The CompTIA PK0-004 is the well-known certification exam that allows the candidates to demonstrate their skills to successfully manage small-to-medium-sized projects. If you plan to pursue your career as a business specialist inside and outside of IT, this test is a must-do for you. Moreover, it will lead you to the prestigious CompTIA Project+ certification.

Who Is PK0-004 Exam Intended for?

As stated above, the CompTIA PK0-004 is designed for the candidates who are business specialists responsible for managing and coordinating small-to-medium-sized projects. Plus, the applicants must have the skills to manage the project life cycle and maintain project documentation on a high level. In addition, you should be good at communication and managing stakeholders as well as resources. Finally, the candidate who is applying for this exam should have a minimum of 12 months of experience in cumulative project management or equivalent education in the field.

What Is PK0-004 Test?

The PK0-004 is the certification exam that allows candidates to have experience in managing projects and know the versatile concepts that follow the Agile framework and methodology. This exam, in particular, contains a maximum of 95 questions that you need to attempt within 90 minutes. The format of the main test is drag & drop and single to multiple response multiple-choice questions, and to pass this evaluation, the candidate needs to score 710 points on a scale of 100-900. To add more, this exam comes in English as well as Japanese, and candidates have to pay $338 for the registration for it. Lastly, you need to schedule the PK0-004 exam with Pearson VUE and you can either take it online or in the test center.

What Are Domains Included in CompTIA PK0-004 Evaluation?

The candidate's knowledge about the actual test is measured with the help of the exam domains. Thus, you need to clear the concepts included in these topics to ace the final exam with a good score. These are the following topic areas, in particular:

• Project Basics 36%;
• Project Constraints 17%;
• Communication and Change Management 26%;
• Project Tools and Documentation 21%.

The first tested domain focuses on project basics. It includes the properties of the project and also classifies the project responsibilities alongside roles. It then discusses comparing and contrasting standard project phases that include initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, controlling, and closing. Moreover, it tests your knowledge of the project cost control and organizational structures for the project teams. After that, the candidate should know about executing & developing project schedules and basic aspects of the Agile methodology. At last, such an objective covers the importance of physical & human resources as well as personnel management.

The second tested area covers the project constraints. In this part, the candidate's knowledge of predicting the impact of several constraint variables and influencing them throughout the project is measured. In particular, here, you’ll be enlightened on such terms as scope, scheduling, quality, budget, scope creep, interaction among constraints, sponsors, and the like. After that, the candidate must know the importance of the risk activities and strategies while conducting projects in the organization. In more detail, among those risk activities & strategies, you’ll encounter acceptance, mitigation, transfer, review, communication, identification, and so on.

The third objective emphasizes communication and change management. Thus, the candidate's knowledge of using appropriate communication methods and explaining communication triggers will be tested here. Such a section also includes determining the target audience and rationale like milestones, audits, gate reviews, etc. Furthermore, the applicant should know how to compare and contrast the factors that are influencing the communication methods. Last of all, you also need to recognize the types of organizational change and use the change control process within the project management context.

The fourth & last tested scope covers the project tools and documentation. Particularly, it analyzes project-centric documentation and also includes comparing & contrasting several project management tools that involve the project scheduling software, charts, dashboards, status reports, performance measurement tools, responsible, accountable, consulted, informed (RACI) Matrix, and SWOT analysis. When we talk about the project-centric documentation in more detail, it focuses on the organizational chart, communication plans, project schedule, dashboard information, action items, project charter, and issues log. The candidate should also have skills in identifying the common partner or vendor-centric documents that include mutually binding documents alongside requests for proposals, quote, and information as well as their purposes.

What Are Career Opportunities for CompTIA Project+ Professionals?

As mentioned earlier, the candidates who successfully pass the CompTIA PK0-004 exam are honored with the Project+ certification. It opens the door full of opportunities for you and helps you boost your career in the project management sector by managing varied projects. What is more, it will provide you with immense experience and make you familiar with the project management environment and its peculiarities. Besides, this is a great achievement that unlocks many significant career paths for the candidates and allows them to qualify for the following job roles:

• Project Team Member;
• Business Analyst;
• Project Coordinator;
• Project Manager;
• Director, Team Leader, Manager.

When it comes to compensation, the Business Analyst's salary, for example, ranges between $51k to $98k yearly while the Project Manager's annual income is around $89k as revealed by PayScale. To add more, the Project Coordinator in IT can make an income of around $55k annually while the Team Leader can expect as much as $89k per annum as a median salary as also seen by PayScale.com.

Certification Path

If after passing the PK0-004 exam and getting the CompTIA Project+ certification you plan to expand your knowledge and learn more advanced skills in project management, you should attain the Scrum Alliance Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) designation that focuses on Scrum. Moreover, the PMI PMP and the PRINCE2 Practitioner are also the best certifications that are designed for advanced project management. In a nutshell, these three will make you professional in the field and help you gain the required knowledge to excel in your project management career.