P3.express Practitioner Certification Program
This is the description of the P3.express Practitioner certification program, which is the only exam-based P3.express recognition program.
You can obtain an exam voucher from the accredited trainers, accredited training organizations, or the examination institute; e.g.,
- pmclub
- Van Haren
What is a P3.express Practitioner?
Candidates who are certified are expected to be able to manage projects or contribute to their management in an effective and structured way using P3.express.
The goal is to create a definition of the minimum level of expertise required for managing real-world projects, which will give people an indication of when they can be relatively confident about their expertise.
How to get certified
Candidates can become certified by
- accepting the code of conduct, and
- passing the P3.express Practitioner exam.
Validity
Certificates are valid for life, but they are attributed to the year they are issued; e.g., “P3P-2022”. The level of confidence in the certificate may decrease the more time passes since the evaluation; e.g., a potential employer may be confident about a P3P-2022 certificate in 2023, but may not be so confident in 2025.
Practitioners are encouraged to re-certify every year to stay up to date. The first attempt at the upgrade exam is free of charge apart from a payment for the admin costs.
Serious violations of the code of conduct may result in cancellation of the certificate(s).
Exam vouchers
Candidates can buy the exam vouchers from Accredited P3.express Trainers, Accredited P3.express Education Partners, or the examination institute.
Exam format
The P3.express Practitioner exam is in open-book format, with 70 questions in 100 minutes.
The exam is currently available in English only, but multiple languages will be added soon. There’s a language aid feature in the exam that provides an automated translation of the question into any target language, for an approximate help.
Candidates need a score of 67% or higher to pass the exam.
Format of the questions
Each question is either
- multiple-choice, with 2 or more choices, where only one choice should be selected, or
- multiple-answer, with 3 or more choices, where more than one choice should be selected.
When more than one choice is to be selected, it’s always mentioned in the question. Some questions tell you the exact number of choices you should select, and some only give you a hint that you should select more than one choice.
Each question is of one of the following types:
- Scenario-based: About 80% of the questions are based on a short scenario embedded into the question, rather than a single, global scenario.
- Direct: About 20% of the questions are direct without a scenario.
Questions are designed to challenge different levels of cognition:
- Cognitive level 1 (15% of questions): recalling
- Cognitive level 2 (55% of questions): recalling + basic analysis
- Cognitive level 3 (30% of questions): recalling + advanced analysis and deduction
There’s no penalty for wrong answers, and all questions have the same weighting (1 point).
Syllabus
Questions cover the following topics:
Group Topic Questions
1 NUPP 4
1 Code of Conduct 3
1 License and rights 2
2 Project manager 4
2 Sponsor 4
2 Peer reviewer 3
2 Custodian 2
2 Team leader 1
3 Initiations 13
3 Daily and Weekly Management 8
3 Closures 4
3 Post-Project Management 4
4 Deliverables Map 2
4 Project Description 4
4 Follow-Up Register 6
4 Health Register 1
5 Tailoring 3
5 Delivery method 2
Questions are focused on the content of P3.express, as represented in the manual, and don’t cover additional techniques and practices as the main topic of the questions, but those practices may be mentioned in the scenarios.
Sample questions
You can use the sample questions to become more familiar with the exam questions.