APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ)

What’s Included

• 12 months online accredited course access
  Study anytime 24/7 from any device with an internet connection.
• Letter of attendance & digital badge
  Share your achievement on LinkedIn or add the digital version to your CV.
• APM AI Tutor Chat – Available 24/7 New
  Trained on the APM PMQ course content, your AI tutor can explain concepts, work through practice questions, and support your exam preparation around the clock.
• Dedicated Account Manager
  A personal point of contact to support you throughout your learning journey — from enrolment to exam booking.
• Community Forum Access
  Join our learner community and connect with fellow APM learners throughout your studies.

Course Outline

1. Projects, Programmes & Portfolios
   Learn how projects can be incorporated into programs, portfolios, and organisational change. Research suggests that organisations that have effective project and portfolio management systems have an increased likelihood of realising their organisational goals.
2. Project Life Cycles & Reviews
   Opportunity to explore linear, iterative, and hybrid project life cycles. These include decision points, audits, and post-project reviews. This will help you understand how projects are structured. As well as enable you to choose appropriate approaches and how to manage delivery more effectively.
3. Roles & Responsibilities
   This section is designed to help define key project roles. These include sponsors, governance boards, PMOs, and agile teams. It’ll also show you how they work together, helping you improve your understanding of responsibilities, communication, and project decision-making.
4. Stakeholder Engagement
   Be introduced to the concept of stakeholder management. This involves power-interest analysis and stakeholder management planning.
5. Organisation Structures
   Explore organisational structures like the functional, matrix, and project-based structure. Also, how these structures influence projects. According to some studies, having the right organisational structure will make organisations successful in project execution.
6. Leadership & Motivation
   Explore leadership styles, motivation theory, and Belbin team roles. As well as discovering different approaches for leading diverse or virtual teams.
7. Project Environment
   Examine external influences. These include political, economic, legal, environmental, and social factors (PESTLE and VUCA).
8. Benefits & the Business Case
   Learn how to define, track, and sustain benefits. As well as how to build and maintain a business case throughout a project.
9. Scope Management
   Cover requirements management, change control, configuration management, and work breakdown structures (WBS, PBS, RACI).
10. Estimating
    Understand how to perform estimations. Analogous, Parametric, Analytical, and Delphi are some of the common types of estimations that you will learn about.
11. Scheduling & Resource Optimisation
    Construct schedules using network diagramming, critical path, and Gantt charts. Resource optimisation is another important skill you will be learning about here.
12. Budgeting & Cost Management
    Understand cost components, budgeting processes, forecasting, and contingency planning.
13. Earned Value Management (EVM)
    Discover how to gauge your performance through S-curves, variance analysis, index analysis, and forecasting methods related to cost and schedule.
14. Risk & Issue Management
    Determine and manage risks and issues by means of systematic logging and response planning.
15. Quality Management
    Explore quality planning, assurance and control. As well as continuous improvement in project environments.
16. Project Management Plan
    Develop and apply a project management plan to guide delivery across the full project lifecycle.
17. Procurement
    Gain insight on different procurement strategies, supplier selection, contract types, and make-or-buy decisions.
18. Communication
    Plan and manage effective communication across stakeholders and project teams.
19. Conflict Management
    Understand how to use structural methods such as the Thomas Kilmann model. It will enable you to handle conflict management and resolution efficiently.
20. Negotiation
    Develop negotiation skills through the use of techniques such as MoSCoW, BATNA, and ZOPA.
21. Governance & Methods
    Study aspects of governance and methodology. As well as how different methodologies affect project outcomes.
22. Information Management & Reporting
    Study information capture and management and reporting thereof.

• Internal Assessment
• Documents

Who Should Attend

If you already have some project experience but wish to formalise and solidify your knowledge of structured project management, then the APM PMQ course can assist you. This is a professionally accredited, intermediate to advanced level course, which aims to develop a clear and structured knowledge of project management. And it’s particularly well suited to:

• Practising project managers
  Individuals with at least two years of professional experience aspiring towards a recognised certification of their abilities and helping them reach higher positions.
• Engineers, IT professionals, and construction managers
  Professionals who wish to transition from the above mentioned professions into that of a project coordinator or project manager.
• Those who have completed the APM PFQ
  Learners who have completed the APM PFQ and want to build on that knowledge with a deeper, more advanced understanding of project management.
• Project coordinators and team leaders
  Professionals ready to step into full project management roles and looking for structured support for that next career move.
• Professionals seeking chartered status
  Those working towards APM Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) status, where the PMQ can form part of the progression pathway.
• Professionals across all sectors
  Applicable across industries such as engineering, defence, finance, IT, healthcare, construction, and the public sector.

According to the Project Management Institute, the global economy will need up to 30 million new project professionals by 2035 to meet demand across industries. This makes the MPM PMQ course especially valuable for those progressing into project management roles. If you’re struggling to decide between PRINCE2 and the APM PMQ, PRINCE2 explains how to run a project, while the PMQ helps you understand the full discipline of project management.

Learning Outcomes

• Projects, programmes and portfolios
  Recognise the place of projects in an organisational framework and the relationship between the different levels of delivery. Based on global research by PMI, it’s estimated that about 11% of resources are lost because of bad project management and lack of alignment.
• The full project life cycle
  Follow a project from concept and definition through to delivery and transition, including iterative and hybrid approaches.
• Leadership and team dynamics
  Apply situational leadership, motivation theory, and Belbin’s Team Role model to develop and lead efficient project groups.
• Stakeholder engagement
  Conduct stakeholder identification, analysis, and management in order to align them and minimise resistance.
• Risk and issue management
  Conduct a complete risk management process involving identification, impact assessment, and response planning.
• Scheduling and resource optimisation
  Develop realistic schedules based on critical path analysis, Gantt charting, and resource histograms, while optimising project delivery under constraints. According to PMI, inadequate scheduling and resource management are two of the three most common reasons for project delays and cost overruns.
• Budgeting and earned value management
  Monitor spending vs. the plan, analyse the variance, and predict the ultimate cost/schedule performance with more precision.
• Scope and change control
  Establish scope properly, conduct configuration management, and control changes to safeguard project baselines.
• Procurement and contracts
  Make appropriate make-versus-buy decisions, identify suppliers, and know the implications of various forms of contracts.
• Communication, conflict, and negotiation
  Practice effective communication at all project levels, manage conflict positively, and employ negotiation skills

Exam Details

• 40 questions in total, worth a combined 90 marks
• Pass mark: 55% of total available marks
• Two and a half hours (150 minutes) duration, with an optional break of up to 30 minutes between parts
• Closed book
• Available via accredited provider or virtually

How is it assessed?

• Multiple response — 20 questions worth 1 mark each (20 marks)
• Select from list — 5 questions worth 2 marks each (10 marks)
• Short response — 5 questions worth 2 marks each (10 marks)
• Long response — 10 questions worth 5 marks each (50 marks)

Recognition & Accreditation

The APM Project Management Qualification course is delivered by an Accredited Training Provider (ATP) of the Association for Project Management. This ATP status ensures the course meets APM’s strict quality standards. APM is widely recognised as a leading standard for developing project management capability across industries.

In selecting an accredited provider, you will be assured of receiving content that is congruent with the prescribed syllabus for the APM PMQ, proper supervision during the examination process, a fair assessment of your test, and a legitimate certificate that is recognised by all parties. This course is also classified under the Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework (SCQF), level 7, which is equivalent to RQF level 4 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, or EQF level 5, tier 1.

APM qualifications are used and trusted by organisations across more than 25 countries. From global engineering firms, defence contractors, and financial institutions to NHS trusts and government departments. Holding an accredited APM PMQ signals to employers that your project management knowledge and competence has been formally assessed at an intermediate-to-advanced level, and positions you for senior project roles and, ultimately, Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) status.

• Delivered by an APM Accredited Training Provider (ATP).
• Aligned with the official APM PMQ syllabus.
• Exam invigilated and marked to APM standards.
• Certificate recognised across industries and internationally.
• Recognised on SCQF Level 7 / RQF Level 4 / EQF Level 5.
• Pathway towards APM Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) status.