Every PMP prep tool on the market is a question bank with a timer. The Critical Path is different — it's a daily study system that learns which concepts you're genuinely misunderstanding, adapts your sessions to how close your exam date is, and never gives you the same question twice.
Built on the ECO 2026 curriculum (effective July 9, 2026) and PMBOK 8th Edition. The only prep tool that reflects the domain that tripled in weight — Business Environment is now 26% of the exam. Most tools are still calibrated to 2021.
Status Live
Users Open / Google Auth
Exam alignment ECO 2026 + PMBOK 8
Built by Sarath MS
Origin
The only tool in this portfolio built for myself.
Every other tool in this portfolio was built because a team needed something and nobody was building it. The Critical Path is different — I needed it. Preparing for the PMP while actively job-seeking, the gap was clear: existing tools were question banks, not coaches. They could test what you knew. They couldn't tell you why you kept answering a certain type of question wrong.
"I'd been doing programme management for 14 years. The real challenge wasn't learning PM — it was translating 14 years of real-world instinct into the specific way PMI wants you to think."
The Problem
Question banks measure recall. The exam tests mindset.
The PMP exam is 180 situational questions. You're not asked to recall a formula — you're asked what a project manager should do first in a given situation, where the wrong answer is usually the one your real-world instincts reach for. Existing tools can tell you the right answer. None of them explain why your brain reached for the wrong one.
The Market
Question banks. 2,500 MCQs. A timer. A raw accuracy score. A domain breakdown that tells you you're 64% in People without telling you which pattern you keep missing.
The Critical Path
A confidence-weighted PMI Thinking Score. A misconception detection system. An AI coach that diagnoses the thinking pattern behind every wrong answer — not just marks it incorrect.
Two Modes, One Tool
Built for the 14-year PM and the first-year candidate.
The same tool, two completely different experiences. The distinction matters because the preparation problem is different for each person.
🔥
Fast Track
For senior PMs
Skips the basics. Opens directly with "PMI Translation" — what you already do at work, mapped to what PMI officially calls it. Every explanation surfaces the PMI trap pattern, not just the right answer. Because the challenge isn't knowledge. It's unlearning the shortcuts that work in real life.
🌱
Foundation
For newer candidates
Concept first, question second. Every session opens with a plain-English concept card before any questions. Each explanation builds the mental model, not just the answer. The goal is to understand PMI's world-view well enough that the right answer feels obvious — not memorised.
The Daily Session
30 minutes. Five modules. One compounding system.
Each session is a structured sequence — not a random queue of questions. Every module feeds the next. Concept comprehension shapes question difficulty. Wrong answers and confidence levels shape tomorrow's session focus.
1
PMI Translation
→
2
Weakest Domain Q
→
3
Confidence Check
→
4
Mini Scenario
→
5
Term Flashcards
Day 14 · Exam Sprint Mode · 12 days to exam
PMI Translation — Benefits Realisation & Business Value
Done
Question 1 — Business Env (your weakest, 58%)
Done
Question 2 — Process domain situational
Active
Mini Scenario — Hybrid project, compliance trigger
Flashcards — 5 terms · extra review pass
The Score System
Raw accuracy is not the right metric.
Getting a question right when you were guessing is not mastery. Getting a question wrong when you were certain means you have a misconception — and that's a completely different problem than a knowledge gap. The Critical Path tracks both.
PMI Thinking Score
74
/ 100
✓ Ready
Weighted by confidence. Certain + Correct = full credit. Certain + Wrong = misconception flag and re-queue. Guessing + Correct = no credit.
Domain Mastery
👥 People (33%)81%
⚙️ Process (41%)73%
📊 Business Env (26%)58%
What Makes This Different
Six decisions worth explaining.
01 · Confidence System
Confidence check before every reveal
After selecting an answer — before seeing the result — you rate your confidence. Certain + Wrong triggers a Misconception flag and re-queues that concept from a different angle. This catches the most dangerous study problem: being confidently wrong.
02 · Adaptive Pacing
Exam-date-driven session intensity
Set your exam date once. The tool automatically shifts through four modes: standard pace, Final Push (14 days out), Exam Sprint (7 days out — weak areas only, no new concepts), and Rest Day (day before — light review only).
03 · Weak-Area Targeting
Q1 always hits your weakest domain
Every session's first question targets your lowest-scoring domain automatically, weighted by ECO 2026 exam proportions when scores are tied. The session adapts to your actual data, not a preset curriculum.
Differentiator
04 · Mock Exams
30, 90, or 180 questions — nothing repeats, ever
AI-generated questions, domain-weighted to match the real exam (33/41/26). Every question stem is hashed and stored — across every mock you've ever taken. The avoid-list is passed to Claude with every generation call. No recycled scenarios.
Differentiator
05 · Wrong-Answer Review
Every missed mock question, reviewable after
After each mock exam, a "Review missed questions" screen shows every question you got wrong — with your answer, the correct answer, and the full explanation. The last 3 mocks keep full detail. Where the real learning happens.
Differentiator
06 · AI Coach
Explains PMI's thinking — not just the answer
The coach receives your session context with every message — current domain scores, last question attempted, confidence level, misconception flags. It doesn't explain the right answer. It diagnoses the thinking pattern that led you to the wrong one.
Why ECO 2026 Matters
Most tools are calibrated to the wrong exam.
The PMP exam changed on July 9, 2026. Business Environment jumped from 8% to 26% of the exam — nearly triple. The exam moved to 240 minutes (up from 230). Agile/hybrid context increased to ~60% of questions. PMBOK 8 introduced 6 new core principles, replacing the 12 from PMBOK 7.
Every piece of content in The Critical Path — concepts, questions, flashcards, AI coach system prompts — was written to the 2026 ECO. The question bank explicitly includes the new Business Environment tasks elevated in 2026, AI governance as a PM competency, and sustainability/ESG as a constraint. The static question bank has a timestamp. The AI generation prompt specifies "ECO 2026, effective July 9 2026" on every call.
Architecture
Single file. Real infrastructure.
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Single HTML File
Vanilla JS, no build step, deployed on Netlify. Installable as a PWA — offline-capable, home-screen icon, mobile-native bottom nav.
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Cloudflare Worker + KV
Google OAuth (open, any account). Per-user KV storage for progress, score history, and mock question dedup. API keys never touch the browser.
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Claude Sonnet 4.6
Powers the AI coach (context-aware, session-scoped) and mock exam generation (batched, domain-weighted, deduplicated). Proxied through the Worker.
"The one tool in this portfolio I built for myself — under the same deadline pressure I was building the tool to solve."