PMP Exam Online! PMI announced today that the PMP exam can be taken from your home or office.
Yes – even in your pajamas, with your pet cat curling in your lap.
May be they’ll allow a large cup of coffee as well (I checked, unfortunately they don’t).
You know what’s good about this arrangement? In the week before exam you take 4-hr mock tests at the same time-slot as your exam, and being in the place from where you take the exam, and the real exam does not feel any different! 🙂
Sunil Prashara, CEO & President PMI, had talked about this on his blog last week of March, and today he announced it – bang on target, mid of April.
Now you must be thinking..
“How does this work? I mean, how do they make sure that the candidate does not seek help?“
There will be an online proctor who will be monitoring the candidate through webcam throughout the 4 hours!
Yes, it can get a bit uncomfortable initially but once you dive into the seriousness of the exam questions you will probably not be conscious of being watched. 🙂 Isn’t this ton times better than driving for 4 hrs to the test center, undergoing all that security checks, pulling out trouser pockets, and feeling the tense exam hall atmosphere?
Of course there are few additional things to do to make this possible, like having a minimum expected configuration for your computer, strong internet connection, and more.
I know you have more.. many of my students have been asking me these ever since we heard from Sunil Prashara that PMP exam will go online.
“I have already scheduled test-center exam slot. I want to take online test now.”
Smart choice! All you do is in your PearsonVUE account cancel currently scheduled exam slot and opt for online test. If you did it now, PMI will NOT charge you any rescheduling fee. Yay!
The same option holds good if your exam slot was in the past and you could not take the test because test centers were closed on account of COVID-19 scare.
Just know that in certain countries (such as Japan, Slovenia, South Korea) PMI has not allowed online exam, yet.
“What are the conditions to take exam from home?”
Just know that you can take the exam from anywhere outside of the test-centers. That means your home, office, or may be even a hotel room – because you need a distraction-free and noise-free environment and you must be the ONLY person in the room while the exam is on.
There IS a check-in process before you begin the test, when you need to show your entire room via web-cam to your proctor. Including the fact that you don’t have any kind of books, papers, post-its, gadgets etc within arm’s length.
Also, once exam begins the test software locks your screen to any other application access (including internet access).
“What about the papers for calculations that we’d get in the test-center?”
Every option has pros and cons, right? As you might have guess while reading previous answer, NO scrap papers are allowed while taking online test. You’ll have to do the calculation from the calculator app on the screen and/or in your head.
Yes, even phones are not allowed.
“What if I wanted to take a bio-break during the exam?”
There is a 10-min break, which divides the exam into two parts. You can take a bio break or food-break only during this 10-min window.
Once the test begins you will NOT have access to first part of the test that you took before the break.
“What if I have a technical issue during the exam?”
Questions like these and more are answered on this page that PMI has published.
Also, more FAQs and details are given on PearsonVUE’s online exam related page here.
This video explains the process –
Whew! PMP Exam Online. At last. What will happen now?
Ever since the test centers were closed due to lock downs all scheduled exams have been postponed. Many candidates even deferred scheduling till there is better clarity.
At this point though the physical opening of test centers is not clear (of course depends on the local governments’ laws as well). And in view of this online PMP certification exam is a great move.
I would imagine that many candidates will rather take the exam online now, by even cancelling their current test slots booked in distant future due to lock down.
I
f you are one of them and want to opt for online exam, simply write to PMI support to get guidance on taking online.
Whether you are ready for taking the exam, or thinking of taking it now (utilize the WFH time!) I would highly recommend booking a free PMP consultation call with me, here
I will help you pass the exam sooner than you thought possible, and if you follow my process, even with a perfect all-5 Above-Target score.
Talk soon!
PS: Help a friend or colleague preparing for the test, share this page in your network.
[SneakyAffiliate sneakyaffiliateurl=”http%3A//www.pmexamsmartnotes.com/pmplastmile” sneakyaffiliatecookiexpdays=”1″ sneakyaffiliatesplash=”Are%20you%20sure%20you%20want%20to%20leave%20before%20you%20checkout%20the%20most%20liked%20PMP%20training%20suite%3F” ] [/SneakyAffiliate]
