Gaining the 35 contact hours for the Project Management Professional – PMP certification remains a vague factor in the credentialing journey. So, we have prepared this blog post to list and explain the different ways for collecting the PMP 35 contact hours.
This article is available in video mode on our YouTube channel. And if you want to know more about all prerequisites for PMP, you can watch the related video or read about it on our blog.
Main Sources:
There are 6 legitimate sources to collect the contact hours:
- Registered Education Providers (R.E.P.s), or
- Authorized Training Partners (ATPs)
What is the difference between both? Well, they are the same; ATP is the new name for R.E.P.
Authorized training partners are organizations that are approved to offer project management training. Their courses are reviewed and authorized by the certification authority, hence providing material for those who do not have the luxury to adopt one of the remaining options.
This is the costliest option because the instructors are already paying a fee for course registration, so their prices are high.
Additional Sources:
Most people think that this is the only source, but you should know that you also have the following alternatives:
Company-sponsored programs
A lot of big firms and organizations interested in personnel development will prepare an on-premises training or workshop, given by internal or external subject matter experts. Those programs should include a detailed curriculum and course material. However, in this option, companies’ may be requested to provide appropriate paperwork to validate the program i.e., completion papers from the HR department.
Training companies or consultants (e.g., training schools)
Those are usually in your region. They are experts in project management and they provide a variety of material to enhance the candidate’s skills. Usually, local chapters have a list of those. Seminars and workshops provided by a local chapter are valid in this category.
Online material
An end-of-course assessment is needed in this case. Those are the trainings you get from Udemy, Coursera, and similar providers. Additionally, project management webinars are valid in this category.
YouTube videos for example are not counted because you cannot validate that you watched them!
Academic or continuing education programs
Courses from MBA studies related to project management or a master’s degree in project management are counted. However, a curriculum and institute paperwork need to be provided for this option.
What counts?
Courses that count in the additional sources may include but are not limited to:
- The 4 pillars: scope, schedule, cost, and quality
- Budget
- Risk
- Procurement
- Resources
- Stakeholders, and
- others
Getting audited
Applicants are randomly selected for audit, and most of the time, you are requested to send supporting material to validate the 35 contact hours. For any of the sources listed in this post, you will need to provide adequate information and corresponding paperwork.
Failing to comply with the audit process requirements will get you barred. If you want to know more about the audit process, you can watch the related video or read about it on our blog.
Takeaways and next steps
Every hour of training is counted as a single contact hour.
All sources listed in this post are considered legitimate if you can provide the correct paperwork to back it up. Finally, choosing the source to collect the 35 contact hours depends on your personal preferences (cost, time, etc.).
After collecting the 35 contact hours, comes the time to prepare and submit the PMP application for review and acceptance. If you wish to know more about our application preparation and review packages, you can contact us.