Overview
APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ) eLearning helps experienced project professionals deepen their knowledge of project management and prepare for the APM PMQ examination. Developed by APM, the Chartered body for the project profession, PMQ is designed for learners who already have project experience and want to strengthen their understanding across the full project management discipline.
This self-paced course gives learners 12 months of access to digital content through QA’s learning platform. Learners can track progress, manage their own study, and work through content designed around the PMQ syllabus, including videos, written materials, quizzes, and sample exam questions.
Aligned to the APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition, the course supports learners in understanding how project management elements interact strategically and commercially, from individual assignments through to large capital projects.
Prerequisites
There are no specific experience or qualification requirements for studying the APM Project Management Qualification. However, QA recommends that learners complete the APM Project Fundamentals Qualification (PFQ) course before attending PMQ, as it provides a useful foundation for the PMQ course and examination.
This course is most suitable for learners who:
- Work in a project environment
- Have two to three years of experience as a project professional
- Are actively undertaking a project management apprenticeship or degree
- Want to progress their career and improve employability
- Want to understand project management as a broad professional discipline, rather than a specific methodology
Target audience
This course is designed for project professionals who want to develop broader project management capability and prepare for the PMQ exam.
It is suitable for:
- Project management professionals with two to three years of experience
- Learners on a project management apprenticeship or degree programme
- Project team members moving towards project management responsibilities
- Project professionals seeking a recognised qualification to support career development
- Learners who want a pathway towards further professional development, including Chartered Project Professional status
Objectives
The PMQ syllabus is based on APM’s Competence Framework and includes 24 learning objectives across four key areas.
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:
- Analyse suitable delivery models and governance arrangements for projects
- Explain how projects are set up for success across their life cycle
- Understand how organisations assess value for money and prepare for change
- Explain how procurement, assurance, reviews, transition, and benefits management support project outcomes
- Engage with internal and external stakeholders in a professional and ethical way
- Describe how leadership, team management, communication, diversity, and inclusion contribute to effective project delivery
- Plan and manage deployment while balancing schedule, budget, scope, quality, risk, and change
- Prepare for the APM PMQ exam through structured digital learning, quizzes, and sample questions
Outline
Setting up for success
This section explores how projects are structured, governed, and justified from the start. Learners examine how the right delivery model, governance approach, and business case help create the conditions for successful delivery.
Topics include:
- Project life cycles and how they influence delivery
- Governance arrangements across the project life cycle
- Sustainability considerations in project management
- The purpose and role of the business case
- How project decisions are aligned to organisational value
- How effective setup supports control, accountability, and successful outcomes
Preparing for change
Learners explore how projects prepare organisations, customers, and stakeholders for change. This section focuses on value, assurance, transition, and benefits, helping learners understand how projects move beyond delivery outputs to create sustainable outcomes.
Topics include:
- Procurement approaches and their role in project delivery
- Project reviews and how they support governance
- Assurance activities and confidence in delivery
- Transition management and readiness for change
- Benefits management and value realisation
- How organisations judge whether a project represents value for money
- How project outcomes are prepared for adoption by the organisation or customer
People and behaviours
This section focuses on the human elements of project management. Learners explore how project managers work with stakeholders, teams, and wider project communities in a professional, inclusive, and ethical way.
Topics include:
- Stakeholder engagement and communication management
- Conflict resolution in project environments
- Leadership and the role of the project manager
- Team management and team development
- Diversity and inclusion in project delivery
- Ethics, compliance, and professionalism
- Working effectively with internal and external stakeholders
- Creating the conditions for collaboration and shared understanding
Planning and managing deployment
Learners examine the planning and control activities needed to deliver a project successfully, regardless of the chosen delivery model. This section brings together scope, schedule, resources, cost, quality, risk, issues, and change.
Topics include:
- Requirements management and understanding project needs
- Solutions development and alignment to requirements
- Quality management across the project life cycle
- Integrated planning and coordination of project activity
- Schedule management and time control
- Resource management and effective use of capacity
- Budgeting and cost control
- Risk and issue management
- Change control and structured decision-making
- Managing key constraints while maintaining delivery confidence
Professional development and career progression
This section helps learners understand the wider value of PMQ as part of their project management development.
Topics include:
- How PMQ builds on the APM Project Fundamentals Qualification
- How broader project management knowledge supports career progression
- How professional qualifications can demonstrate commitment to development
- The role of PMQ in supporting employability
- How PMQ can contribute to a longer-term pathway towards Chartered Project Professional status
- How project management knowledge supports confident leadership across different project contexts
Exam preparation and knowledge checks
The course includes digital learning activities to help learners prepare for the PMQ examination. Learners can work through content at their own pace and use quizzes and sample exam questions to check understanding.
Topics include:
- Reviewing the four core syllabus areas
- Understanding the 24 PMQ learning objectives
- Practising different question types
- Identifying areas for further revision
- Building confidence before booking the optional exam
- Planning study across the 12-month access period
Exams and assessments
There is no examination included with this course. Learners may choose to sit the optional APM PMQ exam after completing the digital learning.
Learners must complete the digital course before booking the exam with QA’s Exam and Certification Team. Access to the digital course and exam booking window is available for 12 months from the time of booking.
The PMQ exam is:
- 2.5 hours
- Completed in two parts
- Closed book, with no study materials permitted
- Made up of 40 questions worth a total of 90 marks
- Delivered through multiple response, select the missing words, short-response, and long-response questions
- Assessed using a variable pass mark based on the difficulty of the exam paper assigned
The exam question structure is:
- 20 multiple response questions, worth 1 mark each
- 5 select the missing words questions, worth 2 marks each
- 5 short-response questions, worth 2 marks each
- 10 long-response questions, worth 5 marks each
Learners may take an optional break of up to 30 minutes between part one and part two. The break is in addition to the 2.5-hour exam time. Once part one is submitted, learners cannot return to it.
Hands-on learning
This eLearning course uses videos, written content, quizzes, and sample exam questions to help learners build and test their understanding throughout the course.
The learning is designed to support practical application, helping learners connect project management concepts to real project environments. Learners can use the digital platform to track progress, revisit content, and manage their own study across the 12-month access period.
Learners benefit from:
- 12 months of access to digital learning content
- Approximately 61 hours of online content
- Self-paced study that can be completed around work commitments
- Digital progress tracking to support independent learning
- Quizzes and sample exam questions aligned to the PMQ syllabus
- Coverage aligned to the APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition
- A clear pathway for continued professional development in project management
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