Education + leading-project months in the last 10 years + 35 contact hours (or an active CAPM®). Then PMI reviews your application. Edge Line® Careers prepares you for the exam; PMI decides whether you sit.
PMI · PMP® eligibility
PMI checks three gates: education, documented time leading projects, and 35 hours of project-management training (or an active CAPM®). The rules below follow PMI’s current PMP® page and the July 2026 Examination Content Outline. Our advisers walk you through PMI’s current rules before you apply.
| Highest education | Leading-project months | Look-back |
|---|---|---|
Secondary / high school (or global equivalent) EQF 4 / ISCED 3–4 | 60 months / 5 years | Past 10 years, non-overlapping |
Associate, higher certificate, or vocational / trade diploma EQF 5 / ISCED 5 — added in the 2026 outline | 48 months / 4 years | Past 10 years, non-overlapping |
Bachelor’s degree or higher (or global equivalent) EQF 6 / ISCED 6. Field of study does not have to be project management. | 36 months / 3 years | Past 10 years, non-overlapping |
Bachelor’s or postgraduate from a PMI GAC-accredited programme GAC core PM coursework can also meet the 35-hour training rule. | 24 months / 2 years | Past 10 years, non-overlapping |
Professional work where you planned, decided, coordinated delivery and owned outcomes. Stand-alone projects or work inside a programme. Job title is irrelevant. School projects, personal events and routine operations do not count.
PMI counts unique calendar months in the last 10 years. Two projects in the same three months equal three months, not six. Overlapping months cannot be double-counted.
Every path needs 35 hours of project-management education aligned to the exam outline — or an active CAPM®, which waives the hours. The October classes are designed to document those 35 hours as Edge Line® Careers exam preparation.
Training hours · 1 December 2026
PMI has announced that from 1 December 2026, new live instructor-led hours will only count if delivered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner, a China REP, or an eligible accredited academic programme. Edge Line® Careers is a PMI® Authorized Training Partner. PMP® and CAPM® preparation on this site is delivered under that authorisation.
Use the highest completed credential PMI will recognise. A Nigerian HND is often treated as associate / post-secondary; a bachelor’s is the 36-month path. If in doubt, an adviser maps it before you pay exam fees.
Each project: name, organisation, dates, your role, what you led, the outcome. Write in the language of planning, decisions, delivery and outcomes — not task execution.
The Ikeja class is built to document 35 contact hours for the application. An active CAPM® already satisfies this gate.
PMI must approve the application before you schedule. Training fees and PMI exam / membership fees are separate invoices. Do not sit until the application is accepted.
Short on months? Keep a project log and look at CAPM® first — it needs far less experience and later waives the 35-hour PMP training gate. Short on documented leadership? Rewrite the work you already did: coordination, deadlines, resources and outcomes often already qualify.
PMI can audit an application. Dates must match, months must not overlap, and someone at the organisation should be able to confirm you led the work. Invented titles fail. Accurate, modest descriptions pass.
Eligibility paths, the 10-year look-back, non-overlapping months, the 35-hour training rule, the CAPM® waiver and the 1 December 2026 live-training notice are taken from PMI’s public PMP® certification page and the July 2026 Examination Content Outline. PMP, CAPM, PMI and PMBOK are marks of Project Management Institute, Inc. Edge Line® Careers is an exam-preparation provider; this page is not a PMI publication and is not a guarantee of application approval.