PMI-ACP Practice Test 9 — 10 Questions

Question 1

During a sprint, the team realizes the current technical approach won't work. What is the most Agile action?

Accepted Answer

Pivot the approach and communicate the impact to the PO.. Agile embraces change and empirical learning — when the technical approach is proven unworkable, the team should pivot, adapt the plan, and transparently communicate the impact to the Product Owner. This preserves the sprint goal's value and allows the PO to re-prioritize scope if needed. Hiding or persisting with a broken approach violates transparency and wastes effort.

Answer

Continue the current path to avoid missing the sprint deadline.

Answer

Hide the issue and fix it next sprint.

Answer

Blame the architect for the bad design.

Question 2

The team is consistently underestimating their tasks, leading to unfinished work at the end of sprints. How do you coach them?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion on why the estimates were off and how to refine their definition of 'done' and estimation criteria.. When a team consistently underestimates, the best coaching approach is to facilitate a discussion on why estimates were off and how to refine their definition of 'done' and estimation criteria. This promotes learning, transparency, and collective ownership of the estimation process, rather than imposing a fix.

Answer

Assign the tasks yourself to ensure they are estimated correctly.

Answer

Change the estimation unit to hours instead of story points.

Answer

Increase their story points by a fixed multiplier.

Question 3

The team is feeling burned out. What is your role as a leader?

Accepted Answer

Work with the team to identify the causes of burnout and adjust their workload and processes accordingly.. The leader's role in addressing burnout is to work with the team to identify root causes and adjust workload and processes accordingly, because burnout is a systemic issue, not an individual failing. This approach aligns with agile principles of sustainable pace and servant leadership, where the leader facilitates solutions rather than prescribing them. By involving the team in diagnosis and remediation, the leader empowers them and addresses the underlying drivers of burnout.

Answer

Ask them to work harder to finish the project sooner.

Answer

Tell the team to take more breaks.

Answer

Tell the team to be more resilient.

Question 4

A product manager wants to add a new feature that will delay the release by two weeks. What is the best way to handle this?

Accepted Answer

Present the trade-off to the stakeholders to decide if the new feature is worth the delay.. When a new feature would delay a release, the agile-correct approach is to make the trade-off transparent and let the stakeholders decide whether the feature's value justifies the delay. The product manager's role is to surface the cost and benefit, not to unilaterally decide or hide the impact. This preserves stakeholder ownership of scope and schedule decisions.

Answer

Work overtime to meet the original date.

Answer

Implement it immediately.

Answer

Secretly add it and work late.

Question 5

Which THREE of the following foster psychological safety?

Accepted Answer

Encouraging members to challenge ideas. Option A is correct because encouraging members to challenge ideas signals that dissent and constructive debate are welcome, which is a core behavioral driver of psychological safety in teams. Option B is correct because supporting experimentation and learning reframes failure as a source of information rather than punishment, which reduces interpersonal risk and promotes speaking up. Option C is correct because a leader who openly admits mistakes models vulnerability and fallibility, giving team members permission to do the same without fear of retribution. Option D is not correct because a strict hierarchy of authority suppresses open communication and increases fear of speaking up, which erodes psychological safety. Option E is not correct because publicly blaming those who make errors punishes candor and risk-taking, directly undermining the trust and safety needed for teams to learn and innovate.

Answer

Creating a strict hierarchy of authority

Answer

Publicly blaming those who make errors

Question 6

An agile team is having trouble getting feedback from a remote stakeholder. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to find a collaborative tool or meeting time that works for everyone.. When a remote stakeholder is not providing feedback, the best action is to facilitate a session to find a collaborative tool or meeting time that works for everyone. This addresses the root cause—accessibility and communication preferences—and aligns with Agile's emphasis on customer collaboration and face-to-face interaction (or its virtual equivalent).

Answer

Stop the project until the stakeholder is available.

Answer

Send the stakeholder a daily summary of the work.

Answer

Assume the stakeholder is not interested and proceed without them.

Question 7

A team is failing to 'self-organize'. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The leadership is still command-and-control.. Self-organization requires an environment of trust and autonomy where the team owns its process and decisions. When leadership still operates in a command-and-control style — assigning tasks, dictating how work is done, and requiring approvals — the team has no room to self-organize. The most likely cause is therefore the leadership style, not the team's intelligence, motivation, or tooling.

Answer

They are too smart.

Answer

They are lazy.

Answer

They have the wrong tools.

Question 8

A team is struggling with the transition to a new agile tool. How do you help?

Accepted Answer

Provide training and time for the team to experiment and adapt to the new tool.. Tool transitions fail when imposed without support. The agile-correct approach is to provide training and protected time for the team to experiment, make mistakes, and build fluency with the new tool. This respects the team's self-organization and leverages the empirical learning loop that agile promotes.

Answer

Ask the IT department to force the migration.

Answer

Force them to use the new tool starting tomorrow.

Answer

Use the old tool and the new one simultaneously.

Question 9

A team member is constantly checking their phone during meetings. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Discuss the importance of active participation and focus during meetings in a team retrospective.. A team member constantly checking their phone during meetings is a team-level behavior issue best addressed through the team's own improvement mechanism. Raising it in a retrospective — framed around active participation and focus — allows the team to discuss norms and agree on working agreements without singling anyone out. Option A uses the Agile team's natural feedback loop.

Answer

Ignore it.

Answer

Call them out during the meeting.

Answer

Take their phone away.

Question 10

An agile team is experiencing a high number of defects after release. What process should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Implement automated testing and continuous integration practices.. Implementing automated testing and continuous integration directly addresses the root cause of post-release defects by catching regressions early, running tests on every commit, and providing fast feedback to the team. CI ensures code is integrated and validated frequently, while automated tests (unit, integration, regression) reduce reliance on late-stage manual testing. This is a core agile engineering practice that improves quality sustainably.

Answer

Increase the time spent on manual testing at the end.

Answer

Ignore minor defects.

Answer

Outsource all coding.