The PMP® certification is evolving in 2026 with a major exam update. Bill Yates and Ren Love break down what these changes mean for project managers, from shifting success metrics toward value and outcomes to a stronger emphasis on strategy, AI, and sustainability. They also cover updated exam domains, new question formats, and practical tips to help you prepare for a more real-world, scenario-driven PMP exam.
Chapters
00:00 … Intro
01:59 … The Big Picture Shift
03:17 … “Maximizing Project Success” Research Report
05:37 … Exam Structure and Logistics Changes
06:47 … Tutorial and End of Exam Survey
08:00 … Domain Rebalancing
10:04 … PM Contributions on a Strategic Level
11:32 … How This Impacts Questions
12:34 … AI Content
14:38 … New Content: Sustainability, and Governance
16:12 … InSite
17:04 … The Methodology Mix
20:44 … New Question Formats
23:00 … The Exam Philosophy
25:24 … The Eligibility Adjustments
26:19 … Study Strategies
27:46 … Where the Profession is Headed
28:57 … Closing
Intro
WENDY GROUNDS: Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers. With 10 years of conversations, lessons learned, and real-world project stories, we’re so glad you’re here with us.
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One more bonus before we get started. You can earn free PMI PDUs just by listening to this episode. Stick around until the end, and we’ll tell you exactly how to claim them.
I am Wendy Grounds; and in the studio with me, of course, is the one and only Bill Yates, the expert in all things project management. And today we also have Ren Love. We welcome her back. It’s always exciting to have Ren with us on the podcast.
If you’re studying for the PMP or thinking about it, you probably heard that the exam is changing this year. In July 2026, PMI is rolling out an updated version of the PMP exam that shifts the focus beyond traditional project execution.
BILL YATES: If certification is on your radar, now is the time to act. When major exam updates roll out, new content and question formats typically follow, and early transitions can be a bit bumpy and unpredictable. Right now, the exam is fully supported by proven study materials.
At Velociteach, we’ve helped project managers earn their PMP certification for over 20 years. Our boot camps and on-demand training are built around the same methodology behind the number one PMP exam prep book, with more than 250,000 copies sold worldwide. If you’re serious about getting certified, visit Velociteach.com to learn more.
The Big Picture Shift
WENDY GROUNDS: So, what’s really different about the new exam? That’s what we’re going to ask Ren and Bill today. All right. So, the PMP exam is getting its first major update since 2021. There’s a new PMBOK released in 2026, as well as the new ECO for the new exam. Bill, why don’t you tell us what’s the big picture shift on the 2026 exam compared to the current version?
BILL YATES: First, the Exam Content Outline, the ECO, that’s the key. So that is the blueprint for the exam. It is interesting that the PMBOK has been updated to the eighth edition. But what’s most pertinent is the ECO has changed, the Exam Content Outline. In the Exam Content Outline, it makes it very clear what we’ve been seeing for quite a while, which is the questions are scenario-based. Here’s a situation. As project manager, what should you do? What’s the first action you should take? What should you not do? You know, those kinds of things. So, it’s definitely scenario-based.
Plus, it takes into account some trends. AI, artificial intelligence, other recent trends like that are taken into consideration in this Exam Content Outline update. So, we’ll see that reflected in the actual questions on the exam, too.
“Maximizing Project Success” Research Report
WENDY GROUNDS: Yeah. Ren, I have a question for you. PMI’s research report, which is “Maximizing Project Success: Elevating the Impact on the Project Profession.” Now, this has helped change these updates. What did the research reveal about how the definition of project success is evolving?
REN LOVE: Well, first they changed the definition. They created a new definition of project success. So, the new definition is a successful project has delivered value that was worth the effort and the expense. So, in some cases, even if you were on time, you were on budget, you were within scope, if the project itself was pointless and didn’t deliver any value, then it’s really not a success.
I tried to think of an example for myself. And a great example, where I live, our municipality has started a project and finished a project to install a skate park in one of our community areas, which sounds really cool. They finished it ahead of schedule, under budget, and it’s the size they said it would be. But it is not being used as a skate park. Some reporting came out and said about 5% of the community even knows how to skateboard in this particular area.
Would you say that that’s a successful project? Maybe not. So in this case, it’s this focus on, not just the processes in your project, but how does your project bring value to a company? So, you’re going to see that reflected really heavily on the exam. And you’re going to hear us say this phrase over and over again, but really the realization of value, which is my project is valuable because of this. In my job as a project manager, I am responsible for delivering that value, not just executing projects.
And so that report’s really fascinating. There’s a lot of other little pieces about performance measurements and indicators of success. But that’s really the big takeaway.
BILL YATES: So, Ren, are you telling me you basically have this park to yourself? You and your skateboard?
REN LOVE: I don’t know how to skateboard either.
BILL YATES: No value for you.
REN LOVE: No, no value for me, except for I support community projects.
BILL YATES: Okay. Yeah.
Exam Structure and Logistics Changes
WENDY GROUNDS: So, we’re going to break this down, and let’s start with the changes to the actual exam structure and logistics.
BILL YATES: For a while, we had this awkward 230-minute exam. Now it’s back to four hours. So, it’s 240 minutes. It’s 180 questions. The one tiny change there is there are 10 pretest questions now, which in the ECO it defines those pretest questions as questions that are just being put out there for trial. Let’s see how they perform. Those don’t count against you. So, 170 questions count. You have four hours to complete them. Plus, you still have two 10-minute breaks. So, you’ll take about 60 questions, have a 10-minute break, take another 60, have a 10-minute break, and then complete the exam. Those 10-minute breaks do not count against the 240 minutes. So, they’re in addition to that.
The only trick there is, and we talk in detail about this, when you finish the 60 questions, you take the 10-minute break, you cannot go back and make modifications to those 60. They’re done. They’re in the book. So that’s something to keep in mind.
Tutorial and End of Exam Survey
WENDY GROUNDS: Just wondering if you wanted to tell us a little bit about the tutorial and the end-of-exam survey. Is that still part of the process?
REN LOVE: Yes, it definitely still is. I think at the beginning of the exam, I think it’s just like a little five-minute tutorial. And essentially it serves two major purposes. One is to make sure that the person taking the test knows how to use the interface. So, it’ll be like, this is where this button is. Click next. This is how you mark for review. The other purpose it serves is to make sure everything’s working as it should be. So, before you start the exam, you know, if you’re trying to click something somewhere, and it’s not opening what it should be opening, that’s – it’s time to let your proctor know; right? Yeah. Raise your hand. Hey, something’s not happening.
So that pre-exam tutorial, just about five minutes, teaches you, you know, the interface for the exam itself. After the exam, you have a survey that you’ll go through and take, just asking you questions about your exam experience as a user, as an end user. You know, was it user-friendly or all that kind of stuff. So, neither of those things count against your time. So, your time starts after that five-minute survey and ends before the five-minute tutorial and then ends before the 15-minute survey.
Domain Rebalancing
WENDY GROUNDS: All right, let’s get on to domain rebalancing. So, the three domains, those remain people, process, and business environment. But the weighting has shifted. Can you tell us about that?
BILL YATES: Yeah, so I can give you like a before and an after picture of that breakout, just for comparison purposes. This is the 2021 ECO versus the one that’s released in July of 2026. Okay? So, 2021, the old one; and 2026, July, the new one. It used to be the people was 42% of the exam. Now it’s 33% of the exam for the people domain. The process domain was 50%. Now it’s 41%. And business environment, a big shift there. It was 8%. Now it’s 26%. So, a larger emphasis on business environment.
Ren, I’m going to just go ahead and put that Easter egg out there. Business environment, yeah, 26%. That’s a huge increase, an 18% increase from what it used to be. But what you and I saw was it’s mostly just a shift.
REN LOVE: Yeah.
BILL YATES: Yeah. We’re shifting from process into business environment some tasks that just make sense at a strategic level.
REN LOVE: Yeah, and to kind of pair with those numbers that Bill just gave you, if I remember correctly, the old Exam Content Outline, you had 14 tasks under that people, so that was 42% of the exam. Then you had 17 tasks under process. And then you had just four in business environment. It was like this cute little add-on to the end.
But the new exam, when Bill’s talking about how they just kind of rearrange tasks, you can see that reflected in those numbers. People has moved down from 14 tasks to eight. Process has moved down from 17 tasks to 10. And business environment has doubled from four to eight. And so, you’ll see things that used to be considered under process, things like risk and issue management, change protocols, all of that got shifted into business environment.
PM Contributions on a Strategic Level
WENDY GROUNDS: What does the shift tell us about how organizations now expect project managers to contribute at a strategic level?
BILL YATES: Yeah, that’s – that’s good. When you look at the details of the July 2026 ECO, you see a shift into business environment. You know, to Ren’s point, some of the things that were in process got shifted into here, which I think is like a tap on the shoulder of the project manager. Hey, some of the things that you’re doing are pretty strategic. So, you need to treat them that way.
You need to look at risk, for instance, or change requests or issues at a strategic level and think, okay. Beyond just my project, but for the organization, this risk that we’re encountering, should I, like, raise the awareness within the organization, say hey, we’re encountering this. What about some other projects that are going on? Are you guys seeing this, too? Or could this risk that’s impacting the technology that we’re using in our project, could this have a bigger ripple effect throughout the organization? You know, what am I seeing?
So, I feel like a lot of that emphasis is shifting out of kind of the blocking and tackling that a project manager typically did into, okay, wait a minute. Look at this strategically. Think about this and the impact the entire organization could have based on this. And yes, so as Ren talked through, there are several – there are several of these tasks that are in a business environment that got shifted in there from the process domain before. And I think there’s something there for us to note.
How This Impacts Questions
Now, is that going to have an impact on the questions? Yeah, maybe a subtle impact in terms of how do we pick the best answer? Or, if a scenario is provided, do we need to look at this with blinders on just for our project? Or do we need to think, okay, wait a minute, could this impact the entire organization? Do I need to escalate this or raise awareness? So, I think there’s something to be said there.
REN LOVE: Yeah, absolutely. I think part of in terms of how does this affect the actual questions on the exam, it’s reflecting, I think, this shift in definition from what does it mean to be a project manager, from just, you know, the end all, be all for just your project to, when you’re choosing the best answer on the exam, your project isn’t happening in a vacuum. You have to consider other things.
So, there will be answers that will be tempting where it’s, you know, you just – you just make the decision really quickly, or you just get it done. And then there are going to be some answers that you may want to consider a little bit more. Reach out to the stakeholders, reach out to the sponsors, do a market research.
AI Content
WENDY GROUNDS: Let’s talk about the new content. I know there’s a lot of new focus areas like AI, sustainability, governance. How are these topics now considered essential for project managers? Can you tell us about that?
BILL YATES: So let me talk about AI just for a minute. So, we’ll talk about that piece. AI is a powerful tool. We’ve had folks on our podcast talk about AI, consider it like another team member or a stakeholder. So, the same way that I would if I received information from a team member, or if I received information from a stakeholder, maybe a subcontractor, I need to do some fact checking; right? They build trust with me, and that takes time.
The same is true with AI. I was on just a personal vacation recently, and I had to do some serious fact checking of AI, otherwise I was going to be way off grid. Our vacation plans were going to be way off. AI hallucinates. Sometimes AI misinterprets data that we give. So, we have to be very careful.
If we have questions on the exam related to AI, we have to have that mindset of, okay, I can’t just take it as fact. I have to analyze, fact check, look for other sources to make sure that the information coming in is correct. There’s also security issues with AI.
REN LOVE: And what’s interesting to also keep in mind is last year, so 2025, they announced and launched a whole separate AI certification; right? So, they have CPMAI, which is Certified Project Manager of AI Projects. For the PMP exam, you don’t need to know the nitty-gritty of AI. You don’t need to list the patterns of AI or all that stuff. But what you do need to know is what Bill already mentioned. You have to demonstrate an ability to know when to use it, how to use it, how to keep data secure, how to protect your clients’ data, and to be judicious with the use of AI as a tool and not get caught up in all that fanfare.
New Content: Sustainability, and Governance
WENDY GROUNDS: Can we talk about some of the other new content, as well? Sustainability, ESG, value delivery?
REN LOVE: Yeah. So, for listeners, in case you didn’t already know, ESG is environment, social, and governance. And so that’s part of a project framework that keeps projects in alignment with those goals in addition to whatever the project goals are. Again, this reflects a broader trend that’s happening globally; right? This uptick in discussion about sustainability and our projects being environmentally aware of our impact that we’re having, and whether it’s possible that your company has its own internal standard; right?
So, there are certain companies that say, you know, we’re going to be – we’re going to reduce our emissions by this percentage by 2030. Or sometimes the sustainability initiatives are coming from federal standards; right? Especially the UK government has some big things coming out right now.
So, in a reality, this is all part of, again, that shift in business environment. These are new constraints that are being introduced on our projects; right? Things that are environmental, social, or part of governance. A great example of this, I think, is data centers. A data center project just recently crumbled in my area, and part of it was because of the environmental impact it was going to have. And also, the community was very outraged at the idea of a data center. So, these are things that our projects are going to have to address. And it’s part of the new reality, I think, in the global marketplace.
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The Methodology Mix
WENDY GROUNDS: Let’s jump now to methodology mix. The exam is also adjusting the balance between methodologies. Can you just describe the shift to us and about how projects are actually being run today?
REN LOVE: Yeah, great question. So, the ECO, the Exam Content Outline for 2021, so the current version of the exam, has a very clear breakdown. I believe it’s like 50% of the questions on the exam are about predictive project management, traditional waterfall project management. 23% of the questions were supposed to be about true agile. So, all agile methodologies, including Kanban and Scrum and Lean and XP. And then 27% of the exam was theoretically about hybrid, and so hybrid methodology is a mix of the two, agile and predictive. There is now a shift. They don’t break it down as clearly anymore into three groups. They just break it into two.
So, 40% of the exam, a little less than half, is going to be predictive project management. You’re still going to have a lot of questions about the actual processes you’d find in a traditional project workflow. But 60% of the exam is now some version of an agile hybrid combo. And this reflects the reality of how projects are being run today because hybrid – hybrid project management has kind of taken over the world. And really, in my opinion, it reflects an adjustment.
A few years ago, there was this big swing. So, companies were saying, we’re going to shift entirely to an agile methodology. We’re going to do true agile in our projects. That business environment became a reality, and they realized, you know, true agile is actually quite difficult to pull off in a traditional organization.
So now there’s a swing that’s coming back to the center, which is saying we’re going to pull some of the things from agile that we really, really like; but we’re going to, you know, I will take my thorough documentation and my change control processes, please. So, it’s reflecting, I think, this kind of bounce back from this “We’re definitely going to be agile” to, “Okay, we’ll pick and choose a little bit.”
And I think that also the fact that they aren’t saying, you know, 25% is agile, 25% is hybrid, it’s reflecting that. It’s reflecting that the delineation between the two is almost impossible, especially in something like a scenario-based question. That’s, I think, that’s kind of what’s happening in terms of reflection of real-world reality.
So, it’s like, if you’re coming to the exam, it is still really valuable to you to learn what true agile looks like, learning those rules of agile, learning the terms like iteration, scrum, daily stand up, learning all of those things. They’ll help you build a foundation to choose the best answer for both agile questions and hybrid questions. And they’ll help you recognize, like, I am looking at an agile-based question, or I am looking at, I suspect, a hybrid question. That’s some advice to give to folks who, you know, agile is making them a little bit stressed, get a little, little stress. It’s a very – it’s a very graspable methodology.
BILL YATES: I agree with that. Yeah. If you can start with the values and the principles of agile, that will help you so much. It’s a big mindset shift. It’s very different to lead in an agile environment versus a predictive or traditional environment. So, test takers need to know that.
New Question Formats
WENDY GROUNDS: Another change is the introduction of new question formats. So, what are some of the changes or the new types of questions that candidates will see?
REN LOVE: Yeah, so I think there’s two brand new question types, in addition to the ones that already exist, one of which is case study. And I am thinking of this as, like, old school, learning to read something, interpret it, and answer it. So essentially this case study style is you’ll be given a description of a real-life project scenario, and then you’ll be answering a series of questions related to that.
And so, for the most part, I suspect these questions are going to be what’s the best next step, what document maybe should be produced here or you should be referencing here, things like that. So that’s going to be the case study section. The next type is graphic interpretation. I think Bill’s got…
BILL YATES: Yeah, yeah. So, graphics-based questions, this is new. This is where you have a question that requires the candidate to look at a graphic. It could be a chart. It could be like a control chart, could be a burn down chart, burn up chart. The example that they give here is a requirements traceability matrix. So, the requirements are listed, and they have IDs by them. Then there’s a question. Graph on the left, question on the right. And the question looks at the graph and makes you interpret that.
REN LOVE: And it goes a little bit further than just what are you – what am I looking at? There are still some old question formats on the exam that are probably worth mentioning. I know we still have the most common type, which is multiple choice.
BILL YATES: There’s like a hotspot or a point-and-click where you look at a chart and identify, you know, at this point in the schedule, my team is behind or is ahead of schedule. Or maybe it’s an earned value concept; and you say, you know, okay, given the chart, at what point is earned value performing better, you know, for CPI? When are you performing better than expected or better than planned? So that’s one of those. I think there’s, like you were mentioning, the matching, yeah.
REN LOVE: And I think there’s also a pull-down list. That’s only on the computer-based testing, but 99% of people taking the exam are doing it computer-based, so…
The Exam Philosophy
WENDY GROUNDS: All right. Let’s talk about the exam philosophy. One of the goals of the new exam is to deemphasize memorization and focus more on judgment. How do they accomplish that?
BILL YATES: Scenario-based questions. Mm-hmm. One of the things that we’ve really, at Velociteach, one of the things that we focused on is helping the student understand the concepts, have a basic foundational knowledge that they can answer the scenario-based question from. Okay, given this mindset as it comes to, you know, identifying and analyzing risks, given the situation, this is what I should do. This is the first step or the next step or the best action that I should take.
So, yeah, the questions are definitely scenario-based. There’s not a lot of the memorization-type questions that used to be many years ago.
REN LOVE: For some folks – I’m looking at you, engineers – you know, the math was like the dream. I’m going to memorize 50 formulas, and I’m going to pass with flying colors; right? In some cases, there are some of you who are thinking, oh, no more memorization. So, it’s a little bit bittersweet. But, yeah, as Bill was saying, it’s a lot more judgment-based.
And in many ways, it makes it a little bit more tricky because there are some cases where, if you presented that same question to two different PMP-certified project managers, they would argue about which the correct answer is. So, it gets a little bit trickier, I think, than some of the older school versions of the exam.
BILL YATES: And I think, you know, for many of our students, they’ll talk about that experience of they finish the exam, they submit it, and they say, in that moment, they have no idea if they passed. And then they’ll come back, and they passed with flying colors, you know, they’ve crushed it. There’s so many of those where I think I’ve chosen the right answer on this scenario, but I don’t really know. It’s not black-and-white like it used to be with just the knowledge-based.
REN LOVE: And I think that’s also – that’s a much more accurate reflection of reality. At any given time, I can Google a formula, and this exam reflects that. So, I am a project manager. I’m going to – I can go to PMI’s website and look up in their repository of tools and figure out things. I think what they’re testing now is not just your ability to use the tools, but your ability to have the best judgment.
The Eligibility Adjustments
WENDY GROUNDS: We’re doing great, guys. We’re almost done. One thing I want to talk about is eligibility changes. That’s a hot topic. So, can you tell us about some of the eligibility adjustments?
BILL YATES: Yeah. One of them is nice. In the July 2026 ECO, we noticed that, when the project manager is filling out the application, you used to be able to go back eight years for your project experience. Now you can go back 10 years. Yeah. So that’s a good thing, you know, gives you more opportunity there. There’s also – there’s still the same difference of eligibility in terms of the years of experience you’ve had, the months of experience managing and leading project activities, depending on the education level that you have.
So, the further you’ve gone with your formal education, if you have a college degree, you don’t have to have as many months of experience managing projects, as opposed to those who have only a high school degree.
Study Strategies
WENDY GROUNDS: Before we go, let’s give our audience a little practical advice, especially for folks who are maybe considering taking the PMP exam. What’s some study strategies that would be really important for students facing this new exam format?
REN LOVE: You know, Velociteach has been helping people pass this exam since, what, 2003? And honestly, we’ve made it through many versions of the exam. We have gone through and been very diligent, looking at the changes, looking at the additional info that’s added to the exam, pulling out some of the stuff that may be outdated. It may not be included in the exam anymore. So, I mean, of course, my biggest piece of advice is call Velociteach, or email us. Probably email us. Because we’ve got, you know, we’ve got all sorts of classes that can help.
But in a broader sense, honestly, my biggest piece of advice for most people is this is accessible. It’s – it’s doable. So, it feels very big. It feels very scary. A four-hour exam is nothing to shake a stick at.
But it’s all very doable. And again, Velociteach can help you through it. But step by step, day by day, it is something that is achievable. And I think the barrier to entry for a lot of folks is just, I can’t do it. Like that’s not going to happen for me. So, I think that’s my other big piece of advice, which is, if you decide it’s going to happen for you, it’ll happen for you.
Where the Profession is Headed
WENDY GROUNDS: What does this all tell us about where the project management profession is heading in the next decade?
BILL YATES: I think PMI is doing a good job of keeping the PMP certification valuable and relevant. You know, they continue to do the – used to be the role delineation study, or these things like the RDS and the JTA, these Role Delineation Studies and these Job Task Analysis studies, to make sure that their definition of a project manager and what he or she does on the day-to-day is up to date; right? Is relevant. And then it’s up to us volunteers to make sure that we keep the questions on the exam relevant, too. So, it’s very interesting.
But I feel like, you know, the bottom line is, once you pass an exam and earn that PMP certification, you want the value of that certification to remain. And so, to that end, we have these updates in the exam. And to Ren’s point, not our first rodeo. We’ve done this many times with many PMBOK changes and many Exam Content Outline changes. So here we are, happy to help.
Closing
WENDY GROUNDS: That’s it for us here on Manage This. Thanks for spending some time with us today. It’s always a pleasure to have you joining us. Don’t forget, you can visit us anytime at Velociteach.com to subscribe, catch up on past episodes, or read the full transcript of today’s show.
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