Pass the PMP® Exam. This Prep Course is designed to equip aspiring project managers with the essential knowledge, tools, and confidence needed to excel in today’s dynamic business environment—and pass the PMP® certification exam.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of leading project management methodologies, including predictive (waterfall), agile, and hybrid approaches.
What You’ll Learn:
Master the Fundamentals: Gain a thorough understanding of project management concepts, terminology, and best practices as outlined in the PMBOK® Guide and Agile Practice Guide.
Explore Methodologies: Compare and contrast agile and traditional project management, learning when and how to apply each approach for optimal results.
Develop Core Skills: Build expertise in planning, scheduling, budgeting, risk management, stakeholder engagement, and quality assurance.
Enhance Team Performance: Learn strategies to foster collaboration, improve communication, and motivate teams for successful project delivery.
Prepare for the PMP® Exam: Receive in-depth practice questions with explanations and exam strategies to boost your confidence and readiness for certification.
Overview
Syllabus
- Week 1: What Is Project Management Really?
- This module introduces the foundations of project management, outlining the essential differences between projects and operations and highlighting best practices that align with PMP exam standards. Learners will compare key updates from PMBOK Guide 6th to 7th Edition and explore the PMI Talent Triangle to assess and develop core project management competencies. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of modern project management frameworks and your areas for growth as a project manager.
- Week 2: A Deeper Dive into Project Management
- This module deepens your understanding of project management by introducing the system view of value delivery and evaluating how project management aligns with broader organizational objectives. Learners will define progressive elaboration and rolling wave planning, review both internal and external influences on projects, and explore the connections between product management and project management. By the end, you will be able to integrate these advanced concepts into your project management approach and recognize their impact on organizational success.
- Week 3: Ways of Working - The "Right" Approach
- This module guides you through the full spectrum of project management approaches, empowering you to recognize when to use predictive, incremental, iterative, or agile methods in your work. You’ll learn how iterative and incremental life cycles drive continuous improvement and delivery, explore the distinctive features of each approach, and review practical examples to illustrate their application. By applying the Agile Suitability Filter, you’ll also develop the skills to evaluate when Agile is the best fit for your projects and organization
- Week 4: Agile - The Basics
- This module traces the evolution of Agile project management, uncovering how its adaptive values and iterative practices shaped the modern landscape. Learners will review the Agile Development Model, mastering the three key roles, four core ceremonies, and three foundational artifacts that underpin successful Agile teams. You’ll compare leading frameworks—Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), and DSDM—clarifying their unique strengths and applications. Throughout, you’ll dispel persistent myths about Agile, and discover how the Agile Inverted Triangle of Constraints redefines project priorities to balance scope, time, and cost more effectively
- Week 5: Tailoring to Meet the Project Needs
- This module introduces the concept of tailoring, emphasizing its importance in adapting project management methods and processes to best suit individual project needs. Learners will review a practical case study demonstrating tailoring in action, discuss the reasons tailoring is necessary—including project uniqueness, organizational context, and stakeholder requirements—and outline the key steps involved in successfully tailoring project practices. By the end, you'll understand when and how to customize your approach for optimal project outcomes.
- Course Final Exam
Taught by
Crystal Richards
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Reviews
4.5 rating, based on 154 Class Central reviews
4.6 rating at Coursera based on 174 ratings
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I love the course and Crystal is an AWESOME teacher! I’m impressed! Go Crystal! The course content is excellent. I saw a couple of grammatical errors that need correcting. My biggest challenge was not knowing what questions I got wrong on the quizze…
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I really like this course and the setup of the course. The instructor is pleasant to listen to. It is challenging to digest all the information for the whole course by the end of the course and some of the questions can be quite tricky. My only real…
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I really like this course and the setup of the course. The instructor is pleasant to listen to.
It is challenging to digest all the information for the whole course by the end of the course and some of the questions can be quite tricky.
My only real concern is that there is a disclaimer at the end of each module that this course will not prepare you for the PMP exam, when that is the sole purpose for me taking this course.
I am learning a lot, so I hope it will definitely help prepare me as a beginner to project management. -
It was a pleasure to attend this course, and this e-learning method is nice with the teacher and course introduction like if we are in a classroom. The course materials are also interesting as well as the online teacher who we can ask question to. A…
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The course includes all topics very well explained. They give a good perspective of all the topics mentioned along with PMBOK. The instructor is really good and soothing to listen to. The bifurcation of all topics along the modules make it better to grasp.
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The course materials and structure made it easy to understand and digest the materials. I also loved the instructor's positive and enthusiastic personality!
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This course was very helpful in strengthening my understanding of core project management principles and how they apply to the PMP exam. The material is well structured and explains key concepts such as project processes, stakeholder engagement, ris…
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I took this course via Coursera as part of the "PMP Exam Prep Certification Training" specialization program. The course was well organized, and I learned much from it.
I appreciated the "feedback" that were given during the brief Knowledge Check quiz for each training topic but wish that similar feedback was provided as part of both the Weekly Quiz and Final Exam. That would have been extremely helpful, especially with regards to incorrect answers the trainee gave. At the very least, clarity as to which question(s) the trainee got wrong would have been helpful. -
This course is great in terms of giving an initial exposure to PMP. I do like the course set up of video first and then reading material second to reinforce what I just learned. However, there are a few things I would ask to improve on based on the first Course. 1) For the quizzes, feedback for why the answer is wrong would be great and 2) For Course 1, Module 1, the quiz have contents that was not covered in that module but later on... 3) It would be nice to understand if this course is indeed intended to prep us for the PMP exam or if it is just a supplemental.
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Tome el curso en corriera, en general muy bien muy buen contenido, pero los quizzes requieren actualización y orden, en general q se revisen todos para q haga sentido el curso porque hay preguntas q no se ven en el curso.
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Very good explanations on the Project management principles right from the basics in the PMP exam preparation point of view.
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Good overview of PMP topics . A little more depth will be appreciated. There is also a need to enhance the course frequently, i learnt for 4 year course and there are not of new things in market
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This course has given me a great start in understanding the fundamentals of project management. The videos and quizzes have been extremely useful. I'm looking forward to completing the other three courses.
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I enjoyed the first course. I had just a few issues with the presentation: 1) there was some jargon that weren't clearly defined; it didn't take away much from the course, as I paused and looked the terms up; 2) the quality of the sound of the speaker differed from the intro comments at the beginning of the video, vs. the content presentation. The intro was clear, but the content was too bassy and not quite as clear. I had to find a way to to minimize the bass and increase the treble for the content presentation.
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This course provided a clear and practical understanding of project management tailoring, Agile principles, and how to adapt frameworks to real-world project needs. The examples were relatable and easy to follow. I would recommend this course to anyone looking to strengthen their project management skills and learn how to apply best practices across different project environments
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Wow, what a fantastic course! I truly enjoyed the entire curriculum, from the introduction to the final recap. The lessons are clear, the visual aids in the summaries are excellent, and the practice exercises perfectly reinforce the key concepts. The whole structure is designed for efficient learning. > A huge thank you to the instructor, Ms. Crystal R.; her positive energy and encouraging smile at the end of each video really kept me motivated to move forward. Thanks to Coursera and the University of Maryland for providing such high-quality content
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Very easy to follow and implement. I loved the way the course is organized. The weekly quizzes are beneficial to see the actual PMP exam style.
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The course provides with a good overview of key principles of project management. Keeps a good balance between accuracy and going into details where needed on teh one nad while keeping the required high level overview as needed. Good learnings, enjoyed the process, time well spent.
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Maria OrtegaThe course is easy to follow, and I think it has a great structure. The first quiz was a little confusing because the lesson did not cover the questions that were asked. Besides that, I have had a great experience. -
This course was very informative. As someone who came in pretty green on project management though, I found that some of the questions asked were not answered in my notes so it seems it is for someone with more knowledge and who has already reviewed the PMBOK Guide. But that being said you do get multiple tries and I like that I can do that til I reach 100% and know I was able to find the answer eventually.
