One common difficulty when preparing for the PfMP exam is remembering and writing all the portfolio management processes across the five knowledge areas (KAs) and three process groups (PGs). But they are very important know and apply as you prepare for the exam.
Importance for the PfMP Exam
To understand portfolio management, it’s essential to grasp the interactions among processes spread across the process groups (PGs) and knowledge areas (KAs). Therefore, remembering these processes is important. The processes are involved in many activities such as:
- Development of key strategic and governance artifacts such as the Portfolio Strategic Plan (PfSP), Portfolio Charter (PfC), Portfolio Roadmap (PfRM), etc.
- Identification, categorization, scoring, and ranking of portfolio components, as well as the ongoing evaluation, selection, prioritization, and balancing of the portfolio.
- Authorization of portfolio components such as programs, projects, and operations.
- Ensuring strategic changes are reflected in the portfolio.
- Managing resources, benefits/value delivery, and portfolio reporting.
- Building a risk-adjusted portfolio and ensuring it delivers value in alignment with the organization’s risk profile, among other responsibilities.
Do note that the terms like PfSP, PfRM, and PfC are my own for simplicity. You won’t find them anywhere else. I use them because they’re easier to remember.
Each portfolio management process also involves several critical tools and techniques (T&Ts), such as scoring and weighting methods, prioritization techniques, and demand-supply (capacity and capability) analysis. So, again, you have to remember these processes for your PfMP exam.
As mentioned earlier, the main challenge is quickly recalling and writing down all the processes – to be specific in 5 minutes.
Process Groups (PG), Knowledge Areas (KA) and Processes
In the Standard for Portfolio Management, there are not only 16 processes but also several knowledge areas (KAs) and process groups (PGs). Again, the terms PG and KA are my own; they will be used in the video demonstration and are intended to help you remember them more easily.
In this post, you'll learn how to write down all the processes in just five minutes. The video is taken from the PfMP Live Lessons course. This comprehensive course includes an extensive set of videos, such as how to write down formulas, sequence the processes, understand process interactions, solve mathematical questions, and much more.
With practice, you can get it down to just three minutes. This video demonstrates how to write all of the following in five minutes:
- All 3 process groups (PGs),
- All 5 knowledge areas (KAs), and
- All 16 processes.
Video: How to Write Down the 16 Processes in 5 Minutes
In this video, I demonstrate how to write out all 16 processes in just 5 minutes. The first time you try, it might take 10 minutes or more. But with practice, you'll easily bring it down to 5 or even 3 minutes. Of course, this assumes you're already familiar with the processes!
Video duration: 07m 50s
More Tips and Notes
Below are some tips and notes. A comprehensive set of tips and notes are available in video format and they are part of the PfMP Live Lessons, Guaranteed Pass course.
- Use short terms like Pf, PfSP, PfC, etc., to write quickly.
- Don’t erase content; instead, use the Pan command to move the screen and add extra content.
- Practice using a few commands (e.g., line, text box, eraser) to become faster at writing within 3 minutes.
- Avoid using the "Clear" command in the PfMP exam whiteboard, if available, as it will erase all content!
- When using the Pan button, stick to one strategy for movement, either left to right or top to bottom, to avoid confusion during the exam.
I believe this post, along with the video, notes, and tips, will greatly assist in your PfMP exam preparation.
The PfMP exam is long and requires both physical and mental agility. Writing down these processes in the first five minutes will be a great help.
Final Words
As of April 2025, the PfMP exam is available only in computer-based testing (CBT) mode. The online proctored testing (OPT) mode is not offered. Nevertheless, in the CBT exam, you'll have access to an online whiteboard as part of your exam screen.
If you're using plain paper or an erasable sheet (depending on the exam center), you can write down the 16 processes using the tips mentioned earlier.
For more tips on using the whiteboard, similar to the real PfMP exam, check out this post.
If you're reading this post, I wish you the very best in your PfMP exam journey. With the right preparatory course, like the Guaranteed PfMP Pass course, you are on the path to PfMP Exam success.
PfMP Exam Courses and Book:
[1] PfMP Live Lessons - Guaranteed Pass or Your Money Back
[2] PfMP Exam Prep Online Course with Money-Back Guarantee
[3] PfMP Exam Prep Book – I Want To Be A PfMP, First Edition
[4] Article - PMP Online Proctored Exam – How to Write 49 Processes of PMBOK6 in 7 Minutes
