Earned value management (EVM) shows up on roughly 5-8 PMP questions. That’s not a huge slice, but it’s the one slice where you can either get full marks fast or hemorrhage points because you mixed up CV and SV signs. The math itself is fourth-grade arithmetic. The trap is the interpretation.
This is every formula you need, in one page, with the plain-English meaning and the trick that keeps you from flipping signs.
The 3 inputs you start with
Every EVM question gives you three numbers (sometimes hidden in a story). Get these three first or you’ll spin in circles.
| Term | What it means | Plain-English version |
|---|---|---|
| PV. Planned Value | Budgeted cost of work that should be done by now | What you said you’d have done by today |
| EV. Earned Value | Budgeted cost of work actually done | What you’ve actually finished, valued at the original budget |
| AC. Actual Cost | Money actually spent so far | What it really cost you |
A fourth number, BAC (Budget at Completion), is the total project budget. You’ll need it for forecasting formulas later.
The 4 variance and index formulas
These are the workhorses. If you only memorize four formulas, memorize these.
| Formula | Meaning | Good / Bad |
|---|---|---|
| CV = EV − AC | Cost variance | Positive = under budget. Negative = over budget. |
| SV = EV − PV | Schedule variance | Positive = ahead of schedule. Negative = behind schedule. |
| CPI = EV / AC | Cost performance index | > 1 = under budget. < 1 = over budget. |
| SPI = EV / PV | Schedule performance index | > 1 = ahead. < 1 = behind. |
The trick that stops sign mistakes
EV always comes first. Always. Memorize “EV minus” as a chant.
The second trick: positive and >1 are always good. If your CV is negative or your CPI is below 1, you’re losing money. If your SV is negative or your SPI is below 1, you’re behind. There is no scenario on the PMP exam where a negative variance is good news.
The 5 forecasting formulas (EAC family)
Once you know how the project is going, PMI wants to know what it’ll cost to finish. That’s where EAC (Estimate at Completion) comes in. There are four versions of EAC, and the question stem will tell you which to use.
| Formula | When to use | What it assumes |
|---|---|---|
| EAC = BAC / CPI | Past performance will continue at the current rate | Most common. Default if the question doesn’t specify. |
| EAC = AC + (BAC − EV) | Past variances were one-time events; future work will hit budget | “We had a bad month but it’s behind us” |
| EAC = AC + Bottom-up ETC | The original estimate is unreliable and you’re re-estimating from scratch | Major scope change or estimate fault |
| EAC = AC + [(BAC − EV) / (CPI × SPI)] | Both cost AND schedule pressure will hurt remaining work | Behind schedule + over budget at the same time |
The fifth formula in this family is ETC, Estimate to Complete, which is just “what’s left to spend”:
ETC = EAC − AC
If a question gives you EAC and AC and asks for ETC, this is one subtraction. Don’t overthink it.
The variance and TCPI
Two more close out the set.
VAC = BAC − EAC Variance at completion. Positive = you’ll finish under budget. Negative = you’re heading for an overrun.
TCPI = (BAC − EV) / (BAC − AC) (when goal is to hit BAC) TCPI = (BAC − EV) / (EAC − AC) (when goal is to hit EAC)
To-Complete Performance Index. Plain-English: “what CPI do you need to hit on the remaining work to land on budget?” If TCPI > 1, you need to be more efficient than you’ve been so far. If TCPI < 1, you have slack.
The PMP exam will sometimes ask “what does a TCPI of 1.15 mean?”, the answer is “the team needs to perform 15% more cost-efficiently for the rest of the project to hit the target.”
A 90-second worked example
Project facts: - BAC: $100,000 - EV: $40,000 (40% of work is actually done) - PV: $50,000 (50% should be done by now) - AC: $45,000
Walk through it:
- CV = 40,000 − 45,000 = −$5,000 → over budget
- SV = 40,000 − 50,000 = −$10,000 → behind schedule
- CPI = 40,000 / 45,000 = 0.89 → getting $0.89 of work for every $1 spent
- SPI = 40,000 / 50,000 = 0.80 → only 80% of planned progress
- EAC (assuming current performance continues) = 100,000 / 0.89 = $112,360 → projected overrun
- VAC = 100,000 − 112,360 = −$12,360
- ETC = 112,360 − 45,000 = $67,360 left to spend
If a PMP question gave you these numbers, the right call is “behind schedule and over budget”, not just one or the other. Watch for distractors that focus on only CV or only SV.
The 5 mistakes that cost you EVM points
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Reading PV when they meant AC. PV is what you planned. AC is what you actually spent. They both have dollar signs. Slow down on the stem.
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Flipping the index direction. Anything > 1 is good. Anything < 1 is bad. If you find yourself reasoning “well, 0.85 is close to 1 so it’s basically fine”, no, that’s a 15% overrun.
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Using current-performance EAC when the question signals one-time variance. If the stem says “the storm caused a one-month delay that won’t repeat,” use EAC = AC + (BAC − EV), not BAC / CPI.
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Forgetting the 4-factor EAC. When the stem mentions BOTH being behind schedule AND over budget AND that this will continue, that’s the EAC = AC + [(BAC − EV) / (CPI × SPI)] flag. It’s the rarest formula and the most-missed.
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Not checking units. Variances are dollars (or hours). Indices are ratios with no units. If your “CPI” answer is $1,200, you computed a variance, not an index.
How to drill EVM in one week
The bad news: EVM questions are math, so you can’t reason your way through them with general PM judgment. The good news: the math is identical every time, so once you’ve drilled 30-40 questions, you can answer the rest in under 60 seconds each.
A week of practice that works: - Day 1-2: Memorize all 13 formulas. Write them out by hand 3x. - Day 3-4: Do 20 questions where you must label CV, SV, CPI, SPI from raw inputs. - Day 5: Do 15 EAC-selection questions where you have to pick which EAC formula applies. - Day 6: Mixed drill, 25 questions, timed at 60 seconds each. - Day 7: Review every wrong answer and identify which of the 5 mistakes above caused it.
If your CPI on practice questions is above 0.85, you’re on track for the exam.
Where EVM fits in the bigger picture
EVM is part of Domain II (Process), specifically Task 2.6 (Plan and manage budget and resources) and Task 2.5 (Plan and manage schedule). It’s the most quantitative slice of the exam, but Domain II also includes tons of process-judgment questions that don’t involve formulas at all. If you’re studying for the PMP, don’t let EVM eat your whole study calendar.
For the bigger map of what’s on the exam, the PMP ECO cheat sheet covers all 35 tasks including which ones get the most weight.
For a sense of how PMI writes situational questions (where the answer is judgment, not math), the conflict management practice questions walk through five scenarios with per-option rationales.
And if you’ve been scoring 80%+ on PMI Study Hall but failing mocks, the formulas aren’t the problem - three biases are.
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