PMP Practice Test 33 — 15 Questions

Question 1

During a daily standup meeting, a team member mentions that they encountered a technical issue that will delay their task by two days. The project is time-sensitive. What should the scrum master do FIRST?

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

Accepted Answer

Remove the impediment by helping the team member find a solution or escalating if necessary. In Scrum, the scrum master is a servant-leader whose primary responsibility is to remove impediments that block the team's progress. When a team member raises a technical issue during the daily standup, the scrum master should immediately act to help resolve it or escalate it if it's beyond the team's authority. This aligns with the Scrum principle of clearing obstacles to maintain flow and protect the team's ability to deliver value. Options like overtime, sponsor reporting, or schedule updates do not address the root cause and are not the scrum master's first priority.

Answer

Ask the team member to work overtime to make up for the delay

Answer

Report the issue to the project sponsor

Answer

Update the project schedule to reflect the two-day delay

Question 2

Order the steps for performing project quality assurance.

Accepted Answer

Identify quality standards, then plan quality management, then perform quality audits, then implement process improvements, then document lessons learned. Quality assurance: identify standards, plan, audit, improve, and document lessons.

Answer

Plan quality management, then identify quality standards, then perform quality audits, then implement process improvements, then document lessons learned

Answer

Identify quality standards, then plan quality management, then implement process improvements, then perform quality audits, then document lessons learned

Answer

Identify quality standards, then plan quality management, then perform quality audits, then document lessons learned, then implement process improvements

Question 3

You are managing a project in a highly regulated industry. An audit reveals that your project is not fully compliant with a new data privacy regulation. The regulation requires specific data handling procedures that your team has not implemented. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to incorporate the regulatory requirements and assess impact on schedule and budget. In a highly regulated industry, non-compliance with a new data privacy regulation is a significant issue. The project manager should first submit a change request to incorporate the regulatory requirements, because this allows for proper assessment of impact on schedule, budget, and scope. This follows the Perform Integrated Change Control process, ensuring that changes are evaluated before implementation.

Answer

Ignore the audit findings because the project is almost complete

Answer

Immediately implement the required procedures to avoid legal penalties

Answer

Update the risk register and continue as planned until the regulation is enforced

Question 4

You are the project manager for a large IT infrastructure upgrade. An executive stakeholder has been bypassing you and directly assigning tasks to team members. This has caused confusion and rework. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with the executive stakeholder to discuss the impact of bypassing the PM and reinforce the communication plan. The first step in resolving unauthorized task assignments is to directly address the executive stakeholder, clarify the negative impact on the project (e.g., rework, resource contention), and reinforce the approved communication plan. This aligns with the PMI principle of managing stakeholder expectations through proactive communication, not escalation or confrontation.

Answer

Update the stakeholder engagement plan and communicate the escalation path

Answer

Instruct the team members to ignore any requests from the executive

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor and request intervention

Question 5

A key stakeholder on your project has been sending emails directly to team members, bypassing you as the project manager. This has caused confusion, as team members are receiving conflicting instructions. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the stakeholder to discuss the communication channels and reinforce the project's governance structure. The first and most appropriate action is to meet with the stakeholder to understand their concerns and reinforce the agreed communication channels and governance structure. This addresses the root cause — unclear or bypassed communication paths — through direct engagement rather than confrontation. PMBOK emphasizes managing stakeholders and following the communications management plan before escalating or changing plans.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor and request that the stakeholder be removed from the project

Answer

Instruct the team to ignore any requests from the stakeholder that have not been approved by you

Answer

Submit a change request to update the communications management plan

Question 6

During project closure, the project manager is conducting lessons learned. The team identifies that poor communication with a remote team caused rework. Which THREE actions should the project manager take to ensure continuous improvement?

Accepted Answer

Update the organizational process assets with the lessons learned. Updating organizational process assets (OPA) with lessons learned ensures that the knowledge gained from this project is formally captured and available for future projects, which is a key requirement for continuous improvement in project management. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on transferring lessons learned to the OPA to benefit the organization's project management processes. The other correct options (C and D) also support continuous improvement by documenting the lessons in the register and recommending improvements to the communications management plan for future projects.

Answer

Update the current project's communications management plan to prevent further issues

Answer

Facilitate a conflict resolution session between the remote and local teams

Question 7

Your agile team is struggling with consistently low velocity. The team is demotivated. Which THREE actions should the project manager take to address this?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a retrospective to identify root causes of low velocity. Facilitating a retrospective directly addresses the root cause of low velocity by enabling the team to collaboratively identify and analyze underlying issues, such as process inefficiencies or technical debt, which is a core agile practice for continuous improvement. This action empowers the team to own their solutions, which can also help restore motivation by giving them agency over their workflow.

Answer

Replace underperforming team members with new resources

Answer

Reduce the sprint backlog to match current velocity without analysis

Question 8

You are managing a hybrid project where the team uses Scrum for development but follows a traditional approach for reporting. The project is behind schedule because the development team is spending too much time on documentation for status reports. The product owner is concerned about the lack of progress. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Work with the stakeholders to simplify the reporting requirements and reduce the documentation burden on the development team. The root cause is that traditional reporting requirements are imposing documentation overhead on a Scrum development team, slowing delivery. The PM's correct move is to address the process constraint at its source by negotiating with stakeholders to streamline reporting, which frees the team to deliver value. This aligns with PMBOK's emphasis on stakeholder engagement and tailoring processes to the project's delivery approach rather than forcing the team to absorb unnecessary overhead.

Answer

Require the team to attend additional status meetings to improve communication

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Hold a team-building session to improve the team's efficiency

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Add more developers to the team to share the workload

Question 9

During a project to develop a new mobile app, a key team member has been consistently underperforming, missing deadlines, and delivering low-quality work. The team is becoming demotivated. You have had informal conversations with the team member, but performance has not improved. What should you do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Initiate a formal performance improvement plan with clear expectations and consequences. After informal coaching has failed, the next step in progressive discipline is to initiate a formal Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) with clear expectations, measurable goals, and defined consequences. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on addressing performance issues systematically before considering escalation or removal, ensuring fairness and documentation.

Answer

Ignore the issue and hope performance improves naturally

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Escalate to the functional manager to request a replacement

Answer

Remove the team member from the project immediately to protect team morale

Question 10

Your agile team has been working together for three months, and you notice that sprint velocity has been steadily declining. During the retrospective, team members mention they feel overworked and unclear about priorities. What is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with the product owner and team to reprioritize the backlog and reduce workload. It directly addresses the root causes of declining velocity: unclear priorities and overwork. By facilitating a discussion between the team and the product owner, you enable collaborative backlog reprioritization and workload adjustment, which aligns with the agile principle of sustainable pace and the servant leadership role of the project manager. This action empowers the team to focus on the highest-value work while reducing burnout, which is the most effective way to restore velocity.

Answer

Add more team members to the next sprint to increase capacity

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime for the next two sprints to catch up

Answer

Implement a daily stand-up meeting to track progress more closely

Question 11

Your project is halfway through its schedule, and you are performing a variance analysis. You find that the cost performance index (CPI) is 0.85 and the schedule performance index (SPI) is 1.1. What is the MOST likely cause of this situation?

Accepted Answer

The team is working overtime to meet deadlines, resulting in higher labor costs. A CPI of 0.85 indicates that for every dollar spent, only $0.85 of earned value is being delivered, meaning the project is over budget. An SPI of 1.1 indicates the project is ahead of schedule (10% more work completed than planned). The most likely cause is that the team is working overtime to achieve the schedule gains, which increases labor costs (e.g., overtime pay rates) without a proportional increase in output, driving the cost overrun.

Answer

Scope has been reduced without corresponding cost reduction

Answer

There is a calculation error in the earned value data

Answer

The project is under budget and ahead of schedule

Question 12

Your project is in the executing phase, and a new regulation is announced that will affect the project's deliverables. The required changes will impact scope, schedule, and budget. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Update the project management plan and other project documents after the change is approved.. Option B is correct because any change affecting scope, schedule, and budget during executing must go through the Perform Integrated Change Control process, which means documenting and submitting a formal change request to the change control board (CCB) for review and approval. Option D is correct because before the CCB can decide, the project manager must assess the impact of the new regulation on the triple constraint — scope, schedule, and cost — so the request is evaluated with accurate data. Option A is correct because once the change is approved, the project management plan (e.g., scope, schedule, and cost baselines) and other affected project documents must be updated to incorporate the approved modifications. Option C is not appropriate because stopping work on affected deliverables is a drastic action that should only follow an approved change or directive, not be taken immediately upon learning of the regulation. Option E is not appropriate because escalating to the sponsor for a decision bypasses the standard integrated change control process; the sponsor may be involved, but the formal change request and impact analysis come first.

Answer

Immediately inform the project team to stop work on affected deliverables.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision on how to proceed.

Question 13

During a project, the sponsor asks you to skip the user acceptance testing (UAT) phase to save two weeks and meet an accelerated deadline. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping UAT and suggest reducing scope or adding resources instead. Skipping UAT removes the formal validation that deliverables meet user requirements and accept criteria, introducing significant quality and acceptance risk. As the project manager, you should explain these risks to the sponsor and propose alternatives such as reducing scope or adding resources to compress the schedule without eliminating validation. This aligns with PMP principles of stakeholder engagement and proactive risk management.

Answer

Agree to skip UAT to meet the sponsor's deadline

Answer

Escalate the issue to the PMO without discussing with the sponsor

Answer

Skip UAT as requested but document the decision

Question 14

You are managing a project that is on schedule and under budget. A key stakeholder requests a significant scope change that would improve the product's value but also extend the schedule by 20%. The change has not been through change control. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Ask the stakeholder to submit a formal change request for evaluation. When a scope change is requested outside the change control process, the project manager's responsibility is to ensure it is formally documented and evaluated through the integrated change control process. Asking the stakeholder to submit a formal change request allows the change to be assessed for impact on scope, schedule, cost, and risk before any decision is made.

Answer

Refuse the change to protect the original schedule and budget

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Suggest the stakeholder request the change in a follow-up project

Answer

Implement the change since it adds value and the project has contingency

Question 15

Your project is using a critical chain method. You have identified that the project buffer is being consumed faster than planned due to delays in several tasks. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the reasons for the delays and implement corrective actions to prevent further buffer erosion.. In critical chain project management, when the project buffer is being consumed faster than planned, the correct response is to analyze the root causes of the delays and implement corrective actions to prevent further buffer erosion. This preserves the buffer for remaining work and addresses the underlying issues rather than masking them. Simply adding resources or buffer does not solve the systemic problem.

Answer

Expedite the remaining tasks by adding more resources to critical chain tasks.

Answer

Add more buffer to the project schedule to accommodate the delays.

Answer

Inform stakeholders that the project will likely be delayed and request additional time.