PMP Practice Test 25 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Your agile team has been self-organizing, but recently a team member with strong technical skills has been dominating discussions and decisions, causing others to feel disengaged. The sprint velocity is starting to drop. What is the BEST approach to address this?

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

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a team retrospective where members can discuss collaboration norms and decision-making processes. The agile framework emphasizes self-organization and team ownership. Facilitating a retrospective directly addresses the root cause—disengagement due to dominance—by enabling the team to collaboratively redefine collaboration norms and decision-making processes, which restores psychological safety and can reverse the velocity drop without imposing external control.

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Ignore the behavior as long as the team is still delivering

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Reassign tasks to ensure equal participation by controlling the workload

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Speak privately with the dominating team member and ask them to step back

Question 2

A project manager notices that one team member has been consistently missing deadlines, and their work quality is declining. The team member is otherwise talented and has been with the company for years. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting with the team member to discuss the performance and offer support. The correct first step is to have a private, supportive conversation to understand the root cause of the performance decline. This aligns with the PMP's 'People' domain, emphasizing servant leadership and addressing performance issues confidentially before escalating. It respects the team member's history and allows for collaborative problem-solving.

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Reassign the work to another team member immediately

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Ignore the issue, assuming it will resolve itself

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Provide negative feedback during the next team meeting as a warning

Question 3

In an agile software project, the sprint velocity has dropped from 30 story points to 18 over the last two sprints. The team members report that they are spending too much time on unplanned technical debt. The product owner is pushing for more features. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion between the team and product owner to prioritize technical debt alongside new features. The project manager's first responsibility is to facilitate a collaborative discussion between the team and the product owner to address the root cause—unplanned technical debt—while balancing the need for new features. This aligns with the agile principle of transparency and stakeholder collaboration, ensuring that technical debt is explicitly prioritized in the backlog alongside feature work. Removing or ignoring the debt would only compound the velocity drop and degrade product quality.

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Reassign two team members to a separate 'debt reduction' team to isolate the issue

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Remove testing from the definition of done to increase velocity

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Increase the sprint workload to motivate the team to deliver more features

Question 4

During a project status meeting, an executive stakeholder bypasses you and directly instructs a team member to add a new feature to the current sprint. The team member looks confused. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

After the meeting, privately remind the executive about the change control process and offer to submit a change request. The PM must protect the team from scope creep while maintaining stakeholder relationships. Privately reminding the executive about the change control process and offering to submit a change request addresses the issue diplomatically, enforces the formal change management system, and ensures the team member is not put in a conflicting position. This aligns with the PMP's focus on leading through influence rather than confrontation.

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Ignore the situation and continue the meeting

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Tell the team member to add the feature as requested to satisfy the stakeholder

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Immediately interrupt the executive and explain that all changes must go through you

Question 5

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. 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 6

During a team meeting, a junior developer hesitates to share an innovative idea due to fear of criticism. The project manager notices this and wants to foster a culture of psychological safety. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Explicitly invite the developer to share and reassure that all ideas are valued.. The project manager's first action should be to directly invite the hesitant developer to share their idea in the moment, explicitly stating that all ideas are valued. This immediate, public invitation and reassurance directly addresses the fear of criticism and models psychological safety, which is a foundational behavior for fostering an innovative team culture. In the PMP context, this aligns with the 'Servant Leadership' principle and the 'Team Performance Domain,' where the PM actively creates an environment of trust and safety.

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Move on to the next agenda item to avoid discomfort.

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Assign the developer a task to present the idea next week.

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Privately praise the developer for past contributions.

Question 7

You are the project manager for a software development project using Scrum. During the daily stand-up, two senior developers get into a heated argument about the technical approach for a user story. The sprint goal is at risk. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Ask the developers to resolve the conflict after the meeting and escalate if they cannot. The Scrum framework empowers the development team to self-organize and resolve technical disagreements. The project manager should facilitate the team's autonomy by asking the developers to resolve the conflict after the stand-up, escalating only if they cannot reach a consensus, thus protecting the sprint goal without imposing a top-down decision.

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Report the conflict to the product owner and ask for a decision

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Intervene immediately and decide the technical approach to resolve the conflict

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Cancel the stand-up and schedule a separate meeting to resolve the issue

Question 8

Your project is using a predictive approach, and you have just completed the work breakdown structure (WBS). What is the NEXT step in project planning?

Accepted Answer

Sequence the activities and develop the project schedule. After completing the WBS, the next step in a predictive (waterfall) project is to sequence the activities and develop the project schedule. The WBS decomposes deliverables into work packages, but the schedule requires identifying the specific activities needed to produce those work packages, determining their dependencies, and estimating durations. This directly feeds into creating the project schedule, which is the logical next step before cost estimation or risk identification.

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Define the project scope statement

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Identify risks

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Estimate costs for each work package

Question 9

Arrange the steps for developing a project charter in the correct order.

Accepted Answer

Step 1: Identify the sponsor, Step 2: Define the business case, Step 3: Draft the charter, Step 4: Obtain approval, Step 5: Communicate the charter.. The project charter is developed by identifying the sponsor, defining the business case, drafting the charter, obtaining approval, and then communicating it.

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Step 1: Define the business case, Step 2: Identify the sponsor, Step 3: Draft the charter, Step 4: Obtain approval, Step 5: Communicate the charter.

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Step 1: Identify the sponsor, Step 2: Define the business case, Step 3: Draft the charter, Step 4: Communicate the charter, Step 5: Obtain approval.

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Step 1: Draft the charter, Step 2: Identify the sponsor, Step 3: Define the business case, Step 4: Obtain approval, Step 5: Communicate the charter.

Question 10

You are managing a software upgrade project using a hybrid approach. During execution, the team discovers a critical security vulnerability that was not identified during risk planning. The vulnerability requires immediate patching to avoid a potential data breach. Which TWO actions should you take NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact of the vulnerability on the project scope, schedule, and cost. Upon discovering an unplanned critical security vulnerability, the immediate next step is to assess its impact on the project's scope, schedule, and cost. This assessment provides the necessary data to determine the appropriate response and informs the subsequent change request. Without this impact analysis, any action taken could be misaligned with project constraints and stakeholder expectations.

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Immediately assign the team to fix the vulnerability without formal approval

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Add the vulnerability to the risk register and continue with the current sprint as planned

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Implement a temporary workaround to reduce the risk and monitor the situation

Question 11

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 12

Your project is being executed, and a risk event occurs that was identified and planned for. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Implement the risk response plan that was developed for this risk. When a planned risk event occurs, the immediate action is to implement the risk response plan that was specifically developed for that risk. This ensures the predefined mitigation or contingency strategy is executed promptly to minimize impact. The risk register must then be updated to document the occurrence and the response taken, providing an accurate historical record for future risk analysis. Finally, communicating the risk occurrence and response to stakeholders as per the communication plan maintains transparency and supports informed decision-making.

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Conduct a new risk assessment to identify new risks

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Add the risk to the watch list for monitoring

Question 13

An executive stakeholder has been bypassing you and giving direct instructions to your team, causing confusion and scope creep. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the stakeholder to discuss the issue and reinforce the project's communication management plan. The first step in resolving stakeholder interference is to address the issue directly with the stakeholder through a meeting, reinforcing the communication management plan. This plan defines how information flows, including who can give instructions to the team, and is a key tool in managing stakeholder expectations and preventing scope creep. By discussing the issue, you can clarify roles, re-establish agreed-upon channels, and avoid further confusion without escalating prematurely.

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Instruct the team to ignore any instructions from the stakeholder

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Update the stakeholder engagement plan without informing the stakeholder

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor immediately

Question 14

A team member has been consistently missing deadlines for the past three sprints. Their work quality is also declining. You have had informal conversations with them, but the problem persists. What is the BEST next step for the project manager?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a private meeting to discuss the performance issues, identify underlying causes, and agree on an improvement plan. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes addressing performance issues through direct, collaborative communication. A private meeting allows the project manager to explore root causes (e.g., skill gaps, personal challenges, or unclear requirements) and co-create a performance improvement plan, which aligns with the 'Manage Team' process and the principle of servant leadership.

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Escalate the issue to human resources to initiate a replacement process

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Reassign the team member to less critical tasks to minimize impact

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Ignore the issue for now and hope the team member improves on their own

Question 15

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. Two senior developers have a technical disagreement that has escalated into a personal conflict, causing delays. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with each developer separately to understand their perspectives and facilitate a resolution. As a project manager using a hybrid approach, your first responsibility is to address interpersonal conflicts privately and individually to understand each party's perspective before attempting a facilitated resolution. This aligns with the PMI People domain's emphasis on emotional intelligence and conflict resolution techniques, where direct, private conversations help de-escalate tensions and uncover root causes without public embarrassment or escalation.

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Bring the two developers together in a team meeting to resolve the issue openly

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for resolution

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Reassign one of the developers to a different project to avoid further conflict