Technical knowledge
Multiple-choice questions test foundational concepts from the Practice Guide Navigating Complexity. They ask about sources and types of complexity, how it emerges and key models and tools.
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Exam prep
Advanced Project Leader (APL)™
APL recognizes project professionals who consistently deliver successful project outcomes in high-stakes environments.
In the current release, PMI offers a single pathway.
Step 1
You hold an active PMP, PgMP or PfMP in good standing.
Step 2
You complete the APL evaluation program of a PMI-Accredited Partner Organization.
Step 3
You take the exam at a test center or online with a proctor.
PMI offers no individual pathway in the current release cycle.
The accredited program confirms your experience. PMI adds no application narrative, no panel review and no experience audit beyond identity and exam registration.
APL runs through the enterprise pathway only. Only candidates who complete the APL evaluation program of a PMI-Accredited Partner Organization can sit the exam. PMI explains on its own page how an organization gets its program accredited.
PM Career OS is not a PMI-Accredited Partner Organization for APL and runs no APL evaluation program.
| Questions | 60 in total. 50 count toward your score, 10 are unscored pretest questions. |
|---|---|
| Time | 120 minutes. The optional tutorial and survey take 5 to 15 minutes and do not count toward the exam time. |
| Question types | Technical knowledge, situational judgement and case studies |
| Order | All situational judgement questions come first, then all case study questions. |
| Delivery | At a test center or online with a proctor, both through Pearson VUE |
| Retakes | Up to 3 attempts within the one-year eligibility period. After 3 attempts you wait one year before you reapply. |
| Extra review | No application narrative, no panel review and no experience audit beyond identity and exam registration |
| Renewal | 60 PDUs every 3 years plus the renewal fee |
| Study material | PMI recommends no specific preparation material. The exam does not follow any single text. |
Multiple-choice questions test foundational concepts from the Practice Guide Navigating Complexity. They ask about sources and types of complexity, how it emerges and key models and tools.
Each question describes a situation and offers four answer options. You choose the optimal decision from the given information only and assume the authority for every option.
A detailed scenario sits on the left side of a split screen. You answer a series of questions on it, and all questions on one case appear together.
The share of the exam per domain, as PMI publishes it in the ECO.
Domain I
Leadership and Influence
14%
Domain II
Communication and Collaboration
14%
Domain III
Engagement
12%
Domain IV
Strategic and Systems Thinking
12%
Domain V
Problem-Solving
12%
Domain VI
Risk and Uncertainty Management
14%
Domain VII
Agility and Responsiveness
12%
Domain VIII
Cultural and Ecosystem Intelligence
10%
Accredited programs confirm advanced performance in complex, high-stakes projects or programs. They measure it across six PMI components of complexity.
Many parts with tight interdependencies. A change in one area can cascade.
Conditions change over time. Uncertainty and emergent behavior call for constant sensemaking.
Diverse stakeholders, cultures and power dynamics, plus team maturity and geography.
External forces such as markets, regulation, the economy, supply chains or geopolitics.
Rapid technology change, for example in AI, enterprise architecture, data governance and cybersecurity.
Governance structures, decision rights and strategy shifts across one or more organizations.
The technical knowledge questions draw on the Practice Guide Navigating Complexity.
Navigating Complexity: A Practice Guide, Second Edition, at PMI
Coming soon
Exam practice for the Advanced Project Leader
A simulator for the Advanced Project Leader (APL)™ exam, now in development. It will offer situational judgement and case study questions in the format of the APL exam.
The waitlist is open.
Free with an account
Match credentials to the work you want to do.
12 pages, 6 role portraits and one exercise on paper.
Everything we offer today is part of every membership.
Individual coaching will come later as a separate offer.
Level 1 at 9.99 EUR a monthYour price falls the longer you stay.
See the membershipThe APL content of PM Career OS grows in the APL study room of the community. It builds on PMI sources.
Study rooms are part of every membership.
As of 22 October 2026. Source: PMI.
This page is an independent offer by PM Career OS. It is not a PMI product and has not been reviewed or approved by PMI.
PMI and the names of PMI credentials and products are marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. This page uses them only to name the exam.