CAPES study guide
CAPES · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
CAPES - the Certified Associate in Project and Engineering Scheduling - is a multiple-choice credential aimed at schedulers, planning engineers, project controls analysts, and project managers who build and maintain project schedules in engineering and construction environments. It is an associate-level exam: it assumes you understand how a schedule is constructed and read, not that you have run a program controls office for a decade. The CAPES study guide has 10 sections and about 3,817 words.
01Scheduling Fundamentals, Terminology, and Standards
This domain checks whether you can use scheduling terms precisely and place a schedule within recognized standards. CAPES questions often hinge on definitions that look interchangeable but are not: activity versus event, total versus free float, schedule level versus schedule class, and constraint versus logic.
501 words, about 3 min02Schedule Development and Work Breakdown Structure
This domain tests how scope is decomposed into a WBS and then translated into a schedule. The exam expects you to distinguish a deliverable-oriented WBS from an organizational breakdown, apply the 100% rule, and show how work packages become activities with logic, durations, and resources.
373 words, about 2 min03Activity Sequencing, Durations, and Logic Relationships
This domain examines dependency types, logic attributes, and duration estimating. CAPES expects you to choose the correct relationship, justify lags and leads, distinguish mandatory from discretionary logic, and build durations from documented bases rather than judgment alone.
390 words, about 2 min04Critical Path Method and Schedule Calculation
This domain tests the forward and backward pass, float calculation, critical path identification, and interpretation of multiple or negative-float paths. CAPES questions often require you to calculate ES, EF, LS, LF, total float, and free float from a small network, then explain what the result means.
392 words, about 2 min05Resource Planning, Loading, and Leveling
This domain tests how resources are assigned to activities, how histograms expose peaks, and how leveling differs from smoothing. CAPES expects you to know that leveling is resource-limited scheduling and may extend the project, while smoothing is time-limited and preserves the finish date.
359 words, about 2 min06Cost Loading and Schedule-Cost Integration
This domain covers the time-phased cost baseline and earned value connection. CAPES expects you to load costs to activities or work packages, produce a planned value curve, and use earned value metrics without confusing cost spent with work performed.
355 words, about 2 min07Schedule Risk Analysis and Contingency
This domain tests quantitative and qualitative schedule risk analysis, contingency derivation, and the difference between risk reserve and hidden padding. CAPES expects you to use three-point estimates, Monte Carlo simulation, sensitivity analysis, and confidence levels to set a risk-adjusted completion date.
356 words, about 2 min08Progress Measurement, Performance Analysis, and Forecasting
This domain tests how progress is measured, how schedule performance is analyzed, and how completion is forecast. CAPES expects you to distinguish duration percent complete from physical or earned progress, use earned schedule where appropriate, and explain why a favorable cost-based schedule indicator can coexist with a late critical path.
364 words, about 2 min09Schedule Change Control and Baseline Management
This domain tests how the approved schedule baseline is protected, revised, and audited. CAPES expects you to distinguish a schedule update from a re-baseline, use time impact analysis for changes, and maintain traceability between approved changes and the current schedule.
347 words, about 2 min10Schedule Quality, Validation, and Reporting
This domain tests whether a schedule is fit for its intended use and whether reporting tells the truth about status. CAPES expects you to apply logic and quality checks, validate calendars and resources, and interpret common metrics.
380 words, about 2 min