What Are the PMP’s 35 Contact Hours?

The 35 contact hours are 35 hours of formal project management training. PMI asks every PMP applicant for them, and the training must be finished before you submit the application.

One hour of instruction is one contact hour. They never expire, so a course you did years ago still counts. If you hold an active CAPM, the requirement is waived and you do not document any hours.

These are contact hours, not PDUs. PDUs come later, after you are certified, and they cannot be used here.

35 hours
The minimum PMI asks for

More is fine. Fewer is not.

No expiry
Old training still counts

Record all hours, whenever you earned them.

Before you apply
Not before the exam

The course must be complete on the day you submit.

CAPM holders
Requirement waived

An active CAPM replaces the 35 hours completely.

Where do the 35 hours sit in the PMP path?

They are the first step, and the only one you can finish before PMI is involved.

1

Do the 35 contact hours

Any accepted provider. Finish the course and save the certificate.

2

Submit the application

Your experience and your education hours, entered exactly as the certificate states them. PMI processes online applications in about five days.

3

Clear the audit, if you are selected

Only some applications are picked. You send your degree, signed project verifications and your training certificate. How the audit works.

4

Pay the exam fee

Join PMI first if you are going to, because the member rate applies only on the day you pay. What the PMP costs.

5

Book and sit the exam

One year to sit it, with three attempts. 180 questions in about 230 minutes.

Can I use a 60 PDU pack for the 35 contact hours?

No. A 60 PDU renewal pack is built for people who already hold the PMP and need to renew it. It is not the right purchase for your application.

The two requirements sit on opposite sides of the exam.

35 contact hours PDUs
When Before you submit your application After you are certified
Why To qualify to sit the exam To renew the credential every three years
How many 35 hours, once 60 PDUs in every three-year cycle
Proof A certificate showing the project management hours you completed Claims recorded in CCRS

One narrow exception is worth knowing. If a course you took teaches project management topics and comes from a provider PMI accepts, those hours can be recorded as contact hours, whatever the seller called them. What decides it is the subject and the provider, not the label on the pack. Renewal bundles are mostly leadership, business and AI content, so most of their hours would not qualify.

Buy for the requirement you are actually meeting. Renewal and PDUs are explained here.

What counts as a contact hour?

One hour of instruction equals one contact hour. Count only the hours actually spent on project management.

  • A university course that met three hours a week for 15 weeks is 45 contact hours.
  • If only part of a course covered project management, count only that part.
  • You cannot record a whole degree programme. Record the classes that qualify.
  • Hours from several providers can be added together to reach 35.

The training has to address project management learning objectives. PMI names the topics: scope, schedule, cost, budget, quality, risk, procurement, communications, resources, stakeholders and integration.

Which providers does PMI accept?

Accepted Not accepted
PMI Authorized Training Partners PMI chapter meetings, unless at least one hour was a learning activity — then those hours count
PMI chapters Self-directed learning: reading books, or watching videos with no end-of-course assessment
Employer or company-sponsored programmes
Training companies and consultants
Distance-learning companies, if the course includes an end-of-course assessment
University and college academic or continuing education programmes

You do not have to use an Authorized Training Partner. You do have to prove the hours if you are audited, and an ATP certificate is the easiest kind to produce, because it names the hours and the provider PMI already recognises.

Requirements taken from the PMP Examination Content Outline and PMI’s application guidance, checked on 10 September 2026.

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How do I get the 35 hours?

Four routes work. Pick the one that gives you a certificate you can produce later.

A PMP course
The usual route

A course built for the exam covers the 35 hours and prepares you at the same time. One purchase, both jobs.

Your employer
Often free

Company project management training counts. Ask HR for a certificate or a letter showing the hours.

University study
Already done

Project management classes from a degree or continuing education count. Use the class hours, not the degree.

Your PMI chapter
Low cost

Chapter learning sessions count. Ordinary chapter meetings do not.

Whichever route you take, the certificate must show your name, the provider and the number of hours. Save it the day you finish.

See the PMP class

What proof will PMI ask for?

Nothing, unless you are audited. If you are, PMI asks for a certificate or letter from the training provider for every course you listed, showing the hours you claimed.

So do two things before you apply. Save every certificate in one folder. Enter the hours in the application exactly as the certificate states them.

How the PMP audit works

Questions people ask about the 35 contact hours

No. PDUs exist only after you are certified and are used for renewal. Contact hours are the education you need to qualify for the exam. If a course happens to teach project management and comes from an accepted provider, you record its hours as contact hours, but you cannot convert a PDU claim into one.

No. PMI asks you to record all education hours regardless of when you earned them. A course from ten years ago still counts.

No. An active CAPM waives the education requirement completely. You document no contact hours at all.

Only the project management classes inside it, and only the hours those classes ran for. You cannot record the whole programme. Graduates of a GAC accredited programme can use that coursework for the 35 hours, and also get a 12-month credit on the experience requirement.

No. Self-directed learning does not qualify, and that includes videos and books with no end-of-course assessment. A distance-learning course counts only if it includes an assessment at the end.

Yes. Add courses together until you reach 35. Record each one separately, with its own hours and provider, because that is how an audit checks them.

No. Employers, universities, chapters, training companies and distance-learning providers are all accepted. An ATP certificate is simply the easiest to produce at audit.

No. The course work must be finished by the time you submit the application.

Not on the application. PMI checks the minimum. More hours help only if the extra teaching is what gets you through the exam.

Ask for a letter on company letterhead naming the course, the dates and the hours. That is what an audit needs, and HR can usually produce it from the training record.

Not sure whether your training counts?Message me →

Who wrote this

Kavita Sharma is a PMI Authorized Training Partner. She issues the 35 contact hours certificate for her own PMP candidates and reviews their applications before they are submitted.

  • Significant Contributor to the PMBOK® Guide Sixth Edition and Contributor to the Eighth Edition
  • Author of Pass PMP in 21 Days – Study Guide and Pass PgMP in 21 Days
  • Holds PMP and PgMP
  • Sixteen years delivering projects and programmes, and the last ten coaching candidates through PMI credentials

Check whether you are eligible · What the PMP costs · How the audit works

Requirements on this page follow PMI’s published PMP application guidance, checked on 10 September 2026. PMI can change its rules, so confirm anything time-critical in your own PMI account.

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