Source Validation Report

Scoring framework (0–100): 95–100 official/authoritative · 80–94 strong secondary · 65–79 reasonably credible · 40–64 candidate/community · 20–39 weak/unverified · 0–19 highly questionable. Full registry: 00_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY/source_registry.csv; ranked list: 08_ANALYSIS/source_reliability.csv.

Tier 1 — Official APM (15 sources registered; the backbone)

SourceScoreAssessment
PMQ Handbook (current)98Authoritative syllabus/LO reference. Downloaded & parsed.
Sample Paper 1 (©2024)97Official current-format paper; 40 Q extracted. No key published.
Sample Paper 2 (©2026)97As above; contains Q14 identical to SP1 Q33.
BoK7 Sample Exam Paper (©2019)95Official old-format paper; 16 Q extracted; live URL 404 → Wayback.
PMQ Assessment Specification92Official old-format spec (16×50, answer 10, pass 55%).
Sample Answer Document 202190Official 7th-ed strong/weak answers (via ipsofacto mirror).
Exam Technique / Candidate Guidance90Official; registered metadata-only this pass (Wayback CDX).
Sample Management Exam 201788Official APMP-era sample; registered, not extracted (historical).
Online-exam support page95Official platform/format guidance.

Verification notes: all official PDFs were HTTP-200 downloaded and pdftotext-parsed; sample papers' contents were fully read and transcribed (question-by-question), so extraction fidelity is high. Two files could not be fetched this pass (Exam Technique, Candidate Guidance — Wayback timeouts); flagged for the next pass.

Tier 2 — Training providers (13 registered; 8 with questions)

SourceScoreAssessment
QA Ltd APMP-5 Sample Exam Answers (Jan 2023)85Credible provider; full model answers to the official BoK7 paper. Questions verified identical to BoK7 paper.
Wellingtone PMQ Exam Guide 202682APM Endorsed trainer; 2 worked scenario answers with marking guidance.
Parallel — Exam Questions & Tips (2023)803 old-format questions + delegate answers + tutor feedback.
Parallel — Typical questions (2015)757 old-format stems; answer-structure guidance.
Parallel — New PMQ announcement (2024)781 new-format example MCQ; confirms paid sample exam (£50) exists.
Project Accelerator (c.2012)604 stems; references dead study group (~350 moderated questions).
Project Management Works602 recurring "banker" stems quoted; advice only.
Projex / Knowledge Train / 20/20 / QA course pages55–60No free questions; useful for format/pricing context.
ipsofacto resource hub70Hub page; hosts APM answer docs (SRC_0006-8).

Tier 3 — Educational repositories (3 registered; 0 extracted)

Scribd "APM PMQ Sample Paper Model Answers" (35) — JS/login-gated this pass; title suggests old-format model answers; likely mirrors provider/APM content. ResearchGate "APM PMQ Study Guide with Sample Paper" (40) — 19 Sep 2024 upload, login-gated, unauthorised-mirror risk. Quizlet (30) — 403/captcha; mostly PFQ sets. All flagged access_status = inaccessible for this pass and retained with URLs.

Tier 4 — Candidate recollections (10 registered; 0 verbatim questions)

Reddit threads (r/PMCareers, r/projectmanagement, r/APMcertification, r/TheCivilService), 2019–2026. Scores 45–55. Consistent finding: candidates discuss format, pass marks (e.g. 73% vs 64% pass; fail 61% vs 62%), technique, and topics — but no public thread contains a verbatim recalled live-exam question. One thread (SRC_0024) quotes the official wind-farm sample question verbatim (duplicating official material, not a live recall). A candidate in SRC_0026 confirms APM will not release questions or responses, only topic-level marks. YouTube candidate/trainer videos registered but transcripts not extractable (JS shells).

Tier 5 — Commercial "exam dump" sites (13 registered)

SiteScoreAssessment
FreeCram25Real sample content (42 claimed); footer disclaims providing actual vendor questions; cross-site duplicates.
ValidExamDumps255 free Q&As; duplicates of FreeCram/DumpsPedia.
Pass4Success255 free Q&As; testimonial spam; duplicates of FreeCram/DumpsTool.
DumpsPedia / Marks4sure / DumpsTool20Template family; sample Q&As; shared bank.
CertsHero / Passcert / ExamsBoost / CertKillers / DumpsWrap10–15No visible content; boilerplate marketing; factual errors about the exam (ExamsBoost claims 75% pass/150 min); CertKillers admits VCE recycling.
PassQuestion10Footer admits "All Passquestion content is sourced from the Internet"; fake-looking 5.0/3032 review markup.

Universal red flags: the near-universal "40 questions" claim; verbatim-identical questions across ≥3 storefronts; template-identical site families; self-contradictory disclaimers. No Tier-5 "actual exam" claim is corroborated. Classification per spec §15: 0 VERIFIED_OFFICIAL, 0 STRONG_EVIDENCE, 0 PLAUSIBLE_RECALL, 10 UNVERIFIED_CLAIM, 3 FALSE_OR_INVALID (PassQuestion, ExamsBoost, CertKillers).

Copying / source-chain findings

Second pass update (2026-08-27)

71 sources registered (was 54); 20 with extracted questions. New Tier-1 material: 2017 Sample Management Exam Paper (SRC_0022, extracted 16 Q), APM Annotated Answer Q6 (SRC_0008, marker-ratified), BoK7 Exam Technique + Candidate Guidance (SRC_0019/20, downloaded via Wayback, guidance only), Exam Techniques 2021 v4 (SRC_0055), Hints & Tips 2021 (SRC_0056). New Tier-2: Projex 9-Q sample with mark schemes (SRC_0057), Parallel Starter-for-Ten (SRC_0058), PA Questions & Tips (SRC_0059), Training ByteSize hints 2026 + online-exam guide (SRC_0061/68), Provek format article (SRC_0067). New Tier-4: 4 Reddit topic-recall threads (SRC_0063/64/65/66) incl. old-format recall that procurement/BATNA-ZOPA, estimating methods, Belbin, Maslow, NPV, IRR all appeared. New Tier-3/5: apmpmqexam.co.uk (generic prose, low value), CertEmpire (PMP-flavoured MCQs), Brainscape, Stuvia, Sikhana Seekho blog.

Reliability observations: Wayback is the reliable route to APM old-format PDFs (live URLs 404); direct snapshot URLs from the availability API are far more reliable than the id_ redirect. CertEmpire's PMBOK-citing explanations confirm that not all 'current-format' practice content is APM-faithful.