Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, you can now claim contact hours for your PMP® or CAPM® certification by using BrainBOK. Refer to BrainBOK Contact Hours FAQs for more details.

Following are the minimum system requirements for BrainBOK:

• Operating system: Windows 7 or above, Mac OS X 10.4 or above, Linux system that can run a modern browser (see below).
• Web browser: Internet Explorer 11, Edge, Firefox 40 or above, Google Chrome 48 or above, Safari 9 or above
• Internet connection: 512 kbps bandwidth
• Others: Javascripts and Cookies need to be enabled on your browser

Mobile devices such as iOS, Android, and Windows based phones and tablets running Google Chrome or Safari also support all features of BrainBOK well.

BrainBOK is designed with the mobile first strategy. All features are designed to work on the mobile first before designing them for the desktop. It is fully responsive and fits well to screens of all sizes. You can be assured of a first-class experience when using BrainBOK on mobile devices.

For this reason, we do not feel the need to build a native mobile app.

No. BrainBOK is a Rich Internet Application (RIA), and can only be used when connected to the internet. It does not support offline mode.

No, and certainly not without your prior consent. We hate SPAM ourselves and do not send any newsletters or marketing offers whatsoever. For more information, read our detailed Privacy Policy.

No. BrainBOK is a cloud-based application and most of the content is dynamically generated. Moreover, the philosophy of BrainBOK is to get rid of spreadsheets and PDF files, and move your preparation to the cloud. We have no plans for going back to the old ways of doing things :)

While BrainBOK is an immensely powerful study aid for PMP^® and CAPM^® certifications, you certainly need the PMBOK^® Guide to understand the overall framework of project management processes.

For PMP, we recommend:

• BrainBOK
• PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Ed
• PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Ed
• Agile Practice Guide

For CAPM, we recommend:

• BrainBOK
• PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Ed
• PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Ed
• Agile Practice Guide
• PMI Guide to Business Analysis
• Business Analysis for Practitioners (PMI)

For a detailed study plan for PMP, please refer to How to become a PMP in 6 Steps.

Email address is the key used to store all your data in BrainBOK. Your BrainBOK subscription is also based on your email address. We do 'not' allow users to change their email address.

However, in special circumstances (such as when a user cannot access his or her email account at all), we do assist active paid subscribers to transfer their subscription to a new email address as per the following terms and conditions:

None of the data such as Exam History, Flashcard Bookmarks, Quiz Scores, or Saved Sessions, would be migrated over from the old email account to the new email account. In other words, the new email account would work as a fresh account in BrainBOK, with no previous data or history.

Different users use BrainBOK in different ways, and it's hard to give a specific 'prescription' for using it. However, we frequently get requests for providing tips on the best way to use BrainBOK. So, here's a small attempt in that direction.

First, we hope that you are familiar with the basic features of BrainBOK, and especially the ITTO Explorer. If not, please take a look at the information posted on our 'Features' pages. It will give you some ideas to get started.

ITTO Explorer

The ITTO Explorer is designed to be as intuitive as possible. It helps you get your head around the PMBOK Guide in a simple and efficient manner, all on a single screen. You can use it in multiple ways. Following are some of the use cases. This list is only suggestive, and not exhaustive. There can be several other ways to use the tool.

1. During the initial phase of your preparation, you can use the ITTO Explorer to get an overview (360 deg view) of all the PMBOK Guide processes and ITTOs. Usually this is the most daunting task for the PMP and CAPM aspirants.
2. Use it to 'understand' each ITTO and 'why' an ITTO is an ITTO of a given process. You could use the tool to drill down into individual processes or ITTOs. For example, you can get a list of all the ITTOs of a particular process, or you can get a list of all the processes where a particular ITTO is used. You can also use the tool to see how the processes interact with each other in terms of 'data flow' (what data flows from one process to another).
3. Have the ITTO Explorer open while you are studying the PMBOK Guide (or other study guides or training material) to quickly refer to PMBOK processes or ITTOs, instead of scrolling back and forth on the PMBOK Guide. Basically, have it opened whenever you are studying for the exam. This can be a big time-saver.
4. Use it before the exam for a final revision of the PMBOK Guide.

Quizzes

Spend about 15 minutes each day to test your knowledge using ITTO, Process, Data Flow, and Glossary Quizzes. Keep an eye on your performance using the graphical performance reports. Focus more on low scoring Domains / Knowledge Areas.

Flashcards

Spend about 15 minutes each day to jog your memory. We suggest doing this when you start your preparation every day. You can do Quizzes and Flashcards on alternate days if you are time-constrained. Use the Bookmark feature to mark the cards that you think are important or the ones that you would like to review later. And don't forget to review the 'top-rated' cards of other users.

Full-length PMP / CAPM Exam

We recommend that you take the full-length exam about a week or 10 days before the real exam. It will help you test your exam-readiness. Based on the data that we have collected in the past, folks who scored 50-55% in their 'first attempt' on our exam, passed the real exam too. However, this is just a guideline and not a guarantee. A score below 45% (on your first attempt) is a likely to be a warning sign.

Formula Exam

You can take the Formula Challenge exam after you are reasonably prepared. This exam is very hard, and more than 90% of the people fail it on their first attempt. So don't get discouraged if you don't score well on this exam. Review the answers thoroughly, and use this exam more as a study resource than an exam.

Hope this information helps you make the best use of BrainBOK. Feel free to share your own tips with us. We will be glad to post them on our forum.

Good luck from the BrainBOK Team!

While we do not provide 1:1 assistance, we do provide forum-based support through our forum PM Hangout. If you need any assistance related to the certification, post your queries in the forum and we would assist on best effort basis.

No. BrainBOK is not a conventional online training course that comes with audio/video material. Our program offers sample questions, flashcards, quizzes, ITTO Explorer and PM Formula Reference Guide (PDF), to pass the PMP^® and CAPM^® certification exams.

Yes, we do. Please refer to Recommended Study Plan for PMP Certification. This plan can also be applied to CAPM^®.

Here are the steps to purchase a subscription:

1. Go the Plans page.
2. Sign in with your email or a social (Google, Facebook, Microsoft/Hotmail) account.
3. On the Plans page, click on the Add to Cart button for the plan that you are interested in.
4. Make the payment securely with your Credit Card, PayPal account, or Apple Pay.
5. Go back to BrainBOK, sign out and sign in again to start using the Premium features.

If you have purchased a BrainBOK subscription, you can renew or extend your subscription any time from the Account Section (Extend tab) of the application, at a discounted price. Let's consider two possible scenarios:

1. Your current subscription has already expired (renew): Let's say today is Jan 15, 2018 and your current subscription expired on Dec 31, 2017. In this case, if you renew your subscription today, your new subscription will start from today, i.e. Jan 15, 2018.
2. Your current subscription is still valid (extend): Let's say today is Jan 15, 2018, and your current subscription is valid until Jan 31, 2018. In this case, if you renew your subscription today, your new subscription will start from the end date of your current subscription, i.e. Jan 31, 2018.

Our system is designed to be fair and allows you to renew or extend your subscription any time, in a hassle free manner.

Yes, you are allowed to switch or upgrade to another plan if you meet certain conditions. Please send your request via email to our Support, and we'll assist you.

We provide 3 payment options:

1. Credit cards
2. PayPal
3. Apple Pay

Yes. Please refer to our Refund Policy for details.

When your subscription expires, your account reverts back to Basic account. All your data, such as quiz performance data (used in reports), flashcard bookmarks, exam history, etc. will still be retained in our database, even though you may not be able to access some of that data. For example, if you have bookmarked a flashcard, which is accessible only to Premium members, you will not be able to access it after your Premium membership expires. However, if you happen to upgrade your membership again, you will be able to access all your data again.

Subscription activation is handled automatically and instantly by our system. Your account gets upgraded to Premium almost instantly after you get a successful payment confirmation email from our payment processor. In most cases, no manual intervention is required. You need to sign out of BrainBOK and sign back in to access the Premium features.

We use PayPal and Stripe gateways for all payment related matters. The payment receipt email that you receive from PayPal or Stripe is your official receipt for your BrainBOK subscription purchase. We do not provide any separate receipt.

Customers who need to have their contact details and tax reference numbers (VAT etc.) on the receipt can write to us and request a formal receipt.

No. There's no guarantee that the subscription will expire exactly at midnight in your time zone. We have users around the world and we do not always have an accurate way to determine your time zone.

The subscription expiry date and time are calculated automatically by the system, accurate to the last millisecond.

For example, if you purchase a 90-day subscription at 5:30pm in US Pacific Time, it would expire exactly at 5:30pm Pacific Time, 90 days later (and will be adjusted accordingly for any daylight saving time). You can rest assured that you'll get exactly 90 days.