September 7, 2026 · 9 min read
TL;DR: The Exam Content Outline, not PMBOK, is the document the PMP exam is written from — and PMI publishes it free. The July 2026 ECO defines 26 tasks across three domains weighted People 33%, Process 41%, Business Environment 26%, with roughly 40% of items predictive and 60% adaptive/hybrid spread across all of them. This post lists every task, what it covers, and how heavily this site's 2,141-question bank covers each one.
Most candidates study from a book. The exam is built from a different document — one that is free, about 20 pages, and specific about what gets tested. If you have never read the ECO end to end, you are studying a proxy for the syllabus rather than the syllabus.
PMI writes exam questions against the ECO. Subject matter experts take a task from the outline, build a scenario that tests it, and the item is validated against that task. PMBOK 8 and the other reference materials describe the practice — the ECO decides what proportion of the test each area gets.
Two consequences follow, and they're the practical reason to care:
Common trap: assuming Business Environment tripled because PMI added a mountain of new subject matter. Mostly it didn't — it relocated existing subject matter. Risk, change control, issues and impediments, and continuous improvement all moved into Business Environment from the old People and Process domains. If you studied risk as a "Process" topic, the knowledge still counts; the filing changed, and with it the share of the exam it commands.
Below is every task, with the number of questions this site's bank carries against each one. That second column is the useful part: it shows where a task is dense enough that you'll meet it repeatedly, and where it's thin enough that you should seek out extra material.
| # | Task | Bank questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Develop a common vision | 46 |
| 2 | Manage conflicts | 70 |
| 3 | Lead the project team | 253 |
| 4 | Engage stakeholders | 99 |
| 5 | Align stakeholder expectations | 46 |
| 6 | Manage stakeholder expectations | 45 |
| 7 | Help ensure knowledge transfer | 47 |
| 8 | Plan and manage communication | 98 |
Note tasks 5 and 6. Aligning expectations is the up-front negotiation — getting stakeholders to a shared understanding of what the project will deliver. Managing them is the ongoing work once that agreement exists and reality starts pulling against it. Scenario questions hinge on which of the two you're in, and candidates routinely answer the alignment question with a management technique.
| # | Task | Bank questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Develop an integrated plan and plan delivery | 155 |
| 2 | Develop and manage project scope | 103 |
| 3 | Help ensure value-based delivery | 102 |
| 4 | Plan and manage resources | 47 |
| 5 | Plan and manage procurement | 74 |
| 6 | Plan and manage finance | 52 |
| 7 | Plan and optimize quality | 101 |
| 8 | Plan and manage schedule | 121 |
| 9 | Evaluate project status | 75 |
| 10 | Manage project closure | 44 |
Process is the largest domain but also the most evenly spread — ten tasks, none of them dominant. The one candidates most often under-prepare is task 3, value-based delivery, because it moved out of Business Environment in the 2026 outline. It's the counter-flow to the risk and change-control migration, and it's easy to miss when the headline story is "everything moved into BE."
| # | Task | Bank questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Define and establish project governance | 63 |
| 2 | Plan and manage project compliance | 66 |
| 3 | Manage and control changes | 91 |
| 4 | Remove impediments and manage issues | 65 |
| 5 | Plan and manage risk | 128 |
| 6 | Continuous improvement | 53 |
| 7 | Support organizational change | 49 |
| 8 | Evaluate external business environment changes | 42 |
Risk at task 5 is the single heaviest task in this domain, and the one whose relocation matters most. At 8% of the old exam, a candidate could half-prepare Business Environment and survive. At 26%, with the full risk lifecycle now living inside it, that's roughly one question in four.
Read the enablers, not just the task titles. Each ECO task is followed by bulleted enablers — illustrative examples of the work it covers.
PMI is explicit that these are examples rather than an exhaustive list, but they're the closest thing to a scope statement you'll get, and they're where a vague title like "support organizational change" becomes concrete.
A workable sequence:
Common trap: reading the task list and assuming a task with a short title is a small topic. "Lead the project team" is one line in the outline and 253 questions in this bank — it absorbs delegation, motivation, team development, servant leadership and performance issues. Task count is not weight, and the outline doesn't tell you the difference. Coverage data does, which is why the tables above exist and why every one of those questions comes with an explanation rather than just a right-or-wrong mark.
The ECO is PMI's published blueprint for the exam: it lists every domain, task and enabler the test is written from, plus the percentage of items each domain gets.
It is free to download from PMI, unlike PMBOK. The July 2026 ECO is the current one, and it is the closest thing to an official syllabus that exists for the PMP.
No. PMBOK 8 (ANSI/PMI 99-001-2025) is the reference standard describing practice; the ECO is the exam blueprint that decides what gets tested and in what proportion.
Questions are written from the ECO's tasks, with PMBOK 8 and other sources as reference material. If you only have time for one, read the ECO: it is shorter, free, and tells you what is actually on the test.
26 tasks: 8 under People (33% of the exam), 10 under Process (41%), and 8 under Business Environment (26%).
Each task also lists enablers — illustrative examples of the work it covers. PMI states that every exam form includes questions addressing all tasks in a domain, and holds to the published percentages at the domain level.
PMI states that roughly 40% of items reflect predictive approaches, with the remaining 60% divided between adaptive/agile and hybrid.
Crucially, these are not separate sections — the outline says these approaches appear throughout all three domains and are not isolated to any particular task. So there is no "agile part" of the exam to revise separately.
Every one of PMP Practice's 2,141 questions is tagged to one of the 26 tasks above and re-certified against PMBOK 8 and the July 2026 ECO — and every wrong answer is explained, not just marked wrong. Start the free 20-question sample — no card, no signup required to try it.
Related: What changed on the PMP exam in July 2026 covers the transition in detail, including what moved between domains. For the domain that changed most, start with Business Environment.
Sources: PMP Examination Content Outline, July 2026 (PMI) — the source of every task title, weighting and approach percentage above; and PMI's PMBOK standard.
What is the PMP Exam Content Outline?
The ECO is PMI's published blueprint for the exam: it lists every domain, task and enabler the test is written from, plus the percentage of items each domain gets. It is free to download from PMI, unlike PMBOK. The July 2026 ECO is the current one, and it is the closest thing to an official syllabus that exists for the PMP.
Is the ECO the same thing as PMBOK 8?
No. PMBOK 8 (ANSI/PMI 99-001-2025) is the reference standard describing practice; the ECO is the exam blueprint that decides what gets tested and in what proportion. Questions are written from the ECO's tasks, with PMBOK 8 and other sources as reference material. If you only have time for one, read the ECO: it is shorter, free, and tells you what is actually on the test.
How many tasks are on the 2026 PMP Exam Content Outline?
26 tasks: 8 under People (33% of the exam), 10 under Process (41%), and 8 under Business Environment (26%). Each task also lists enablers — illustrative examples of the work it covers. PMI states that every exam form includes questions addressing all tasks in a domain, and holds to the published percentages at the domain level.
How much of the 2026 PMP exam is agile?
PMI states that roughly 40% of items reflect predictive approaches, with the remaining 60% divided between adaptive/agile and hybrid. Crucially, these are not separate sections — the outline says these approaches appear throughout all three domains and are not isolated to any particular task. So there is no 'agile part' of the exam to revise separately.