CCP Syllabus: The Complete Topic Breakdown by Domain

Domain 1 — Managing Project Costs (43 questions, the largest domain)

• Cost estimating methods and classifications (order-of-magnitude through definitive)
• Cost estimate development, contingency and escalation
• Budgeting and cost baseline development
• Cost control processes and change management
• Cash flow analysis and forecasting
• Life-cycle costing

Domain 2 — Interfacing with Other Disciplines (28 questions)

• Engineering economics — time value of money, present/future value, depreciation, tax basics
• Break-even analysis and economic decision-making
• Contracts and procurement fundamentals as they affect cost
• Project management fundamentals — scope, organisation, stakeholder basics
• Interfacing cost data with engineering, procurement and construction disciplines

Domain 3 — Create Reports and Documentation (13 questions)

• Cost reporting structures and formats for different audiences
• Progress and performance reporting
• Documentation standards and traceability
• Communicating cost status to project stakeholders

Domain 4 — Conduct Performance Measurement / Analysis (20 questions)

• Earned Value Management (EVM) — EV, PV, AC, CPI, SPI, and variance analysis
• Estimate at Completion (EAC) and Estimate to Complete (ETC) methods
• Trend analysis and productivity measurement
• Forecasting techniques based on performance data

Domain 5 — Support / Inform the Scheduling Process (6 questions)

• Critical Path Method (CPM) fundamentals — float, critical path identification
• Schedule development basics and activity sequencing
• Integrating cost and schedule data (cost-loaded schedules)

Domain 6 — Inform the Risk Management Process (9 questions)

• Risk identification and qualitative/quantitative assessment
• Expected Monetary Value (EMV) and probability-impact analysis
• Contingency vs. management reserve
• Risk response strategies as they affect cost planning

Domain 7 — Communication Competency (the memo)

Not a knowledge topic in the traditional sense — this domain tests your ability to write a clear, structured, professional memo analysing a cost scenario and recommending action, under time pressure, as a full graded component of your result. See our dedicated CCP memo writing guide for the structure graders expect.

How to turn this syllabus into a study plan

Notice the weighting is deliberately uneven — Domain 1 alone (43 questions) outweighs Domains 3, 5 and 6 combined (28 questions). A syllabus list like this is only useful if your study hours mirror it: spend proportionally more time on estimating, cost control and EVM than on the smaller domains, however comfortable or unfamiliar each feels. Our 12-week CCP study plan sequences exactly this way, and if you want to see the underlying framework this syllabus is built on, read our Total Cost Management guide. For the complete exam structure this syllabus feeds into, see our CCP certification guide.

For the full picture of what changed structurally in the 2026 exam blueprint versus older framings of the syllabus, see CCP exam changes 2026.

Ready to study all seven domains in one structured program? See CCP Complete Self-Paced Preparation — built directly on this syllabus.