PMP Practice Test 13 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are leading a hybrid project team consisting of both colocated and remote members. During a daily stand-up, two senior developers have a heated argument about the technical approach for a critical feature. The argument disrupts the meeting and creates tension. What should you do first?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Acknowledge the disagreement and schedule a separate meeting with both developers to discuss and resolve the issue. As a project manager leading a hybrid team, your first responsibility is to de-escalate the conflict and create a structured environment for resolution without disrupting the daily stand-up. Acknowledging the disagreement preserves team dynamics and ensures the technical decision is made collaboratively, leveraging both developers' expertise rather than imposing a unilateral solution. Scheduling a separate meeting allows focused discussion, preventing the stand-up from losing its purpose of synchronization.

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Immediately decide on the technical approach yourself to end the argument

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Tell both developers to resolve the issue on their own and report back

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for resolution

Question 2

Your project is in the planning phase, and you need to develop the schedule. You have identified the activities and their dependencies. The team estimates that the project will take 12 months. However, the sponsor requires completion in 10 months. The project has a fixed deadline. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Apply crashing or fast tracking to the critical path to try to meet the 10-month deadline.. The project has a fixed deadline, so the first step is to explore schedule compression techniques like crashing (adding resources to critical path activities) or fast tracking (performing activities in parallel) to meet the 10-month constraint without changing scope or quality. This aligns with PMBOK's guidance to analyze the critical path and apply compression before escalating or altering scope.

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Inform the sponsor that the deadline is unrealistic and request a 12-month schedule.

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Reduce the project scope without formal change control to shorten the schedule.

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Add more resources to all activities to reduce duration.

Question 3

Your agile team has noticed that sprint velocity has dropped from 30 to 20 story points over the last three sprints. During the retrospective, team members mention unclear requirements and frequent interruptions. As the project manager, what should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Work with the product owner to improve user story refinement and establish a 'definition of ready' to reduce ambiguity. The root cause of the velocity drop is unclear requirements and interruptions. By working with the product owner to improve user story refinement and establish a 'definition of ready', you directly address ambiguity before stories enter the sprint, which reduces rework and interruptions. This aligns with agile principles of continuous improvement and focuses on process adjustment rather than superficial capacity changes.

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Add more team members to the next sprint to increase capacity

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Reduce the sprint length to increase focus

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Ask the team to commit to a lower velocity in the next sprint planning

Question 4

An executive stakeholder has been giving direct instructions to your team members, bypassing you as the project manager. This has caused confusion and conflicting priorities. What is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting with the executive to discuss the importance of following the project's communication protocols. It directly addresses the root cause of the conflict—the executive stakeholder's bypassing behavior—through a private, respectful conversation. This aligns with the PMP's focus on stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution, as it seeks to reinforce the project's communication protocols without escalating the issue publicly. By discussing the importance of following the plan, you maintain the authority of the project manager while preserving the stakeholder relationship.

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Ask the team to ignore any instructions not coming from you

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Send a memo to all stakeholders restating the project's communication plan

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Ignore the situation to avoid conflict with the executive

Question 5

A risk event that was identified and included in the risk register has occurred. The impact on the project schedule is moderate. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Implement the agreed-upon risk response from the risk register. When a risk event that was identified and included in the risk register occurs, the project manager should first implement the agreed-upon risk response that was already planned and documented. This is because the risk response plan was developed during risk planning and approved by stakeholders, making it the immediate and correct action to take. Implementing the pre-agreed response ensures a timely, consistent, and controlled reaction to the risk, minimizing disruption to the project schedule.

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Ignore the event since the impact is only moderate

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for guidance

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Develop a new risk response immediately

Question 6

Your project is 40% complete, and the earned value analysis shows CPI = 0.8 and SPI = 0.9. The project sponsor is concerned about the cost overrun and asks you to reduce costs by skipping quality assurance activities. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of reducing QA and propose alternative cost-saving measures that do not compromise quality. Skipping quality assurance (QA) activities to reduce costs directly violates the principle of 'quality is planned in, not inspected in.' With CPI=0.8 and SPI=0.9, the project is over budget and behind schedule; reducing QA would likely increase rework, defects, and technical debt, further worsening cost and schedule performance. The PM must protect the quality baseline and propose alternative cost-saving measures that do not compromise deliverables or introduce unacceptable risk.

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Submit a change request to reduce the quality management budget

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Agree to skip some QA activities to meet the sponsor's request, as cost is a priority

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Ignore the sponsor's request and continue with the current QA plan

Question 7

In an agile project, the team's velocity has been declining over the last three sprints. The team is delivering fewer story points each sprint. The product owner is concerned about the release date. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a retrospective focused on identifying root causes of the declining velocity. The Scrum Master's first responsibility is to facilitate the team's inspection and adaptation process. Declining velocity is a symptom of underlying issues (e.g., technical debt, poor estimation, or process inefficiencies). A retrospective focused on root causes allows the team to identify and address these issues empirically, which is the core agile principle for continuous improvement. Only after understanding the cause can the team and Product Owner make informed decisions about scope or schedule.

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Ask the product owner to descope some features to meet the release date

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Add more story points to the next sprint to compensate for the loss

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Extend the sprint duration to give the team more time

Question 8

During a hybrid project, an executive stakeholder bypasses you and directly instructs a team member to add a new feature. The team member is now confused about priorities. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the executive stakeholder to explain the project's change control process and the importance of proper communication channels. As the project manager, you must first address the root cause of the confusion—the executive stakeholder's bypass of the formal change control process. By meeting with the executive, you reinforce the importance of proper communication channels and the change control board (CCB) process, which protects the project from scope creep and ensures all changes are evaluated for impact on cost, schedule, and quality. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's principle of managing stakeholder engagement and maintaining a single point of accountability for project decisions.

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Ignore the issue and allow the feature to be added to maintain stakeholder satisfaction

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Reprimand the team member for accepting instructions without your approval

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Add the feature to the backlog and treat it as a priority

Question 9

You are managing a project where the sponsor has asked the team to skip testing to save time. The team is against it because they believe it will compromise quality. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping testing to the sponsor and propose a risk-based testing approach that reduces testing time without sacrificing critical quality. The project manager's primary responsibility is to balance stakeholder expectations with project constraints while protecting the quality of deliverables. By explaining the risks of skipping testing and proposing a risk-based testing approach, the PM demonstrates leadership by negotiating a solution that addresses the sponsor's time concerns without compromising critical quality. This aligns with the PMP's focus on leading the team and managing stakeholder communication effectively.

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Instruct the team to test anyway without telling the sponsor

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Follow the sponsor's directive to skip testing because the sponsor has authority

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Accept the sponsor's request but document the risk in the risk register

Question 10

Your project is running 15% over budget at the midpoint. Upon review, you find that the cost overrun is due to an underestimation of hardware costs. The sponsor is concerned and asks for a plan to get back on track. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the cost variance, determine the corrective actions, and submit a change request if necessary. The first step in addressing a cost overrun is to analyze the variance to understand its root cause and impact, then determine corrective actions. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes that before any change request, you must perform a root cause analysis and evaluate options within the existing budget. Requesting additional funds (A) or using management reserve (D) without analysis violates the principle of first exhausting all other options and maintaining transparency.

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Request additional funds from the sponsor without further analysis

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Ask the team to reduce scope to cut costs immediately

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Use the management reserve without notifying the sponsor

Question 11

Your construction project is experiencing resource levelling issues because a key piece of equipment is shared between two critical path activities. What is the best approach to resolve this?

Accepted Answer

Rent additional equipment to run both activities in parallel. Renting additional equipment allows both critical path activities to run in parallel, eliminating the resource conflict without impacting the project schedule. This approach directly addresses the resource levelling issue by increasing resource availability, which is a common technique in resource optimization when the critical path cannot be compressed.

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Ask the team to work overtime to complete one activity faster

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Remove one activity from the critical path by re-sequencing

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Delay one of the activities until the equipment is available, which may extend the project schedule

Question 12

Your predictive project is halfway through execution. A team member has been consistently missing deadlines, and their work quality is declining. You suspect personal issues but are unsure. The project is at risk of schedule delays. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting to discuss their performance concerns and offer support. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes that the first step in addressing performance issues is to have a private, respectful conversation to understand the root cause. As a project manager, you must demonstrate emotional intelligence and servant leadership by offering support before escalating or penalizing the team member. This approach aligns with the 'Manage Team' process and the principle of leading with empathy, which is critical for maintaining trust and motivation.

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Escalate the issue to human resources for disciplinary action

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Formally document the underperformance and issue a performance improvement plan

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Reassign their tasks to other team members to protect the schedule

Question 13

During a quality audit, it is discovered that the team has been using outdated templates for test cases, resulting in some defects that were not caught. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Perform a root cause analysis to understand why outdated templates were used. The correct first step is to perform a root cause analysis (Option C) because the quality audit revealed a process deficiency—outdated templates—not just a defect. Without understanding why the team used outdated templates (e.g., poor version control, lack of training, or inadequate change management), any corrective action will be superficial and the problem will recur. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on addressing the root cause of nonconformances before implementing corrective or preventive actions.

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Update the issue log and assign team members to fix the defects

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Update the templates immediately and train the team

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Have the team re-execute all test cases with correct templates

Question 14

During project execution, a key stakeholder requests a new feature that is not in the scope. The project manager determines that the change will impact the schedule by 3 weeks and increase costs by $50,000. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board. The correct first step when a change request impacts scope, schedule, and cost is to submit a formal change request to the change control board (CCB) for evaluation. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's integrated change control process, which requires all changes to be documented and reviewed before any action is taken. The project manager must not accept or reject the change unilaterally, as that would bypass the established governance framework.

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Accept the change and update the project management plan

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Reject the change because it is out of scope

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Analyze alternatives to minimize the impact

Question 15

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. During sprint planning, the product owner insists on adding a feature that was not in the approved product backlog. The team estimates it will take 3 additional days. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Ask the product owner to submit a change request for formal evaluation. In a hybrid project management approach, changes to the approved product backlog must follow a formal change control process to maintain baseline integrity and avoid scope creep. Asking the product owner to submit a change request ensures the proposed feature is evaluated for impact on schedule, cost, and quality before any work begins, aligning with both agile principles of prioritization and traditional project governance.

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Add the feature to the sprint backlog and accept the change

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Reject the feature outright because it is not in scope

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Tell the team to work overtime to accommodate the feature