PMI-PMOCP™ tests PMO practitioner judgment: choosing and operating the right PMO services, building fit-for-purpose governance, measuring value, and improving PMO capability and performance over time.
For the latest official exam details and requirements, see:
https://www.pmi.org/certifications/pmo-certified-professional-pmi-pmocp
Official exam snapshot (PMI)
Source: PMI-PMOCP Examination Content Outline and Specifications — January 2025 (v2).
- Items: 120 total
- Scored vs pretest: 100 scored + 20 unscored pretest questions (randomly placed throughout the exam)
- Question types: multiple-choice + multiple answer select
- Exam time: 2 hours 45 minutes (165 minutes)
- Breaks: optional 1× 10-minute break after the first 60 questions (after review; you can’t return to the first section after starting the break)
- Delivery: in-person testing center and online proctored (Pearson VUE)
Eligibility (from the ECO)
PMI’s eligibility table lists:
- Education: secondary diploma (or global equivalent)
- Project experience: at least 36 months spent in a project-related profession within the last 8 years OR a PMP in good standing
- PMO education: 10 hours of formal education related to PMOs
Always validate current requirements on PMI’s site before applying.
Official domain weights (PMI-PMOCP)
The ECO specifies the proportion of scored content by domain (they sum to 100%):
| Domain | Weight | Target scored items (out of 100) |
|---|
| Organizational Development and Alignment | 16% | 16 |
| PMO Strategic Elements | 18% | 18 |
| PMO Design and Structuring | 18% | 18 |
| PMO Operation and Performance | 15% | 15 |
| PMO Enhancement and Effectiveness | 18% | 18 |
| People | 15% | 15 |
Important note (PMI): approaches across the value delivery spectrum may appear throughout and are not isolated to any single domain or task.
What questions tend to reward
- Fit-for-purpose design: selecting the simplest PMO mechanism that achieves the needed control and value.
- Service thinking: clear service definitions, onboarding, delivery quality, and measurable outcomes.
- Governance realism: decision rights, thresholds, escalation paths, and reporting that drives decisions (not theatre).
- Measurement discipline: metrics that are auditable and decision-useful (trends, leading indicators, customer outcomes).
- Continuous improvement: maturity models, feedback loops, and improvements tied to strategy and customer needs.
Common pitfalls
- Treating PMO as “templates + compliance” instead of customer outcomes + decision enablement.
- Reporting activity volume instead of evidence of value (outcomes, benefits, risk reduction, faster decisions).
- Over-governing low-risk work (too much friction) or under-governing high-risk work (too little control).
- Building a PMO “for everyone” with unclear mandate and no service boundaries.
A practical prep loop
- Use the Syllabus as your checklist.
- After each task set, review the matching part of the Cheatsheet and write a short miss log.
- Do focused drills in Practice, then re-drill the objectives behind every miss.
- Finish with mixed sets that blend governance, service design, operations, metrics, and people scenarios.