PMP Practice Test 11 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A project manager notices that the project's cost performance index (CPI) is 0.8 and the schedule performance index (SPI) is 1.1. What is the MOST likely cause of this situation?

Accepted Answer

The project is ahead of schedule but over budget, possibly due to crashing.. A CPI of 0.8 indicates the project is over budget (earning only $0.80 for every $1.00 spent), while an SPI of 1.1 indicates it is ahead of schedule (completing 110% of planned work). Crashing is a schedule compression technique that adds resources to critical path activities, increasing cost to gain schedule performance, which directly explains this combination of metrics.

Answer

The project is ahead of schedule and under budget.

Answer

The project is behind schedule and over budget.

Answer

The project is behind schedule and under budget.

Question 2

During a construction project, you discover that a subcontractor has delivered materials that do not meet the quality specifications outlined in the contract. The project is already behind schedule, and replacing the materials will cause further delays. You have a good relationship with the subcontractor, who offers a discount on future work if you accept the materials as-is. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Reject the materials and request that the subcontractor replace them according to the contract specifications.. Quality requirements are part of the contract and must be met. Accepting non-conforming materials would violate quality standards and could lead to future failures. The PM should follow the contract terms and require the subcontractor to remediate the issue. Negotiating a discount is not acceptable as it compromises quality.

Answer

Issue a change order to modify the quality specifications to match the delivered materials.

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Accept the materials and the discount to maintain the relationship and avoid further delays.

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Inspect the materials yourself and if they appear safe, accept them to save time.

Question 3

You are managing a marketing campaign project using an agile approach. During the daily standup, a developer mentions they have started working on a feature that was not agreed upon in sprint planning. The product owner is not aware of this work. What should you do as the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Remind the team that only items from the sprint backlog should be worked on, and ask the developer to stop and discuss with the product owner after the standup. The Scrum Master's role is to ensure the team adheres to Scrum practices, including focusing only on the sprint backlog during the sprint. Unauthorized work can lead to scope creep and undermine sprint goals. The developer should stop and discuss with the product owner after the standup to determine if the feature should be added to the product backlog for future consideration. Option A is wrong because allowing unplanned work without stakeholder agreement disrupts the sprint plan. Option C is wrong because it still permits unplanned work without proper prioritization by the product owner. Option D is wrong because adding the feature to the product backlog should be done only after discussion with the product owner, not ignored, and the team should not continue working on it during the current sprint.

Answer

Allow the developer to continue because the feature might add value

Answer

Ask the developer to work on the feature after the current sprint

Answer

Add the feature to the product backlog and ignore it for now

Question 4

During a sprint review, the product owner rejects a completed user story because it does not meet the acceptance criteria. The developer argues that the story is functionally complete and the product owner is being too strict. What should the scrum master do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion between the product owner and developer to clarify the acceptance criteria. In Scrum, the product owner is responsible for defining and validating acceptance criteria. When a disagreement arises, the scrum master should facilitate a discussion to ensure clarity and alignment, not impose a decision or take sides. Option A is incorrect because simply accepting the product owner's decision without discussion may miss opportunities to resolve misunderstandings and improve collaboration. Option B is incorrect because removing the story from the sprint backlog avoids accountability and undermines the sprint review's purpose. Option D is incorrect because supporting the developer against the product owner would escalate conflict and ignore the product owner's authority over scope and quality.

Answer

Ask the team to accept the product owner's decision and move on

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Remove the story from the sprint backlog and skip it in the review

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Support the developer by telling the product owner the story is complete

Question 5

A project manager is reviewing the quality metrics of a software development project. The testing team has found that the defect rate has increased significantly in the last two builds. What is the first action the project manager should take?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a root cause analysis to identify why the defect rate increased.. According to the quality management process, the project manager should first investigate the root cause of the increased defect rate before taking any corrective action. Conducting a root cause analysis (option A) allows the team to identify underlying issues, such as process changes, training gaps, or tool problems, and then implement appropriate corrective actions. Options B, C, and D are premature; increasing testing resources may not address the root cause, redoing builds wastes effort without fixing the process, and escalation to the sponsor should occur after analysis shows the issue is beyond the team's control.

Answer

Increase the testing resources to catch more defects.

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Ask the development team to redo the last two builds.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor.

Question 6

During a quality audit, it is discovered that a deliverable does not meet the specified quality standards. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Document the nonconformance, perform root cause analysis, and implement corrective actions. The first step upon discovering a nonconformance is to document it, perform root cause analysis to identify the underlying cause, and then implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence. This aligns with the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and quality management best practices. Option B is incorrect because escalation to the sponsor is premature before analysis and corrective action. Option C is incorrect because immediate rework without root cause analysis may address symptoms but not root causes, leading to recurrence. Option D is incorrect because accepting a nonconforming deliverable violates quality standards and could harm project objectives.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for resolution

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Instruct the team to rework the deliverable immediately to meet standards

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Accept the deliverable as is since the customer may not notice

Question 7

Your agile team is working on a mobile app. The product owner wants to add a new feature that was not in the original backlog. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Ask the product owner to submit a change request for formal evaluation. Following change control and prioritizing the new feature against existing work are appropriate. Directly adding or ignoring are not.

Answer

Tell the team to work overtime to include the feature

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Add the feature to the current sprint backlog because the product owner requested it

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Ignore the request because it was not in the original scope

Question 8

During a retrospective, the team identifies that the root cause of low morale is the project manager's micromanagement style. The team wants more autonomy. What should the PM do?

Accepted Answer

Acknowledge the feedback and agree to transition to a more empowering leadership style. The PM should acknowledge the team's feedback and adapt their leadership style to empower the team, which aligns with the PMP's focus on servant leadership and fostering autonomy. Micromanagement undermines trust and morale, so transitioning to a more empowering approach directly addresses the root cause identified in the retrospective.

Answer

Increase oversight to ensure the team stays on track

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Explain that micromanagement is necessary to ensure quality

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for guidance

Question 9

Which THREE of the following are effective techniques for motivating a project team according to PMI?

Accepted Answer

Empower team members with autonomy and decision-making authority.. Empowering team members with autonomy and decision-making authority is a core motivation technique in PMI's leadership framework. It aligns with the 'Servant Leadership' approach, where the project manager enables the team by removing impediments and trusting them to own their work, which increases engagement and accountability.

Answer

Offer competitive salaries and bonuses.

Answer

Closely monitor team members' work to ensure compliance.

Question 10

Match each project document to its description.

Accepted Answer

Project Charter: Documents the business case, high-level scope, and key stakeholders.. The correct matches are: Project Charter (business case and authorisation), Scope Statement (detailed scope and acceptance criteria), WBS (work decomposition), and Risk Register (risk tracking). Common confusions involve swapping the project charter with the scope statement or risk register.

Answer

Project Charter: A document that lists all project risks and their mitigation strategies.

Answer

Scope Statement: A document that authorizes the project to begin.

Question 11

During a project, an executive stakeholder bypasses the project manager and directly instructs a team member to add a new feature. The team member is already overloaded. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Speak with the executive stakeholder privately to explain the change control process and the impact of the request.. The project manager must first address the unauthorized change directly with the executive stakeholder, explaining the formal change control process and the impact on scope, schedule, and resources. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's principle of managing stakeholder expectations and protecting the project from uncontrolled scope creep, which is a key technical aspect of project integration management.

Answer

Instruct the team member to follow the executive's order to maintain good relations.

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Escalate the issue to the sponsor and request intervention.

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Update the issue log and continue with the original plan.

Question 12

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. During a sprint review, the product owner demonstrates a completed feature to key stakeholders. One stakeholder is impressed and requests an additional functionality that was not in the original scope. The team estimates it would take two additional sprints. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board (CCB) and assess the impact on schedule, cost, and resources.. In a hybrid project, changes to scope after a sprint review must follow a formal change control process to protect the baseline. Option D is correct because the project manager should first submit a change request to the CCB to assess the impact on schedule, cost, and resources before any work begins, ensuring alignment with the project's governance framework.

Answer

Add the request to the product backlog and prioritize it in the next sprint planning.

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Ask the development team to quickly estimate the effort and begin work if it can be accommodated without delaying the next release.

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Thank the stakeholder and explain that the request is out of scope; no changes can be made.

Question 13

In an agile project, the team's velocity has decreased over the last three sprints from 30 story points to 22. During the retrospective, the team cites increasing technical debt as the cause. What should the scrum master do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with the team to identify actions to reduce technical debt and improve velocity.. The Scrum Master's primary role is to facilitate the team's self-improvement. When technical debt is identified as the root cause of velocity decline, the first action is to guide the team in a retrospective discussion to analyze the debt, prioritize refactoring, and agree on concrete actions (e.g., dedicating sprint capacity to debt reduction, implementing coding standards, or using static analysis tools). This aligns with the agile principle of continuous improvement and directly addresses the cause rather than just the symptom.

Answer

Ask the product owner to reduce the sprint backlog to match the lower velocity.

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Report the velocity drop to management and escalate the technical debt issue.

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Add more developers to the team to increase velocity.

Question 14

A project manager is reviewing a project plan that must comply with an industry standard. The compliance review fails. What is the most likely cause of this failure?

Accepted Answer

The version of the industry standard referenced in the plan has been deprecated.. The failure in the compliance review is most likely due to referencing an outdated version of the industry standard, which is no longer recognized or acceptable. This is a common issue when project plans rely on superseded documents without updating them.

Answer

The project charter was not signed by the sponsor.

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The selected project management methodology is not suitable.

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The project team lacks training on the standard.

Question 15

In a hybrid project, the product owner wants to add a high-priority feature to the current sprint, but the team has already committed to the sprint backlog. The product owner insists it is critical for the upcoming release. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Explain to the product owner that the current sprint is committed and the feature can be added to the product backlog for the next sprint. In a hybrid project, the sprint backlog is a commitment made by the team for the current iteration. The project manager should protect the team from scope changes mid-sprint to maintain velocity and predictability. Option D is correct because it respects the sprint commitment and follows the agile principle of not changing the sprint backlog once it is set; the new feature is deferred to the product backlog for prioritization in the next sprint.

Answer

Escalate the request to the steering committee to force the change

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Allow the team to swap the new feature for an equivalent amount of existing work

Answer

Ask the team to add the feature to the current sprint and work overtime