Rebles Guide to PM

• The HS2 reset: lessons for project managers

  

  HS2, the high speed railway line, is now expected to cost between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion, and the full line could open up to 13 years later than planned in 2020. Those are the headline numbers from the National Audit Office's latest report, High Speed Two reset, published in June 2026.

  It's easy to read the headlines, shake your head and move on. But the report is much more interesting than the numbers. It looks at what happens when a programme outgrows the organization running it, and at what it takes to put things right.

  This isn't the first reset, either. HS2 was reset in 2020, Euston was reset in 2020 and 2023, and Phase 2 was cancelled in 2023. So the NAO's message is simple: get it right this time!

  I've read the report so you don't have to. Here's where HS2 stands, what's changing, and the lessons I think every project manager can take from it, whatever size of project you're working on.

  

  Where HS2 is now

  HS2 is now a London to Birmingham railway, and it's costing roughly twice what was expected in 2020. The Department for Transport (DfT) sponsors and funds it. HS2 Ltd builds it. A new body, Euston Delivery Company, is responsible for the London terminus.

  What	Figure
  Revised cost estimate (May 2026)	£87.7bn to £102.7bn
  Increase since 2020, excluding inflation	£35.9bn to £37.2bn
  Spent so far, including the cancelled Phase 2	£46.8bn (to March 2026)
  First services, Old Oak Common to Birmingham	May 2036 to October 2039
  Full line, Euston to north of Birmingham	May 2040 to December 2043
  Delay compared with 2020 plans	3 to 13 years
  Cost of the reset itself	£153m
  Reset due to finish	Spring 2027

  Those ranges are wide for a reason. The NAO says the May 2026 estimates still carry a high level of uncertainty. A firmer baseline is due by spring 2027.

  Why the costs doubled

  Project costs do change, and it’s not uncommon for projects to cost a bit more than the original estimate, especially if there is construction work involved. You don’t have to watch many episodes of Grand Designs before you realize that scope evolves and material pricing changes!

  But the HS2 costs have gone up a lot. Inflation explains only about a third of the increase. HS2 Ltd's own analysis splits the £48.6bn rise between the 2020 funding envelope and its current £93.2bn target like this:

  Cause	Share of the increase	What it means
  Inflation	34%	Prices rose faster than expected
  Underestimation	32%	Building and testing the railway took more time and money than forecast
  Inefficient delivery	23%	Poor productivity on the work that was done
  Scope change	11%	Necessary work that was missed from the original scope

  The NAO notes it hasn't audited these calculations, so they are HS2 Ltd's view. Even so, two thirds of the increase comes down to estimating and delivery, not the economy. And estimating and delivery is very much in the project manager’s realm of interest.

  What the reset involves

  The reset started in January 2025, and HS2 Ltd's new chief executive finished his review of the programme that March. His assessment was blunt: HS2 Ltd had failed to control costs and schedule, construction had started too soon, contracts weren't delivering, and the organization wasn't set up to manage delivery.

  The reset has four workstreams:

  1. Cost and schedule. Build a fully assured baseline the programme can be managed against.
  2. Supply chain and commercial relationships. Renegotiate contracts so contractors are rewarded for efficient delivery (my old CIO would approve – we put carrots in contracts, not sticks, and it was so much better for partnerships).
  3. Organizational capability and culture. Redesign HS2 Ltd so it has the people and skills to deliver.
  4. Governance. Clarify roles, rebuild trust between DfT and HS2 Ltd, and speed up decisions.

  All of this is happening while construction carries on. DfT and HS2 Ltd are also working through 124 recommendations from earlier reviews. By February 2026, 45 of them (36%) were done. While that doesn’t sound like many, it probably represents a lot real work happening behind the scenes.

  7 lessons for project managers

  You probably aren't running a £100bn railway, I'm certainly not. But almost everything in this report shows up on ordinary projects too, just with fewer zeros. Here are some of the takeaways I got from the report that could apply to your work too.

  1. Don't start delivery before the plan is ready

  The chief executive's review found that construction had started too soon. Once work is under way, the pressure to keep going makes it much harder to fix the plan. The NAO's top recommendation follows the same logic: don't put the revised plans into action until everything is in place to deliver them.

  Try this: Before your next phase starts, ask what you're still assuming. If the answer is "quite a lot", that's a conversation for your sponsor now, not three months in.

  2. When the scope changes, the team has to change too

  When Phase 2 was cancelled, the organization didn't adjust to the smaller programme. HS2 Ltd's own review found too many people at the centre and too few in front-line delivery teams. It also found silo working, gaps in commercial and contract management skills, and an over-reliance on complex processes.

  Try this: After any big change to scope, look at your team structure, not just your plan. Does the way you're organized still match the work?

  3. If people don't trust the data, they won't trust the plan

  The same review flagged a lack of trust in the integrity of data. A baseline is only useful if people believe the numbers in it. HS2 Ltd is now testing the quality of its data and assumptions before it sets the new baseline.

  Try this: Ask your team how confident they are in the figures in your status report. Their answer tells you a lot!

  4. You can't negotiate if you don't know your own costs

  HS2 Ltd tried to renegotiate its big contracts in 2024 and failed. It didn't have a reliable estimate of total cost, didn't understand the supply chain's work well enough, and offered a risk-transfer deal contractors didn't want. Second time round, it settled historic costs first and found around £500m of costs it won't pay. It's now aiming to save around £2bn.

  Try this: Before you go back to a supplier about a contract, make sure you know what has actually been spent and why.

  5. Cutting scope can be the best way to cut risk

  The trains will now run at 320 km/h instead of the planned 360 km/h. That means a simpler train control and signalling system and less testing, saving an estimated £1bn to £2.5bn. The line could also open at least a year earlier, although this is a multi-year project so it probably won’t feel like much of a time-saving to the people on the front line. The trade-off is around £1.3bn in lost long-term benefits from slower journeys.

  Try this: When a requirement carries a lot of risk, ask what the "good enough" version would cost and what you'd give up. Then let the sponsor make the call with both numbers in front of them.

  6. Governance is about relationships, not just boards

  The Stewart Review found HS2's governance wasn't fit for purpose. It also said trust between DfT and HS2 Ltd needed to be restored. New boards and a ministerial taskforce help. But the NAO also found a more collaborative way of working, and HS2 Ltd says new decision-making for mega-projects has cut decision times by reducing duplication.

  At Euston, the earlier problem was that no single body had the authority to make trade-offs. The fix is a new company acting as the "single directing mind".

  Try this: For every big decision on your project, can you name who makes it? If not, sort that out before you need it.

  7. Don't lose sight of why you're doing the project

  DfT says that, had today's costs been known in 2020, HS2's benefit–cost ratio would have been 0.3 to 0.4. That's "poor value for money". Continuing now still makes sense because the money already spent doesn't count in that sum.

  Sunk cost fallacy, anyone?

  The NAO says DfT must focus hard on getting the most value from what it's spending, and set out who owns, delivers and reports the benefits.

  Try this: Check your business case is still valid at every stage gate, not just at the start. And make sure someone owns the benefits once the project closes.

  What happens next

  The next few months are going to be busy for this program team! HS2 Ltd expects an initial version of the new baseline in autumn 2026 (at the time of writing, so that’s any time now) and the final version by spring 2027. The main contract renegotiations are also due by autumn 2026, about six months later than planned.

  HS2 Ltd is also assessing its capability across 10 core areas, including project management, program controls and integration, so it can close the priority gaps by spring 2027.

  So what do I think? The NAO's verdict is fair but firm – they are known for this, and in past reports I’ve read they don’t hold back. They are very good at speaking truth to power!

  DfT and HS2 Ltd are taking a considered approach, but there's a lot left to do. The report recommends they check whether the spring 2027 deadline is still realistic, and take more time if they need it.

  It’s so important to take the time you need. A reset that's rushed to hit a date is just the start of the next reset… although we all know this is a difficult message for stakeholders who want everything yesterday!

  This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: The HS2 reset: lessons for project managers

• BrainBOK Review: PMP and CAPM Training

  

  Category: Training for students preparing for Project Management Professional (PMP)® and Certified Associates in Project Management (CAPM)®: BrainBOK review.

  BrainBOK is an online, reasonably-priced project management training program and toolkit for students preparing for PMP® and CAPM® exams.

  I've reviewed the product in depth so I can confidently recommend it. In this review, I'll share more about BrainBOK's features and the pros and cons of this project management training tool.

  Cost and plans

  There’s a free version to allow you to test out a limited number of features.

  BrainBOK offers one-time payment plans, with no subscription. The plan with proof of your 35 contact hours for your PMP® application costs $149 for 90 days of access. CAPM® plans are slightly cheaper. You can also create a free account, no credit card needed, and try some of the practice exams before you pay.

  It's also cheaper if you take the pack for a shorter period of time, but I wouldn't recommend it: 90 days (3 months) is the commonly-recommended time to get ready for your exam.

  If you don't want all the training materials, you can buy the elements separately:

  • an exam pack to work through the exam simulator and test yourself
  • the ITTO pack
  • the flashcards pack.

  Oh, and there's a money back guarantee!

  Product features

  BrainBOK says its content is aligned with the PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition and the current PMP® and CAPM® Exam Content Outlines. The PMP exam was updated in July 2026, with more emphasis on the Business Environment domain, so make sure your study plan gives that area plenty of time.

  PMP and CAPM training has been online for a long time but right now it seems like there are more choices than ever before. One product I reviewed recently is BrainBOK, and as you can guess from the name it’s a PMP and CAPM self-study toolkit.

  BrainBOK is an app from Harwinder Singh, the project management expert behind the PMP prep blog, Deep Fried Brain. He kindly gave me access to the product for a short while so that I could review it for you.

  Inside the BrainBOK app you have:

  • ITTOs
  • Flashcards
  • Quizzes
  • Exams.

  Understanding the ITTOs with BrainBOK

  How many PMBOK® Guide processes have Enterprise Environmental Factors as an input?

  BrainBOK’s ITTO Explorer comes from the days when the PMBOK® Guide organised project management into processes with inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. Today’s exam focuses much less on ITTOs, so think of the Explorer as a handy reference for how processes connect rather than something to memorize.

  Now the Seventh Edition of the PMBOK® Guide is available, ITTOs really don't matter that much any longer. However, if you like the confidence of knowing you have reviewed all the materials and understand the processes, the ITTO Explorer that comes with BrainBOK makes all of that transparent. I’ve never seen anything like this before and it’s really good.

  It shows you the complete set of processes and the ITTOs that go with them.

  Within the Explorer, you can toggle between grouping them by Process Group or Knowledge Area so you can test yourself in different ways. However... again it's worth repeating that process groups and knowledge areas do not exist in the 2021 PMBOK® Guide, so you'll have to seek them out elsewhere.

  You'll also want to review:

  • Project management models
  • Common project management artifacts
  • Performance domains
  • Project management principles

  The ITTO Explorer is all clickable so you can explore the processes and how they interact with each other, and it works perfectly on mobile! So important for when you want to study on the move.

  Take A Quiz

  The whole point of online training systems is to learn things, so you want to know how well you are doing at retaining the knowledge, right?

  The BrainBOK built-in quizzes help you do that. You can choose a quiz for a particular knowledge area, or, as you get further through your studies, broaden it out to all knowledge areas.

  You can test yourself on all areas where questions come up in the PMP® or CAPM® exam.

  

  Here’s an example of a quiz question. Don’t look at my score! I promise that in real life I’m better at stakeholder management than that.

  Study Flashcards

  I’m not a massive fan of flashcards although I know they work for some people. Personally I prefer to write out my own as the process of creating them helps me remember them.

  However, for your commute or when you’re on the go it can be helpful to have digital flashcards as a memory jog.

  You can bookmark them and note that you got the answer correct or incorrect. If flashcards are your thing, BrainBOK has you covered with 2000 of them. They are suitable for both PMP® and CAPM® exam prep.

  PMP Mock Exam Questions

  One of the things that has helped me most in the past is taking a mock exam and practice questions. Practicing under exam conditions gives you a feel for what the real exam is going to be like.

  I would definitely advocate taking PMP practice exams as part of your studies. That goes for whatever certification you are aiming for: mock exams are a huge help with preparing yourself mentally and checking your knowledge.

  BrainBOK’s mock exams are aligned with the PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition and the current Exam Content Outline, according to BrainBOK. There are 8 full PMP mock exams and 8 CAPM mock exams, with 2,230 questions in total, and AI analysis of your results on both free and paid exams.

  The simulator is fun to use and easy, and I found it did not have a learning curve to get going. But the questions aren't going to be 100% representative of what you see on the exam.

  Mastery Mode

  A unique feature is Mastery Mode that tracks and records areas that you need to work on, helping you improve as you study.

  Whenever you get a question wrong or mark an exam question for review it gets added to your Mastery Mode personal database. Then go to take the Mastery Mode exam – this is a personalized exam for you based on what the system knows you have struggled with in the past.

  Get the question right and it’s removed from your Mastery Mode database. Get it wrong and that area will continue to be tested until you’ve mastered the skill.

  This is a really good way to make technology work for you and to minimize the amount of tracking you have to do yourself about areas that you find easy or hard.

  

  Pros and cons

  Pros

  • Very affordable
  • Provides 35 contact hours of formal training for your PMP application (and therefore also meets the contact hours requirement for CAPM) -- if you plan to apply for either certification you'll know what a big stress reliever having your contact hours will be.
  • Good range of exam questions
  • Excellent ITTO explorer that really makes it clear what goes into which process and how the processes interact
  • Flashcards save you the effort of having to make your own
  • Fantastic reports and analytics that help you understand where you should be spending more study time.

  Cons

  There are a few things that I would like to see in BrainBOK:

  • More explanation of why you would choose to use each process and what they are for
  • It's purely self-study material: you have to be very disciplined about using the resources
  • Wouldn't it help you study more if you made your own flashcards? (Although I agree having them on mobile is a huge benefit for my commute)
  • There are no video courses or tutor-led material, which you typically find with other online PMP prep courses
  • The ITTO Explorer is less relevant to today’s exam
  • BrainBOK doesn’t say which year’s Exam Content Outline it follows, so check the Business Environment domain is well covered.

  BrainBOK is a great way of making the PMBOK® Guide accessible. It's a good tool for PMP mock exams and practice questions, and will help you test your knowledge of project management.

  However, to be a great project manager in real life, I think you’d still benefit from other training material too.

  For example, BrainBOK is a fantastic tool for digging into the detail, but there's very little narrative explaining what project management processes are for or why you would choose to use them.

  If you are new to project management, you would benefit from knowing this because it will help you do your job and give you more confidence in the workplace. It will also help you answer some of the exam questions, because you'll be able to apply your everyday knowledge to the situations in the questions.

  You can get this sort of background information from a companion PMP study guide (here are my favourite PMP prep books), or you might feel you don't need it, if you already have a few years of experience so you understand why you are doing certain things.

  And if you are going for the CAPM®, the exam is 100% based on the contents of the PMBOK® Guide so it becomes less important to have that rounded view of what it means to manage projects in real life.

  Who is BrainBOK for?

  BrainBOK is a great tool for you if you:

  • Are studying towards PMP or CAPM
  • Are self-motivated enough to create a study plan and use the materials
  • Are prepared to read PMBOK 7 as well to supplement the material provided, for rounded exam prep.
  • Are on a limited budget, or don't want to spend too much money to get an easy way to meet your contact hours requirement.

  If you’d like a more structured course with interactive lessons, take a look at Brain Sensei. If you need the interaction of a classroom and a live setting, check out what courses or prep classes are offered by your local PMI Chapter.

  In summary…

  The strength of BrainBOK is in the performance analytics. Whether it is quiz questions, flashcards or exams, it’s easy to see your strengths and weaknesses with the data you get out of the tool.

  This will help you spend more time on the areas that you struggle with. The mock PMP exams and exam practice questions will help build your confidence in a way that reading a study guide will not.

  Test out BrainBOK for free here.

  Save

  This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: BrainBOK Review: PMP and CAPM Training

• How do you use CAPM to become a PMP?

  

  So you’re already a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®? Congratulations!

  Now you might be thinking of moving on in your career to earn the Project Management Professional (PMP)® designation.

  The good news is that your CAPM studies and exam experience will help you get there faster. If you’re ready to take the next step, let me explain how to use your CAPM credential to fast-track your way to passing the PMP exam.

  But before we get started, let me address a common question: is it possible to convert your CAPM to a PMP somehow?

  

  Is it possible to convert CAPM to PMP?

  No, you can’t convert your CAPM certificate or ‘upgrade’ it to become a PMP. You have to take the PMP assessment.

  There’s no shortcut that lets you save time and only do a shorter version of the exam, for example. There are routes to ‘upgrade’ other certificates – for example, PRINCE2 Practitioner holders can take an accelerated route to earn the APM PMQ certification – but currently, there is nothing like that for PMP.

  But don’t worry, there are still advantages to being a CAPM holder.

  Want to get your CAPM? Check out the CAPM Exam Prep course that I recommend.

  Use your CAPM training hours towards PMP

  PMP applicants have to evidence 35 hours of project management education, but you don’t. Even if you only did 23 hours of project management training to get your CAPM, you bypass the education requirement.

  PMI already knows that you have the basics down.

  You might still want to take a PMP prep course, but you don’t have to, and that means you can more process your application more quickly.

  Use your study schedule again

  Did you make a study schedule? You can use the basics of that as a template to help you refresh and revise the key topics that will be tested in the PMP exam.

  Update the template or calendar with your new revision plans.

  Read next: Make time to study for your PMP Exam.

  Use your study notes

  It might be a couple of years since you last read the PMBOK Guide, so pull out your study notes and use them to remind yourself of the basics.

  Remember, the PMP exam does test more deeply and more widely, and the domains are different, so it’s certainly not the case that you can use only your own study notes. But you would definitely have some that will fast-track your learning this time round.

  You’ll need to work on situational knowledge and other contextual elements to round out your project management learning to make it through the PMP exam, but you won’t have to learn the basics again.

  Use your work experience

  You probably chose to take the CAPM exam because it helped you in your current job or helped you get a project management job. Now you’ve got some work experience.

  Even if you don’t have a project management job title, you may still have enough experience leading projects in your day job to qualify for the 36 months of non-overlapping professional project management experience (which is further reduced if your degree was accredited by PMI’s global accreditation center).

  Work experience is the thing that holds back a lot of CAPM holders from reaching PMP. You need to be able to demonstrate that you have done the job. Hopefully, your CAPM certificate has helped you get a job to earn the experience required.

  

  Use your exam experience

  You’re an exam pro now! You’ve already successfully made it through the shorter, slightly less stressful CAPM exam experience. That should give you the confidence to be able to face the PMP marathon exam.

  Remember: stay positive. You’ve already done a PMI exam. You know what to expect from the exam situation, the proctoring, the technology. You’ve got insider knowledge that students who go straight to the PMP have not, so you can breathe a little easier!

  If you want an extra dose of confidence, an exam simulator is a great way to prepare for the exam.

  Keep your CAPM certificate active!

  The recommendations above only apply if you are an active certification holder, in other words, your certificate is renewed and up-to-date. If you took the CAPM exam 15 years ago and haven’t kept up your skills, and your certificate is no longer current (as PMI introduced renewal requirements for it), then you’ll have to act as if you don’t have it.

  That’s why I think it’s important to keep your CAPM certificate active. Go through renewal. Earn your PDUs. Then when you are ready to move on to PMP, it will be there to support you.

  This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: How do you use CAPM to become a PMP?

• PMP Exam Changes: Why you should consider taking the exam now

  

  If you want to certify as a PMP before the exam requirements change, you've just about got time.

  I believe it takes 8-12 weeks to comfortably prep for the exam so if you are committed and prepared to put the effort in, you can squeeze in your exam.

  So what's changing?

  You will only be able to claim the 35 contact hours of training for live courses if the live course is taught by an accredited provider.

  Also, and this is a big one...

  I think live learning under the new scheme will cost more.

  Currently, pretty much any training that covers PMP-related topics can count towards the requirement for 35 contact hours. From the end of 2026, it will only be Authorized Training Partners (ATPs), or a China Registered Education Provider (REP), or be covered under the academic recognition scheme.

  That means any organization currently teaching live PMP prep courses will have to register as an ATP (which I've heard from trainers is a long and expensive process), or market their courses as not covering the 35 hours requirement (which makes them less attractive to students).

  Online, self-paced course requirements are not changing

  There are no changes to the eligibility of self-paced courses. So if you plan to study with Brain Sensei (my recommended PMP training course), then you're still good.

  This change only affects live training, so unfortunately, if you are someone who learns better with the support a live instructor and a classroom environment, then try to get your application in as soon as you can!

  The hybrid option is the Brain Sensei AI-powered course, which has an AI "instructor" you can ask questions to, use voice commands with and interact with as if you were with a mentor.

  This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: PMP Exam Changes: Why you should consider taking the exam now

• How the PMP exam changed in 2026

  

  Updated: October 2026

  Are you here because you've heard the PMP exam changed on 9 July 2026? Here's what you need to know.

  The Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam updated in July 2026, but what exactly is different?

  And what do the new training eligibility requirements mean for candidates when these come into effect later in 2026? Read on...

  Whoah, the exam changed? I didn't know. How did that happen?

  Every so often PMI carry out an assessment of what a project manager does all day. This is done by carrying out a Job Task Analysis, where PMI analyzes the standards and industry practices globally so the exam and the exam content outline can be updated to accurately reflect the job.

  In other words, PMI (or more specifically, the agency contracted to do this work) look at what a project manager actually does day-to-day and link this back to the certification. If they didn't, you'd find that the PMP exam was still based on the ways of working we had back when the certification was first introduced.

  This latest analysis from PMI has shown, as is to be expected, that the project manager's role has evolved. Plus PMI want to put more emphasis on emerging trends like AI and sustainability. The exam is being updated to reflect that.

  

  When is the PMP® exam changing again?

  After the July 2026 update, we don't know when the exam will change again. It was last updated (I think, from memory) in 2021 so this version will be valid for around 5 years I'd guess. If there is a release of the PMBOK® Guide Ninth Edition in this time it will likely not change what you need to study, as the PMBOK Guide and the Exam Content Outline for PMP are not updated at the same time.

  PMI do update the exam every few years so it stays relevant, so it is likely there will be changes in the future. But right now, you're good to go.

  What changed with the latest update?

  The new PMP exam content outline continues with the same three domains that were introduced at the last update. These are:

  • People Domain - this domain emphasises the skills to do with effectively leading a project team
  • Process Domain - this is where all the technical PM skills sit
  • Business Environment Domain - this domain joins the dots between projects and strategy, and carries a lot more weight in the 2026 update.

  As you can see, the exam content looks similar to the previous current exam content outline, where the knowledge domains are basically the project lifecycle.

  Each new domain is made up of a number of tasks (in the same way the old exam content outline was), with enablers that are illustrative examples of the work.

  How questions are split on the new exam

  Questions across the PMP certification domains are split like this:

  People:33% (was 42%) -- not sure I'm in agreement with this, I'd say people were even more important these days

  Process: 41% (was 50%) -- I'm personally happy about this, it represents the fact that we are less wedded to the 'ideal' way of doing things and those process questions were tough as they rarely reflected what project managers would actually do at work in my view

  Business environment: 26% (was a pitiful 8%)

  Did anything else change?

  The traditional take on project success is that metrics like schedule, budget and scope defined whether or not our projects made the grade. In the new PMI exam, the definition of success has broadened out (a good thing).

  PMI says that this broader perspective takes stakeholder value and accomplishment of the desired outcomes into account when defining success. In other words, success is when you deliver something of value that was worth the effort and expense. It's still a version of the iron triangle, but it's more aligned to how senior leaders think about the business value and ROI for projects.

  How did the questions change?

  The question formats have changed to be more interactive, so that should make taking the exam feel like a more modern experience. There are more scenario-based questions (which means more reading in the exam).

  In October 2026, an exam simulator producer contacted me to say that his PMP students were telling him that all the exam questions are now scenario-based. I haven't verified that myself, but it seems sensible to assume that you'll be doing more scenario-type questions in exams from now on.

  The amount of time available in the exam is still the same. You still have 180 questions to answer in 240 minutes, and they reflect what PMI calls 'real project environments' so that should be good.

  And, the amount of agile changed...

  How much agile is in the exam?

  This is where the next big change is.

  PMI states that today's project managers work across projects taking place in a variety of environments. As such, the exam needs to reflect the "value spectrum" (whatever that is) encompassing predictive, agile and hybrid delivery approaches. So far, so similar to last time.

  In other words, expect to see situational questions on the exam that are set in each of those types of environment. Questions on each environment are included in the three exam domains.

  However, previously, the exam covered both predictive (approximately 50%) and agile/hybrid (approximately 50%) approaches to project management. For the 2026 PMP update, the split is 40% predictive and 60% agile/hybrid.

  Yikes! For those of us who are still mostly delivering with waterfall, that's a bigger learning curve. And quite a lot of agile on the exam.

  Do you need agile experience to take the exam?

  Not technically, no. The exam eligibility requirements are not changing. The Project Management Institute does not mandate that you have agile experience.

  But I expect you'll find the agile and hybrid questions a lot easier if you have experience working on agile projects.

  What do I need to do?

  First, don't panic. It sounds very different but your reference materials are still the same. The PMBOK Guide - Eighth Edition has never been the only book you need to get through the exam and that stays the same. You've got the Agile Practice Guide too, along with the new Standard for Project Management. Get a PMI Membership and gain free access to the PMBOK Guide and save on your examination costs.

  If you are clear about the concepts described in those, you have covered a lot of the material.

  Second, get yourself a copy of the exam outline. This is the document that outlines exactly what is going to be in the exam. If you are comfortable with the topics in here, then you'll be fine with the questions.

  Get a PMP prep course, like Brain Sensei, and start learning how to pass the exam right now!

  Meanwhile, practicing with an exam simulator is still my preferred option for getting exam ready.

  How does the live training eligibility change my exam application?

  Late Q4 2026, PMI is updating the live training eligibility requirements. This means that after the date of the change, your 35 contact hours of training will only count if your live training is delivered by a:

  • PMI Authorized Training Partner (ATP)
  • China Registered Education Provider (REP)
  • Accredited academic program (check eligibility with the university)

  Any provider who falls into this category will be clearly advertising their services as such, so if you can't see the authorization on their website, assume that they are not registered with PMI.

  Online courses (where they are not taught live as instructor-led classes) will not be affected from the information we have at present, so you should be good there.

  Should I be worried about PMP exam changes?

  No!

  People have been studying for and passing this exam for years. 2026 and beyond might bring a few tweaks, but ultimately if you study, use good PMP prep materials (this one or this one), take practice questions and full practice exams and feel ready, you'll be fine.

  From now on, you should be using the updated learning resources, but if you completed your training hours for eligibility purposes using older materials, then do not worry, they are still valid.

  And your post-exam criteria remain the same too, you'll still need to earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) just like the PMP credential holders who have gone before you.

  The changes might feel like a big change at the moment, but hopefully in time they will feel like a natural evolution of the role. Take some practice exams to build your confidence and then go for it! Good luck!

  This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: How the PMP exam changed in 2026