PMP Practice Test 13 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Sequence the steps for managing stakeholder engagement.

Accepted Answer

1. Identify Stakeholders, 2. Analyze Stakeholders, 3. Plan Stakeholder Engagement, 4. Engage Stakeholders, 5. Monitor Stakeholder Engagement. The correct sequence for managing stakeholder engagement begins with identifying all stakeholders, then analyzing their interests, influence, and expectations. Based on this analysis, you plan appropriate engagement strategies, implement those strategies to engage stakeholders, and continuously monitor the effectiveness of engagement to make adjustments. This order ensures that stakeholder management is systematic and aligned with project objectives.

Answer

1. Identify Stakeholders, 2. Plan Stakeholder Engagement, 3. Analyze Stakeholders, 4. Engage Stakeholders, 5. Monitor Stakeholder Engagement

Answer

1. Identify Stakeholders, 2. Analyze Stakeholders, 3. Engage Stakeholders, 4. Plan Stakeholder Engagement, 5. Monitor Stakeholder Engagement

Answer

1. Plan Stakeholder Engagement, 2. Identify Stakeholders, 3. Analyze Stakeholders, 4. Engage Stakeholders, 5. Monitor Stakeholder Engagement

Question 2

You are managing a project to deploy a new customer relationship management (CRM) system. During user acceptance testing, the quality assurance team identifies several critical defects that must be fixed before go-live. The project is already behind schedule. What should the project manager do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Prioritize fixing the critical defects and update the project schedule and stakeholders on the new timeline. Quality is a constraint; fixing critical defects is necessary. The PM should reassess the schedule and communicate impacts to stakeholders.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision on whether to delay

Answer

Proceed with go-live and fix defects in a later release

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to fix defects without changing the go-live date

Question 3

You are managing a construction project. During a quality audit, you find that the concrete used in the foundation does not meet the specified strength requirements. The team has already poured the concrete. The project is on a tight schedule, and rework will delay the project by three weeks. What should you do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to perform rework and update the project management plan accordingly.. Since the non-conformance has been identified, the next step is to create a corrective action request and follow the change control process to address the issue properly.

Answer

Reinforce the concrete to meet strength requirements without removing it.

Answer

Instruct the team to continue work and document the deviation as a lesson learned.

Answer

Replace the project manager responsible for quality control.

Question 4

Your project is using a predictive lifecycle. The team has identified a potential risk that could cause a two-week delay. The risk has a probability of 30% and an impact of $50,000. The project has a contingency reserve of $100,000. What is the most appropriate risk response?

Accepted Answer

Add the risk to the risk register, monitor it, and prepare a contingency plan. With a 30% probability and $50,000 impact, this is a moderate risk. It does not warrant transfer (A) because it is not high enough impact, nor immediate funding (D) which would waste contingency. Accepting without action (B) is too passive. The appropriate response is to add the risk to the risk register, monitor it, and prepare a contingency plan to be executed if the risk occurs.

Answer

Transfer the risk to the customer through a contract clause

Answer

Accept the risk and take no further action, since the contingency reserve is sufficient

Answer

Immediately allocate $50,000 from the contingency reserve to mitigate the risk

Question 5

Your agile team is consistently completing 30 story points per sprint. In the next sprint planning, the product owner wants to commit to 40 points. The team feels this is too ambitious. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Suggest decomposing larger stories into smaller ones to improve estimation accuracy. Decomposing larger stories into smaller ones can improve estimation accuracy and make the work more manageable. Option C is correct because the team should feel empowered to push back if they believe the goal is unattainable, as they know their capacity best. Option D is correct because reviewing historical velocity data provides objective evidence to support a realistic commitment during sprint planning. Option A is wrong because forcing the team to accept an overly ambitious goal undermines self-organization and trust. Option E is wrong because increasing sprint length is a process change that typically requires team agreement and may not address the root cause of overcommitment.

Answer

Instruct the team to accept the 40-point goal to satisfy the product owner

Answer

Increase the sprint length to 3 weeks to allow more time

Question 6

You are the project manager for a large construction project. An executive stakeholder has been bypassing you and directly giving instructions to the site supervisor to add extra features. The supervisor complied, and now the project is experiencing scope creep. The changes have not been formally approved. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with the executive stakeholder to explain the impact of the unauthorized changes and request that all change requests go through the formal process.. The PM should address the root cause by communicating with the executive stakeholder and reinforcing the change control process. Option A is correct because it addresses the behavior directly and professionally, educating the stakeholder on the need for formal change requests to manage scope creep.

Answer

Update the project management plan to include the new features and adjust the budget and schedule accordingly.

Answer

Direct the site supervisor to stop all work and revert the changes.

Answer

Issue a change order retroactively to document the changes.

Question 7

During project execution, the quality assurance team finds that a deliverable does not meet the specified requirements. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Document the nonconformance in the issue log and create a corrective action plan.. The project manager should first document the nonconformance in the issue log and create a corrective action plan. This follows the Perform Integrated Change Control process and ensures proper tracking and resolution. Option A ignores the issue, which could lead to quality problems later. Option C is premature because immediate rework without analysis may bypass change control or impact other areas. Option D escalates to the sponsor without first analyzing the issue internally.

Answer

Proceed with the deliverable as-is and note it in lessons learned.

Answer

Ask the team to rework the deliverable immediately.

Answer

Inform the sponsor that the deliverable is delayed.

Question 8

During a sprint review, the product owner expresses dissatisfaction with the feature delivered, stating it does not meet the acceptance criteria. The team disagrees, claiming it meets the definition of done. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with the product owner and the team to review the acceptance criteria and define done. Clarifying expectations by reviewing the acceptance criteria together resolves the misunderstanding and aligns both parties.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision

Answer

Support the team's position and ask the product owner to accept the deliverable

Answer

Ask the team to redo the work to meet the product owner's expectations

Question 9

Your agile team has been experiencing a decline in sprint velocity over the past three sprints. During the retrospective, the team identifies unclear requirements and frequent interruptions as root causes. Which TWO actions should you take to address these issues?

Accepted Answer

Work with the product owner to improve user story refinement and ensure acceptance criteria are clear. (work with the product owner to improve user story refinement) addresses unclear requirements by ensuring stories are well-defined before sprints. Option D (establish a policy to shield the team from interruptions) helps the team maintain focus and velocity.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to compensate for lost velocity

Answer

Add more team members to the next sprint to increase capacity

Answer

Reduce the sprint length to increase accountability

Question 10

Your project's CPI is 0.85 and SPI is 0.90 at the midpoint. The project sponsor asks for a status update. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Inform the sponsor of the cost and schedule variances and present a recovery plan. PMI emphasizes clear communication of project status to stakeholders, including variances and corrective actions.

Answer

Implement cost reduction measures without informing the sponsor

Answer

Report that the project is on track and the variances are temporary

Answer

Request additional budget to cover the cost overrun without changing scope

Question 11

During a daily standup, a developer mentions that a third-party API integration is more complex than anticipated and will take an extra two days. The sprint ends in four days. The product owner is not in the meeting. What should the scrum master do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Help the team assess the impact and discuss options to adjust the sprint backlog, then inform the product owner.. The scrum master should facilitate the team in adjusting the sprint backlog and then communicate the impact to the product owner for reprioritization.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project manager immediately.

Answer

Remove the task from the sprint and add it to the backlog.

Answer

Tell the developer to work overtime to complete the task on time.

Question 12

You are managing a project using a hybrid approach. During a sprint, the development team discovers a critical security vulnerability that was not identified during risk planning. The fix will require significant rework and will cause the sprint goal to be missed. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Perform an impact analysis and submit a change request to address the vulnerability. The project manager should first assess the impact of the security vulnerability on scope, schedule, and cost, then submit a change request to formally address the issue. Option B is incorrect because bypassing change control violates project governance, especially in a hybrid approach where change management processes are defined. Option C is incorrect because requiring overtime to achieve the sprint goal ignores the rework impact and could lead to burnout and quality issues. Option D is incorrect because delaying the fix leaves the vulnerability unaddressed, which is unacceptable for a critical security issue.

Answer

Instruct the team to fix the vulnerability immediately without formal change control

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to fix the vulnerability while still achieving the sprint goal

Answer

Allow the team to continue with the sprint and address the vulnerability in a future sprint

Question 13

A project manager is using a servant leadership approach. During a sprint, the team is struggling to complete their tasks due to unclear requirements. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Work with the product owner to clarify the requirements and provide the team with the necessary information. A servant leader removes impediments for the team. By working with the product owner to clarify the requirements, the project manager directly addresses the root cause of the team's struggle—unclear requirements—without taking over the work or delaying resolution. This aligns with the agile principle of empowering the team while ensuring they have the necessary information to complete their tasks.

Answer

Take over the task of clarifying requirements and update the user stories yourself

Answer

Coach the team to ask better questions during sprint planning

Answer

Wait until the sprint retrospective to discuss the issue

Question 14

During a project retrospective, the team identifies that a major risk was not properly mitigated because the contingency plan was not executed on time. The risk event caused a two-week delay. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Document lessons learned and update the risk management plan to improve future contingency execution. The first step after a risk materializes is to capture lessons learned from the failure to execute the contingency plan and update the risk management plan to improve future contingency execution. This aligns with the PMI principle of continuous improvement. Option B is wrong: the risk should be closed only after analyzing root causes and capturing lessons learned, not immediately removed from the register. Option C is wrong: while performance issues may be addressed, the immediate focus should be on process improvement rather than individual accountability, and this should be part of lessons learned. Option D is wrong: creating a new contingency plan without first understanding why the original plan was not executed on time is premature; root cause analysis should precede any new planning.

Answer

Update the risk register to remove the risk since it has occurred

Answer

Identify who was responsible for the contingency plan and address the performance issue

Answer

Create a new contingency plan for the risk, as the original plan failed

Question 15

A project manager is building a new project team. Which TWO actions are most effective for establishing a high-performing team?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a kick-off meeting to align on goals and build rapport.. A kick-off meeting aligns the team on project goals, establishes shared understanding, and builds rapport among members, which are foundational for collaboration and high performance. Option E is correct because developing a team charter with the team's input fosters ownership, clarifies norms, and sets expectations for communication and decision-making, directly contributing to team cohesion and effectiveness.

Answer

Avoid discussing potential conflicts to maintain harmony.

Answer

Mandate overtime to meet aggressive deadlines.

Answer

Assign roles and responsibilities without team input.