PMP Practice Test 34 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An executive stakeholder bypasses the project manager and directly assigns tasks to a team member, causing confusion about priorities. The team member is unsure which tasks to work on. What should the project manager do FIRST?

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

Accepted Answer

Clarify priorities with the team member and schedule a private meeting with the executive to discuss the communication protocol. The project manager must first clarify priorities with the team member to resolve immediate confusion, then address the root cause by meeting privately with the executive to reinforce the communication protocol. This aligns with PMI's emphasis on proactive stakeholder management and conflict resolution without public escalation.

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Ignore the situation to avoid conflict with the executive

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File a formal complaint with the HR department

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Politely remind the executive during a meeting that all task assignments must go through the PM

Question 2

A key vendor notifies you that they cannot deliver a critical component on time due to a supplier issue. The component is on the critical path. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Review the risk register for the identified risk and implement the planned response. PMBOK's 'Implement Risk Responses' process says that when a risk that was previously identified actually occurs, the project manager should consult the risk register and execute the pre-planned response. Since the vendor delay is on the critical path and was apparently a known risk, the first action is to review the register and activate the contingency plan. This is faster and more disciplined than improvising a new solution.

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Find an alternative vendor and place an order

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

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Immediately inform the sponsor and steering committee

Question 3

In a large program using a hybrid approach, two senior developers have a conflict over the technical design of a critical component. The disagreement is causing delays and affecting team morale. As the program manager, what is the best first step?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting with both developers to discuss the pros and cons of each design and reach a consensus. The best first step is to facilitate a collaborative discussion between the two developers. This approach aligns with PMP principles of conflict resolution, specifically the 'collaborate/problem solve' technique, which aims for a win-win outcome by addressing the root cause. By discussing pros and cons, the program manager enables the team to reach consensus, preserving morale and leveraging diverse perspectives. This also empowers the team and maintains a healthy work environment, crucial for project success.

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Make a decision yourself based on your technical expertise to resolve the conflict quickly

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for resolution

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Replace one of the developers with a contractor to eliminate the conflict

Question 4

An executive stakeholder bypasses you and directly gives instructions to the development team to add a new report. The team starts working on it. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Discuss with the executive the importance of following the change control process and update the communications management plan. When a stakeholder bypasses the project manager and directly instructs the team, the PM should address the behavior with the stakeholder directly, reinforce the change control process, and update the communications management plan to prevent recurrence. This preserves the PM's authority, protects the team from conflicting direction, and ensures changes are evaluated for impact. Confrontation or unilateral work stoppage escalates conflict unnecessarily.

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Immediately stop the team's work on the new report without discussing with the executive

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Allow the team to continue to avoid conflict with the executive

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Confront the executive and demand they stop contacting the team

Question 5

You are the project manager for a large infrastructure project. Midway through, a new regulatory requirement is introduced that mandates additional environmental testing, which could delay the project by one month and increase costs by 5%. The change control board (CCB) is scheduled to meet in two weeks. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the impact of the regulatory requirement and prepare a change request for the CCB meeting. Under PMBOK and standard project management practice, when a change is introduced, the project manager must first perform an impact analysis (scope, schedule, cost, risk, quality) and then submit a formal change request to the CCB. Starting work before approval (A) bypasses the change control process, and submitting without analysis (D) gives the CCB insufficient information to decide. The correct first step is to analyze and prepare the change request.

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Instruct the team to start the additional testing immediately to avoid further delay

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Ignore the requirement until the CCB meets, then decide

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Submit a change request immediately to the CCB without detailed analysis

Question 6

Your project's earned value analysis shows CPI = 0.85 and SPI = 0.90. The project is behind schedule and over budget. Several stakeholders are concerned about the viability of the project. What is the BEST course of action?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a variance analysis, identify root causes, and present a recovery plan to stakeholders.. With CPI = 0.85 and SPI = 0.90, the project is over budget and behind schedule. The best course is to conduct a variance analysis to identify root causes and then present a recovery plan to stakeholders. This approach is proactive, data-driven, and aligns with PMBOK's emphasis on integrated change control and stakeholder engagement.

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Request additional budget from the sponsor to cover the overrun.

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Reduce scope by removing lower-priority features to cut costs.

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Re-baseline the project schedule and cost to reflect current performance.

Question 7

Match each project management artifact to its typical content.

Accepted Answer

Project Charter: Authorizes the project and assigns the project manager.. The project charter authorizes the project, while the WBS decomposes work. The risk register lists risks, and the change log records changes. Common confusions involve swapping definitions between these artifacts.

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Risk Register: Authorizes the project and assigns the project manager.

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Change Log: Hierarchical decomposition of work packages.

Question 8

Your agile project has experienced a significant drop in velocity for two consecutive sprints. The team is blaming unclear requirements from the product owner, while the product owner claims the team is not collaborating enough. As the scrum master, which THREE actions should you take to address the situation?

Accepted Answer

Coach the product owner on techniques for refining the product backlog and writing clear user stories. Option C is correct because the product owner's unclear requirements are a root cause of the velocity drop, and the scrum master should coach the product owner on backlog refinement and writing clear, INVEST-compliant user stories with acceptance criteria so the team can estimate and deliver effectively. Option D is correct because the scrum master serves the team by coaching it toward self-organization and improved collaboration, which directly addresses the product owner's complaint and helps the team resolve impediments without top-down mandates. Option E is correct because the sprint retrospective is the scrum event designed to inspect how the last sprint went and identify root causes of the velocity decline, enabling the team to create actionable improvement items. Option A is not appropriate because adding buffer time merely hides the problem and inflates estimates rather than addressing the underlying causes of reduced velocity. Option B is not appropriate because mandating pairing on all tasks removes the team's self-organization and autonomy, which is contrary to scrum principles and unlikely to fix the collaboration issue.

Answer

Add buffer time to the next sprint to account for uncertainty

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Mandate that the team must collaborate more by pairing on all tasks

Question 9

You are managing a software upgrade project. A senior executive bypasses you and directly instructs a team member to include a new feature in the release. The team member is confused and asks for your direction. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Speak with the executive to explain the change control process and the impact of the request.. The FIRST step is to speak with the executive to explain the change control process and the impact of the request. This addresses the root cause—the executive bypassing the process—through direct communication and education, rather than escalating or ignoring the issue. It respects the executive's authority while upholding project management best practices.

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Submit a change request on behalf of the executive without assessment.

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Advise the team member to follow the executive's instruction.

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Escalate the situation to the executive's manager immediately.

Question 10

During a sprint review, the product owner rejects a user story because it does not meet the acceptance criteria. The developer who completed the story argues that the functionality is sufficient and that the criteria were too strict. Both parties escalate to you. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with both parties to review the acceptance criteria and discuss expectations. When a sprint review surfaces a disagreement about acceptance criteria, the first step is to bring the parties together to review the criteria and align on expectations. This addresses the root cause—misalignment on what 'done' means—rather than forcing a resolution. It respects the product owner's authority over acceptance while giving the developer a chance to clarify.

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Ask the team to redo the story to strictly meet the criteria without further discussion

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Accept the story as is and move on to avoid delaying the sprint

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Support the developer and ask the product owner to relax the criteria

Question 11

Your project's cost performance index (CPI) is 0.8, and the schedule performance index (SPI) is 1.1. The project is in the execution phase. What is the most likely reason for these indices?

Accepted Answer

The project manager used crashing to meet a deadline, adding resources and increasing costs. A CPI of 0.8 means the project is over budget (costing more than planned per unit of work), while an SPI of 1.1 means the project is ahead of schedule (progressing faster than planned). Crashing is a schedule compression technique that adds resources to critical path activities to shorten duration, which increases costs. This perfectly explains being ahead of schedule but over budget.

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The team had to rework deliverables due to quality issues

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The project is experiencing scope creep

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The team is working more efficiently than planned

Question 12

A project manager is forming a new virtual team with members from different countries. During the kick-off, the PM wants to build trust and establish norms. Which of the following actions should the PM take FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to create a team charter that defines communication protocols and values. In the forming stage of team development, the project manager's first priority is to establish clear expectations, build trust, and create a shared understanding of how the team will work together. Facilitating a session to create a team charter accomplishes this by defining communication protocols, values, and norms collaboratively, which is essential for a virtual team spread across different countries.

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Assign roles and responsibilities based on each member's functional expertise

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Schedule weekly virtual coffee chats to encourage informal bonding

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Send a detailed email outlining the team's ground rules and expectations

Question 13

A project using a predictive approach is 40% complete. The earned value (EV) is $200,000, the planned value (PV) is $250,000, and the actual cost (AC) is $230,000. What should the project manager do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the variances to determine root causes and implement corrective actions. The PMP mindset requires the project manager to first analyze variances before taking action or escalating. With EV=$200,000, PV=$250,000, and AC=$230,000, the project is behind schedule (SV=-$50,000) and over budget (CV=-$30,000). The correct next step is to perform variance analysis to identify root causes and then implement corrective actions, which is exactly what option B describes.

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Report the variances to stakeholders immediately and ask for more budget

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Calculate the estimate at completion (EAC) and rebaseline the project

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Apply schedule compression techniques such as crashing

Question 14

Your project is 60% complete. The cost performance index (CPI) is 1.1, and the schedule performance index (SPI) is 0.85. The project sponsor is concerned about the schedule delay. Which of the following is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the schedule and evaluate options such as fast-tracking or crashing with the cost savings. With CPI = 1.1 (under budget) and SPI = 0.85 (behind schedule), the project has cost savings that can be used to address the schedule delay. The best action is to analyze the schedule and evaluate options like fast-tracking or crashing using the available cost savings. This is a balanced approach that leverages the cost efficiency to recover schedule without compromising scope or quality.

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Reduce scope to meet the schedule deadline

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Immediately add more resources to the critical path to speed up work

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Update the schedule baseline to reflect the current actuals

Question 15

You are managing a distributed team with members in different time zones. A team member complains that they feel isolated and uninformed about project decisions. What should you do FIRST to address this?

Accepted Answer

Implement daily stand-up meetings and use a collaboration platform to share updates. The FIRST step in addressing team member isolation and lack of information is to implement regular communication mechanisms that are inclusive and structured, such as daily stand-ups and a collaboration platform. These practices directly address the root cause by ensuring consistent information flow and interaction among distributed team members. This aligns with PMBOK guidance on managing virtual teams and fostering engagement.

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Send weekly email summaries of decisions

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Advise the team member to be more proactive in seeking information

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Assign the team member to a local mentor