PMP Practice Test 37 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Two senior developers on your agile team have a disagreement about the best technical approach for a user story. The disagreement is causing delays and tension in the team. What should the scrum master do?

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

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting where both developers present their approaches and the team decides.. The scrum master should facilitate a collaborative decision-making process, allowing the team to evaluate both approaches and reach a consensus. Option B is incorrect because the scrum master should not impose a technical solution; that undermines the team's self-organization. Option C is incorrect because leaving the conflict unresolved may cause further delays. Option D is incorrect because the product owner is not responsible for technical decisions; the team should decide.

Answer

Decide on the technical approach yourself to resolve the conflict quickly.

Answer

Ask the developers to resolve it on their own without intervention.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the product owner for a decision.

Question 2

You are managing a marketing campaign project. The sponsor asks you to skip the quality review of the final deliverables to meet the deadline. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the potential risks of skipping the review and propose alternatives to compress the schedule without sacrificing quality.. The project manager should communicate the risks of skipping quality reviews and work with the sponsor to find ways to meet the deadline without compromising quality, such as fast tracking or crashing. Option A is incorrect as it violates quality standards and increases risk. Option B is too aggressive; escalation should be a last resort after discussion. Option C is inappropriate as it involves deception and does not address the underlying issue.

Answer

Agree to skip the review to meet the deadline as requested by the sponsor.

Answer

Refuse the request and immediately escalate to the PMO.

Answer

Skip the review but perform it after the deadline without telling anyone.

Question 3

You are managing a project using a predictive approach. A key stakeholder requests a minor change that does not affect the critical path but will add two days to the schedule. The team has some idle time. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board for evaluation.. Even minor changes must follow the formal change control process. The project manager should submit a change request to the change control board (CCB) for evaluation, as changes affecting the schedule baseline require approval. Option A bypasses the process; Option C incorrectly refuses without evaluation; Option D assumes approval without proper analysis.

Answer

Tell the team to implement the change and update the schedule later.

Answer

Refuse the change to protect the schedule baseline.

Answer

Approve the change since it is minor and the team can absorb the delay.

Question 4

A project is using a predictive approach. The project manager discovers that a team member has been gold-plating by adding extra features to a deliverable without authorization. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the team member to discuss the issue and explain that only approved scope should be worked on.. In a predictive (waterfall) project, scope is strictly controlled through a formal change control process. Gold-plating—adding unauthorized features—violates this control and introduces risks like scope creep, budget overruns, and schedule delays. The project manager's first action must be to address the behavior directly with the team member, reinforcing that only approved scope should be worked on, before any further steps like change requests are considered.

Answer

Praise the team member for going above and beyond to satisfy the customer.

Answer

Submit a change request to formally approve the extra features.

Answer

Ignore it because it might improve customer satisfaction.

Question 5

Your project team is experiencing a conflict between two members that is affecting the entire team's productivity. As the project manager, which TWO actions should you take to resolve the situation?

Accepted Answer

Meet with each team member individually to understand their perspectives.. Options B and E are correct. Meeting individually with each team member allows the project manager to understand their perspectives without group pressure. Facilitating a conflict resolution session provides a structured approach to help both parties collaboratively resolve the issue. Option A is an extreme measure that removes team members unnecessarily. Option C escalates prematurely before attempting resolution at the team level. Option D ignores the conflict, which typically causes it to worsen.

Answer

Remove both team members from the project.

Answer

Escalate the conflict to the project sponsor.

Answer

Ignore the conflict and hope it resolves on its own.

Question 6

Your project is using a hybrid approach. During the execution phase, you notice that the cost performance index (CPI) is 0.8 and the schedule performance index (SPI) is 1.1. What does this indicate?

Accepted Answer

The project is over budget and ahead of schedule. CPI = 0.8, which is less than 1, indicates that the project is over budget (cost performance is unfavorable). SPI = 1.1, which is greater than 1, indicates that the project is ahead of schedule (schedule performance is favorable). Therefore, the project is over budget and ahead of schedule, which corresponds to option C. Option A is incorrect because being under budget would require CPI > 1, and behind schedule would require SPI < 1. Option B is incorrect because it claims behind schedule but SPI > 1. Option D is incorrect because it claims under budget but CPI < 1.

Answer

The project is under budget and behind schedule

Answer

The project is over budget and behind schedule

Answer

The project is under budget and ahead of schedule

Question 7

Your project has multiple stakeholders with conflicting interests. The project sponsor wants to prioritize speed, while the quality assurance manager insists on thorough testing. The product owner wants to add more features. Which THREE techniques can help manage these conflicting stakeholder expectations?

Accepted Answer

Develop a communications management plan to ensure consistent messaging.. Effective stakeholder management includes communication planning, negotiation, and using a stakeholder engagement assessment matrix to understand and address expectations. The issue log documents conflicts but doesn't resolve them directly.

Answer

Create an issue log to document all stakeholder concerns.

Answer

Escalate all conflicts to the project sponsor for decision.

Question 8

Your agile team's velocity has dropped over the last three sprints. During the retrospective, the team cites increasing technical debt and lack of automated testing. Which TWO actions should you take to address this?

Accepted Answer

Allocate time each sprint to address technical debt and improve code quality.. To improve velocity, the team should allocate time to reduce technical debt (e.g., refactoring) and implement automated testing to improve efficiency.

Answer

Reduce the definition of done to skip testing.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to complete more story points.

Answer

Add more developers to the team to increase capacity.

Question 9

Your project is in execution phase. The earned value metrics show: EV = $400,000, PV = $500,000, AC = $450,000, BAC = $1,000,000. Which THREE actions should you take to address the project's performance?

Accepted Answer

Re-estimate the estimate at completion (EAC) based on current performance. The project is behind schedule (EV < PV) and over budget (EV < AC). The correct actions are to re-estimate the EAC to reflect current performance (A), analyze root causes of variances (B), and identify and implement corrective actions (D). Crashing the critical path (C) is a potential schedule recovery technique but should not be done without first analyzing the causes; it may increase costs. Escalating to sponsor (E) is premature without attempting corrective actions first.

Answer

Immediately crash the critical path to recover schedule

Answer

Escalate the performance issues to the sponsor with a request for additional budget

Question 10

Match each project management process group to its primary purpose.

Accepted Answer

Initiating: Defines and authorizes the project or phase.. The five process groups are Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. Their correct purposes are as described in the correct options. Common confusions include swapping the definitions of Monitoring and Controlling and Closing.

Answer

Monitoring and Controlling: Finalizes all activities to formally close the project or phase.

Answer

Closing: Tracks, reviews, and regulates progress and performance.

Question 11

In an agile project, the product owner frequently changes priorities within a sprint, causing the team to lose focus and velocity to drop. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a retrospective where the team can discuss the impact of changing priorities and agree on a process. The project manager should first facilitate a retrospective to allow the team to collaboratively analyze the impact of changing priorities and agree on a process to protect the sprint goal. This aligns with the agile principle of continuous improvement and empowers the team to address the root cause without escalating prematurely or violating sprint commitments.

Answer

Ask the team to accommodate the changes and work overtime to meet the original commitment

Answer

Escalate to the project sponsor that the product owner is interfering with the team

Answer

Tell the product owner that scope changes are not allowed during a sprint

Question 12

You are the project manager for a software upgrade project. The team is using a hybrid approach with two-week sprints. During sprint planning, the product owner wants to include a user story that the team believes is too large to complete in one sprint. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate breaking the story down into smaller, manageable stories for the sprint. Options C and D are correct. In a hybrid approach with sprints, user stories that are too large should be broken down into smaller, manageable pieces to fit within a sprint (C). This aligns with agile principles of decomposition and iterative delivery. Additionally, documenting the product owner's request and managing expectations through the change control process ensures that any changes to scope or priorities are properly managed (D). Option A is incorrect because removing the story from the backlog is premature; it should be refined first. Option B is incorrect because adjusting sprint duration defeats the purpose of time-boxed sprints. Option E is incorrect because forcing the team to commit to an oversized story leads to poor quality and unmet commitments.

Answer

Remove the story from the backlog since it cannot be completed in one sprint

Answer

Accept the story without changes and adjust the sprint duration

Answer

Insist that the team commit to the story to satisfy the product owner

Question 13

Your project is in the execution phase when an executive stakeholder bypasses you and gives direct orders to the team to add a new feature. This feature is not in the scope. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact of the new feature on scope, schedule, and cost in preparation for a formal change request. Options A and D are correct. The PM should first meet privately with the executive to explain the importance of following the change control process and to prevent future bypasses, then formally assess the impact of the requested feature on scope, schedule, and cost via a change request. Option B is premature escalation without attempting direct communication. Option C is confrontational and may damage stakeholder relationships. Option E violates change control and could lead to scope creep.

Answer

Immediately escalate the issue to the project sponsor

Answer

Tell the team to ignore the executive's request

Answer

Ask the team to implement the feature as requested by the executive

Question 14

Your project team includes members from diverse cultural backgrounds. During a team meeting, you notice that some members are not speaking up, while others dominate the conversation. The meeting is not productive. What should the project manager do to promote inclusion and improve meeting effectiveness?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to create team norms that include respectful communication and equal opportunity to speak. Establishing team norms through a facilitated session directly addresses the root cause of unproductive meetings—lack of agreed-upon communication protocols. This aligns with the PMP's 'People' domain, specifically leading diverse teams by creating a psychologically safe environment where all members have equal opportunity to contribute. The project manager uses facilitation skills to co-create rules that respect cultural differences, which is more sustainable than top-down mandates.

Answer

Assign each team member a specific time to speak during meetings

Answer

Continue with the current approach and hope the team adapts over time

Answer

Ask the dominant members to refrain from speaking and encourage the quiet members to contribute

Question 15

Your project is using a hybrid approach with both predictive and agile elements. Mid-project, a key stakeholder requests a significant scope change that would affect the critical path. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact on the critical path, schedule, cost, and quality.. PMI requires following the change control process: formally submit a change request, evaluate the impact on the critical path and project constraints, and communicate the impact to stakeholders before approval.

Answer

Add the change to the product backlog to be addressed in a future iteration.

Answer

Implement the change immediately since the stakeholder is key to project success.