What to Study for the APICS CPIM 9.0 Exam

The APICS Certified in Planning and Inventory Management (CPIM) certification has changed considerably since the program was reconfigured in 2018. Candidates no longer take separate Part 1 and Part 2 exams. The current CPIM program requires candidates to pass one comprehensive certification exam.

The CPIM 9.0 Exam Content Manual took effect on June 1, 2026. It divides the exam into nine content areas covering strategy, sales and operations planning, demand, supply, inventory, scheduling, distribution, quality, continuous improvement, and technology.

The updated content is based on a 2024 job task analysis completed with input from more than 1,800 supply chain professionals. CPIM 9.0 also expands the body of knowledge to address current and emerging technology, international business, sustainability, and green initiatives.

What Is the APICS CPIM Certification?

The CPIM certification is offered by the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) as part of the APICS certification program. It validates a professional’s knowledge of internal operations, planning, sourcing, production, inventory, materials management, and related supply chain processes.

CPIM may be appropriate for professionals who:

• Manage production, materials, or inventory
• Work with enterprise resource planning or manufacturing systems
• Develop forecasts or demand plans
• Participate in sales and operations planning
• Work with master production schedules or material requirements planning
• Plan procurement or manage external sources of supply
• Develop detailed production schedules
• Measure production or supply chain performance
• Support quality or continuous improvement initiatives

CPIM Eligibility Requirements

There are no education, professional experience, or prior certification requirements for earning the APICS CPIM certification.

However, the CPIM Exam Content Manual assumes that candidates have experience with or knowledge of basic planning and inventory management concepts. Candidates who are new to supply chain management may need additional preparation before attempting the exam.

CPIM 9.0 Exam Format

• Number of exams: One comprehensive exam
• Total questions: 150
• Scored questions: 130
• Pretest questions: 20
• Time limit: 3.5 hours
• Question format: Four-option multiple-choice questions, including scenario and calculation questions
• Scaled score range: 200 to 350
• Passing score: 300

The 20 pretest questions do not count toward your score and are not identified during the exam. Candidates should answer every question.

There is no penalty for an incorrect answer. An unanswered question is scored the same as an incorrect answer, so it is better to make an educated selection than to leave a question blank.

CPIM 9.0 Exam Content Areas

What to Study for Each CPIM Content Area

I. Align the Supply Chain to Support the Business Strategy, 12%

This area examines how supply chain and operations decisions support an organization’s mission, strategy, competitive priorities, and long-term performance.

Topics include:

• Corporate mission, vision, and values
• Order winners and order qualifiers
• Product and service differentiation
• Competitive priorities such as cost, quality, availability, reliability, responsiveness, and agility
• SWOT analysis, benchmarking, industry standards, and competitive analysis
• Value chain analysis
• Push-pull boundaries
• Make-to-stock, assemble-to-order, configure-to-order, make-to-order, and engineer-to-order strategies
• Make-or-buy analysis
• Manufacturing processes and facility layouts
• Product and service life cycles
• Financial and operational key performance indicators
• Supply chain risk and business continuity
• Sustainability considerations
• Technology choices, including automation, advanced planning systems, enterprise resource planning, and artificial intelligence

How to study: Focus on the relationship between strategy and operational decisions. A process, technology, or sourcing choice may be technically feasible yet inappropriate if it does not support the organization’s competitive priorities.

II. Conduct Sales and Operations Planning to Support Strategy, 10%

Sales and operations planning, commonly called S&OP, aligns aggregate demand, supply, product, and financial plans with the organization’s strategy.

Topics include:

• The purpose, inputs, and outputs of S&OP
• Roles and responsibilities in the S&OP process
• Product and service portfolio review
• Aggregate demand and supply planning
• Resource and capacity considerations
• Financial reconciliation
• Demand and supply imbalances
• Alternative scenarios and trade-offs
• Performance measures used to monitor the plan
• Executive review and decision-making

How to study: Understand both the sequence of the S&OP process and the decisions produced at each stage. Practice identifying the appropriate response when demand, supply, capacity, inventory, and financial goals conflict.

III. Plan and Manage Demand, 12%

This area evaluates how organizations understand customers, analyze sources of demand, produce forecasts, and respond to demand variation.

Topics include:

• Customer needs and expectations
• Customer segmentation and service policies
• Marketing and product management considerations
• Promotional demand and product cannibalization
• Product configurations and life cycles
• Independent and dependent demand
• Demand channels, including retail, wholesale, e-commerce, and omnichannel
• Qualitative forecasting methods
• Time-series forecasting
• Moving averages and exponential smoothing
• Regression and leading indicators
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning in forecasting
• Forecast error, bias, mean absolute deviation, mean absolute percentage error, and tracking signals
• Collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment
• The bullwhip effect

How to study: Be prepared to select an appropriate forecasting method and calculate or interpret forecast-performance measures. Memorizing formulas is not enough. You must understand what each result reveals about forecast accuracy or bias.

IV. Plan and Manage Internal Supply Sources, 12%

This area covers master scheduling, material requirements planning, capacity planning, and the internal resources needed to support demand.

Topics include:

• Master scheduling within the planning and control hierarchy
• Master production schedule development and maintenance
• Available-to-promise and capable-to-promise
• Planning bills of material
• New product introduction and end-of-life planning
• Engineering changes and revision control
• Rough-cut capacity planning
• Capacity requirements and key resources
• Efficiency and utilization
• Material requirements planning inputs and outputs
• Bills of material
• Item master data and planning parameters
• Time-phased material plans
• Lead times, lot sizes, scrap factors, and yield
• Resolving material or capacity imbalances

How to study: Practice moving between planning levels. Know what information feeds the master production schedule, material requirements plan, and capacity plan, and how a change at one level affects the others.

V. Plan and Manage External Supply Sources, 11%

This area addresses sourcing, procurement, supplier relationships, and the risks associated with obtaining materials and services from external sources.

Topics include:

• Sourcing strategies
• Domestic and international suppliers
• Single, sole, and multiple sourcing
• Supplier segmentation
• Supplier selection and qualification
• Request-for-information, request-for-proposal, and request-for-quotation processes
• Purchase orders and purchasing agreements
• Total cost of ownership
• Supplier lead times and capacity
• Supplier performance measurement
• Supplier relationship management
• Supply risk, continuity, and resilience
• Ethical, regulatory, and sustainability considerations
• Collaboration and information sharing with suppliers

How to study: Evaluate suppliers using more than purchase price. CPIM questions may require you to consider quality, delivery, capacity, lead time, total cost, risk, sustainability, and alignment with organizational strategy.

VI. Plan and Manage Inventory, 14%

Inventory is the largest CPIM 9.0 content area. It covers why organizations hold inventory, how they classify it, and how inventory policies balance availability, cost, and risk.

Topics include:

• Functions and types of inventory
• Independent and dependent demand inventory
• Raw materials, work in process, finished goods, and maintenance, repair, and operating supplies
• Cycle stock, safety stock, anticipation inventory, and pipeline inventory
• Inventory costs
• Inventory valuation and financial considerations
• ABC classification
• Inventory policies and replenishment systems
• Order quantities and lot-sizing methods
• Reorder points and safety stock
• Service levels
• Inventory accuracy and cycle counting
• Physical inventory procedures
• Inventory performance measures
• Obsolescence, excess inventory, and shrinkage
• Inventory risk and control

How to study: Practice calculations involving economic order quantity, reorder points, safety stock, inventory turnover, days of supply, and related performance measures. Pay attention to how cost, risk, and customer service change when an inventory policy changes.

VII. Plan, Manage, and Execute Detailed Schedules, 12%

This area focuses on translating higher-level supply plans into detailed schedules and controlling work as it moves through operations.

Topics include:

• Detailed scheduling objectives and inputs
• Production environments and scheduling methods
• Forward and backward scheduling
• Finite and infinite loading
• Priority sequencing rules
• Work center capacity
• Bottlenecks and constraints
• Queue, setup, run, wait, and move time
• Shop-floor control
• Dispatching and production reporting
• Schedule adherence
• Work-in-process management
• Lean and pull-based scheduling concepts
• Responding to disruptions and schedule changes

How to study: Practice selecting scheduling rules and responses based on the organization’s priority. The best solution may differ depending on whether the goal is faster flow, improved due-date performance, lower work-in-process, or better utilization of a constrained resource.

VIII. Plan and Manage Distribution, 8%

This area covers the networks, plans, facilities, and transportation processes used to move materials and products through the supply chain.

Topics include:

• Distribution network design
• Cost and customer-service trade-offs
• Distribution requirements planning
• Replenishment and deployment
• Distribution inventory
• Warehouse and distribution center considerations
• Inbound and outbound material flows
• Transportation modes and carrier selection
• Order fulfillment
• Distribution performance measures
• Reverse logistics
• Distribution risks and continuity

How to study: Understand how decisions about facility location, inventory placement, transportation, and customer service affect total supply chain cost and responsiveness.

IX. Manage Quality, Continuous Improvement, and Technology, 9%

This area examines how organizations measure and improve products, services, and processes, and how they select technology that supports supply chain goals.

Topics include:

• Quality planning, assurance, control, and improvement
• Total quality management
• Cost of quality
• Process capability and statistical process control
• Quality tools and problem-solving methods
• Root-cause analysis
• Lean principles and waste reduction
• Six Sigma concepts
• Continuous improvement programs
• Change management
• Enterprise resource planning systems
• Advanced planning and scheduling systems
• Automation, robotics, and connected technologies
• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics
• Technology evaluation and implementation
• Cybersecurity and data considerations

How to study: Learn when to use each quality or improvement tool instead of only memorizing its definition. For technology questions, consider the business problem, expected benefits, data requirements, implementation risks, and alignment with the supply chain strategy.

How CPIM 9.0 Questions Test Your Knowledge

The CPIM exam includes both conceptual and calculation-based questions. According to the Exam Content Manual, questions may require candidates to apply knowledge to a situation, evaluate alternatives, analyze a process, or select the best solution.

When answering a scenario-based question, ask:

• What is the organization trying to achieve?
• Which planning level does this decision belong to?
• What information must be available before the decision can be made?
• What is the primary constraint or source of risk?
• Which option best supports the stated competitive priority?
• What must happen before another otherwise appropriate action?
• Which response addresses the root cause rather than only the symptom?
• What is the best action, not merely a technically possible action?

How to Build a CPIM Study Plan

1. Use the Current Exam Content Manual

The CPIM 9.0 Exam Content Manual should be the foundation of your study plan. Older materials describing five exams, two exam parts, or the CPIM 7.0 or 8.0 content structure do not accurately represent the current exam.

2. Assess All Nine Content Areas

Begin with a diagnostic assessment to identify which areas are already familiar and which need additional work. Professionals often have deep experience in one part of the planning process but limited exposure to other areas.

3. Allocate Time by Weight and Weakness

Inventory is the largest area at 14%, but seven of the nine areas represent between 9% and 12% of the exam. Broad preparation is essential. Do not ignore a domain simply because its percentage is slightly lower.

4. Learn ASCM Terminology

Terminology may vary among employers and industries. ASCM recommends using the ASCM Supply Chain Dictionary as the primary guide for definitions. Learn the preferred term as well as common synonyms, such as master production schedule and master schedule.

5. Practice Calculations in Context

Practice calculating forecasts, forecast errors, capacity, material requirements, order quantities, reorder points, safety stock, inventory performance, and scheduling measures. Then practice explaining how the result should affect a planning decision.

6. Connect the Planning Levels

Study the flow from business strategy through S&OP, demand planning, master scheduling, material and capacity planning, detailed scheduling, execution, and performance measurement. Understanding these relationships makes scenario questions easier to analyze.

7. Review Every Answer Explanation

After answering a practice question, review why the correct option is best and why each alternative is less appropriate. This helps develop the fine distinctions required by application and analysis questions.

Maintaining the CPIM Certification

After earning the certification, CPIM certificants must complete and report 75 professional development maintenance points every five years. CPIM Fellows must report 100 points during each five-year maintenance cycle.

Candidates should review the current ASCM certification maintenance policies for complete requirements and submission procedures.

Start Preparing for the APICS CPIM Exam

Pocket Prep’s APICS CPIM exam prep includes practice questions with detailed explanations for correct and incorrect answer choices. Use your performance data to identify weak areas, reinforce important terminology, and practice applying planning and inventory concepts to realistic scenarios.