Should you take the PMP exam online or at a test center?

The equipment the exam provider asks for

A desktop or laptop computer with a webcam and a strong internet connection. A tablet may be used only as a screen, paired with an external keyboard, and touchscreen input cannot be used during the exam. Extra monitors should be removed from the room, or at least unplugged, before check-in.

Pearson VUE recommends a wired connection in preference to Wi-Fi, advises against testing on an employer-issued computer, and asks you to run its system test about a week ahead on the same computer and connection you will use on the day.

The room you test in

An enclosed, private space where you can close the doors. Once the exam has started, no one else may enter or pass through the room, and testing in a bathroom is not permitted. Pearson VUE advises against public places, hotels and corporate offices, where the connection and any firewall are outside your control.

You photograph the space during check-in, so clear it first. Mobile phones, watches and other electronic devices, books and notes, writing instruments and paper, wallets and purses, eyeglass cases and headphones are not allowed in the testing space unless your program authorizes them. Position the screen so that no one else can see it.

Identification

A valid, undamaged, government-issued original carrying your name and a recent photograph, with the first and last name matching the name you registered under. Pearson VUE's accepted forms are an international travel passport, a driver's licence, a national, state or province identification card, and an alien registration card.

Some documents cannot be accepted for online testing, including certain secure-access cards. Check your own document against the current requirements before you schedule, and check for any PMI-specific identification rules.

Where online delivery is restricted

The online proctored PMI professional certification exam option (OPT) is not available for citizens of the People's Republic of China, Macau, and Hong Kong, regardless of location. In Mainland China, only paper-based testing (PBT) is available.

Read “regardless of location” as written: it is a citizenship rule rather than an address rule, so it reaches a citizen of the People's Republic of China, Macau or Hong Kong who lives and works elsewhere. PMI adds that Mainland China delivery is paper-based only, provided by ATA test services.

Pearson VUE separately lists places where its online delivery is restricted and whose identity documents it cannot accept for an online exam: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Russia, Belarus, and the Sevastopol/Crimea and Donetsk/Luhansk regions of Ukraine.