PMP Practice Test 23 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A project manager is leading a project that is aligned with the organization's strategic goal to increase market share. However, during execution, a competitor releases a similar product, reducing the expected benefits. What should the project manager do?

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

Accepted Answer

Update the business case and present the revised benefits to the steering committee for a go/no-go decision.. The project manager must reassess the business case when external market changes (like a competitor's product launch) reduce expected benefits. Updating the business case with revised benefits and presenting it to the steering committee ensures an informed go/no-go decision based on current strategic alignment and value, as per PMBOK Guide's business case management and benefits realization processes.

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Immediately stop the project to avoid further losses.

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Continue the project as planned because the strategic goal has not changed.

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Add more features to differentiate the product from the competitor's.

Question 2

Your project is 80% complete, and the sponsor asks you to skip the final testing phase to release the product early and capture market share. The testing phase is critical for quality. What is the BEST response?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping testing and propose a compromise, such as testing the most critical functions first. It demonstrates proactive risk management and stakeholder negotiation. By explaining the risks of skipping testing and proposing a compromise—such as testing critical functions first—you address the sponsor's urgency while preserving the project's quality objectives. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on managing technical aspects through iterative validation and risk-based testing prioritization.

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Agree to skip testing to accommodate the sponsor's request

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Refuse the request and insist on full testing as planned

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Update the risk register and proceed with the release

Question 3

A new regulatory requirement has been discovered mid-project. This requirement will affect the project scope and schedule. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact of the new requirement on scope, schedule, and cost. A new regulatory requirement discovered mid-project must be assessed for its impact on the triple constraint (scope, schedule, cost) before any action is taken. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's Perform Integrated Change Control process, where the project manager evaluates the effect of a change on all project baselines. Without this assessment, you cannot determine the feasibility or the necessary adjustments to the project plan.

Answer

Ignore the requirement until the next project phase

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Implement the requirement immediately to ensure compliance

Question 4

A project manager is managing a hybrid project. The team is two weeks into a four-week iteration when the product owner asks to reprioritize the backlog to include a critical regulatory requirement that was just announced. The change will impact the current iteration goal. What should the PM do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact of the change on the iteration goal and discuss with the product owner and team to decide on the best course of action. In a hybrid project, the project manager must balance agility with governance. When a critical regulatory requirement emerges mid-iteration, the first step is to assess its impact on the iteration goal and collaborate with the product owner and team to decide the best course of action. This aligns with the agile principle of responding to change while maintaining stakeholder alignment and ensuring the team can evaluate trade-offs before reprioritizing.

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Tell the product owner that the current iteration commitment cannot be changed

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Immediately add the requirement to the iteration backlog and adjust the sprint goal

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Escalate to the project sponsor for a decision

Question 5

You are the project manager for a software development project that is using a hybrid approach. A key team member informs you that they have identified a new risk that could cause a two-week delay. The risk is not in the risk register. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Update the risk register with the risk and perform qualitative analysis.. When a new risk is identified that is not in the risk register, the first action is to document it in the risk register and perform qualitative analysis to assess its probability and impact. This aligns with the iterative risk management process in a hybrid approach, where risks are continuously identified and analyzed before deciding on a response. Updating the register ensures the risk is formally tracked and prioritized for further action.

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Immediately implement a contingency plan to mitigate the risk.

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Ignore the risk until it occurs, as it may not materialize.

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Inform the sponsor and ask for additional budget to handle the risk.

Question 6

Your project uses a hybrid approach. The team has been working remotely for six months, and you notice a decline in collaboration and an increase in misunderstandings. What is the BEST action to improve team cohesion?

Accepted Answer

Organize virtual team-building activities and encourage video calls for key meetings. Virtual team-building activities and encouraging video calls directly address the root cause of declining collaboration and misunderstandings in a remote team. Video calls enhance non-verbal communication cues and social presence, which are critical for building trust and reducing ambiguity in a hybrid project environment. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on developing the team and using virtual collaboration tools to foster cohesion.

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Increase the frequency of status meetings

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Request that team members relocate to a central office for the remainder of the project

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Send a detailed communication protocol to all team members

Question 7

A project manager is reviewing the project's risk register and identifies several risks that could impact the project. According to PMBOK Guide, which THREE of the following are strategies for negative risks or threats? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Avoid. Avoid, Transfer, and Mitigate are the three primary strategies for dealing with negative risks or threats as defined in the PMBOK Guide. Avoid involves eliminating the threat entirely by changing the project plan, Transfer shifts the impact of the threat to a third party (e.g., insurance, fixed-price contracts), and Mitigate reduces the probability or impact of the threat to an acceptable threshold. These strategies are specifically designed to address risks with a negative impact on project objectives.

Answer

Exploit

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Enhance

Question 8

A project manager is leading a software development project. The sponsor insists on using a waterfall approach, but the team has experience with agile and believes it would be more effective. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting with the sponsor and team to discuss trade-offs.. The project manager's first responsibility is to facilitate a data-driven discussion between the sponsor and the team. By presenting trade-offs—such as the waterfall's rigid phase-gate structure versus agile's iterative feedback loops—the PM can align the project's delivery approach with its business environment and benefit realization strategy, without prematurely escalating or bypassing authority.

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Adopt agile without informing the sponsor.

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Follow the sponsor's directive and use waterfall.

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Escalate to the PMO to resolve the conflict.

Question 9

You are managing a project using a hybrid approach. A team member has been underperforming for several weeks. You have had informal conversations and provided coaching, but there has been no improvement. What should you do next?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a formal meeting to discuss the performance gap, set clear expectations, and agree on a performance improvement plan. After informal coaching has failed, the next step in progressive performance management is to hold a formal meeting to document the performance gap, set clear expectations, and create a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on addressing issues through a structured, documented process before escalating or removing a team member, especially in a hybrid approach where the project manager retains team leadership responsibilities.

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Escalate to the functional manager to handle the situation

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Reassign the team member to less critical tasks to minimize impact

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Remove the team member from the project and request a replacement

Question 10

A project manager is developing the project schedule. After defining activities and sequencing them, what is the next step in the schedule development process?

Accepted Answer

Estimate activity resources. In the schedule development process, after defining activities and sequencing them, the next step is to estimate the resources required for each activity (option A). This is because resource availability and constraints directly impact activity durations, and you must know what resources are available before you can estimate how long each activity will take. The PMBOK Guide's schedule management process follows the order: Plan Schedule Management → Define Activities → Sequence Activities → Estimate Activity Resources → Estimate Activity Durations → Develop Schedule.

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Estimate activity durations

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Estimate costs

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Develop the schedule baseline

Question 11

During a project audit, you discover that a team member has been gold-plating the deliverables by adding extra features not requested. What is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the team member to discuss the importance of adhering to the approved scope and the risks of gold-plating. Gold-plating is a project management term for adding extra features beyond the approved scope, which introduces scope creep, increases costs, and may introduce defects or integration issues. The best action is to meet with the team member to reinforce the importance of adhering to the scope baseline and explain the risks, such as schedule delays, budget overruns, and potential rework. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on scope verification and control, ensuring that only approved changes are implemented through the formal change control process.

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Allow the team member to continue as the extra features may add customer value

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Report the team member to HR for violating project policies

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Remove the extra features immediately without consulting the team member

Question 12

Your project is halfway through its schedule. Earned value analysis shows: EV = $120,000, PV = $150,000, AC = $140,000. What is the best interpretation of the project's performance?

Accepted Answer

The project is behind schedule and over budget.. The project is behind schedule because the Earned Value (EV) of $120,000 is less than the Planned Value (PV) of $150,000, resulting in a Schedule Performance Index (SPI) of 0.8. The project is over budget because the Actual Cost (AC) of $140,000 exceeds the EV, giving a Cost Performance Index (CPI) of 0.857. Thus, option B correctly identifies both schedule and cost issues.

Answer

The project is behind schedule but under budget.

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The project is on schedule and under budget.

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The project is ahead of schedule but over budget.

Question 13

During a daily standup, a developer mentions they found a way to improve the code's performance but it will add two extra days of work. What should the scrum master do?

Accepted Answer

Advise the developer to discuss the improvement with the product owner after the standup. Adding extra work without stakeholder approval is gold-plating. The scrum master should remind the team to focus on the sprint goal and discuss the idea with the product owner.

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Record the idea in the project documentation and move on

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Allow the developer to proceed because the improvement is valuable

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Add the improvement to the sprint backlog immediately

Question 14

A critical risk identified in the risk register has occurred. The planned response was to mitigate, but the impact is higher than anticipated. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Implement the planned mitigation response and then reassess the situation. The risk response plan should be executed first, then reassess and update the risk register. PMI recommends implementing the planned response and evaluating its effectiveness.

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Develop a new response from scratch because the impact changed

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Update the risk register and ignore the planned response

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Escalate the risk to the project sponsor immediately

Question 15

A project team member is consistently late with deliverables, affecting the critical path. The project manager has had informal conversations, but performance hasn't improved. What should the project manager do next?

Accepted Answer

Initiate a formal performance improvement plan.. The project manager has already attempted informal resolution, and the continued impact on the critical path requires a formal performance improvement plan (PIP) to document the issue, set clear expectations, and provide a structured path for improvement. This aligns with the PMI's progressive discipline approach, where informal coaching precedes formal action to protect the project's schedule and maintain team accountability.

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Reassign the task to another team member.

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Ask the team member's manager to intervene.

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Remove the team member from the project.