PMP Exam Formulas: Your Cheat Sheet for Success

This page covers PMP formulas very useful to crack the PMP Exam and obtain the PMP certification. It covers activity duration, CV, SV, NPV, FV, PV, CPI, SPI, ETC, EAC, VAC, TCPI, activity float, sigma, etc.

Payback Period

For example, if the investment in some business startup is about 2 Lakh and cash inflow per quarter is about 25K, then the payback period is 2 years as per the payback period formula mentioned.

NPV, BCR, IRR

• NPV - Net Present Value
• BCR - Benefit to Cost Ratio
• IRR - Internal Rate of Return
• PV - Present Value
• FV - Future Value

$PV = \frac{FV}{(1+i)^n}$

If there are two project scenarios mentioned with two different values of NPV (or BCR or IRR), then choose the project with the higher NPV (or BCR or IRR).

Estimate Activity Duration Formulas (Project Time Management)

• Activity duration = (P + 4M + O) / 6
• Standard Deviation = (P - O) / 6
• Variance = ((P - O) / 6)^2

Where:

• P = Pessimistic
• M = Most Likely
• O = Optimistic

Cost and Schedule Related Formulas

• PV - Planned Value, also referred to as Budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS)

• EV - Earned Value, also referred to as Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP)

• AC - Actual Cost, also referred to as Actual cost of work performed (ACWP)

• Schedule Variance (SV) = EV - PV

• Cost Variance (CV) = EV - AC

• Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV / PV

• Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV / AC

• SV% = (SV / PV) x 100

• CV% = (CV / EV) x 100

ETC (Estimate to Complete) the Balance Work

• ETC = BAC - EV
• ETC = (BAC - EV) / CPI (Here, BAC is Budget at Completion)

Estimate at Completion (EAC) of the Total Work

• EAC = AC + BAC - EV
• EAC = (AC + BAC - EV) / CPI

Estimated Variance at Completion on Completing Total Work

• VAC = BAC - EAC
• VAC% = (VAC / BAC) x 100

TCPI (To Complete Performance Index) for Completing Balance Work

• TCPI = (BAC - EV) / (BAC - AC)
• TCPI = (BAC - EV) / (EAC - AC)

Time Estimation - Precedence Diagram Method for Schedule Estimation

• ES - Early Start
• EF - Early Finish
• LS - Late Start
• LF - Late Finish
• D - Duration

• EF = ES + D - 1
• LS = LF - D + 1
• Activity Duration = EF - ES or LF - LS
• Activity Float = LS - ES or LF - EF
• Estimated project completion date = project completion date / SPI

Communication Management

• Lines of communication = N x (N - 1) / 2

Where N is the number of people.

Quality Formulas

• 1 sigma = 68.26%
• 2 sigma = 95.46%
• 3 sigma = 99.73%
• 6 sigma = 99.99985%

Risk Management

• EMV (Expected Monetary Value)