PMI-ACP Practice Exam 2 — 20 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO strategies are recommended for managing a product backlog that has grown too large?

Accepted Answer

Archive or remove low-priority items that are unlikely to be built.. Option A is correct because archiving or removing low-priority items that are unlikely to be built directly reduces the backlog's size, keeping it focused on work that delivers value and preventing it from becoming an unmanageable wish list. Option E is correct because regularly refining and prioritizing the backlog with the Product Owner ensures the most valuable items rise to the top, keeps the backlog current, and prevents uncontrolled growth through continuous grooming. Option B is wrong because deleting the entire backlog discards potentially valuable requirements and destroys the product's strategic direction. Option C is wrong because increasing sprint size does not reduce backlog size and violates the principle of keeping sprints short and time-boxed. Option D is wrong because assigning all items to developers does not shrink or prioritize the backlog and ignores capacity and value-based ordering.

Answer

Delete the entire backlog.

Answer

Increase the sprint size to finish it all.

Answer

Assign all items to developers.

Question 2

Which action best demonstrates 'embracing change over following a plan'?

Accepted Answer

Updating the product backlog based on user feedback.. Updating the product backlog based on user feedback best demonstrates 'embracing change over following a plan' because it shows the team is responsive to new information and willing to adjust priorities accordingly. This aligns with the Agile Manifesto principle of welcoming changing requirements, even late in development. It reflects a mindset that values customer value and adaptability over rigid adherence to an initial plan.

Answer

Rejecting all feedback until the next project phase.

Answer

Changing the team members every sprint.

Answer

Strictly following the initial project roadmap.

Question 3

A team is struggling with meeting their sprint goals. What is the best strategy to improve delivery reliability?

Accepted Answer

Focus on improving estimation accuracy and managing capacity effectively.. Sprint goal reliability improves when the team's forecasts match its actual capacity. Focusing on estimation accuracy (e.g., through story point calibration, reference stories, and historical data) and actively managing capacity (accounting for leave, ceremonies, and support work) directly addresses the root causes of missed goals. This is the empirical, sustainable path.

Answer

Increase velocity targets arbitrarily.

Answer

Force the team to work weekends.

Answer

Decrease the quality standards.

Question 4

A stakeholder requests a major change to the sprint backlog mid-sprint. How do you respond as an agile leader?

Accepted Answer

Ask the Product Owner to discuss the impact with the stakeholder and evaluate if the goal can still be met.. In agile, the Product Owner owns the backlog and is the single point of contact for stakeholder requests. The correct response is to route the change through the Product Owner, who can assess impact against the sprint goal and negotiate scope with the stakeholder. This preserves the team's focus while respecting the empirical nature of sprint planning.

Answer

Ask the developers to work overtime to accommodate the request.

Answer

Reject the request immediately as it violates the sprint commitment.

Answer

Add the work to the sprint backlog immediately.

Question 5

The organization wants to move from monthly releases to continuous delivery. What is the most important technical requirement for this transition?

Accepted Answer

Implement automated build and testing pipelines.. Continuous delivery requires that every code change can be automatically built, tested, and deployed to production-like environments with confidence. Automated build and testing pipelines (CI/CD) are the foundational technical enabler — without them, frequent releases introduce unacceptable risk and manual error. This is the core technical prerequisite for moving from monthly to continuous delivery.

Answer

Hire more developers.

Answer

Lower the security standards.

Answer

Stop all documentation.

Question 6

Which TWO leadership actions help resolve a conflict regarding technical architecture? (Choose TWO)

Accepted Answer

Encouraging the team to experiment with both options in a time-boxed sprint.. Option A is correct because encouraging the team to experiment with both options in a time-boxed sprint creates empirical evidence about each architecture's trade-offs (performance, complexity, integration effort) rather than relying on opinion, which is a constructive, leadership-driven way to resolve technical conflict. Option C is correct because facilitating a data-driven evaluation—using agreed criteria such as scalability, latency, cost, security, and maintainability—gives the team an objective basis for consensus and removes the conflict from personal preference. Option B is not appropriate because deferring to the highest-paid person substitutes authority for technical merit and does not resolve the underlying architectural disagreement. Option D is not appropriate because imposing a preferred architecture ends debate by fiat, damaging trust and ownership. Option E is not appropriate because letting the conflict continue until one side gives up allows unresolved technical risk and team dysfunction to persist.

Answer

Asking the highest-paid person to make the decision.

Answer

Imposing your own preferred architecture to end the debate.

Answer

Letting the conflict continue until one side gives up.

Question 7

What is the goal of a servant leader?

Accepted Answer

To remove obstacles and empower the team.. A servant leader's primary goal is to remove obstacles and empower the team to self-organize and deliver value. This leadership style inverts the traditional pyramid: the leader serves the team rather than the team serving the leader. By clearing impediments and fostering autonomy, the servant leader enables the team to reach high performance without direct command.

Answer

To report to the board on team failure.

Answer

To command and control the team.

Answer

To make all technical decisions.

Question 8

A team is struggling with frequent interpersonal conflict during daily stand-ups. As an agile leader, what is your primary role in facilitating this?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to help the team establish team norms and communication protocols.. As an agile leader, the primary role is to facilitate the team's self-organization by helping them establish team norms and communication protocols. This addresses the root cause of conflict and builds a healthier team dynamic. It empowers the team to resolve issues collaboratively rather than relying on external authority.

Answer

Cancel the daily stand-up until the team matures.

Answer

Report the conflict to the functional manager to handle disciplinary action.

Answer

Force the individuals to move to different squads.

Question 9

Which visual tool is best suited for identifying bottlenecks in a team's workflow?

Accepted Answer

Kanban board.. A Kanban board is the visual management tool specifically designed to expose workflow states and surface bottlenecks. By displaying work items as cards moving through columns representing process stages, it makes accumulation of work-in-progress (WIP) at any stage immediately visible. When cards pile up in one column, that column is the bottleneck, enabling the team to apply WIP limits or swarm to resolve it.

Answer

Budget report.

Answer

Gantt chart.

Answer

Pie chart of tasks.

Question 10

A team has too many competing priorities. Which framework helps them focus?

Accepted Answer

MoSCoW prioritization.. MoSCoW prioritization is a widely used agile technique that categorizes requirements into Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have. It helps teams focus by explicitly agreeing on what is essential for the current delivery and what can be deferred, thereby reducing competing priorities. In PMI-ACP, MoSCoW is recognized as a simple, effective method for managing scope and ensuring stakeholder alignment on priority.

Answer

First-come, first-served based on email timestamps.

Answer

Random selection of tasks.

Answer

The 80/20 rule of project management.

Question 11

Which THREE metrics should a practitioner focus on to measure end-to-end delivery performance?

Accepted Answer

Cycle Time.. Cycle Time (B) is correct because it measures the elapsed time from when work actually starts on an item until it is completed, capturing the efficiency of the delivery process itself. Throughput (C) is correct because it quantifies the number of work items completed per unit of time, directly reflecting the delivery rate of the team or system. Lead Time (D) is correct because it measures the total elapsed time from when a request is made (or an item enters the backlog) until it is delivered to the customer, which is the definitive end-to-end delivery performance metric. The unmarked options do not belong: the number of coffee breaks (A) is an irrelevant personal habit with no bearing on delivery flow, and employee age (E) is a demographic attribute that has no causal or measurable relationship to end-to-end delivery performance.

Answer

Number of coffee breaks taken.

Answer

Employee age.

Question 12

A stakeholder is providing feedback directly to the developers, bypassing the PO. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Coach the stakeholder on the importance of the PO's role and redirect them to the PO.. The Product Owner is the single point of accountability for the product backlog and its prioritization, so feedback that bypasses the PO undermines that role and risks the team building unprioritized work. Coaching the stakeholder on why the PO exists and redirecting them preserves the PO's authority while keeping the stakeholder engaged through the correct channel.

Answer

Encourage the developers to follow the stakeholder's instructions.

Answer

Tell the developers to ignore the stakeholder entirely.

Answer

Ask the developers to report the stakeholder to HR.

Question 13

Which THREE strategies can a leader use to empower a self-organizing team? (Choose THREE)

Accepted Answer

Trust the team to make their own technical and process decisions.. Option A is correct because empowering a self-organizing team requires the leader to trust the team to make their own technical and process decisions, which builds ownership and autonomy rather than dependence on the leader. Option C is correct because setting clear objectives and constraints while letting the team decide how to meet them gives direction without prescribing the method, which is the essence of empowerment in self-organizing teams. Option D is correct because providing necessary resources and removing organizational impediments creates the supportive environment the team needs to self-organize effectively, a core servant-leadership behavior. Option B is incorrect because dictating schedule and daily working hours imposes control and reduces the team's autonomy. Option E is incorrect because approving every task assignment is micromanagement that undermines self-organization and team ownership.

Answer

Dictate the team's schedule and daily working hours.

Answer

Approve every task assignment to ensure it is handled correctly.

Question 14

What is the best way to handle a team member who is not adhering to the agile values?

Accepted Answer

Provide consistent, private feedback and coaching to help them understand and adopt the values.. Providing consistent, private feedback and coaching is the most constructive way to help a team member understand and adopt agile values. This approach respects the individual, fosters psychological safety, and aligns with the servant-leader role of an agile practitioner. It addresses the behavior directly while supporting the team member's growth.

Answer

Shame them in the daily stand-up.

Answer

Ignore the behavior, as everyone has their own way of working.

Answer

Remove them from the team immediately.

Question 15

Why do we value 'individuals and interactions over processes and tools'?

Accepted Answer

People are more important than the tools they use.. The Agile Manifesto values individuals and interactions over processes and tools because working software and customer collaboration depend on people communicating effectively, and no process or tool can substitute for that. It does not mean processes and tools are worthless; it means when there is a conflict, prioritize people and direct communication. This principle underpins self-organizing teams and face-to-face conversation as the most efficient way to convey information.

Answer

Processes are useless.

Answer

Individuals should ignore processes.

Answer

We don't need tools.

Question 16

A practitioner wants to improve team engagement during the retrospective. What technique should they use?

Accepted Answer

'Start, Stop, Continue' activity.. 'Start, Stop, Continue' is a structured retrospective activity that actively engages team members by having them brainstorm and discuss what they should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. It promotes participation and ownership, directly improving engagement during the retrospective.

Answer

Strict time-keeping by a manager.

Answer

Mandatory silent reading.

Answer

Annual performance reviews.

Question 17

Which of the following describes the 'INVEST' model for user stories?

Accepted Answer

Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable.. The INVEST model is a widely used acronym in agile for evaluating user story quality: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable. These six criteria ensure stories are self-contained, flexible in implementation, deliver business value, can be sized, fit within an iteration, and have clear acceptance criteria.

Answer

Important, Notable, Validated, Explicit, Scalable, Technical.

Answer

Internal, New, Visible, Executable, Simple, Thorough.

Answer

Integrated, Necessary, Verified, Efficient, Structured, Tactical.

Question 18

A large agile project requires coordinating work across four teams. How should the practitioner handle dependency management?

Accepted Answer

Require all teams to participate in a daily Scrum of Scrums.. For a large agile project with four teams, the standard scaling mechanism for dependency management is a Scrum of Scrums, where representatives from each team meet daily (or frequently) to coordinate cross-team dependencies, integrate work, and resolve impediments. This creates a communication network that surfaces and resolves dependencies without halting work or centralizing control.

Answer

Stop all work until the dependencies are resolved.

Answer

Assign a single manager to direct all four teams.

Answer

Merge all teams into one large team to simplify communication.

Question 19

Which metric is most useful for measuring the team's ability to deliver consistent value per iteration?

Accepted Answer

Velocity.. Velocity measures the amount of work (typically in story points) a team completes per iteration, making it the standard metric for gauging consistent value delivery across sprints. Tracking velocity over time reveals whether the team's throughput is stable, improving, or erratic, which directly reflects their ability to deliver predictably each iteration. It is a team-level metric, not an individual one, aligning with agile principles.

Answer

Individual task duration.

Answer

Team morale survey scores.

Answer

Number of meetings attended.

Question 20

How can a leader best promote self-organization within an agile team?

Accepted Answer

Define the objective and let the team decide how to achieve it.. Self-organization means the team decides how to accomplish its work. A leader best promotes it by clearly defining the objective (the 'what' and 'why') and then delegating the 'how' to the team, giving them autonomy, mastery, and purpose. This shifts the leader's role from directing tasks to removing impediments and coaching.

Answer

Attend every technical meeting to provide guidance.

Answer

Require all decisions to be approved by the leadership team.

Answer

Create detailed task lists for every team member.