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Your PMP Score Report Decoded: What the Performance Levels Actually Mean

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You Just Got Your Score Report

Whether you passed or not, the PMI score report is the most specific feedback you'll ever get on your PMP preparation. Most candidates glance at it and move on. That's a mistake.

If you passed: the report tells you where your margins were thin — useful if you have colleagues or mentees preparing for the same exam.

If you didn't pass: the report is your study plan. Ignoring it is like getting a diagnostic from a doctor and skipping the treatment section.

Here's how to read it properly.

The Overall Result

PMI reports your overall outcome as Pass or Did Not Pass. There is no numeric score published to candidates. PMI stopped reporting raw scores years ago — a decision that frustrates many candidates, but reflects a deliberate psychometric position: the pass/fail threshold is based on a calibrated cut score, and publishing raw scores encourages gaming the margin rather than demonstrating genuine competency.

What you can infer: if you passed comfortably or barely, you won't know exactly. The domain-level breakdown is your proxy.

The Three Performance Levels

PMI evaluates each domain at one of three levels:

Above Target (AT)

You consistently performed above the level expected for passing candidates. This is the equivalent of a strong pass in that domain. Questions in this area were answered correctly at a rate above the panel-calibrated passing standard.

Target (T)

You performed at approximately the level expected for passing candidates. This is a solid result — it means you're exam-ready in this area, but without the margin that Above Target provides.

Below Target (BT)

You performed below the level required for passing. Questions in this domain were missed at a rate that, if consistent across all domains, would result in a non-pass overall.

How to Weight the Domains

Here's what many candidates miss: the three domains are not equally weighted, and the performance levels interact with domain weights.

Under the ECO 2021–2026:

  • Process: 50% of the exam
  • People: 42%
  • Business Environment: 8%

Under the ECO 2026:

  • Process: 41%
  • People: 33%
  • Business Environment: 26%

A Below Target in Process under the 2021 ECO is a massive red flag. A Below Target in Business Environment under the 2021 ECO is concerning but less catastrophic, given its 8% weight.

Under the 2026 ECO, a Below Target in Business Environment is now a much more serious problem — it accounts for 26% of the exam.

When interpreting your score report, always weight the performance levels by domain share.

Content Area Breakdowns

Within each domain, PMI provides performance by content area (labeled Area I, Area II, etc.). These are sub-domain groupings, and they're where the actionable detail lives.

ECO 2021 Content Areas

People

  • Area I: Team Leadership and Empowerment (30–40%)
  • Area II: Conflict, Stakeholders, and Training (30–40%)
  • Area III: Collaboration and Communication (20–30%)

Process

  • Area I: Planning, Scope, and Schedule (25–35%)
  • Area II: Budget, Resources, and Procurement (20–30%)
  • Area III: Quality, Risk, and Changes (20–30%)
  • Area IV: Governance, Artifacts, and Closure (15–25%)

Business Environment

  • Area I: Compliance and Benefits (45–55%)
  • Area II: External Changes and Org Change (45–55%)

ECO 2026 Content Areas

People

  • Area I: Vision and Leadership (20–30%)
  • Area II: Conflict and Stakeholder Management (35–45%)
  • Area III: Communication and Knowledge Transfer (25–35%)

Process

  • Area I: Planning and Delivery (25–35%)
  • Area II: Resource, Procurement, and Finance (20–30%)
  • Area III: Quality, Schedule, and Status (25–35%)
  • Area IV: Project Closure (8–15%)

Business Environment

  • Area I: Governance and Compliance (20–30%)
  • Area II: Change, Issues, and Risk Management (35–45%)
  • Area III: Continuous Improvement and Adaptation (25–35%)

Reading Your Report Tactically

Here's how to translate the score report into a study action plan:

Step 1: Note every Below Target. Circle them. These are your required re-study areas, not optional.

Step 2: Weight by domain share. A Below Target in a high-weight area (Process, or Business Environment under 2026) is more urgent than the same signal in a low-weight area.

Step 3: Cross-reference with content area breakdown. Don't just re-study the entire domain. Your report shows which content areas within the domain underperformed. Area-specific drill is far more efficient than domain-wide review.

Step 4: Note every Target. These areas cleared the bar, but without margin. If a Target area sits in a high-weight domain, it's worth a maintenance pass before re-testing — you don't want it to slip to Below Target while you're focused on BT areas.

Step 5: Above Target areas are assets, not destinations. Don't spend further time here. These resources are better deployed elsewhere.

The Re-Test Strategy

If you're re-testing, a common mistake is studying broadly — "I'll just do more practice questions." The score report exists precisely to prevent this. PMI gives you domain-level signal so you can target re-study rather than repeat the same broad preparation that didn't clear the threshold the first time.

A practical re-test study framework:

  1. Map your BT content areas to specific task statements. PMI publishes the full ECO with task-level detail. Find which tasks live in your underperforming content areas and make those your curriculum.

  2. Practice exclusively in your weak domains for the first half of re-study. Don't maintain strengths at the expense of building weak areas.

  3. Add mixed-domain practice in the second half, with heavier weighting on BT domains.

  4. Complete a timed full simulation with a week to spare. Use the simulation results to validate that your BT areas have moved.

Why We Built Score Report Tracking

GanttGrind's exam result tracking connects your score report data with your practice history. When you upload your result — pass or not — you're contributing to a prediction engine that learns which preparation patterns actually correspond to passing, at the content-area level.

Over time, this creates a feedback loop: candidates preparing now can see, based on real outcomes, which areas carry the most exam risk and what practice patterns are associated with passing.

Every upload makes it more accurate. And every outcome matters — including non-passes, which teach the model where the line actually is.

Upload your score report → Start targeted practice by domain →

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