Quick answer: The 2026 PMP exam is roughly 40% predictive and 60% agile and hybrid — about 72 predictive questions and 108 agile or hybrid questions out of 180. Agile and hybrid content now carries the majority of the exam, but the predictive share on baselines, change control, and earned value still decides passes, so effective prep mirrors the 40/60 ratio in practice volume.
In effect since July 9, 2026, that split is a meaningful shift from the outgoing exam's near-even mix — the second-biggest change after the new domain weights.
Here is what each side of the split actually tests, how to tell which side a question lives on, and how to build a study plan that matches the ratio.
What "60% agile and hybrid" actually covers
The agile and hybrid share tests applied delivery judgment, not Scrum vocabulary. It covers:
- Value-driven delivery — prioritizing by business value, shipping increments early, shortening feedback loops
- Empiricism — inspect, adapt, and replan from evidence instead of defending the original plan
- Servant leadership — removing impediments, coaching, and protecting team self-management
- Backlog and iteration mechanics — refinement, iteration planning, reviews, retrospectives
- Agile-flavored measurement — burndowns, cycle time, and what a flat or erratic trend means
- Hybrid governance — iterative delivery running inside stage gates, fixed budgets, or contractual milestones
That last bullet is where candidates bleed points. Pure-agile questions are usually easy for anyone with team experience; hybrid questions blend signals — a sprint and a change control board — and demand tailored answers rather than tribal ones.
75 free questions, scored against the new domain weights. No card required.
What the predictive 40% still demands
Seventy-two questions is far too many to concede. The predictive share leans on:
- Baselines and integrated change control
- Critical path, float, and schedule compression
- Earned value management — CPI, SPI, and the EAC family, all worked through in our EVM formulas guide
- Procurement and contract types
- Quality tools and formal communications planning
If your background is agile-only, this is your gap, and it is a bigger gap than most agile practitioners expect. Formulas and change control discipline do not improvise well on exam day.
Reading the context signals
Every question tells you which world it lives in. Train yourself to spot the signals in the first sentence:
| Signals in the stem | World |
|---|---|
| Sprint, backlog, retrospective, product owner, iteration review | Agile |
| Baseline, change request, phase gate, contract milestone, CPI | Predictive |
| Two-week iterations plus quarterly gate reviews; agile team inside a fixed-price program | Hybrid |
Then answer inside that world. An agile-reflex answer ("add it to the backlog") on a clearly predictive stem ("a signed contract deliverable is changing") misses, and vice versa. The exam rewards tailoring, not allegiance.
A hybrid stem, worked
A team delivering in two-week iterations inside a fixed-price contract discovers that a planned feature will breach a contractual milestone. The product owner wants to swap the feature into a later iteration. What should the project manager do first?
A. Approve the swap; the product owner controls the backlog B. Assess the impact on the contractual milestone and initiate change control C. Escalate the conflict to the sponsor D. Add the risk to the retrospective agenda
Answer: B. The backlog language pulls you toward A, but the binding constraint is contractual — a predictive signal that demands impact assessment and formal change control before anything moves. That collision of signals is the hybrid exam question in miniature.
The mindset heuristics — and their limits
Useful defaults for the 2026 exam:
- Facilitate before escalating.
- Assess impact before acting.
- Deliver value early and often.
- Empower the team; do not seize their decisions.
These defaults lean agile, and they resolve many People-domain questions. But they have limits: on compliance, contract, and baseline questions, the disciplined answer — impact assessment through change control, documented approval — beats the fast, informal one. Candidates who cargo-cult "the agile answer is always right" get punished on exactly the 40% of the exam that is not agile.
Structuring your study for 40/60
- Mirror the ratio in practice. Of every ten practice questions, roughly four predictive and six agile/hybrid. Most older banks skew heavily predictive; check before you trust one.
- Track misses by approach, not just domain. Misses cluster. Ten hybrid misses in a week is a diagnosis, not a coincidence.
- Drill hybrid deliberately. Tailoring questions — choosing which practices fit a context — map to the methods tasks in the 2026 ECO.
- Retest every miss until mastered. A miss you never revisit is a question you will miss again in the exam room.
Slot the ratio into a schedule — the 90-day plan builds it in from week one. ExamElephant tags every question by approach as well as domain and automatically retests what you miss until you have mastered it; 75 free questions will show you within an hour which side of the split needs you more.
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FAQ
Do I need a Scrum or PMI-ACP certification before the PMP?
No. The PMP's agile content is testable from solid team-level experience plus targeted practice; a separate certification is not a prerequisite.
How do I recognize a hybrid question?
A hybrid question puts two delivery worlds in one stem: sprints running inside a plan-driven program, iterative development with phase gates, a backlog inside a fixed-price contract. The answer must respect both.
Will predictive questions eventually disappear?
Not on this outline. The 2026 exam holds predictive at roughly 40% — about 72 questions — including calculation-based items.
My experience is 100% predictive. How much agile study do I need?
Plan for agile/hybrid to be the majority of your practice volume, since it is the majority of the exam. Concept study helps, but scenario practice with miss tracking closes the gap faster.