CAPM Exam prep: The CAPM Exam Content Outline is changing in 2023

The CAPM exam along with the CAPM Exam Content Outline (ECO) is scheduled to change in early January 2023. This is bound to impact your CAPM certification training. This blog aims to list all the changes the new CAPM exam will include and guide you through your CAPM exam prep.

Earning Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification is your first step towards earning and displaying credibility as a project manager. This entry level PMI certification is an asset that sets you apart in your profession and makes you exponentially proficient with project teams.

A thorough CAPM exam prep is necessary to ace the exam. The current exam is based on the 6th edition of the PMBOK guide. However, in order to reflect and include every changing market expectations of entry level professionals, the CAPM exam content outline is changing in January 2023.

What will the new CAPM exam include?

4 New Domain Areas

The new CAPM exam will include 4 Domain areas based on the latest CAPM ECO (Exam Content Outline). These Domain areas are:

Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts
Predictive Plan-Based Methodologies
Agile Frameworks/Methodologies
Business Analysis Frameworks.

Thus, the professional will be required to plan the CAPM exam prep according to the new CAPM Exam Content Outline.

A 10 Minute break

The three hour CAPM exam will now include a 10-minute break. The number of questions in the new updated exam will remain the same as the current exam: there will be 150 questions that must be answered in 3 hours. The exam can be taken at a test center and even at the comfort of your home.

The current CAPM exam will retire and will not be available for schedule from January 2023.

The latest Domain Areas for CAPM exam prep.

The CAPM exam prep will now align with domain areas included in the new CAPM exam. These domain areas are tabulated below along with their weightage.

Domain Areas	Percentage of questions in the CAPM exam
Project Management Fundamentals and Core concepts	36%
Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies	17%
Agile Frameworks/Methodologies	20%
Business Analysis Frameworks	27%

Domain 1 - Project Management Fundamentals and Core concepts.

The CAPM exam prep for this domain will include training about basic and core concepts of project management. Your preparation will include a thorough understanding of project life cycles and processes. Domain 1 is further divided into 5 tasks and 36% of questions in the CAPM exam are based on it.

Domain 1 Project Management Fundamentals and Core concepts

Task 1

This section of your CAPM exam training includes:

Distinguishing between a project, program and portfolio.
Differentiating between project and operations
Understanding and distinguishing between predictive and adaptive approaches.
Conceptual clarification about issues, risks, assumptions and constraints.
Reviewing and critiquing the scope of the project.
Implementing the project management code of ethics to various scenarios.
Understanding and learning the ability to explain how a project can bring about impactful change.

Task 2

This section of CAPM exam prep includes:

Describing the purpose and importance of cost, quality, risk and schedule.
Distinguishing between various deliverables of project management plan from product management plan.
Knowing and distinguishing between a task duration and a milestone.
Ability to determine the types and quantity of resources in a project.
Knowing how to use a risk register if needed.
Ability to explain project closure and transitions.

Task 3

This section of domain 1 demonstrates clear concepts of roles and responsibilities of project managers. Your preparation must enable you to:

Compare and distinguish between the roles and responsibilities of project managers and project sponsors.
Distinguish the roles and responsibilities of a project team and project sponsors
Explain the significance of the project manager’s role
Know and explain the difference between leadership and management
Know and explain emotional intelligence (EQ) and its significant impact on project management.

Task 4

This section of Domain 1 introduces the professional to follow and implement planned strategies and frameworks. Your CAPM exam prep must :

Give practical examples to demonstrate appropriate response to a planned strategy.
Teach you project initiation and benefit planning.

Task 5

Your CAPM training must also coach you to demonstrate a concrete understanding of common problem-solving tools and techniques.

Evaluate the impact and efficiency of a meeting
Explain the purpose of stand-up meetings, brainstorming and focus groups, etc.

Domain 2 - Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies.

CAPM certification training must coach the professional on the various methodologies used in project management and identification of the most suitable one. The second domain forms 17% of the CAPM exam and includes 3 tasks tabulated below.

Domain 2 Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies
Task 1	Your CAPM exam prep must train you to determine the appropriate use of a predictive, plan based approach. You must: Be able to identify the suitability of a predictive, plan-based approach for the organizational structure. Be able to determine the activities included in each process Provide examples of typical activities included in each process Be able to differentiate between various project components.
Task 2	You must be able to demonstrate clear understanding of a project management plan schedule. You must learn to: Apply critical path methods. Calculate schedule variance Explain WBS or work breakdown structures Apply a quality and integration management plan Explain work packages
Task 3	Learn how to document project controls of predictive, plan-based projects. Your CAPM exam prep must include: Identification of artifacts that are utilized in predictive, plan-based projects. Ability to calculate and determine cost and schedule variances

Domain 3 Agile Frameworks or Methodologies.

Possessing a thorough conceptual understanding about agile methodologies is crucial for an aspiring professional to effectively work in diverse organizations. Agile is adapted and practiced by the majority of organizations throughout the world. CAPM certification training on agile framework guarantees global proficiency.

Domain 3 Agile Frameworks/ Methodologies
Task 1	Determine when it is best to use the adaptive approach in project management. Your training must help you learn: To weigh the pros and cons of adaptive and predictive projects Identifying the suitability of agile methodology for organizational structure. Determining organizational process assets and environmental factors that assist the use of agile or adaptive approaches.
Task 2	Learn how to plan project iterations. Your CAPM exam prep must: Coach you to distinguish the logical units of iterations. Determine the advantages and disadvantages of the iteration. Enable you to translate Work Breakdown Structures to an adaptive iteration. Determine inputs for scope Be able to explain the significance of adaptive project tracking over plan-based tracking.
Task 3	Learn how to document project controls for an adaptive project. You must be able to identify artifacts that adaptive projects utilize.
Task 4	Your CAPM training must give you a clear understanding of all components of the adaptive plan. You must be able to clearly distinguish between components of various agile methodologies such as Scrum, Lean, Extreme Programming (XP), Scaled Adaptive Framework(SAFe), Kanban, etc.
Task 5	The third domain of the CAPM Exam Content Outline includes questions on preparation and execution of task management steps. Thus, your CAPM exam prep must: train you to interpret the success criteria of an adaptive project management task. You must also learn to prioritize tasks in adaptive project management.

Domain 4 Business Analysis Frameworks.

Learning basic concepts of business analysis is crucial to become a well-rounded and efficient project manager. This domain is divided into 6 tasks and 27% of questions in the exam are asked from this section. Therefore, your CAPM training must cover the following topics from the fourth domain.

Domain 4 Business Analysis Frameworks

Task 1

Display a concrete understanding of business analysis roles and duties. You must be able to:

Distinguish between the various roles of stakeholders
Know and determine the requirement of roles and responsibilities
Know the difference between internal and external roles.

Task 2

Learn to communicate with stakeholders. You must:

Know the most effective and appropriate way to communicate, such as reporting, presentation, etc.
Be able to establish why communication among various teams is significant for a business analyst.

Task 3

Your CAPM exam prep must coach you how to gather requirements. You must be able to:

Match tools to different scenarios.
Know the approach for gathering requirements. These approaches include conducting stakeholder interviews, workshops, surveys, etc.
Explain requirements traceability matrix or product backlog.

Task 4

To ace your CAPM exam, you must also have a clear understanding of product roadmaps. You must be able to explain the use and application of a product roadmap. You should also know which components go to which releases.

Task 5

Know how project methodologies can influence the processes of business analysis. You must be able to determine the role of a business analyst in agile and/or predictive management approaches.

Task 6

Your CAPM exam prep must enable you to meet and validate requirements by successfully delivering products. You must be able to:

Define what an acceptance criteria is.
Decide if a project or product is ready for delivery as per the product backlog.

Training with Education Edge, an Authorized Training Partner (ATP) ensures that you receive the best and most effective CAPM exam prep that covers all the above domains and their included topics. With a 100% pass rate for over a decade, training with us guarantees your CAPM certification. Enroll with us now.