How many questions do I have to have rigth to pass the exam?

Submitted by paulagomez975@g... on Sat, 04/07/2012 - 04:17

Is it true that I need to have 61% of the questions correct to pass the exam -106 out of 175-?

I have been taking tests on line and my score is around 70% and i have schedule my exam for wednesday.

please advise.

Regards from Brazil.

Paula.

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diba_perfect

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 05:27

Paula,

This is a topic which has been debated wide and long across hundreds of forums.

And the answer is that there's no specific answer to this question! Afaik, the PMI - PMP handbook used to mention the passing score as 61% till 2005(?). But as of today, there's no 'official' guidance available from PMI.

It appears that the passing score varies for each test taker based on the level of difficulty(and some other unique factors) of the constituent questions. This can actually be a fact since the experience of test takers suggests a significant variance in the type(direct/indirect/verbose/inferential/formula based etc.) and difficulty level of questions.

Some also maintain that each of the five KAs would have their own individual score ranges(to align you into BP, MP and P levels) apart from the overall cutoff score(which is probably lower than the sum of the MP score mark for the five KAs). That probably explains cases where people pass even with a BP in some areas(Initiating, Closing atleast if not Planning/Executing/M&C).

So the bottomline conclusion remains that aspirants should not target just 61% and rather try to perform to the best of their abilities.

Thanks!

DM

pmp_man

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 05:44

I saw some more people asked this question about passing and proficiency level. I would answer here itself.


 


 PMI does not reveal how much percentage and formulas it uses for grading the test. What I am saying here is what I have heard expert saying, whether you want to believe it or not, it’s up to you as even I do not know if it’s correct.


 


Out of the 200 questions, 25 questions are pre-test. As per the information I have these questions are removed from your test while calculating result.


 


When you say you need around 61% to pass means out of 200 questions you need to answer 122 questions correctly. In actual you are evaluated for 175 questions and hence the 122 correct questions percentage becomes 70%. So in reality you need 70% to pass. This is NOT followed now.


 


Proficiency in each process group is decided by:


<65% = BP


65% to 85% = MP


85 > = P


 


As of now, in order to pass the PMP exam, not more than one process group should be Below Proficient.

diba_perfect

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 08:11

Thanks a lot for your reply pmp_man!

I'm an aspirant too and your reply has made me eager to ask a couple of more questions:

i) The BP/MP/P spread of 0-65%/65-85%/85%+ is not new news to me. But has it been mentioned 'officially' anywhere(e.g. PMI website) yet?

ii) I agree that real test results point to the fact that more than one BP in any of the five Process Groups(PGs)would lead to a failure. But does that mean that I can get a BP in say Executing and still pass? Or is that BP 'allowed' in only Initiating and Closing(the PGs with less weightage)? Again, is there any "official statement" available about this too?

Thanks in advance.

DM

pmp_man

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 08:53

The second paragraph what I said earlier, answers what you are looking for:


 


“PMI does not reveal how much percentage and formulas it uses for grading the test. What I am saying here is what I have heard expert saying, whether you want to believe it or not, it’s up to you as even I do not know if it’s correct.”


 


I have been involved in Management training and hence I hear from people across about PMP a lot. I know 2 of my friends who have passed PMP who were BP in Execution and one BP in M&C.


 


I would assume that what I have heard from various expert and people across i.e. “not more than one process group should be Below Proficient.” Looks to be true now. Even some of my friends had questioned PMI through their support and they received similar answer.


 


PMI is a very respected and valued Institute, they would never revel their internal marking policies. This is one of the reason PMP has high respect.

projmanpro

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 21:02

hi paula, may this help you.

The PMP exam includes 200 multiple-choice questions with four answer choices per question. The exam must be completed in four hours. Twenty-five of the 200 exam questions are "prerelease questions", meaning they are not included in your score for the exam. These questions will be randomly placed throughout the exam. You will not know which ones are which. They will be used by PMI to validate the questions for future inclusion in the master database. Your score will be calculated based on your response to the remaining 175 questions. The passing score on the exam has been approximately 61% (106 out of 175 questions answered correctly.)


The questions are randomly generated from a database containing hundreds of questions. The questions may jump from topic to topic and cover multiple concepts in a single question. You get one point for each correct answer. There is no penalty for wrong answers.

The following table breaks out the percentage of scored questions currently on the exam in each process group:

PROCESS GROUP  %DISTRIBUTION
Project Initiating  13%
Project Planning  24%
Project Executing  30%
Project Monitoring & Controlling  25%
Project Closing  8%

 

More tips i read from here: http://www.pmptrend.com/index.php/en/pmp/77-pmp-resources/149-pmp-exam-guide-tips