Writing Up Your PMP Experience and Handling an Audit: Applied June 1, Approved June 9

On the afternoon of June 1, 2026, I submitted my PMP application. At 11 p.m. on June 9, the approval email arrived. No audit.

In Part 3 I walked through the whole process, from joining PMI to booking a Pearson VUE seat. This part zooms in on the two pieces people worry about most: how to fill in the experience section, and what you have to hand over if you're audited.

In three lines — With a bachelor's degree, you need 36 months of leading projects within the last 10 years, plus 35 hours of project management training. Write each project as its own entry that shows the aim, the dates, how you led and the outcome, and count overlapping months only once. Audits are random but can happen to anyone, so the surest preparation is to write only what you can prove.

Eligibility: Experience by Education, Plus 35 Hours of Training

Before you can sit the exam, PMI checks whether you're eligible. It looks at two things: your experience leading projects, and 35 hours of project management training.

Education	Experience required (last 10 years, non-overlapping)
Secondary school (high school)	60 months (5 years)
Associate degree or vocational program (EQF level 5, new)	48 months (4 years)
Bachelor's degree or higher	36 months (3 years)
Degree from a PMI GAC-accredited program	24 months (2 years)

I have a bachelor's degree (a double major in business administration and software engineering), so I was on the 36-month route. When I applied in June, only experience from the last eight years counted. Since the 2026 update, the window is ten years, and there's a brand-new 48-month route for associate degree holders.

35 Hours of Training, and the December 1 Rule

On top of experience, you need 35 hours of project management training. An active CAPM certification waives it.

• Self-paced online courses: count, whoever the provider is.
• Live classes: from December 1, 2026, instructor-led classes (in person or live online) count only if they're delivered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner (ATP), a China Registered Education Provider (REP), or an accredited higher-education program.
• Books and practice exams: never count on their own.

If you plan to cover the 35 hours with live classes, check that the provider is an ATP first. Everything else that changed in 2026, including the exam format, is in Part 5: Everything That Changed in the 2026 PMP Exam.

My Career, Mapped to PMP Criteria

A PMP application isn't a résumé. Instead of companies and job titles, you list the projects you led, one entry at a time. So rather than copying your CV, it pays to unfold it into projects first.

Here's my own career laid out that way. Company names are real; client names are anonymized.

Period	Company · Role	What counts from a PMP angle
Mar 2025 – present	Concentrix Services Korea · Global Tech PM	ShopifyShopifyA global commerce platform hosting digital and physical storefronts, supporting localized translations, checkouts, and custom apps.Read More → and Magento implementations and enhancements for enterprise clients (priorities, risks, UAT, releases, launch stabilization). For a global consumer-electronics client: operational backlog cut from 104 to 48 (−54%) and issue-resolution lead time down 27%. For a global beauty group: enhancement and global rollout of a PDP generator SaaS across 5 brands and 27 e-commerce sites
Apr 2023 – Feb 2025	Hyperhire · Software Development PM	Web, app, SaaS and blockchain projects with distributed teams, including developers in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria and Ethiopia; requirements, backlog, milestones, QA and release planning. A private-blockchain phase-2 project, an NFT reward app (wallet features, reward logic), and client apps for visa services, stays and bookings, fashion commerce and a local-currency coin
Jan 2021 – Apr 2023	iCOOP (Natural Dream) · PM / Online Business Manager	Store launches on the Korean marketplaces Naver and Coupang, coordinating sales, CS, SCM, WMS, design and IT; SEO and campaigns; ESG campaigns (No Plastic)
Oct 2020 – Apr 2023	FeelBetter · Founder	My own e-commerce business; about KRW 50 million in sales within four months

Just adding up the periods clears 36 months comfortably. But PMI counts the months you spent leading projects, not the months you were on a payroll, and overlapping months count once.

Overlapping Months Count Once: My Own Example

My timeline is a neat example. The 28 months I worked at iCOOP, from January 2021 to April 2023, sit entirely inside the period I ran FeelBetter (October 2020 to April 2023). Even if you list both, those 28 months count once. April 2023, the month I joined Hyperhire, overlaps too, so it's still just one month.

Be Careful with Operations and Founder Experience

Good numbers don't automatically make a valid entry. PMI doesn't accept routine, operational or administrative work as project experience.

Running your own business is a similar trap. "About KRW 50 million in four months" stands out, but day-to-day operations are mixed into that kind of work. If you include it, carve out only the pieces with a clear start, end and goal, and describe those as projects.

What PMI Says an Entry Should Cover

In a blog post on August 28, 2026, PMI listed what each experience entry should explain:

1. The project's aim
2. The dates
3. How you led
4. Whom you worked with
5. Which activities you directed
6. The outcome

Add three rules that come up again and again in PMI's guidance, and you have most of the standard:

• List each project separately. Don't bundle several projects into one entry.
• Professional work only. Leave out routine, operational and administrative tasks.
• Overlapping months count once.

How Long Should It Be?

PMI doesn't publish an official word or character limit. Prep sites say the old form asked for 200–500-word project descriptions and the 2026 form for a 100–500-word "Role Summary," but that's unofficial. Rather than chasing a word count, make sure all six points above are in there.

Tips

• Keep the aim and the outcome to one sentence each. A reviewer should see what the project was right away.
• Prefer "led" and "coordinated" over "participated in." PMI wants to know how you led and what you directed.
• Walk through initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing in order, and any gaps jump out.
• Put numbers in the outcome when you have them, like "backlog 104 → 48 (−54%)."
• Use PMP vocabulary (stakeholders, risks, UAT, releases) instead of in-house jargon.

Sample Entry: Outline First, Then the Form Text

Below is a sample built from one of my Concentrix projects, for the global beauty group client. It isn't a copy of what I typed into my application; it's my résumé content rewritten in PMI's format. Fill in details like the dates from your own records.

Step 1: The Outline

If English isn't your first language, sketch the outline in your own language first. It keeps you focused on what you actually did. Here's the outline, in English:

Field	Notes
Project title	Global beauty group client: PDP generator SaaS enhancement and global rollout
Dates	Start month – end month
Aim	Enhance the PDP (product detail page) generator SaaS so the client's 27 e-commerce sites across 5 brands can use it, and roll it out globally
Role	PM accountable for priorities, schedule and risks across HQ teams, local business units, global vendors and overseas technical teams
Initiating	Agree objectives and priorities with HQ and local teams; map key stakeholders
Planning	Rollout plan by brand and site, risk register, UAT criteria
Executing	Coordinate development and deployment schedules with global vendors and overseas technical teams
Monitoring and controlling	Track risks and priority changes; manage fixes from UAT results
Closing	Lead releases and launch stabilization; confirm results with stakeholders
Outcome	Rolled out to 5 brands and 27 e-commerce sites

Step 2: The Text for the Form

Project title: PDP generator SaaS enhancement and global rollout
Dates: [start month/year] - [end month/year]

Objective: Enhance a product detail page (PDP) generator SaaS and roll it
out to a global beauty group client's 5 brands and 27 e-commerce sites.

Role: Project manager accountable for priorities, schedule and risks
across the client's HQ teams, local business units, global vendors
and overseas technical teams.

What I led:
- Initiating: Aligned objectives and priorities with HQ teams and local
  business units; identified key stakeholders.
- Planning: Built the rollout plan by brand and site, the risk register
  and UAT criteria.
- Executing: Coordinated development and deployment schedules with
  global vendors and overseas technical teams.
- Monitoring and controlling: Tracked risks and priority changes;
  managed fixes based on UAT results.
- Closing: Led releases and launch stabilization; confirmed results
  with stakeholders.

Outcome: Rolled out to 5 brands and 27 e-commerce sites.

That's about 140 words. It sits inside the range prep sites mention, and, more importantly, it covers all six points PMI lists: aim, dates, how I led, whom I worked with, what I directed and the outcome.

Your supervisor may read and confirm this text if you're audited, so plain facts beat polished phrasing.

The Audit: Who, When and What to Submit

After you submit, PMI reviews your application and selects some for an audit, a check of your supporting documents. Here's what PMI's Certification Handbook and official guidance say:

Item	Details
Who	Random selection, but PMI can audit anyone at any time (even after certification), and it audits every application from PMI employees and volunteers
When you find out	By email, before you pay the exam fee
Documents	A copy of your diploma or degree, sign-off from a supervisor or manager for each experience entry, certificates for your 35 training hours
How	Online: an audit package on your mypmi.org dashboard, supervisors confirm via DocuSign, documents are uploaded
Deadline	90 days
Review time	About 5–7 business days once everything is in
If you pass	Your one-year eligibility period starts that day
If you don't comply or fail	A one-year suspension

Nothing goes in a sealed envelope by post; it's all online. The audit notice arrives before payment, and your one year of eligibility counts from the day you pass.

My Case: Approved in Eight Days, No Audit

At 2:51 p.m. on June 1, the confirmation email arrived. Its last line reads: "Applicants may be selected randomly for audit during the application process."

The confirmation I received on June 1, 2026, right after applying. The last line is the random-audit notice.

Then, at 11 p.m. on June 9, the approval came, about eight days after I applied, so roughly a week. There was no audit notice, just the next step: paying the exam fee.

The approval email from the night of June 9, 2026, pointing to the next step: the exam fee.

1. 2026.06.01

   Joined PMI, bought Study Hall, submitted the PMP application

   Study Hall $49 + $4.90 tax. Confirmation email at 2:51 p.m.

2. 2026.06.09

   Application approved (no audit)

   Approval email at 11 p.m., about 8 days after applying

3. 2026.06.12

   Paid the exam fee

   $405 + $40.50 tax = $445.50

4. 2026.06.13

   Eligibility email and Pearson VUE booking

   Booked the July 3 exam 33 minutes after the eligibility email

5. 2026.07.03

   Took the exam: PASS

PMI's 2021 exam content outline said that, without an audit, processing took about five calendar days. The current documents don't give a timeframe. Mine took eight days, so budgeting about a week is sensible.

Not getting audited wasn't skill. It was luck; the selection is random. That's why I'd write every entry as if the audit is coming.

Audit Checklist

Run through this before you hit submit. If you can tick every box, an audit email won't rattle you.

• Every experience entry has a supervisor or manager who can confirm it, and you can reach them now
• That person could read your description and confirm it as written (no inflated claims)
• You can pull up a copy of your diploma or degree right away
• You have certificates for your 35 training hours, showing the provider and the hours
• Your dates match your CV and LinkedIn
• You haven't counted overlapping months twice
• You haven't dressed up routine operations or admin work as projects
• You've saved a copy of what you wrote in the application

If you're audited, you have 90 days to submit. If you're aiming for a particular exam date, apply a little early to leave room for a possible audit.

Wrapping Up

The experience section is where you prove you've actually led projects. Rather than making it shine, write it so your supervisor could read it and confirm it as is.

Part 5 covers the PMP exam that changed on July 9, 2026: the question mix, the domain weights, and how the PMBOKPMBOKProject Management Body of Knowledge: A collection of processes, best practices, terminologies, and guidelines compiled by the PMI.Read More → Guide's 7th and 8th editions differ, side by side.

Next: Part 5: Everything That Changed in the 2026 PMP Exam

Start from the beginning: PMP Pass Review Part 1

Frequently asked questions

How many months of experience do I need for the PMP?+

Under the 2026 rules: 36 months within the last 10 years with a bachelor's degree, 60 months with a secondary school diploma, 48 months with an associate degree or a similar EQF level 5 program, and 24 months with a degree from a PMI GAC-accredited program. All are non-overlapping months. You also need 35 hours of project management training, which an active CAPM waives.

How do overlapping projects count toward PMP experience?+

Overlapping months count once. If you led two projects during the same three months, that is three months, not six. List each project as its own entry, but remove the overlap when you add up the time.

Do I have to write my PMP experience in English?+

Plan on writing it in English. You can take the exam in several languages, but the application is a document PMI reviews, and in an audit your supervisor confirms what you wrote. Outlining in your own language first and then writing short, plain English sentences works well.

What are the odds of a PMP audit?+

PMI does not publish a percentage. Selection is random, but PMI says it can audit anyone at any time, even after certification, and it audits every application from PMI employees and volunteers. Rather than playing the odds, write as if you will be audited.

How long does a PMP audit take?+

The notice arrives by email before you pay. You have 90 days to submit the documents, and once everything is in, the review takes about 5 to 7 business days. Your one-year eligibility period starts the day you pass the audit.

Sources

• PMI: Project Management Professional (PMP) certification (eligibility and training rules)
• PMI: PMP Examination Content Outline 2026 (PDF)
• PMI Certification Handbook, audit process (PDF)
• PMI blog: the PMP exam change