CAPM Practice Test 25 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A business analyst is facilitating a requirements workshop. Which technique is best for generating a large number of ideas in a short time?

Accepted Answer

Brainstorming. Brainstorming is specifically designed to generate a large volume of ideas quickly by encouraging free-form contributions without immediate criticism or evaluation. It is the standard technique for divergent thinking in a requirements workshop. Other listed techniques are used for organizing, ranking, or refining ideas after they have been generated.

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Multi-voting

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Nominal group technique

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Affinity diagram

Question 2

A construction project is underway. The project manager receives a report that the concrete supplier will deliver late, causing a two-week delay. The project has no schedule reserve. What is the best course of action?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the impact on the critical path and evaluate options. When a delay occurs and there is no schedule reserve, the project manager must first understand the actual impact before taking action. Analyzing the critical path reveals whether the two-week delay directly extends the project finish date or whether float exists elsewhere. Only after this analysis can the PM evaluate recovery options such as crashing, fast-tracking, or negotiating scope. Jumping straight to escalation or compression without impact analysis is premature and may waste resources.

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Inform the sponsor and request a schedule extension

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Immediately crash the schedule by adding resources to critical path activities

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Fast-track the remaining activities to recover the delay

Question 3

A business analyst is evaluating the success of a recently completed project. The project delivered all requirements on time and within budget, but end-users are dissatisfied with the functionality. Which business analysis technique should the analyst use to assess this discrepancy?

Accepted Answer

Root cause analysis. Root cause analysis is the technique used to dig past the symptom (user dissatisfaction) to the underlying causes — such as poorly elicited requirements, missing stakeholder validation, or a gap between stated and actual needs. Since the project met time and budget but missed the actual business need, the discrepancy is a quality/requirements problem, and RCA (e.g., 5 Whys, fishbone) is the correct diagnostic tool.

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SWOT analysis

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Lessons learned

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Cost-benefit analysis

Question 4

During the project kickoff meeting, a key stakeholder expresses concerns about the project scope. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Review the requirements documentation with the stakeholder.. When a stakeholder raises scope concerns at kickoff, the PM should first understand the concern by reviewing the requirements documentation with the stakeholder. This clarifies what was agreed, identifies any misunderstanding, and determines whether a formal change is warranted. It is a collaborative, information-gathering step before any escalation or change.

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Proceed as planned since the scope was already approved.

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Update the project charter to reflect the stakeholder's concerns.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor.

Question 5

You are a project manager in a functional organization managing a software upgrade project. The functional managers control resources and priorities. Your project requires a senior developer from the IT department for two weeks starting next Monday. The IT functional manager informs you that the developer is assigned to an urgent operational issue and cannot be released until further notice. The project has a fixed deadline in four weeks, and any delay will impact the next phase. You have already used your influence and escalated to senior management, but the functional manager insists on keeping the developer. What should you do next?

Accepted Answer

Negotiate with the functional manager for partial release of the developer or a qualified replacement. In a functional organization, the project manager has limited authority over resources. Since the functional manager controls the developer's assignments, negotiating for a partial release (e.g., part-time work) or a qualified replacement is the most realistic next step to minimize project delay. Updating the schedule (A) would be premature without exhausting negotiation. Escalating to the CEO (B) may bypass the functional manager and damage relationships, and ordering the developer to work (D) is beyond the PM's authority in this structure.

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Update the project schedule to reflect the delay and inform stakeholders

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Escalate the issue to the CEO to override the functional manager

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Direct the developer to work on the project despite the functional manager's order

Question 6

You are a business analyst on a project to replace the legacy inventory system with a cloud-based solution. The project is using a predictive lifecycle, and the requirements specification has been baselined. During the design phase, the vendor informs you that a key feature (real-time reporting) cannot be implemented within the current budget because it requires additional licensing. The feature is critical to the business case's expected cost savings. The project manager wants to descope the feature to stay within budget. As the business analyst, what is the most appropriate action?

Accepted Answer

Perform a cost-benefit analysis of including the feature versus descoping it, and present options to the sponsor.. As a business analyst in a predictive lifecycle with baselined requirements, any change to scope must go through formal change control. The most appropriate action is to perform a cost-benefit analysis that evaluates the impact of including the feature versus descoping it, and present the options to the sponsor for a decision. This ensures that the business case's expected cost savings are considered and that the sponsor, who owns the budget, makes an informed choice.

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Escalate the issue to the program manager and ask for a decision.

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Agree to descope the feature and update the requirements document accordingly.

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Request additional budget from the sponsor to cover the extra licensing cost.

Question 7

A project team encounters this error during deployment. Which project document should be updated first?

Accepted Answer

Issue log. An error during deployment is an issue that has already occurred, so it should be logged in the issue log for tracking and resolution. Option A is wrong because the change log is for approved changes, not for unexpected errors. Option C is wrong because the lessons learned register is updated after the project or phase, not immediately. Option D is wrong because the risk register is for uncertain events that may occur, but this error has already happened.

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Change log

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Lessons learned register

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Risk register

Question 8

An organization is scaling Scrum across multiple teams. They have dependencies between teams that cause delays. What is the most appropriate framework to address this?

Accepted Answer

Use the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) with program increment planning.. SAFe is a widely adopted scaling framework that explicitly addresses cross-team dependencies through its Program Increment (PI) planning cadence. During PI planning, teams synchronize their backlogs, identify dependencies, and commit to a shared set of objectives for the upcoming increment. This structured coordination mechanism directly mitigates the delays caused by inter-team dependencies, making SAFe with PI planning the most appropriate choice.

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Keep teams independent by decoupling all dependencies.

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Have all teams work in the same Sprint but with no synchronization.

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Use a separate integration team to handle dependencies.

Question 9

A project is being executed in a highly regulated industry. The quality management plan requires extensive documentation. During a quality audit, the auditor finds that some test results are missing. What is the MOST appropriate action for the project manager?

Accepted Answer

Log the issue in the issue log and develop a corrective action. The missing test results represent a nonconformance with the quality management plan, which is a project issue that must be documented and addressed through the Manage Quality process. The correct action is to log the issue in the issue log and develop a corrective action to bring performance back in line with the plan. This follows the PMBOK® Guide's recommended flow: identify the problem, document it, and then determine the appropriate response. Simply repeating tests or updating the plan without addressing the root cause would not properly resolve the nonconformance.

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Issue a change request to update the quality management plan

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Request that the team repeat the tests immediately

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Update the lessons learned register

Question 10

A project manager is developing a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a software development project. The team is struggling with defining the lowest-level work packages. Which technique should the project manager use to ensure the WBS is complete and properly decomposed?

Accepted Answer

Decomposition. Decomposition is the correct technique because it is the process of subdividing project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components until the work package level is reached. This directly addresses the team's struggle with defining the lowest-level work packages, ensuring the WBS is complete and properly decomposed by breaking down deliverables iteratively.

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Critical path method

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Expert judgment

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Rolling wave planning

Question 11

A project manager is assigned to a project that is in the planning phase. The sponsor asks the project manager to include a 10% contingency reserve in the budget. The project manager knows that the project has a high degree of uncertainty. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Perform a quantitative risk analysis to determine appropriate contingency reserves.. The project manager should perform a quantitative risk analysis to determine the appropriate contingency reserve based on the project's specific risk exposure, rather than relying on an arbitrary 10% figure. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's guidance that contingency reserves should be derived from risk analysis, not sponsor preference, especially given the high degree of uncertainty.

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Explain that contingency reserves are not allowed in the project budget.

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Refuse the request because it is unethical.

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Add the 10% contingency reserve as requested.

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT a purpose of the project charter?

Accepted Answer

Define the detailed project schedule.. The project charter is a high-level document that authorizes the project, identifies the sponsor, and provides high-level requirements. It does not include a detailed project schedule; that is developed later in the project planning process group, specifically within the Develop Schedule process. Therefore, option A is correct because defining the detailed project schedule is not a purpose of the project charter.

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Identify the project sponsor.

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Authorize the project manager.

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Provide high-level project requirements.

Question 13

A project team is working on a software development project. The project manager notices that the team is spending too much time on unplanned work, resulting in delays to the critical path. What technique should the project manager use to reduce unplanned work and improve focus?

Accepted Answer

Implement critical chain project management.. Critical chain project management (CCPM) is specifically designed to protect the critical path from disruptions like unplanned work by inserting buffers (e.g., feeding buffers, project buffer) and enforcing a 'relay race' work ethic. This technique reduces multitasking and focuses the team on completing tasks in priority order, directly addressing the root cause of delays from unplanned work.

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Apply crashing to the critical path activities.

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Perform resource leveling to smooth resource usage.

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Use fast tracking to overlap activities.

Question 14

After a change request is approved, a business analyst must update the requirements documentation. What is the most important step to ensure traceability?

Accepted Answer

Update the requirements traceability matrix. The requirements traceability matrix (RTM) is the artifact that links each requirement to its source, design, code, and test cases, so updating it after an approved change is what preserves end-to-end traceability. Without updating the RTM, the change would be invisible to downstream verification and impact analysis. This is the BA's primary mechanism for maintaining traceability across the requirements lifecycle.

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Revise the project schedule to reflect the change

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Communicate the change to the development team

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Archive the previous version of the requirements document

Question 15

You are a business analyst on a project to develop a new online banking portal. The project is using a hybrid approach with both predictive and adaptive elements. The requirements have been documented in a functional specification, but during development, the product owner requests significant changes based on user feedback. The change control board (CCB) is slow to approve changes, causing delays. The project manager wants to minimize rework while still incorporating valuable feedback. As the business analyst, what is the best course of action?

Accepted Answer

Use requirements traceability to evaluate the impact of each change and prioritize accordingly.. Requirements traceability allows the business analyst to assess the impact of each requested change on existing requirements, test cases, and deliverables. This enables informed prioritization, minimizing rework while incorporating valuable feedback. Option A (stricter change control) would further slow down the process, contrary to the goal. Option C (freezing requirements) ignores user feedback and may lead to a product that doesn't meet needs. Option D (allowing the product owner to approve directly) bypasses governance and could introduce uncontrolled changes, causing rework.

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Implement a stricter change control process requiring more documentation.

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Freeze the requirements and defer all changes to a future release.

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Allow the product owner to approve changes directly to speed up the process.