APICS CPIM Mock Exam

You have spent four years as a demand planner, and your manager has hinted at a supply chain manager opening next spring. Do you sit CPIM now, add CSCP first, or wait? For most planners the answer is CPIM first. It is one ASCM exam of 150 questions, version 9.0 since 1 June 2026, and it fits planning, scheduling and inventory work more closely than any other ASCM credential. CSCP and CLTD suit what comes after.

Updated on 21 September 2026. What’s new: updated for CPIM version 9.0, with the current single-exam format, fees and nine content areas.

On Monday the sales team reports a stockout on the product customers want most. On Thursday the warehouse manager asks where to put another pallet of a product nobody has ordered in months. Both problems come from the same place: a plan that did not connect demand, supply and inventory. The ASCM CPIM (Certified in Planning and Inventory Management) credential tests exactly that connection, in one 150-question exam of three and a half hours.

ASCM, the Association for Supply Chain Management, is the body formerly known as APICS, and it still uses that older name as the brand on its certifications, so a search for the old name leads to the same credential described here. This article covers what the exam looks like after the version 9.0 update, what each of the nine content areas asks, what it costs, how to prepare and what the credential does for a planning career. All exam details were checked against ASCM's own pages in September 2026.

What is the ASCM CPIM certification, and who is it for?

CPIM certifies the people who decide what gets made, bought, stored and shipped, and when. ASCM describes the program as an international standard for assessing planning and inventory skills, and it has run for more than fifty years. The subject matter covers demand and supply planning, material and capacity requirements, sales and operations planning, inventory control, detailed scheduling, distribution, quality and continuous improvement.