PMP Practice Test 13 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A project manager is leading a distributed team with members in three different countries. The team has been struggling with miscommunication and missed deadlines. The project manager wants to improve team performance. Which TWO actions should the project manager take? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Implement a daily stand-up meeting at a rotating time to accommodate all time zones. Option B is correct because a daily stand-up meeting at a rotating time ensures that all team members across different time zones have an equal opportunity to participate, fostering regular communication and alignment. This directly addresses miscommunication and missed deadlines by creating a predictable, inclusive cadence for sharing progress and blockers.

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Increase sprint length to four weeks to give more time for tasks

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Allow team members to communicate directly with stakeholders without involving the project manager

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Require all team members to work the same hours regardless of time zone

Question 2

Your agile team has a high turnover rate. New members are joining frequently, and the team's performance is declining. What should you do as a servant leader?

Accepted Answer

Implement a structured onboarding process and assign mentors to new members. Option B is correct because onboarding and mentoring help integrate new members and rebuild team performance. Option A is wrong as it avoids the root cause. Option C is wrong because it's reactive and doesn't address turnover. Option D is wrong because hiring more won't solve integration issues.

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Ask HR to hire more experienced contractors to stabilize the team

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Conduct a retrospective to identify why people are leaving

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Reduce the team's workload until the new members are up to speed

Question 3

Your project team has members from diverse cultural backgrounds. During a conflict resolution session, you notice that some team members are hesitant to express their opinions due to cultural norms. What is the BEST approach to foster an inclusive environment?

Accepted Answer

Establish a team charter that includes ground rules for respectful communication and encourages diverse perspectives. Option A is correct because establishing a team charter with ground rules for respectful communication proactively addresses cultural norms by creating a safe, agreed-upon framework for participation. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on team charter development as a tool to set expectations, reduce ambiguity, and foster psychological safety, which is essential for inclusive environments in diverse teams.

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Provide training materials on conflict resolution to all team members

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Ask the hesitant members directly for their opinions during meetings

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Decide on solutions yourself to avoid prolonged discussions

Question 4

You are leading a virtual project team with members in four countries. A team member from one location complains that another team member from a different location is not responding to emails and messages promptly, causing delays. Upon investigation, you find that the second team member feels their work hours are not respected and they are expected to respond outside their working hours. The team charter does not address communication hours. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a team meeting to update the team charter with agreed communication protocols, including response time windows and respect for working hours. The PM should facilitate a team discussion to update the team charter with agreed communication norms, including response time expectations and respect for working hours. This fosters collaboration and prevents future conflicts.

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Ask the second team member to respond to messages within 2 hours during their working hours

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Transfer the second team member to a different project if they are unable to meet communication expectations

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Establish a new policy that all team members must be available during a common overlapping time zone

Question 5

Your team is about to start a new project. To ensure a common understanding of rules and expectations, you want to create a team charter. When should this be developed?

Accepted Answer

During the project kick-off meeting with the entire team. The team charter is developed during the project kick-off meeting with the entire team to establish shared expectations, ground rules, and operating norms from the outset. This collaborative creation ensures buy-in and alignment before work begins, reducing ambiguity and preventing conflicts later. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes that the team charter is a product of the team, not the project manager alone, and is created during the 'Develop Team' process within the People domain.

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At the end of the project for lessons learned

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After the first conflict arises to guide resolution

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Developed solely by the project manager and then shared with the team

Question 6

A team member has been consistently missing deadlines, causing delays in dependent tasks. During a one-on-one meeting, you discover they are struggling with a new technology. What is the best course of action?

Accepted Answer

Arrange for training or mentoring to help them acquire the necessary skills. Option D is correct because the root cause of the missed deadlines is a skill gap with the new technology, not a lack of effort or willful non-compliance. As a servant leader, the project manager should first support the team member by providing training or mentoring to close the competency gap, which directly addresses the cause and enables the team member to meet future deadlines. This approach aligns with the PMI People domain, which emphasizes developing the team and removing obstacles.

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Escalate the performance issue to the functional manager

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Reassign the tasks to another team member who is more experienced

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Issue a formal warning about the missed deadlines

Question 7

Your project is 50% complete and 15% over budget. Earned value analysis shows CPI = 0.85 and SPI = 0.95. The team is demoralized due to recent layoffs in the company. An executive suggests reducing the project scope to cut costs. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Perform an impact analysis of the proposed scope reduction and submit a change request. The correct first step is to perform an impact analysis of the proposed scope reduction and submit a change request. As a project manager, you must follow the formal change control process: any change to scope, even if suggested by an executive, requires an analysis of its impact on cost, schedule, quality, and risks before any decision is made. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's guidance that scope changes must be evaluated through a change request to ensure informed decision-making and maintain project baselines.

Answer

Update the project management plan to reflect the new budget constraints

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Decline the suggestion and implement cost reduction measures elsewhere

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Agree to reduce scope to meet the budget, as suggested by the executive

Question 8

A project team is distributed across three time zones. Communication delays are causing misunderstandings and rework. What is the BEST way to improve team collaboration?

Accepted Answer

Create a team charter that defines communication protocols and core overlap hours. Establishing a team charter with communication guidelines sets expectations for availability, response times, and meeting times, which directly addresses the issue.

Answer

Require all team members to work the same hours

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Assign a single point of contact in each time zone

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Implement a daily status report via email

Question 9

A project manager is leading a team that is newly formed and includes members from different functional areas. The team is experiencing low trust and reluctance to share ideas. The project manager wants to build a high-performing team. Which THREE actions should the project manager take? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Set clear team goals and define success criteria together. Options A, C, and D are correct. Option A fosters psychological safety. Option C helps build social bonds. Option D clarifies goals. Option B is wrong because it does not involve the team. Option E is wrong because it focuses on individuals rather than team cohesion.

Answer

Provide individual rewards for top performers to motivate competition

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Assign a mentor from outside the team to guide team members

Question 10

During a hybrid project, the project sponsor asks you to skip the testing phase in the next release to save time and meet an aggressive market deadline. The team is concerned about quality risks. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Discuss the risks of skipping testing with the sponsor and propose a compromise, such as risk-based testing. Option A is correct because, as a project manager, your first responsibility is to address the sponsor's request directly by communicating the quality risks and negotiating a balanced solution. Risk-based testing allows you to prioritize critical test cases, reducing overall testing time while still mitigating the highest-priority quality risks, which aligns with the hybrid project's need for both agility and governance.

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Tell the team to add extra testing in the next sprint to compensate

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Escalate the issue to the PMO or steering committee for a decision

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Refuse the sponsor's request and insist on following the original plan

Question 11

A project manager notices that during virtual team meetings, only a few members participate actively while others remain silent. The team is diverse and geographically distributed. What technique should the PM use to encourage participation?

Accepted Answer

Create a team charter that includes meeting etiquette and expectations for participation. Option D is correct because a team charter establishes agreed-upon norms for meeting behavior, including expectations for participation, which proactively addresses the root cause of silence in a diverse, distributed team. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on creating a team charter to define ground rules and foster a collaborative environment, especially when virtual communication challenges exist.

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Reduce the frequency of meetings to avoid overwhelming the team

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Send meeting recordings to those who don't speak

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Call on silent members individually during meetings

Question 12

The project sponsor asks you to skip the quality testing phase to meet an aggressive deadline, arguing that the team is experienced and can deliver without it. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping testing and propose alternatives such as reducing scope or extending the schedule. Option C is correct because as a project manager, you must balance the sponsor's request with your ethical duty to deliver a quality product. Skipping quality testing introduces significant risk of defects and rework, which could ultimately delay the project further. By explaining these risks and proposing alternatives like reducing scope or extending the schedule, you demonstrate proactive leadership and adherence to the PMI Code of Ethics, specifically the responsibility to make data-driven decisions.

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Comply with the sponsor's request to avoid conflict

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Refuse the request and insist on following the original plan

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Agree to skip testing but document the sponsor's request for future reference

Question 13

Your agile team has been experiencing declining velocity over the last three sprints. Retrospectives have not identified a clear cause. Several team members mention feeling fatigued and demotivated. As the project manager, what should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule individual one-on-one meetings with team members to understand their concerns and identify obstacles. Option C is correct because the first step when facing declining velocity and team demotivation is to engage directly with team members through one-on-one meetings to uncover root causes. This aligns with the PMP's servant leadership approach, where understanding individual concerns and removing obstacles is prioritized before any process or resource changes. The retrospective has already failed to identify the cause, so deeper, private conversations are needed to surface issues like burnout, interpersonal conflicts, or unclear requirements.

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Add more team members to the project to distribute the workload

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Escalate the velocity drop to the steering committee and ask for guidance

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Set stricter deadlines and increase velocity targets to motivate the team

Question 14

A new regulation impacting your construction project was announced. The compliance team says the project must incorporate additional safety inspections, which will require extra resources and extend the schedule. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board to assess the impact and obtain approval. Option A is correct because any change to the project baseline must go through the Integrated Change Control process. Option B is wrong because ignoring the regulation is not an option. Option C is wrong because the PM should not implement changes without approval. Option D is wrong because the PM should first assess impact before escalating.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for decision

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Instruct the team to start implementing the additional inspections immediately

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Ignore the regulation since it was not part of the original project scope

Question 15

You are managing a large, distributed project using a hybrid methodology. The team is experiencing communication breakdowns and conflict between onshore and offshore members. Which THREE actions should you take to improve team collaboration and performance? (Choose three)

Accepted Answer

Establish regular video conference meetings for synchronous collaboration. Establishing regular video conference meetings (A) is correct because it enables synchronous, face-to-face communication, which is critical for bridging cultural and time-zone gaps in distributed teams. Video conferencing reduces misunderstandings by allowing non-verbal cues and real-time clarification, directly addressing the communication breakdowns described in the scenario.

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Separate the team into onshore and offshore sub-teams with their own leads

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Increase the frequency of status reporting