The exam database includes a total of 400 multiple-choice questions. Each exam provides 200 randomly selected questions that cover each aspect of the project life-cycle and combine all nine (9) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK® 3rd Edition) areas: Integration Management, Scope Management, Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Human Resource Management, Communications Management, Risk Management and Procurement Management.

The sample exam was designed according to PMI®'s "Role Delineation Study" which provides a roadmap for project management roles, responsibilities, knowledge and task proficiency. The "Role Delineation Study" is often referred to as the PMP® Exam "Blueprint" since it outlines the "domains" of essential project management knowledge and the tasks where each would be applied. PCI's practice exam follows this same "blueprint" and contains the same distribution of questions by "domain" as PMI®'s genuine certification exam. See below for how the exam content is distributed: