This course is offered three times a year – typically March, June and October. Each offering of this course consists of three classes held on consecutive Saturdays. The schedule for the classes is not set very far in advance, so we usually do not have exact dates until 6-8 weeks prior to an offering. We recommend that you visit our course web page periodically to see when and where our next course will be held.

No, all our classes are held on Saturdays only. We do this for two important reasons:

• Convenience for students
• We realize that it would be difficult for many students to take multiple days off from work and / or other obligations to take our course.
• Taking such an intense course in the evening after a long day of work and commuting would be very taxing.
• Of course, we also know that weekends are usually the time for students to spend with family and friends or just relax. That's why we do our best to pack our agenda to only three Saturdays – no time is wasted.
• Availability of instructors – All of the instructors are experienced and knowledgeable PMINJ volunteers who have a passion for the field of project management and a strong desire to give back to the profession by helping their fellow project managers. They all have either day jobs and / or other obligations that would make it difficult, if not prohibitive, for them to teach on a weekday / weeknight.

Our exam prep course is not a “boot camp” course where students take the exam at the end of the course.  Everyone takes the exam on their own schedule.  In fact, some people decide not to take it.  Not all students let us know when they take the exam or how they did. For these reasons, it is very difficult to get accurate statistics.  Nevertheless, we do get very positive feedback from former students who have passed the exam, stating that our course was instrumental in helping them achieve success on the exam.

No.  However, all PMI members can download a free electronic copy of the PMBOK in PDF format for their personal use.  Alternatively, you can purchase a printed copy at PMI's on-line store or from other booksellers.

Absolutely not! This course is a comprehensive review of project management as outlined in PMI's "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)—Sixth Edition" and provides students with the information that will help them pass the PMP or CAPM examination. If a student applies the effort and fully uses all the resources that we provide, they should be successful. [See next question to get additional hours of training.]

What other companies typically do in their prep course is add up to 17 hours for students to take quizzes and a practice PMP exam in class and then spend time going over each answer. However, we intentionally don't do this for two reasons:

• Save time – The quizzes and a full practice PMP exam are included in your textbook along with a clear explanation of the correct answers so you can take these quizzes and exam at your convenience.
• Save money – Eliminating extra time needed in a classroom means that we can eliminate additional costs. This allows us to keep the registration cost low for our students.

Many of our students do not need to earn all 35 hours of training from our course. In fact, you may be one of them and not know it. There is no "backwards" time-limit on Project Management courses that you may have taken in the past, either through your company or some other training provider. Therefore you can apply those training hours to your 35 hour training requirement. [Note: You must have documented proof of the provider, course length and course content – e.g. through the combination of a certificate of completion and a course outline – in the event that your application is audited by PMI.] For questions regarding your past training, contact PMI Customer Care at the e-mail address provided above.

If you need to earn additional training hours, there are sever options:

• Use the included one-week access to Velociteach's InSite course and earn up to 8 more training hours. Print your certificate of completion before your access expires so that you will have proof of the number of training hours that you have earned.
• Upgrade (for an additional cost) to the Premium student material at the time that you register for our course. You get additional study resources (e.g. a full on-line course and three practice exams), and you will also be able to earn up to 47 more training hours.
• Find another training provider. It is strongly recommended that you verify that any training resource choosen is a PMI Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.). That will ensure that the provider meets PMI's quality standards. Visit PMI Registered Education Providers to search for a training organization. Or visit PMI's bookstore for other resources. PMINJ does not endorse training organizations or resources.

After the classes complete and you are studying intensely for the exam, you can contact the instructors with questions regarding the material. During the classes, our instructors will provide their e-mail addresses so that you can contact them directly with your questions, even weeks after the end of the course.

We are currently not on the State of New Jersey's Department of Labor and Workforce Development's Eligible Training Provider List and therefore you cannot apply any training grant that you receive from them to register for our training course.

The "foundation" document for the exam is currently PMI's "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK? Guide)—Sixth Edition".  This is the internationally-recognized ANSI standard for project management and is the basis for both the PMP and CAPM exams.  Questions on the CAPM exam are based solely on the PMBOK and therefore a thorough knowledge of the information presented in the PMBOK may be sufficient to pass the exam – assuming that you fully comprehend everything you read.

However, for the PMP exam, you will need a much broader understanding of project management principles and techniques and therefore we recommend that you read as much as you can, take an overview project management course and take an exam prep course.

For both exams, it is a good idea to prepare by taking as many practice tests as you can.  Also, we recommend that you use a good study guide to help with understanding the types of questions asked on the exam and to learn PMI's perspective on how the questions should be answered.

PMINJ does not endorse any websites offering practice exams.  However, you can find many sources by doing an internet search or by asking your colleagues who are preparing for the exam or have recently taken the exam. Beware that some sources on the web are not reliable.  Joining or forming a study group is good for sharing resources as well.  (PMINJ Study Groups)

PMI’s website states the following:
Exam updates help keep our certifications current with the evolving state of the project management profession. We update them in two circumstances:

• When we release a new exam content outline, which details the critical tasks and knowledge areas tested in the exam.
• When there is an update to an existing standard, or when a new PMI publication is added to a certification's reference list. This ensures the questions align with any new terminology.

In either case, the questions are written by active project management professionals and reflect the latest information and best practices in our global profession.

The PMP and CAPM exams were updated in 2018 – March 26, 2018 and May 21, 2018, respectively – to reference PMI's "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK. Guide)—Sixth Edition". The examination content outline for the PMP exam was updated on January 12, 2016 and the CAPM exam was updated on May 21, 2018.

We are always looking to add to our professional development offerings by regularly evaluating the training demand and needs of practitioners in the project management profession.  If there is a specific training course that you would like to see PMINJ offer, e-mail your suggestions to
John Tse