Which PMBOK Guide do I Need to Pass the PMP?

I sat for the PMP exam nearly one year ago. I took the exam on Saturday, February 27th, 2021. It was a culmination of months of studying, and preparing. Passing that exam was both a professional and personal goal, and a highlight in my career.

For those who don’t know, the Project Management Professional (PMP) is considered to be the gold-standard certification for project management. It is administered by the Project Management Institute, or PMI. As of July 31st, 2020, there are a total of 1,036,367 active PMP holders.

A lot has changed since I sat for the PMP. In November of 2021, PMI released the new PMBOK 7th edition. The PMBOK stands for the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Let’s take a minute and see how PMI describes this important book:

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) is PMI’s flagship publication and is a fundamental resource for effective project management in any industry. Over the years, business has changed considerably, but projects remain critical drivers of business success.

The book includes The Standard for Project Management. The standard is the foundation upon which the vast body of knowledge builds, and the guide serves to capture and summarize that knowledge. (link)

The 7th edition was not released when I took the PMP, so my focus was on the 6th edition. I don’t want to go into details comparing the two, but just trust me when I say that the two versions are very different.

So which PMBOK Guide should you use in order to pass the PMP?

You may not like to hear this, but I would recommend using both guides. I personally would still focus on the 6th edition as my main resource, but that focus will shift as we move further into 2022.

But don’t just use the PMBOK guide as your sole reference for the exam. It’s a mistake many of us make when preparing for the PMP. We assume that everything we need is within the guide, but that’s incorrect. The book acts as a guide for the profession of project management. You need to supplement your preparation with additional resources. The profession of project management is so broad, it just is impossible to fit everything within one book.

The PMP is based on the Exam Content Outline, or ECO. The ECO is a document that outlines all the knowledge areas that you must understand in order to successfully pass the test. PMI has created a list of additional books and resources you should read during your preparation. The reference list includes:

• The Agile Practice Guide

• PMBOK Guide

• Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling

• Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme, Hybrid

• Fundamentals of Technology Project Management

• Project Managers Portable Handbook

• Information Technology Project Management

• Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Practice

• Project Management: The Managerial Process

• The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right

  Best of luck with the studying! You got this!