Project charter · PMP prep binder
PMP® certification prep for the way the exam frames a scenario
The PMP (Project Management Professional) is PMI®'s credential for people who already lead projects. With a bachelor's degree you need 36 months of project leadership in the last 10 years plus 35 hours of project management training, then a 180-question, 240-minute exam (PMI, PMP Examination Content Outline, as of October 2026). Baseline Binder gives you free practice in that exam's scenario style, with a note on every answer option.
Exam baseline
- Credential
- PMP, issued by PMI
- Exam
- 180 questions, 240 minutes
- Outline in force
- ECO 2026, live since July 9, 2026
- Delivery mix
- About 40% predictive, 60% agile and hybrid
- Sponsor
- None. Independent of PMI
01What the PMP certification is, and who it fits
The PMP is a professional certification you earn by application and exam; there is no course to finish. You apply to PMI with documented experience, PMI may audit the application, and only after it is accepted do you pay for and sit the exam. The credential then renews every three years on 60 professional development units (PDUs), per PMI's certification handbooks as of October 2026.
The experience bar depends on your education: 60 months with a high-school diploma, 48 with an associate degree, 36 with a bachelor's, 24 with a degree from a GAC-accredited program, all non-overlapping and inside the last 10 years. The sequence from first form to digital badge is laid out step by step in how to get PMP certification.
It suits project managers, coordinators and team leads who have run real work and want the credential to say so. The catch: habits that work fine at your company often turn up as the wrong option in a scenario question.
02Where experience and the exam part ways
What you would do
Two senior developers reopen the same architecture argument in every stand-up. To get the meeting back, you pick a design yourself and tell them both afterward.
A stronger move
The project manager gets the two of them to set out their evidence and the trade-offs, and steers them toward a design both can own. Imposing a design stays in reserve.
RememberOur rule of thumb for scenarios like this: the people who hold the facts work the problem before anyone decides it for them.
03What is in the binder
Five tabs, numbered the way the sidebar numbers them: drills, the study guide, exam facts, the certification path, and comparisons.
0PMP prep
04How the July 2026 exam is built
PMI switched to a new content outline on July 9, 2026; every exam scheduled from that date uses it. It weights three domains: People 33%, Process 41%, Business Environment 26%. About 40% of items describe predictive projects and the remaining 60% split between agile and hybrid ones. Of the 180 questions, 10 are unscored pretest items placed at random, and there are two 10-minute breaks inside the 240 minutes (PMI ECO and new-exam page, as of October 2026).
Counts, time and question formats are broken down on how many questions are on the PMP exam; what moved between the old outline and this one is on the 2026 PMP exam changes.
05How to use the site
Read the topic
The PMP study guide files the outline as a work breakdown: domains, then topics, then the concepts the exam likes to blur.
Drill it untimed
The free practice test opens a debrief after each answer, with a note on why each of the four options is right or wrong.
Then put a clock on it
The timed mock exam runs at the real exam's pace and scores you by domain, so you know which tab to reopen.
06The three domains
2.1People33%
2.2Process41%
07Before you start
Is Baseline Binder connected to PMI?
No. Baseline Binder is an independent study resource, not affiliated with PMI, and not a PMI training provider. PMI, PMP and PMBOK® are PMI's marks; we use them only to name the exam.
Will practicing here count toward the 35 training hours?
No. PMI's outline says books and practice exams alone are not accepted as the required 35 hours of project management training (ECO, as of October 2026). The hours come from a course.
Which edition of the exam do these questions follow?
The outline in force since July 9, 2026. Pages name the domain and task they cover, and any number on the site carries its source and the date we checked it.
08Sources
- PMI, PMP Examination Content Outline (revised August 11, 2026) checked Oct 13, 2026questions, time, breaks, domain weights, approach mix, eligibility, training
- PMI, the new PMP exam checked Oct 13, 2026live date July 9, 2026
- PMI, PMP certification page checked Oct 13, 2026