PMBOK 8 as One Map Instead of 400 Pages: PMBOK 8 Study Notes for the PMP (Word)

As I wrote in Part 1, I started out planning to take the new exam, so I opened the PMBOKPMBOKProject Management Body of Knowledge: A collection of processes, best practices, terminologies, and guidelines compiled by the PMI.Read More → Guide, 8th edition, and began there. But in the 8th edition, the principles, performance domains, processes and tailoring are all woven together. With every page, it was easy to lose track of where I was in the whole.

What I wanted most then wasn't a summary. It was a map: notes that showed at a glance which domain and which process I was reading about, and how it shows up as a situation on the exam. These notes are that map.

In three lines — I reorganized the 6 principles, 7 performance domains and 40 processes of PMBOKPMBOKProject Management Body of Knowledge: A collection of processes, best practices, terminologies, and guidelines compiled by the PMI.Read More → 8 around one question: how do you pick the right answer on the exam? Every domain follows the same layout: purpose, processes, key ideas, answer tips and traps. Word files in four languages, $9.99.

Why a map and not a summary

The 8th edition is built very differently from the 7th. The principles went from 12 to 6. The performance domains were reorganized into seven: governance, scope, schedule, finance, stakeholders, resources and risk. And the 40 processes that the 7th edition dropped came back, along with 5 Focus Areas. The full comparison is in Part 5.

If you memorize the content without this structure in your head, it's hard to tell which domain a question is really about. So I wrote the notes to be read with the same question from start to finish: Which domain is this, and what would PMI do first?

The 13 chapters

Chapter	What it covers
00–01	How to use the notes, the big picture of the 8th edition
02–04	Key concepts and terms, the core of the standard, the value delivery system
05	The 6 principles: what each means, how the exam reads it, signals of the right answer
06	Life cycles and development approaches, the 5 Focus Areas
07	The 7 performance domains: processes, key ideas, answer tips and traps for each
08–10	Tailoring in 4 steps, how to read inputs, outputs and tools, appendices on PMO, AI and procurement
11	All 26 ECO 2026 tasks mapped to the 8th edition
12	The final squeeze before the exam: 12 sentences and a thinking order

The domain chapters also list card number ranges from the vocabulary. You can get the structure from the notes, then check the right move on the cards with the same numbers.

How to read it three times

This is the reading order from the first page of the notes.

1. First pass: get the big structure. Use chapters 00–06 to see how the principles, domains and approaches connect. Mark terms you don't know and keep going.
2. Second pass: compare the domains. In chapters 07–10, compare processes, answer tips and traps across domains. Look for the same mistake showing up in several places.
3. Right before the exam: the final squeeze. Repeat only the 12 sentences and thinking order in chapter 12, plus the Mindset.

Study notes preview

Word study notes · 4 languages · $9.99

PMBOKPMBOKProject Management Body of Knowledge: A collection of processes, best practices, terminologies, and guidelines compiled by the PMI.Read More → 8 Study Notes for the PMP

Not the 8th edition copied out page by page. A map that rebuilds 6 principles, 7 domains and 40 processes around how you pick the right answer.

$9.99

Preview

01Six Principles

Principles set the direction of the right answer even when they don't appear in the options. When two options are left, ask which one is closer to the principles, and the choice gets easier.

The more complex the question, the more you should start from the holistic view and value alignment.

02Seven Performance Domains

The core of the 8th edition. For each domain: what it is for, which processes drive it, and which options it makes you choose on the exam.

9 · 6 · 3 · 4 · 7 · 5 · 6 = 40. Governance has the most processes, Schedule the fewest.

03Tailoring

Tailoring means adapting the approach, governance, processes, engagement and tools to the project's environment and goals. It is not a one-time decision but an ongoing refinement.

The right answer is usually not to add standard processes no matter what, but to set the right level for the project's context.

04How to Use This Book — ··· ······ ·· ·········· ····

05The Big Picture — ··· ······ ·· ·········· ····

06Core Concepts & Terms — ··· ······ ·· ·········· ····

07The Standard: Essentials — ··· ······ ·· ·········· ····

08Value Delivery System — ··· ······ ·· ·········· ····

09Life Cycles & Development Approaches — ··· ······ ·· ·········· ····

🔒 10 more chapters in the notes

Inside pages

What’s inside

• ✓13 chapters · built on tables, cards, flows and a mind map
• ✓Each of the 7 domains: purpose → processes → key ideas → answer tips → traps
• ✓All 26 ECO 2026 tasks mapped to the 8th edition
• ✓Tailoring in 4 steps, plus the PMO, AI and procurement appendices
• ✓Final chapter: 12 sentences and a thinking order for exam day
• ✓Word files in English, Korean, Spanish and Japanese

Buy now$9.99 →

Secure checkout on Gumroad · card or PayPal · instant download, link also emailed

Goes well with

Once the notes give you the structure, the PMP Master Vocabulary covers the right move for each term, and the PMP Final-Week Cram Book and Jayden's PMP Cheat Sheets are for the days right before the exam. The 7-week calendar that uses all four books, and the kit price, are in Jayden's PMP Kit.

Frequently asked questions

Can it replace the PMBOKPMBOKProject Management Body of Knowledge: A collection of processes, best practices, terminologies, and guidelines compiled by the PMI.Read More → 8 itself?+

No. These are study notes on the structure of the 8th edition and the judgment calls the exam uses. They don't copy the original text, so read the PMBOKPMBOKProject Management Body of Knowledge: A collection of processes, best practices, terminologies, and guidelines compiled by the PMI.Read More → Guide alongside them for anything you want to go deeper on. PMI members can download the PDF for free.

I studied with the 7th edition. Will this help?+

Yes. The notes lay out the differences between the 7th edition (12 principles, 8 domains) and the 8th (6 principles, 7 domains), so you can use them to move from the 7th edition's language to the 8th's.

What format is it, and how do I get it?+

Word (.docx) files in four languages. After you pay on Gumroad, you can download them right away, and the link is also emailed to you. Noto Sans is embedded in the documents.