The new PMP question formats: cases, graphics and how to answer

Sitting the new exam is not only about knowing more. It is about answering differently. The July 2026 outline brings something the previous ones did not even list, the detail of the question formats you will meet, and two of them come flagged as new. If you prepared practising only multiple choice, there is a gap there that is not about knowledge but about method.

Which formats exist now

The official outline lists eight question types. These are the two flagged as new.

• Case or scenario. You are given a long situation, which may include charts or tables, and you answer a series of linked questions about it. It is not a question with context. It is a context with several questions.
• Graphic-based questions. You are shown a chart, a diagram or an image and you have to interpret it to answer.

The other six already existed in some form. There are multiple-choice single response, multiple response, matching, enhanced matching (dragging onto a chart), point and click on an area of the image, and pull-down lists.

A practical detail worth knowing. The outline marks four of these formats as available only on the computer-based exam. The four available on all modalities are case or scenario, graphic-based questions, multiple-choice single response and multiple response.

The underlying change is this. Before, they described the chart in words and you chose. Now they put the chart in front of you and ask. It is the difference between someone telling you about an X-ray and handing it over for you to read.

How to tackle each one

• Cases. Read the questions first, then the case. It sounds backwards and it works, because you know what to look for and you do not reread the whole block four times. The case feeds several questions, so the investment of reading it well is spread out.
• Graphics. Before looking at the curve, look at the axes and the units. Most errors are not errors of judgement, they come from misreading what is being measured. And the answer is usually in the distance between two lines, not in a single point.
• Matching and dragging. Start with the pairs you are sure about and take them off the board. Every pair you lock in reduces the possible combinations for the rest.
• Point and click. The target is an area, not a pixel, but it is not half the chart either. Locate the point on the axis first, then click.
• Multiple response. Treat each option as an independent true-or-false question. Judging the set in one sweep is where people who knew the material lose marks.

How to practise them without new official material

You do not need to buy anything to train this. You need to change how you use what you already have.

• Build your own cases. Take any long scenario from your material and write three or four linked questions for it yourself. The exercise of writing them teaches you how to read them.
• Train chart reading. Earned value curves, burn-down charts, network diagrams. Practise saying out loud what is happening in the chart before you look at the options.
• Time yourself with the real number. It is 180 questions in 240 minutes, which is about 80 seconds per question on average. The case block eats more than that, so the rest has to move faster.
• Review the common mistakes. The formats change, the traps do not. The ones that made you fail before will keep making you fail.

What did not change

Here comes the reassuring part, because there is a fair amount of noise. The exam still has 180 questions. There are still two 10-minute breaks. The tutorial at the start and the survey at the end are still optional and still do not count against your time. And you still get up to three attempts within your one-year eligibility period.

Three things did move, and almost nobody mentions them.

• Time went from 230 to 240 minutes. Ten more minutes for the same number of questions.
• Scored questions dropped from 175 to 170. There are now 10 pretest questions that do not affect your result, instead of 5.
• The breaks no longer fall at questions 60 and 120. The first now comes at the end of the case section and the second roughly midway through the block of independent questions.

Data from the official PMP exam content outline (ECO), January 2021 and July 2026 editions.

That last point is the most useful of the three, because it confirms something about the structure. The cases are a block of their own, at the start. And watch out, because the outline says it in plain words. Once you close a section and start your break, you cannot go back to the previous questions. Review before you stand up.

Join the waitlist

At The PM Architect we prepare the PMP with classroom cases and a bank of exam-style exercises, the new formats included. If you want the other big change of 2026, see why Business Environment now weighs 26%. The books will be free. Leave your email on the home page and we’ll let you know when they’re available.