PMP Practice Test 37 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Order the steps for creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Accepted Answer

Identify deliverables, then Decompose deliverables, then Assign codes, then Verify decomposition, then Create WBS dictionary. The WBS process starts with identifying deliverables, decomposing them, coding, verifying, and documenting in the dictionary.

Answer

Decompose deliverables, then Identify deliverables, then Assign codes, then Verify decomposition, then Create WBS dictionary

Answer

Identify deliverables, then Assign codes, then Decompose deliverables, then Verify decomposition, then Create WBS dictionary

Answer

Identify deliverables, then Decompose deliverables, then Verify decomposition, then Assign codes, then Create WBS dictionary

Question 2

During a project, you notice that a team member with specialized skills is becoming demotivated because their work is not being recognized. What is the BEST way to address this?

Accepted Answer

Publicly acknowledge the team member's contributions during team meetings.. Publicly acknowledging the team member's contributions directly addresses the root cause of demotivation—lack of recognition—by leveraging positive reinforcement and team visibility. This aligns with the PMP's focus on servant leadership and motivational theories like Herzberg's hygiene factors, where recognition is a key motivator. It fosters a supportive team culture without bypassing the project manager's direct relationship with the team member.

Answer

Discuss the issue with the team member's supervisor.

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Give the team member a monetary bonus.

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Assign the team member more challenging tasks.

Question 3

Your project team is distributed across three time zones. You notice that team members from one location often dominate discussions during daily stand-ups, while others remain silent. As a result, collaboration is suffering. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to create a team charter that includes agreed-upon communication practices and meeting etiquette. The correct first step is to facilitate a team charter session because it establishes agreed-upon communication practices and meeting etiquette, addressing the root cause of unequal participation by creating a shared framework for collaboration. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on team charter development as a proactive, collaborative tool to define norms and expectations, rather than imposing top-down solutions or avoiding the issue.

Answer

Ask the quieter team members to speak up more during meetings

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Assign a rotating facilitator for each stand-up to ensure equal participation

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Switch to asynchronous communication tools to avoid time zone conflicts

Question 4

You are the project manager for a large infrastructure project. During a routine check, you discover that the project's SPI is 0.85 and the CPI is 0.90. The project sponsor is concerned about the schedule delay and asks you to compress the schedule without increasing costs. Which technique is BEST suited for this situation?

Accepted Answer

Fast-tracking activities on the critical path. Fast-tracking involves performing critical path activities in parallel rather than sequentially, which can compress the schedule without increasing costs. Since the project has a CPI of 0.90 (over budget) and an SPI of 0.85 (behind schedule), crashing would add costs, making fast-tracking the only schedule compression technique that does not increase costs.

Answer

Reduce the scope of the project

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Apply resource leveling to smooth resource usage

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Crashing the critical path by adding more resources

Question 5

A project manager is building a new team from scratch. To maximize team performance, which THREE actions should the project manager take during the forming stage?

Accepted Answer

Plan team-building activities to build relationships.. During the forming stage of Tuckman's model, team members are often polite and uncertain; planned team-building activities help establish trust and social bonds, which are essential for later stages. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on developing the team as a key process in the People domain.

Answer

Empower the team to make all project decisions.

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Encourage open conflict to surface issues.

Question 6

You are the project manager on a large infrastructure project. During execution, a new government regulation is announced that will affect your project's compliance requirements. The change is mandatory and must be implemented within 60 days, or the project will be shut down. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the impact on the project and submit a change request to incorporate the new requirements. The first step when a mandatory regulation arises is to analyze its impact on the project's scope, schedule, and budget, then submit a formal change request to integrate the new requirements. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's change control process, ensuring the change is evaluated and approved before implementation, even under urgent compliance deadlines.

Answer

Direct the team to immediately implement the changes required by the regulation to avoid shutdown

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Inform the sponsor that the project will need to be cancelled due to the new regulation

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Ignore the regulation and continue as planned because it is not yet enforced

Question 7

You are managing a software development project using an Agile approach. The team consists of 8 developers and 2 testers. During the last three sprints, the team has consistently delivered about 70% of planned story points. The product owner is frustrated because key features are being delayed. The team reports that they are spending too much time fixing defects found during testing, and that the testers are a bottleneck. Upon reviewing the definition of done, you notice that unit tests are required but not always written, and integration tests are done only at the end of the sprint. What is the BEST course of action to address the root cause?

Accepted Answer

Require that all code have unit tests before being merged, and implement continuous integration to run automated tests every few hours.. Directly addresses the root cause: the team is spending too much time fixing defects because unit tests are not always written and integration tests are deferred to the end of the sprint. By requiring unit tests before merging and implementing continuous integration (CI) with automated tests running every few hours, defects are caught earlier, reducing rework and eliminating the tester bottleneck. This aligns with Agile principles of built-in quality and early feedback, which improves velocity and predictability.

Answer

Reduce the sprint backlog size to 50% of current capacity to allow more time for testing.

Answer

Ask the product owner to defer non-critical features to later releases.

Answer

Add two more testers to the team to increase testing capacity.

Question 8

You are a project manager for a construction project that is experiencing delays due to unexpected soil conditions. The risk was identified and a contingency plan exists. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Implement the contingency plan as documented in the risk register. The contingency plan was already documented in the risk register for this identified risk (unexpected soil conditions). When a risk occurs, the first action is to implement the pre-planned response as documented, which is a standard project management practice to minimize delay and avoid ad-hoc decisions. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's guidance on executing risk responses for identified risks.

Answer

Contact the project sponsor to inform them of the delay and seek guidance

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Immediately update the project baseline to reflect the delay

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Schedule a meeting with the team to discuss possible responses to the risk

Question 9

A project manager is leading a hybrid project. During a sprint review, the product owner requests a significant scope change that would increase the product's value. The change does not affect the project's critical path. What should the PM do?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request and evaluate the impact on cost, schedule, and resources. In a hybrid project, any scope change—even one that adds value and doesn't affect the critical path—must go through a formal change control process. The project manager should submit a change request to evaluate the full impact on cost, schedule, and resources before approval. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's integrated change control and ensures that trade-offs are understood and documented.

Answer

Refuse the change because the scope was already agreed upon

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Ask the team to implement the change immediately since it adds value

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Add the change to the product backlog for future prioritization without formal approval

Question 10

You are the project manager for a large pharmaceutical company that is developing a new drug. The company's strategic goal is to become a leader in oncology treatments. The project is in the execution phase, and the project sponsor asks you to ensure that the project's outcomes align with the company's strategy. The project team has been working on multiple initiatives, but there is concern that some deliverables may not support the strategic goal. As the project manager, what is the BEST course of action to ensure alignment?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a strategic alignment review and adjust the project plan as needed. Conducting a strategic alignment review during the execution phase allows you to proactively compare current deliverables against the company's oncology leadership goal. Adjusting the project plan based on this review ensures that resources and efforts remain focused on strategic outcomes, which is a key responsibility of the project manager in the Business Environment domain.

Answer

Review the business case to confirm the project's justification

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Update the project charter to reflect the strategic goal

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Wait until the end of the project to measure benefits realization

Question 11

A project team is developing a new software feature. During a sprint review, the product owner requests a change that would increase the scope significantly. The team has already committed to the current sprint backlog. What is the BEST course of action for the project manager?

Accepted Answer

Ask the product owner to prioritize the change and add it to the product backlog for a future sprint.. In agile, the sprint backlog is a commitment for the current iteration. Adding a significant scope change mid-sprint violates the sprint goal and destabilizes the team's velocity. The correct action is to capture the change in the product backlog and prioritize it for a future sprint, preserving the integrity of the current sprint and allowing the product owner to manage the product backlog as the single source of truth for requirements.

Answer

Add the change to the current sprint to satisfy the product owner.

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Proceed with the change but extend the sprint duration.

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Ignore the request until the next project phase.

Question 12

Your construction project is 40% complete, and you have just learned that a key supplier will be unable to deliver critical steel beams for another six weeks due to a factory fire. The beams are on the critical path, and the project has zero float. The risk register had identified a potential supplier delay, with a planned response to use an alternative supplier. What should you do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Implement the contingency plan to use the alternative supplier. The risk register already identified the supplier delay and planned a contingency response (use an alternative supplier). Since the risk has occurred, you must implement the contingency plan per the risk management plan. This is the immediate next step to mitigate the impact on the critical path with zero float.

Answer

Initiate a change request to adjust the schedule baseline

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Update the risk register and close the risk

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor and request additional budget

Question 13

A project manager is managing a construction project and notices that the actual cost for concrete work is consistently 15% above budget. The earned value (EV) is $100,000, and the actual cost (AC) is $115,000. The project manager wants to estimate the cost at completion (EAC) if this trend continues. Which formula should the project manager use?

Accepted Answer

EAC = BAC / CPI. The question states the cost overrun trend (15% above budget) is expected to continue. The formula EAC = BAC / CPI is the appropriate 'typical' estimate at completion when current cost performance is projected to persist. With EV = $100,000 and AC = $115,000, the CPI is 0.87, and dividing the BAC by this CPI yields the forecasted total cost assuming the same efficiency.

Answer

EAC = AC + Bottom-up ETC

Answer

EAC = AC + (BAC - EV)

Answer

EAC = BAC / (CPI * SPI)

Question 14

Arrange the steps for developing a project team.

Accepted Answer

Identify needs, then acquire team members, then build the team, then set ground rules, then train. The correct sequence for developing a project team starts with identifying the required skills and resources, then acquiring team members who meet those needs, developing the team's interpersonal and technical skills (building), setting ground rules to guide behavior, and finally providing specific training to close any remaining gaps. This order ensures that team members are in place before development activities begin, and that rules are established to support a productive environment before training is delivered.

Answer

Acquire team members, then identify needs, then build the team, then set ground rules, then train

Answer

Identify needs, then build the team, then acquire team members, then set ground rules, then train

Answer

Identify needs, then acquire team members, then set ground rules, then build the team, then train

Question 15

You are the project manager for a government IT project. Midway through, a new regulation is enacted that requires additional data privacy controls. The team estimates this will add 4 weeks to the schedule and increase costs by 10%. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board to incorporate the required changes. When a new regulation requires additional data privacy controls, it constitutes a change to the project scope, schedule, and cost. According to PMBOK, any change to the project baseline must go through the Perform Integrated Change Control process. The first step is to submit a change request to the change control board (CCB) to evaluate the impact and decide whether to approve, reject, or defer the change. This ensures that the change is properly assessed and documented before implementation.

Answer

Instruct the team to start implementing the new controls immediately

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Ignore the regulation until the project is complete to avoid delays

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Recommend stopping the project until the regulation is clarified