Joseph Phillips (Udemy)
PMP Exam Prep Seminar (Joseph Phillips) Review — Honest Analysis
Joseph Phillips' PMP Exam Prep Seminar is the best-selling PMP course on Udemy — roughly 24.5 hours across 290 lectures, an aggregate 4.6/5 from well over 100,000 ratings, lifetime access, and a genuine 35-contact-hour certificate that satisfies PMI's mandatory education requirement to sit the exam. The reviewer signal is strong and consistent: a knowledgeable, articulate instructor who breaks PMI concepts down clearly, deep worked case studies covering Earned Value Management, ITTOs and the formulas, and a price that is almost always around $15-25 on sale. The one structural gap every critical source flags is practice volume — the two included 200-question exams and section quizzes are not enough to be exam-ready, and reviewers near-unanimously recommend buying a separate PMP simulator on top. Add the smaller knocks (no direct instructor support beyond the forum, occasional quiz questions not covered in lectures, and a few PMBOK 6-to-7 transition seams) and the right way to use this is as your comprehensive teaching-and-contact-hours engine, then drill questions elsewhere. Go in expecting a single all-in-one resource that gets you exam-ready by itself and you will fall short on practice; treat it as the backbone of a plan and it is excellent value.
Final score
from 31 analysed opinions
Published AI-researched, editor-audited
Distribution of opinions
Per-criterion scores
The course is one of the most complete PMP libraries on Udemy — 290 lectures across roughly 24.5 hours, mapped to the PMBOK Guide and split into the PMI exam's three domains (around 20 hours on ways of working, 9 on business acumen, 6 on power skills). Reviewers praise the depth of the worked case studies, the Earned Value Management and ITTO walkthroughs, and the formula coverage. The recurring content caveat is that some material reads as paraphrasing the PMBOK Guide and that the PMBOK 6-to-7 transition left a few coverage seams.
Joseph Phillips is the strongest part of the package and the reason most reviewers recommend it. A McGraw-Hill/AMA/Dummies Press project-management author with 25+ years of consulting and training experience, certified as PMP, PMI-ACP, ITIL, Project+ and a Certified Technical Trainer, he is repeatedly described as clear, articulate and good at breaking complex PMI concepts into understandable parts. The one consistent knock is that he does not answer messages — there is no real instructor interaction beyond the Udemy Q&A forum.
List price runs higher but the course is almost always on sale around $15-25 with lifetime access, and it delivers a genuine 35-contact-hour certificate that satisfies the mandatory PMI education requirement to sit the PMP exam — something most learners would otherwise pay a bootcamp hundreds or thousands of dollars for. That certificate alone makes it one of the best-value ways to clear the PMP eligibility hurdle, with the honest deduction being that you will likely buy a separate exam simulator for practice volume.
The weakest dimension and the one nearly every critical source flags. The course includes section quizzes, formula quizzes and two full-length 200-question practice exams, which is not nothing, but reviewers agree it is not enough question volume to be exam-ready and recommend buying a dedicated PMP simulator on top. There are also repeated complaints about quiz questions that are not covered in the lectures and a handful of wrong or unrevised answer keys.
The course has hundreds of learners crediting it with passing the PMP exam, often on the first attempt, and several describe a workable plan of pairing each PMBOK chapter with the matching lecture over about a month. The deduction is that almost no one passes on this course alone — the consistent advice across sources is to supplement with a separate question bank or simulator, so score movement depends on the learner adding practice the course does not fully provide.
What learners said
What people loved
6- Joseph Phillips is a clear, articulate, highly experienced instructor who makes complex PMI concepts easy to understand and remember×18
- Comprehensive PMBOK-mapped coverage across 290 lectures and ~24.5 hours — the most complete PMP library on Udemy×15
- Delivers a genuine 35-contact-hour certificate that satisfies PMI's mandatory education requirement to sit the PMP exam×13
- In-depth worked case studies covering Earned Value Management, ITTOs and the key project-management formulas×9
- Hundreds of learners credit the course with passing the PMP exam, often on the first attempt×12
- Exceptional value — usually on sale around $15-25 with lifetime access versus hundreds for an in-person PMP bootcamp×10
What frustrated learners
5- Practice volume is thin — only two full-length exams plus quizzes, so reviewers recommend buying a separate PMP simulator×14
- No direct instructor support — messages go unanswered and help is limited to the Udemy Q&A forum×7
- Some quiz questions cover material not in the lectures, and there are reports of wrong or unrevised answer keys×6
- Videos are chopped into very small sections, so you repeatedly sit through the intro music and feel some content overlap×5
- The PMBOK 6-to-7 transition left a few coverage seams, and parts read as paraphrasing the PMBOK Guide×4
Real quotes from real users
“"Joseph Phillips is an excellent instructor. Very knowledgeable and articulate, and he makes complex concepts easy to understand and remember."”
“"I passed my PMP exam on the first try after taking this course, and felt well-prepared for the actual exam questions."”
“"The quizzes after each section were very helpful for testing understanding, and I successfully claimed my 35 contact hours for the PMP application."”
“"This course was very comprehensive and covered all aspects needed to pass the PMP exam."”
“"There were a few technical glitches with some videos, and occasionally the platform had loading issues."”
“"Too much overlap, not much useful information — the videos are broken up in very small sections, so you end up listening to the intro music A LOT."”
“"Not an interactive course at all. They never answer any message."”
“"There are only two practice tests, and you will need to buy an online simulator to practice more questions — the practice exams are insufficient on their own."”
“"Joseph Phillips is one of the top-rated PMP trainers on Udemy, recommended for those wanting a deep exploration of the PMBOK Guide."”
“"A deep dive into the concepts of the PMBOK, structured classes, and excellent pacing for novices — ideal for learners who want in-depth study."”
“"Comprehensive coverage, practice exams, and Udemy PDUs offered — an all-in-one package for aspiring project managers, though some students find it complicated and tiring."”
“"Extremely in-depth case studies, which include Earned Value Management and Inputs, Tools & Techniques and Outputs (ITTOs)."”
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How we evaluated this
This review synthesizes 31 opinions collected across the public web. Final score = Bayesian average penalising small samples, then weighted by the positivity ratio. No paid placements, no hidden agenda.
- 25 from Blogs
- 6 from Other