PMP Practice Test 16 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are managing a project using a predictive approach. A team member has been consistently missing deadlines, causing delays for the rest of the team. You have already had an informal conversation about expectations. What should you do next?

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

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting to discuss the issue and create a performance improvement plan. After an informal conversation has already taken place, the next step in progressive discipline within a predictive (waterfall) project is to schedule a private meeting to formally address the issue and collaboratively create a performance improvement plan (PIP). This aligns with the PMI People domain's emphasis on conflict resolution and team development, ensuring the team member is given a clear opportunity to improve before any escalation or removal.

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Escalate the issue to the team member's functional manager

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Reassign the team member's tasks to other team members

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Remove the team member from the project

Question 2

You are leading a virtual team across three time zones. A team member from the offshore location has been consistently missing deadlines, causing delays. When you inquire, the member says they are overloaded with work from another project. What is the best course of action?

Accepted Answer

Discuss the situation with the member and their functional manager to resolve the workload conflict. The root cause is a resource conflict across projects, which is a functional management issue. As a project manager, you must collaborate with the team member and their functional manager to negotiate priorities and workload balance, rather than unilaterally escalating or replacing the resource. This aligns with the PMI principle of 'engaging with stakeholders' and the 'manage team' process, where addressing resource constraints through negotiation is the first step before considering administrative actions.

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Assign additional resources to help the member complete tasks

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Replace the team member with someone who can meet deadlines

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Issue a formal warning to the team member about performance expectations

Question 3

Your project is in the executing phase, and you receive a formal complaint from a team member that another team member is consistently late to daily standups and not completing tasks on time. This is causing friction in the team. You have discussed this with both individuals, but the behavior continues. What should you do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Document the issue in the issue log and escalate to the functional manager with a request for performance improvement.. The project manager has already attempted direct resolution with the team members, but the behavior persists. The next step is to formally document the issue in the issue log and escalate to the functional manager, who has authority over performance management. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's process for managing team conflicts and performance issues during the executing phase, where the project manager does not have direct authority to impose disciplinary actions.

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Immediately remove the late team member from the project to restore team harmony.

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Schedule a team-building workshop to improve collaboration.

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Ask the team to resolve the conflict themselves during the next retrospective.

Question 4

Your project is using a hybrid approach. A key stakeholder requests a significant scope change that would affect the critical path. The change request has been submitted and approved. What should the project manager do next?

Accepted Answer

Update the project management plan and baselines to reflect the approved change. In a hybrid project, once a scope change is approved, the project manager must update the project management plan and baselines (scope, schedule, cost) to formally integrate the change. This ensures all future work aligns with the new approved scope and maintains traceability. Option D is correct because it follows the Perform Integrated Change Control process, which requires updating the plan and baselines before implementation.

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Wait until the next sprint planning to introduce the change to the team

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Notify the sponsor and update the risk register

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Inform the team about the change and ask them to adjust their work accordingly

Question 5

A critical vendor informs you that they cannot deliver a key component on time due to a raw material shortage. The component is on the critical path. You have identified this risk in the risk register with a medium probability and high impact. The planned response was to accept the risk. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Evaluate the current situation and determine if the accept response is still appropriate or if a different response is needed; submit a change request if necessary. The first step when a risk materializes is to reassess the situation against the existing risk response. Since the planned response was 'accept,' you must evaluate whether acceptance is still viable given the new reality. If not, you need to select a different response (e.g., mitigate or avoid) and submit a change request to formally adjust the project plan. This aligns with the PMBOK® Guide's iterative risk management process, where risk responses are revisited when triggers occur.

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Escalate to the project sponsor for decision

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Immediately crash the schedule by adding resources to the critical path

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Inform stakeholders that the project will be delayed by the duration of the component shortage

Question 6

You are the project manager for a software development project using Scrum. During the daily standup, a developer mentions that they are blocked by a dependency on another team's API that is delayed. The developer has already tried contacting the other team but received no response. What should the scrum master do?

Accepted Answer

Escalate the issue to the other team's manager or the project sponsor to resolve the dependency.. The scrum master is responsible for removing impediments. Option B is correct because the scrum master should escalate the issue to remove the blocker for the team.

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Add the issue to the risk register and monitor it.

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Ask the team to work on other tasks until the API is available.

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Advise the developer to keep trying to contact the other team.

Question 7

Your agile project has experienced a drop in sprint velocity for three consecutive sprints. The team cites increasing technical debt and unclear requirements. As the project manager, what is the most effective first step?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a root cause analysis in a retrospective with the team. The PM should facilitate a retrospective to identify the root causes and collaboratively develop action items. This aligns with agile principles of continuous improvement.

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Reduce the sprint backlog to a manageable size

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Increase the sprint duration to give the team more time

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Replace the underperforming team members

Question 8

Your project team includes members from diverse cultural backgrounds. During a meeting, you notice that some team members are not contributing ideas, while others dominate the discussion. What should you do to foster inclusive participation?

Accepted Answer

Establish a team charter with ground rules that encourage equal participation. Establishing a team charter with ground rules is a proactive, collaborative approach that addresses cultural differences in communication styles. It creates a shared agreement on meeting norms, such as turn-taking or idea-sharing methods, which fosters inclusive participation without singling out individuals. This aligns with the PMP's focus on leading diverse teams through agreed-upon processes rather than imposing top-down rules.

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Allow the meeting to proceed naturally as it is a cultural difference

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Require each team member to speak at least once per meeting

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Privately ask the dominant members to speak less

Question 9

Your project is running 15% over budget at the midpoint. The sponsor asks you to reduce costs by cutting the testing phase from three weeks to one week. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to reduce testing and analyze the impact on quality and risks. The PMBOK Guide requires that any change to the project baseline, including scope, schedule, or budget, must follow the formal integrated change control process. The first step is to submit a change request to analyze the impact on quality, risks, and other constraints before making a decision. This ensures that the sponsor and stakeholders understand the trade-offs, such as increased defect risk or rework costs, before approving the reduction.

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Agree to reduce testing, as the sponsor has authority over the budget

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Refuse the request, stating that testing is essential for quality

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Implement the reduction immediately to save costs, then document it later

Question 10

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?

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 11

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 12

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 13

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 14

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 15

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