PMP Practice Exam 1 — 20 Questions

Question 1

Which THREE factors are most critical when selecting a conflict resolution technique for a project team? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

The personalities and relationship of the conflicting parties.. The personalities and relationship of the conflicting parties directly influence which conflict resolution technique (e.g., collaborating, compromising, avoiding) will be effective. A technique that works for a collaborative team may fail with highly competitive individuals, so understanding interpersonal dynamics is critical for selecting an approach that de-escalates rather than intensifies the conflict.

Answer

The cost of implementing the resolution technique.

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The organizational hierarchy and reporting structure.

Question 2

You are the project manager for a software development project using a hybrid approach. Two senior developers have a disagreement about the technical approach for a critical feature. The conflict is causing delays and affecting team morale. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Meet with both developers individually to understand their perspectives, then facilitate a joint discussion. As a project manager using a hybrid approach, your first responsibility is to address the conflict through collaborative conflict resolution. Meeting individually with each developer to understand their perspectives, then facilitating a joint discussion, aligns with the PMI People domain's emphasis on emotional intelligence and servant leadership. This approach preserves team morale, leverages the expertise of both senior developers, and allows the team to reach a consensus on the technical approach, which is critical for a hybrid project where both agile and plan-driven elements require team buy-in.

Answer

Decide on the technical approach yourself and assign tasks accordingly

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision

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Replace both developers with a single developer who agrees with the original plan

Question 3

You are managing a hybrid project to develop a new mobile app. During the daily stand-up, two senior developers get into a heated argument about the technical approach for integrating a third-party API. The disagreement is causing tension and delaying progress. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with both developers to listen to their perspectives and facilitate a resolution. It demonstrates effective conflict resolution by listening to both sides and facilitating a collaborative solution, aligning with the PM's role as a servant leader. Option A (ignore) avoids the conflict, which can worsen tension. Option B (escalate to functional managers) bypasses the team's ability to resolve their own conflict and may erode trust. Option D (decide yourself) is a forcing approach that ignores input and can damage team morale.

Answer

Ignore the argument and hope it resolves on its own

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Escalate the issue to the functional managers of the developers

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Decide on the technical approach yourself and assign tasks accordingly

Question 4

A project is running 15% over budget at its midpoint. The project manager determines that the variance is due to unexpected price increases in raw materials. The project sponsor asks the project manager to reduce the project scope to bring costs back in line. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to reduce scope and assess the impact on the project.. The correct first step is to submit a change request to formally propose the scope reduction. This follows the change control process outlined in the PMBOK Guide, ensuring that scope changes are evaluated for impact on cost, schedule, quality, and risks before approval. Option B is incorrect because instructing the team to reduce scope without formal approval bypasses the change control board and may lead to unauthorized changes. Option C is incorrect because updating the risk register without addressing the cost variance does not resolve the issue. Option D is incorrect because asking for additional budget should only be considered after analyzing alternatives through a change request; the sponsor's request to reduce scope should be pursued first.

Answer

Instruct the team to reduce scope immediately.

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Update the risk register and continue as planned.

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Ask the sponsor for additional budget.

Question 5

You are managing a construction project using a traditional approach. The sponsor asks you to skip the quality inspection phase to save two weeks and meet an aggressive deadline. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping quality inspections and discuss alternatives to meet the deadline. As a project manager, your first responsibility is to address the sponsor's request professionally by communicating the risks of skipping quality inspections—such as potential rework, safety failures, and cost overruns—and then collaboratively exploring alternatives (e.g., parallel testing, reduced sampling) to meet the deadline without compromising quality. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on stakeholder engagement and proactive risk management, not blind compliance or refusal.

Answer

Agree to skip the inspections to satisfy the sponsor's request

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Refuse outright because quality cannot be compromised

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Proceed with inspections but report that they were completed

Question 6

A project manager is forming a new project team. The team includes members from diverse cultural backgrounds and different functional areas. Which team development model should the project manager use to guide the team through forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning?

Accepted Answer

Tuckman's stages of group development. Tuckman's stages of group development (forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning) is the correct model because it directly maps to the sequence described in the question. This model is specifically designed to guide project managers through the predictable phases a team goes through when forming, especially when members come from diverse cultural backgrounds and functional areas.

Answer

McClelland's theory of needs

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs

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Herzberg's two-factor theory

Question 7

A stakeholder bypasses you and gives direct instructions to a team member to add a new report. The team member has already started working on it. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the stakeholder to reinforce the change control process and request that all changes go through you. The correct first step is to meet with the stakeholder to reinforce the change control process and request that all changes go through you. This directly addresses the bypass while maintaining professional communication, and it aligns with the PMI's emphasis on managing stakeholder expectations and following the integrated change control process. The project manager must protect the team from unauthorized work and ensure any change is formally evaluated for impact on scope, schedule, and budget.

Answer

Ignore it to avoid conflict, but document the incident

Answer

Escalate to the sponsor that the stakeholder is interfering

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Ask the team member to ignore the stakeholder's request and stop working

Question 8

Your project is in the planning phase, and you are developing the risk management plan. Which THREE tools or techniques should you use to identify risks?

Accepted Answer

SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).. SWOT analysis (B) is a key tool for identifying risks because it examines the project from four angles—Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats—to uncover both internal and external risks. This technique is specifically listed in the PMBOK Guide as a data analysis technique for the Identify Risks process during planning.

Answer

Creating a risk register to document identified risks.

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Probability and impact matrix for ranking risks.

Question 9

You are managing a large project with multiple stakeholders. One executive stakeholder has been bypassing you and giving direct instructions to the team, causing confusion. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the stakeholder privately to clarify the communication plan and request they go through you. The PM must first address the stakeholder directly to reinforce the established communication plan and authority structure. Bypassing the PM violates the project's governance and can lead to scope creep, conflicting priorities, and team confusion. A private meeting allows the PM to professionally assert their role as the single point of contact for the team, as defined in the communications management plan.

Answer

Tell the team to follow the stakeholder's instructions

Answer

Update the communication plan to include the stakeholder's direct involvement

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Report the stakeholder to the project sponsor

Question 10

Your project is behind schedule, and you need to compress the schedule. The critical path has been identified. What is the BEST schedule compression technique to use if you have additional budget available?

Accepted Answer

Crashing. Crashing is the correct technique because it involves adding resources (e.g., overtime, additional staff, or expedited shipping) to critical path activities to compress the schedule, and the question explicitly states additional budget is available. Unlike fast tracking, crashing does not increase risk but does increase cost, making it the best choice when budget is not a constraint.

Answer

Fast tracking

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Resource smoothing

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Resource leveling

Question 11

Your agile team has been experiencing conflicts between two senior developers over technical approaches during sprint planning. The conflicts are causing delays and affecting team morale. As the project manager, what is the BEST course of action?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting between the developers to discuss and resolve the technical disagreement. Facilitating a meeting between the developers is the best course of action because it directly addresses the root cause of the conflict—a technical disagreement—while empowering the team to self-organize and resolve the issue collaboratively. As an agile project manager, your role is to remove impediments and foster a safe environment for constructive debate, not to impose technical decisions or escalate unnecessarily. This approach aligns with the agile principle of building projects around motivated individuals and trusting them to solve technical problems, which preserves team morale and avoids delays caused by unresolved conflicts.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the functional managers of the developers

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Make the technical decision yourself to end the debate

Answer

Assign the developers to different teams to avoid future conflicts

Question 12

A new regulatory requirement has been discovered mid-project. The change will affect the project scope and schedule. Which TWO actions should the project manager take FIRST? (Choose two)

Accepted Answer

Analyze the impact of the regulation on scope, schedule, and cost. The first step when a new regulatory requirement emerges mid-project is to analyze its impact on the triple constraint (scope, schedule, cost). This analysis provides the data needed to determine whether a change request is warranted and what its implications will be. Without this impact analysis, the project manager cannot make an informed decision or properly communicate the change to stakeholders.

Answer

Inform the team to ignore the regulation until the project is complete

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Update the risk register and move on

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Immediately instruct the team to implement the changes to ensure compliance

Question 13

Your agile project has been experiencing declining velocity over the last three sprints. During the retrospective, the team identifies that they are spending too much time on unplanned work and technical debt. The product owner wants to maintain the current scope. Which THREE actions should the project manager take? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Allocate a portion of each sprint to address technical debt. Options B, C, and E are correct. B: Allocating a portion of each sprint to address technical debt directly reduces the accumulation of unplanned work and improves velocity. C: Shielding the team from external interruptions minimizes distractions, allowing more focus on planned work. E: Improving the 'definition of ready' ensures that user stories are sufficiently refined before a sprint begins, reducing ambiguity and rework. Option A is incorrect because reducing scope does not address the root cause of declining velocity (technical debt and unplanned work). Option D is incorrect because adding more developers can increase coordination overhead and may not solve the underlying issues.

Answer

Ask the product owner to reduce the scope of the next sprint

Answer

Add more developers to the team to increase capacity

Question 14

You are the project manager for a team that recently transitioned to remote work. You notice that team morale is declining and collaboration has decreased. What is the BEST action to improve team cohesion?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a virtual team-building activity and weekly informal coffee chats. It directly addresses the root causes of declining morale and reduced collaboration in a remote team by creating structured opportunities for social interaction and informal bonding. Virtual team-building activities and weekly coffee chats foster psychological safety and interpersonal connections, which are critical for team cohesion in a distributed environment. This aligns with the PMI talent triangle's emphasis on leadership and emotional intelligence, as it proactively builds trust and engagement rather than relying on formal oversight or one-way communication.

Answer

Increase the frequency of status meetings to ensure everyone is accountable

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Assign a mentor to each remote team member

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Send a motivational email to the team every week

Question 15

You are managing a project in a virtual environment. A team member from a different time zone misses an important deadline because he was not aware of the priority due to a language barrier. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Have a one-on-one video call with the team member to discuss the communication breakdown and offer language support tools. The first step in addressing a missed deadline caused by a language barrier in a virtual environment is to have a one-on-one video call with the team member. This allows you to understand the specific communication breakdown, clarify the priority, and offer language support tools (e.g., translation software or written summaries) to prevent recurrence. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes that the project manager should first use interpersonal skills to resolve issues and support the team, not escalate or penalize immediately.

Answer

Update the team charter to include clearer communication protocols for virtual teams

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Reassign the task to another team member who can complete it on time

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Issue a formal warning to the team member about the missed deadline

Question 16

A project manager is developing a business case for a new project. Which TWO elements are essential for a strong business case?

Accepted Answer

Alignment with organizational strategy. Alignment with organizational strategy (A) is essential because a business case must demonstrate how the proposed project supports the organization's strategic goals and objectives. Without this alignment, the project risks being unfunded or deprioritized, as it fails to justify its contribution to the broader business mission.

Answer

Identified risks and mitigation strategies

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Resource allocation plan

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Detailed project schedule

Question 17

You are managing a project where a team member consistently misses deadlines, affecting the team's velocity. You have had informal conversations with the team member, but the behavior continues. What is the BEST next step?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting to discuss the challenges and offer support to help improve performance.. As a project manager, your first formal step should be to understand the root cause of the performance issue through a private, supportive conversation. This aligns with the PMP's focus on servant leadership and addressing people problems with empathy before escalating to punitive measures. The goal is to identify obstacles (e.g., skill gaps, resource constraints, personal challenges) and collaboratively develop a plan to improve velocity, which is more effective than immediate reprimand or task reassignment.

Answer

Formally reprimand the team member and put them on a performance improvement plan.

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Inform the team that delays are unacceptable and expect improvement.

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Reassign the team member to less critical tasks to minimize impact.

Question 18

You are leading a virtual team across three time zones. During a video conference, you notice that one team member from a remote location has not spoken for the entire meeting. In previous meetings, this team member has also been quiet. What should you do to ensure effective collaboration?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a one-on-one conversation to understand any barriers and encourage participation. It aligns with the PMP principle of servant leadership and proactive stakeholder engagement. By scheduling a one-on-one conversation, you create a safe environment to identify potential barriers (e.g., time zone fatigue, cultural differences, or technical issues with the virtual platform) that may be inhibiting participation. This approach fosters trust and encourages collaboration without putting the team member on the spot in a group setting.

Answer

Ask the team member directly during the meeting why they are not contributing

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Assign the team member as the note-taker to ensure they are engaged

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Assume the team member has nothing to contribute and focus on others

Question 19

You are managing a project that is running 15% over budget at the midpoint. The variance is due to higher-than-expected material costs. The sponsor is concerned about cost overruns. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the cost variance to determine the root cause and update the EAC. The PM should first analyze the root cause of the cost variance and determine if the trend is likely to continue. Based on this analysis, the PM can develop a revised estimate at completion (EAC) and communicate it to the sponsor. Simply asking for more budget or reducing scope without analysis is premature.

Answer

Ask the team to find cheaper alternatives for materials immediately

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Reduce the project scope to bring costs back in line with the budget

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Request additional budget from the sponsor to cover the overrun

Question 20

A key vendor notifies you that they cannot deliver a critical component on time due to raw material shortages. This component is on the critical path and has no float. The vendor suggests using a substitute material that meets specifications but costs 20% more. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to evaluate the substitute material, including cost and schedule impacts. Any change to the procurement approach (substitute material) requires a change request to assess cost and schedule impacts before approval.

Answer

Invoke the penalty clause in the vendor contract for late delivery

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Accept the vendor's suggestion to use the substitute material to avoid delay

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Look for alternative vendors who can deliver the original component on time