Expect scenarios about competing proposals, shifting strategic priorities, resource constraints across the portfolio and reporting to senior leadership. Per PMI, the PfMP application also includes a panel review before the exam. PMI's Standard for Portfolio Management is the core reference. This is a program offered by P.U.L.L.
Strategic Alignment
Translating organizational strategy into portfolio objectives, selecting and prioritizing components and rebalancing as strategy changes.
Governance
Defining the portfolio governance structure, decision-making processes and oversight that keep the portfolio under control.
Portfolio Performance
Planning and managing portfolio resources and capacity, measuring value delivered and reporting results against targets.
Portfolio Risk Management
Identifying, assessing and responding to risks at the portfolio level and balancing the overall risk exposure.
Communications Management
Planning and delivering the communication that keeps executives, sponsors and component managers informed and aligned.