The program managers are considered valuable for any industry. They take up the responsibility to control, maintain and manage numerous related projects in a coordinated method. Since they are skilled at managing multiple linked projects, it brings a huge amount of benefits for the business. Thus, the demand for PgMP certified professionals are increasing drastically across industries. 

After obtaining the Program Management Professional or PgMP certification, you will receive many job opportunities. It also helps you to improve and enhance your knowledge and skills for becoming an expert program manager. 

Since the program manager skills are in high demand across industries, it is considered the best time to pursue this certification. This certification helps any individual wanting to expand their career in program management. This exam has one of the highest rates of failure. 

It validates the individual’s skills and expertise to manage numerous linked projects at a time. This certification is also suitable for any experts in different positions. For instance, executives or functional managers wanting to increase their skills and proficiency in this particular line of work. It is also suitable for professionals with PMP certifications who are interested in displaying their skills, knowledge, and experience in program management. 

Exam Information

It is known to be a tough exam to crack on your first try. You will receive around 170 questions out of which 20 questions are known to be pretext questions. Although these pretext questions have no effect on your final results or score. In addition, you are required to solve the questions within a time constraint of 240 minutes. 

One has to pay a registration fee for applying for this certification exam. The price for the applicants with PMI membership is around $800, and for the applicants, without any membership, it costs around $1000. The exam can be scheduled once you are confident with your preparation.  

Difficulty Level of PgMP certification

The pass rate of the PgMP certification is very low; it is as low as 30%. It indicates the difficulty level of this certification. It is also considered to be tougher than that of the PMP certification exam. Majority of the applicants fail to successfully clear this exam at the first try. 

However, it is not impossible to get any certification. With the right amount of hard work and commitment, you can easily obtain this certification.

Steps for passing the PgMP exam

• Understand the complexity of the exam: Before you attempt the exam, you should be aware of its complexity and difficulty. Having a clearer idea enables any individual to prepare and answer better. The exam is mainly based on scenarios; thus, it is an important step to understand it to be able to prepare for it. 
• Read the concepts thoroughly: You should divide your schedule in a way that it covers all the concepts and theories covered in the manual. In addition, you should go through the concepts of the PMBOK guide again, since they are crucial for this exam. Also, you have to get a clear idea of the concepts to be able to apply them into the questions, since most of them are scenario-based. 
• Practice: Making a schedule will help you to divide your time perfectly within a variety of subjects. Managing time is very crucial. The schedule will enable you to find free time in your busy schedule. Thus, you can separate the time equally for every important concepts and theory. Also, it is suggested that having at least three months or 200 hours for preparation will be very helpful. 
• Training courses: You can take up some online training courses to help you understand the concepts better. You can also learn in your free time, at your own pace. In addition, you can also practice the sample questions or mock exams to get a clearer view of the concepts. It is useful for locating your weak areas or parts that you can work on later. 
• Managing time during the exam: It includes 170 questions which you have to answer within four hours. Thus, you get around 1.5 minutes for every question. It might become very challenging for many individuals. You can take up mock exams to practise managing your time. During the exam, you can leave the tough questions to review later since time is crucial. You can try answering them after you complete answering other questions. 

Final Words

The PgMP exam is considered to be quite difficult to clear on your first try. Although it is not completely impossible to achieve it. Obtaining the PgMP certification provides you with numerous benefits and boosts up your career.