Is PMP harder than CAPM?

Is PMP harder than CAPM?

Learning Mudra, Category - PMP

Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), are certifications for project management professionals and the exam for both the titles are administered by Project Management Institute (PMI). PMI supports the professionals who want to pursue their career in project management, program management or portfolio management. The objective of PMI is to encourage professionals’ diverse viewpoint and support them through their journey by offering them various certification programs to stand apart from the crowd and validate their expertise in their respective fields. Let’s first know what is PMP and CAPM.

Project Management Professional (PMP)

The PMP Certification is a globally reputed certification which is considered as the gold standard of project management certifications. The PMP exam is one of the toughest certification exams.. This exam is based on principles and concepts present in the PMBOK Guide. The PMP is not restricted to theoretical concepts of project management but also includes practical knowledge of the field. The eligibility criteria for PMP includes both educational and experience qualifications. It’s meant for the professionals who have work experience (this will be explained later).

Certified Associate of Project Management (CAPM)

CAPM certification is considered as entry level certification by most of the professionals. CAPM is designed for professionals with no or negligible practical work experience in project management field but see their career in this field. This exam focuses on candidate’s knowledge about project management concepts, processes and terminologies. CAPM certification gives the opportunity to learn about the role and due to its increasing popularity one can persuade employers to give you an opportunity to manage projects and earn some experience which can be of great value to you and the industry that you work in. What do you think about putting "CAPM" after your name?

Difference between PMP and CAPM

On the basis of eligibility criteria

For a candidate to be eligible for PMP requires at least 4 year degree graduate along with 36 months of experience in leading project or a high school diploma/associate degree holder with an experience of leading projects for at least 60 months. A candidate of either category should have completed minimum 35 hours of PMP Certification training from a certified training institute.

For a candidate to be eligible for CAPM requires to be a secondary degree (high-school diploma, associate degree or the global equivalent) and minimum 23 hours of project management education or 1500 hours of work experience. Suggested Read : "How do I go from PMP to CAPM?"

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On the basis of question paper pattern

The CAPM exam question paper comprises of 150 questions and the candidate is given three hours of time to attempt the exam. The paper includes multiple choice questions.
Whereas, the PMP exam question paper comprises of 180 questions and the candidate is required to finish the exam in the time allotted, that is 230 minutes.

The PMP exam is the combination of multiple-choice questions, multiple responses, matching, hotspot and limited fill-in-the-blanks would also be there. The CAPM exam is based out of PMBOK Guide only whereas PMP exam contains questions based on PMBOK Guide and experience, ethics and professional responsibilities.

On the basis of popularity, cost and validity

PMP was introduced in 1984 and CAPM was introduced much later around 2003 which can be one of the reasons of PMP’s greater popularity.
The cost of PMP exam is 405 USD for PMI member and 555 USD for non-member. The cost of CAPM exam is 225 USD for PMI member and 300 USD for non-members.
The PMP credential is valid till 3 years and CAPM credential is valid till 5 years from the date of result.
The renewal procedure of PMP includes earning 60 PDUs within the validity period and for CAPM you are required to retake the exam.

On the basis of benefits

The major differences of benefits of both the certifications are that CAPM helps in career progression and PMP is an internationally recognized certification which also helps in getting higher salary as compared to CAPM certified candidates and non-certified candidates.

After CAPM your visibility in the industry would increase whereas after PMP you’ll be globally recognized.

According to PMI, there were 833,025 active PMP certified professionals whereas for CAPM there were 34,599 active CAPM certified professionals.

After knowing these differences you would be able to understand that the PMP certification is highly valuable at international level as compared to CAPM certification.

To maintain this standard of PMP certification, the level of difficulty is higher for this exam as compared to other certification exams including CAPM certification exam which is challenging but not at par with PMP exam. Click here to read if you can upgrade CAPM to PMP?

You should take your time to decide which certification is right for you. The level of difficulty of exams cannot be the only parameter for making this decision. Matching the eligibility criteria going through the benefits, your level of knowledge, time in your hand, your ability to incur the cost for examination and preparation, etc. should be kept in mind while deciding which certification exam to take. Both the certifications have their pros and cons. At the end, your career will be impacted by your decision so do proper calculations and choose the right option only. All the best for your career!!