80+ Commonly Confused Concepts for the PMP and CAPM Certification Exams

Recently I started a discussion in PMP Cert Online Study Group on the topic - Commonly Confused Concepts (for the PMP and CAPM Certification Exams). The topic resonated really well with forum members and within couple days, we had 75 items on the list. In this post, I'm sharing that list with you. The list is meant to serve as a "checklist" for PMP and CAPM aspirants.

I realize that not every item on the list would be confusing to every one. Therefore, I have set up a survey for you to vote for the items that you find most confusing. The result of the survey would serve as a guideline for those preparing for the exam.

Many of the concepts have been explained on this blog previously and I've linked the items to the respective posts. Answers to many others can be found in the PMBOK Guide itself. Regarding the remaining items, I'll address the ones which receive a significant number of votes. You can also expect to see many of these items on brainBOK in the form of sample questions and flashcards.

If you are preparing for the PMP or CAPM exam, my humble advice to you is to make sure that you understand these concepts well, before you go for the exam.

Survey: Which are the most confusing concepts to you?

Here’s the list of commonly confused concepts:

UPDATE (Sep 21, 2011): All the items listed below, plus many more, are now covered in BrainBOK™ Flashcards. BrainBOK™ can help you save weeks of preparation time, and make your preparation more enjoyable, efficient and effective.

1. Accepted Deliverable vs Validated Deliverable
2. Accountability vs Responsibility
3. Accuracy vs Precision
4. Activity vs Work Package
5. Administrative Closure vs Contract Closure
6. Analogous Estimating vs Parametric Estimating
7. Authority vs Power
8. Budget vs Estimate
9. Business Partner vs Seller
10. Business Risk vs Insurable or Pure Risk
11. Change Control vs Configuration Control
12. Change Control vs Perform Integrated Change Control
13. Close Phase vs Close Project
14. Common Cause vs Special Cause
15. Concurrent Engineering vs Fast Tracking
16. Contingency Reserve vs Management Reserve
17. Control Account vs Code of Account
18. Control Account vs Planning Package
19. Control Account vs Work Package
20. Control Limit vs Specification Limit
21. Control Scope vs Verify Scope
22. Corrective Action vs Defect Repair
23. Corrective Action vs Preventive Action
24. Cost Baseline vs Cost Budget
25. Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) vs Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Contract
26. Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) vs Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) Contract
27. Cost-Benefit Ratio vs Benefit-Cost Ratio
28. Crashing vs Fast tracking
29. Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) vs Decomposition
30. Critical Path Method vs Critical Chain Method
31. Distribute Information vs Report Performance
32. Duration vs Effort
33. Earned Value Management (EVM) vs Expected Monetary Value (EMV)
34. Earned Value vs Planned Value
35. Enhance vs Exploit
36. Estimate at Completion (EAC) vs Estimate to Complete (ETC)
37. Fallback Plan vs Workaround
38. Forward Pass vs Backward Pass
39. Free Float vs Total Float
40. Functional Organization vs Projectized Organization
41. Grade vs Quality
42. Histogram vs Pareto Chart
43. Known Unknown vs Unknown Unknown
44. Lead vs Lag
45. Logical Relationship vs Precedence Relationship
46. Master Schedule vs Milestone Schedule
47. Negative Risk or Threat vs Positive Risk or Opportunity
48. Perform Quality Assurance vs Perform Quality Control
49. Perform Quality Control vs Verify Scope
50. Personal Power vs Positional Power
51. Product vs Deliverable
52. Product vs Result
53. Product Scope vs Requirements
54. Progressive Elaboration vs Rolling Wave Planning
55. Project Buffer vs Feeding Buffer
56. Project Calendar vs Resource Calendar
57. Project Coordinator vs Project Expediter
58. Project Life Cycle vs Product Life Cycle
59. Project Management Plan vs Project Documents
60. Project Management Process Group vs Knowledge Area
61. Project Management Process Group vs Project Phase
62. Project Model vs Schedule Model
63. Project Performance Appraisal vs Team Performance Assessment
64. Project Quality vs Product Quality
65. Project Schedule vs Schedule Model
66. Project Scope Statement vs Statement of Work
67. Project Scope vs Product Scope
68. Project Team vs Project Management Team
69. Qualitative Risk Analysis vs Quantitative Risk Analysis
70. RACI vs RAM
71. Residual Risk vs Secondary Risk
72. Resource Leveling vs Resource Loading
73. Risk Threshold vs Risk Tolerance
74. Role vs Responsibility
75. Stakeholder vs Shareholder
76. Subproject vs Subnetwork
77. Tool vs Technique
78. Validation vs Verification
79. Value Analysis vs System Analysis
80. Work Performance Information vs Performance Reports
81. Work Performance Information vs Work Performance Measurements

I hope I've not left you more confused than what you were before reading this post :) If you have other items that you would like to see on the list, post them in the comments section below.

Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this list. I could not have done it alone. It is an example of great teamwork.

Image credit: Flickr / a God's Child

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