PMP Practice Test 31 — 15 Questions

Question 1

The project manager reviews the benefits realization report for a cloud migration project. The project sponsor asks why the benefits are not being realized as planned. What is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The project's deliverables did not fully support the expected benefits. The benefits realization report tracks whether the expected business outcomes from the cloud migration are being achieved. If the project's deliverables (e.g., migrated applications, infrastructure) do not fully support the expected benefits—such as cost savings from auto-scaling or performance gains from cloud-native services—then the benefits will not materialize, regardless of schedule or team skill. This is the most direct cause because benefits depend on the alignment between deliverables and the defined benefit criteria.

Answer

The project was behind schedule

Answer

The benefits were not clearly defined

Answer

The project team lacked technical skills

Question 2

Your project team is distributed across three time zones. A team member from the India office has been consistently delivering tasks late, impacting the critical path. When you discuss this, they mention feeling isolated and unmotivated due to lack of interaction with the rest of the team. What is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Schedule regular one-on-one virtual meetings to mentor and understand their challenges. The team member's late delivery is a symptom of isolation and demotivation, not a capability or discipline problem. PMP emphasizes servant leadership and emotional intelligence: the PM should first address the human factor by engaging the team member individually, understanding their challenges, and providing support. Regular one-on-one virtual meetings directly address the root cause (lack of interaction) while also enabling mentoring and monitoring of progress.

Answer

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

Answer

Reassign the tasks to another team member in a different time zone

Answer

Ask the team member to work extra hours to catch up on missed deadlines

Question 3

A project manager is planning stakeholder engagement for a complex project with many interested parties. Which THREE techniques are MOST effective for analyzing stakeholders?

Accepted Answer

Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix. The three most effective techniques for analyzing stakeholders are the stakeholder engagement assessment matrix (B), power/interest grid (C), and stakeholder mapping/salience model (E). Option A (communication requirements analysis) is a tool for planning communication, not for analyzing stakeholders. Option D (affinity diagram) is a quality management tool for grouping ideas, not for stakeholder analysis.

Answer

Communication requirements analysis

Answer

Affinity diagram

Question 4

During project execution, a key executive stakeholder bypasses you and gives direct instructions to the development team, causing confusion about priorities. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the executive to discuss the importance of following the project communication plan. The PM should first address the issue directly with the executive stakeholder, explaining the impact of bypassing the project manager and reinforcing the communication plan. This is a proactive communication approach that aligns with PMI's stakeholder management principles.

Answer

Update the issue log and escalate the matter to the project sponsor

Answer

Instruct the team to ignore the executive's instructions

Answer

Add the executive's requests to the change log and process them through change control

Question 5

Your project is in the execution phase. The earned value metrics are: EV=$200,000, PV=$250,000, AC=$220,000. The project is behind schedule and over budget. You need to present a recovery plan to the steering committee. Which combination of actions is BEST aligned with PMI best practices?

Accepted Answer

Conduct root cause analysis of variances, then consider fast tracking or crashing as appropriate.. The correct approach is to first perform root cause analysis to understand the reasons for the variances, then evaluate schedule compression techniques such as fast tracking or crashing. This aligns with PMI's guidance on taking corrective action. Option A is not sustainable and may not address root causes; option C requires formal change control and may not be the best first step; option D jumps to crashing without analysis and may escalate costs.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime without additional cost.

Answer

Reduce scope to meet the schedule and cost baselines.

Answer

Crash the schedule by adding resources and request additional budget.

Question 6

Your agile project has a stable velocity of 30 story points per sprint. In the last three sprints, velocity dropped to 25, 22, and 20. The team cites increased complexity in user stories. What should you do first as the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a retrospective to identify root causes and potential improvements. The first step for a Scrum Master when facing a persistent drop in velocity is to facilitate a retrospective to identify root causes and potential improvements. Option B is incorrect because reducing sprint length does not address underlying complexity and may cause additional overhead. Option C is incorrect because asking the product owner to simplify stories without understanding the root cause is premature and could compromise value. Option D is incorrect because adding more developers does not necessarily reduce complexity and can increase communication overhead.

Answer

Reduce the sprint length to manage workload better

Answer

Ask the product owner to simplify user stories

Answer

Add more developers to the team to increase capacity

Question 7

A project is in the execution phase and the project manager notices that the project's cost performance index (CPI) is 0.85 and the schedule performance index (SPI) is 0.90. The project sponsor is concerned and wants to get back on track. Which THREE actions should the project manager consider to improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Apply resource leveling to optimize the use of resources and reduce overallocation.. To improve cost and schedule performance, the PM can implement fast tracking, analyze root causes, and use resource leveling to optimize resource usage. These are proactive and align with PMI best practices.

Answer

Immediately reduce the project scope to cut costs.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime at no additional cost.

Question 8

You are the project manager for a marketing campaign. During the planning phase, you identify a risk that a key graphic designer may leave the company. You decide to cross-train another team member as a backup. This is an example of which risk response?

Accepted Answer

Mitigate. Cross-training reduces the impact of the risk by having a backup. This is a mitigation strategy because it reduces the probability or impact of the risk.

Answer

Transfer

Answer

Avoid

Answer

Accept

Question 9

Your project is experiencing scope creep due to informal change requests from stakeholders. Which TWO actions should you take to address this?

Accepted Answer

Review the change management plan with stakeholders and remind them of the formal change control process. Options A and B are correct. Option A reinforces the change control process by reminding stakeholders of the formal procedure. Option B ensures that informal requests are documented and assessed for potential change requests. Option C is incorrect because the project manager should not instruct the team to bypass the formal process. Option D is incorrect because ignoring requests is not proactive. Option E is incorrect because the sponsor should not be the first point of contact for managing scope creep.

Answer

Tell the project team to reject any work not approved by you

Answer

Ignore informal requests until a formal change request is submitted

Answer

Ask the project sponsor to intervene and stop stakeholders from making requests

Question 10

The project team is in the process of identifying risks. Which tool or technique should the project manager use to identify risks?

Accepted Answer

Brainstorming. Brainstorming is a common technique for risk identification. Options A, B, and D are used in other processes.

Answer

Quality audits

Answer

Earned value management

Answer

Critical path method

Question 11

Your agile team is experiencing a drop in velocity over the last three sprints. During the retrospective, team members mention that they are spending too much time on unplanned work and context switching. As the project manager, what should you do?

Accepted Answer

Work with the product owner to reduce the amount of unplanned work and protect the team from external interruptions. The root cause is unplanned work and context switching, so the best approach is to work with the product owner to minimize unplanned work and shield the team from external interruptions. Option A is wrong because overtime leads to burnout and reduced quality. Option B is wrong because adding more developers to a late project often slows it down further (Brooks' Law). Option C is wrong because increasing stand-up frequency would reduce productive time and does not address the cause of interruptions.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime for the next sprint to catch up

Answer

Add more developers to the team to increase capacity

Answer

Increase the frequency of daily stand-ups to twice a day to improve coordination

Question 12

You are closing a project that has delivered all scope successfully. Which THREE activities are essential to complete during the project closure phase?

Accepted Answer

Obtain formal acceptance of the final deliverables from the customer.. Project closure involves formal acceptance, archiving, and releasing resources. Lessons learned are documented throughout the project but are also reviewed at closure. These are key closure activities per PMI.

Answer

Conduct a performance review for each team member.

Answer

Update the project schedule with actual finish dates.

Question 13

Your project is using Scrum. During the daily standup, a team member mentions that a key vendor will be unable to deliver a critical component on time, which will delay the next sprint. What is the best action to take?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact on the sprint goal and inform the product owner and stakeholders. The project manager should first assess the impact on the sprint and project, then communicate the issue to relevant stakeholders and update the risk register.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to compensate for the delay

Answer

Escalate to the vendor's management immediately

Answer

Immediately remove the component from the sprint backlog and continue with other work

Question 14

You are managing a project to develop a new mobile application using an agile approach. During the third sprint, two senior developers have a disagreement about the technical architecture to use for a feature. The disagreement is slowing down progress. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Organize a meeting with the developers to discuss pros and cons of each architecture.. The best approach is to facilitate a discussion to resolve the technical disagreement and, if needed, escalate to the architecture board. Avoiding the issue or forcing a decision without consensus is not recommended.

Answer

Let the developers resolve the issue on their own without intervention.

Answer

Make the decision yourself to save time and move forward.

Answer

Remove one developer from the team to eliminate the conflict.

Question 15

Your organization is implementing a new project portfolio management (PPM) system. The PMO director wants to ensure that projects are aligned with strategic objectives. Which THREE techniques would be most effective for achieving strategic alignment?

Accepted Answer

Score and prioritize projects based on strategic value. Strategic alignment is achieved by evaluating projects against strategic criteria, scoring and prioritizing them, and regularly reviewing the portfolio. These three actions ensure ongoing alignment.

Answer

Require all projects to use the same project management methodology

Answer

Assign the most experienced project managers to all projects