Version française : L'examen CCMP® : 150 questions, trois heures, et comment s'y préparer

Key takeaways

• The CCMP® exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions to complete in three hours, which works out at 72 seconds per question.
• The CCMP® exam can be taken online with a proctor through Kryterion or in person at a testing centre, and candidates have one year from the acceptance of their application to schedule, sit and pass it.
• CCMP® exam questions are built on the ACMP® Standard for Change Management and the ACMP® Code of Ethics, and fall into two broad types: knowledge questions and scenario questions.
• ACMP® does not publish a passing percentage for the CCMP® exam, and the three-year certification cycle starts from ACMP®'s confirmation of the result rather than from the exam date.
• A candidate who does not pass the CCMP® exam can retake it up to two more times within one year of the application being accepted, at US$300 for ACMP® members and US$375 for non-members.
• From 1 April 2026, ACMP® states that the CCMP® exam reflects the second edition of the ACMP® Standard.

The CCMP® exam is 450 multiple-choice questions to complete in three hours. You take it online with a proctor through Kryterion, or in person at a testing centre. The questions test your knowledge of the ACMP® Standard for Change Management and your ability to apply it to realistic situations. Once your application is accepted, you have one year to schedule, sit and pass it.

Format and timing

Three hours for 150 questions. Most questions take under a minute, which leaves real time for the dozen or so that need a scenario read carefully.

You pick between two delivery modes. Online proctoring through Kryterion lets you sit at home under the usual conditions: clear desk, webcam, quiet room, identity check before you start. A testing centre removes the technical risk and adds a journey. Neither is easier. Choose the one you will be calmer in, because nerves cost more marks than either format does.

What the questions look like

The exam is built on the ACMP® Standard and the ACMP® Code of Ethics, and two broad types come up.

Knowledge questions ask what the Standard says. Which process group does this activity belong to? What is this deliverable for? Familiarity with the Standard's vocabulary answers them, and reading is enough to prepare.

Scenario questions describe a situation and ask what a change management professional should do. These separate candidates, because several answers look defensible and only one is right according to the Standard. Experienced practitioners fail here more often than beginners, because they answer with what worked at their last employer instead of with what the Standard says.

One technique helps more than any other. Before you read the options, work out which process group the scenario sits in. That single step removes the distractors drawn from neighbouring phases, and most of them are.

How scoring works

ACMP® does not publish a passing percentage, and any site that quotes one with confidence is worth ignoring. Certification exams of this kind are usually scored against a criterion set by a panel of subject-matter experts rather than against a fixed percentage or a curve, and the threshold stays private.

In practice that means you cannot aim at a number. Aim instead at being comfortable across every process group, since you cannot know in advance which ones the threshold is sensitive to. Someone excellent on three process groups and weak on two is in more danger than someone consistently solid across all five.

ACMP® confirms your result, and the three-year certification cycle starts from that confirmation rather than from your exam date.

One timing point worth knowing: ACMP® states that from 1 April 2026 the exam reflects the second edition of the ACMP® Standard. If you are working from study material assembled before that date, check that it is aligned to the current edition.

If you do not pass

You can retake the exam up to two more times within one year of your application being accepted. Retakes cost US$300 for ACMP® members and US$375 for non-members.

Two things before you panic. A failed attempt is a diagnostic: use the feedback to find the areas that cost you, instead of rereading everything at the same intensity. And the one-year window applies to the application, not to each attempt, so a candidate who fails in month ten has far less room than one who fails in month three. Sit the exam early in your window.

A four-week revision plan

This assumes your 21 hours are done and you are now preparing for the exam itself.

Week one rebuilds the map. Take the five process groups of the ACMP® Standard and write, for each, what it is for, what it produces, and what a typical activity inside it looks like. One page per group, in your own words. If you cannot write it, you do not know it.

Week two is vocabulary and deliverables. Certification exams are won on precision of language. Build a glossary of the Standard's terms, and above all of the pairs that are easy to confuse. Test yourself on definitions in isolation, out of context.

Week three is scenario practice, in volume. Work in blocks of 25 under time pressure. For every question you get wrong, write one sentence explaining why the correct answer is correct, not why yours was wrong. That reframing is what shifts your hit rate.

Week four is simulation. Two full-length timed mocks at least four days apart, at the time of day you booked the real exam. Between them, revisit only the process groups where your scores dipped.

In the last 72 hours, stop learning new material. Reread your five pages, check your identity documents, run the system check if you are sitting online, and sleep.

Test day, practically

Check your equipment the day before rather than an hour before. Clear your desk completely, since proctored exams are strict about what is visible. Have your identity document ready in the exact name on your application. Plan for the room to be quiet for three and a half hours rather than three.

If something fails technically while you are sitting online, stop and contact the proctor instead of improvising. That is what the support channel is for, and it beats an invalidated attempt.

Preparing properly

The highest-return investment before the exam is volume of scenario practice. It is the question type that decides the outcome, and the one your training course is least likely to have drilled.

Leanova Academy's CCMP® practice exam runs 450 advanced questions aligned with the ACMP® Standard. There is enough volume to work in timed blocks across three weeks, and each answer comes with an explanation of why the correct option is correct. The CCMP® Confidence Bundle packages the 21-hour training, the 450 questions and the AI change management certification at US$695, which comes to less than buying the first two separately.

If your training hours are still outstanding, start with The 21-Hour ACMP® Education Requirement: Which Training Qualifies. If you are still working out whether you qualify at all, CCMP® Certification Requirements in 2026 has the checklist.

This article is also available in French: L'examen CCMP® : 150 questions, trois heures, et comment s'y préparer.

Exam format, duration, delivery and retake rules checked against acmpglobal.org in September 2026. ACMP® publishes no passing score, and this article deliberately quotes none. ACMP®, CCMP® and QEP™ are trademarks of the Association of Change Management Professionals.