PMP Practice Test 44 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A project manager is leading a globally distributed team. Two team members from different time zones have conflicting work styles, leading to missed deadlines and tension. What is the best first step for the project manager to resolve this?

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

Accepted Answer

Schedule a virtual meeting with both team members to discuss and resolve the conflict.. The PMBOK Guide emphasizes that the project manager should first address interpersonal conflicts directly through collaboration and communication. Scheduling a virtual meeting allows both team members to discuss their work styles, understand each other's constraints (e.g., time zone differences), and find a mutually acceptable solution, which aligns with the 'Collaborate/Problem Solve' conflict resolution technique. This step is proactive and respects the team's autonomy, which is critical for globally distributed teams.

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Reassign tasks to separate the team members and minimize interaction.

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Ignore the conflict and hope the team members resolve it themselves.

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Escalate the issue to the functional managers of both team members.

Question 2

A project is halfway through its schedule. The earned value (EV) is $50,000, planned value (PV) is $60,000, and actual cost (AC) is $70,000. The project manager calculates the cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI). Based on these metrics, what is the most likely situation?

Accepted Answer

The project is over budget and behind schedule.. CPI = EV/AC = 50,000/70,000 ≈ 0.71, which is below 1.0, indicating the project is over budget. SPI = EV/PV = 50,000/60,000 ≈ 0.83, which is also below 1.0, indicating the project is behind schedule. Both indices below 1.0 point to a project that is over budget and behind schedule.

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The project is under budget but behind schedule.

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The project is under budget and ahead of schedule.

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The project is over budget but ahead of schedule.

Question 3

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. During a sprint review, the product owner requests a new feature that was not in the backlog. The team estimates it will take 5 days to implement. What is the BEST action to take?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request and assess the impact on the project baseline.. In a hybrid project with a defined baseline, a new feature request from the product owner during a sprint review is a scope change that must go through the integrated change control process. Submitting a change request and assessing impact on the baseline ensures the change is evaluated for scope, schedule, cost, and risk before approval. This preserves governance even in agile-hybrid environments.

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Tell the product owner that no changes are allowed until the project is completed.

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Ask the team to include it in the next sprint and inform the product owner.

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Add the feature to the current sprint as it's small and the team can handle it.

Question 4

Your agile project is in its third sprint. The product owner has been pressuring the team to deliver more features each sprint to meet stakeholder expectations. Sprint velocity has dropped for two consecutive sprints, and the team seems demotivated. As the project manager, what should you do?

Accepted Answer

Coach the product owner on agile principles and facilitate a discussion on sustainable pace and prioritization. The root cause of the velocity drop and team demotivation is a mismatch between stakeholder pressure and the team's sustainable pace. As the project manager, you must coach the product owner on agile principles—specifically that velocity is a measure of capacity, not a target—and facilitate a discussion to reprioritize the backlog so the team can deliver value without burnout. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on servant leadership and protecting the team from external pressure.

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Add more developers to the team to increase capacity

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Extend the sprint duration to allow more time for feature completion

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Ask the team to work overtime to catch up on the backlog

Question 5

In your Scrum project, the development team has been consistently missing sprint commitments. During the retrospective, the team identifies that scope is often added during the sprint by the product owner without consulting the team. What should you do as the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Coach the product owner on the importance of not changing scope during a sprint.. As Scrum Master, the correct action is to coach the product owner on why scope should not change mid-sprint — the sprint backlog is owned by the development team and protected during the sprint. Coaching is the Scrum Master's primary tool for addressing process violations and helping the product owner understand their role boundaries.

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Ask the product owner to stop attending daily standups to prevent scope changes.

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Update the sprint backlog to reflect the changes and extend the sprint duration.

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Allow the product owner to add scope if the team agrees.

Question 6

A project manager is developing the project schedule and needs to account for a resource that is only available 50% of the time. Which technique should be used to adjust the schedule?

Accepted Answer

Resource leveling. Resource leveling is the correct technique because it adjusts the schedule to account for resource constraints, such as a resource being available only 50% of the time. This technique modifies start and finish dates based on resource availability, ensuring the resource is not over-allocated. In this scenario, leveling would spread the resource's work across the schedule to match the 50% availability, potentially extending the project duration.

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Crashing

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Fast tracking

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Critical path method

Question 7

A project manager is leading a team with diverse cultural backgrounds. Some members are reluctant to speak up in meetings. What is the best strategy to promote inclusive participation?

Accepted Answer

Use anonymous polling tools to gather opinions before decisions.. Anonymous polling tools create a psychologically safe environment where team members from diverse cultural backgrounds can contribute without fear of judgment or loss of face. This aligns with the PMI Talent Triangle's emphasis on emotional intelligence and inclusive leadership, as it removes power dynamics and cultural barriers that inhibit verbal participation in meetings.

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Schedule one-on-one meetings with only the quiet members.

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Ask the most senior team member to represent others.

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Implement a round-robin where everyone must speak.

Question 8

During an agile project, the product owner frequently changes priorities during the sprint, causing the team to lose focus and miss sprint goals. The team expresses frustration in the retrospective. As the project manager, what should you do?

Accepted Answer

Coach the product owner on the importance of not changing priorities during a sprint to protect the team's focus. In agile, the product owner is responsible for prioritizing the backlog, but changing priorities mid-sprint undermines the team's ability to meet the sprint goal. The project manager should coach the product owner on agile principles, emphasizing that scope changes should be deferred to the next sprint planning to protect the team's focus. This addresses the root cause without disrupting the team or violating agile practices.

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Instruct the team to ignore the product owner's changes until the next sprint planning

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Add a buffer to the sprint backlog to accommodate potential changes

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Extend the sprint duration to allow the team to accommodate changes

Question 9

During a project, a key team member resigns unexpectedly. The project manager needs to fill the role quickly. What is the first action the project manager should take?

Accepted Answer

Review the project management plan to determine resource requirements and update the staffing plan.. The project manager must first refer to the project management plan to identify the documented resource requirements, roles, and responsibilities for the vacant position. This ensures that any replacement aligns with the approved staffing management plan and avoids ad-hoc decisions that could violate budget or skill specifications. Updating the staffing plan is the foundational step before initiating any recruitment or reassignment actions.

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Contact the former employee to negotiate a return.

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Ask the sponsor to reassign someone from another project.

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Immediately post a job opening for the same role.

Question 10

You are managing a large-scale construction project. A critical vendor has informed you that they will be delayed by two months due to a raw material shortage. This risk was identified and recorded in the risk register with a contingency plan to use an alternative vendor. However, the alternative vendor's materials are more expensive and will increase project costs by 10%. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Request a change request to update the cost baseline and budget.. Option D is correct because the risk was already identified in the risk register with a contingency plan to use an alternative vendor, so the appropriate response is to implement that planned risk response (the contingency plan) by engaging the alternative vendor. Option A is correct because the alternative vendor's materials will increase project costs by 10%, which exceeds the approved cost baseline, so a change request is required to update the cost baseline and budget through integrated change control. Option B is correct because a significant cost and schedule impact affecting a critical vendor is a material project issue, and key stakeholders must be notified about the situation and the plan to proceed per stakeholder engagement and communications management. Option C is not correct because working overtime to recover the schedule is a schedule compression (crashing) action that is not the documented contingency plan and would add unapproved cost and risk without a change request. Option E is not correct because rejecting the vendor's notice and demanding the original deadline is unrealistic and does not address the raw material shortage, nor does it follow the risk response plan already recorded in the risk register.

Answer

Instruct the team to work overtime to recover the schedule.

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Reject the vendor's notice and demand they meet the original deadline.

Question 11

A junior team member consistently misses deadlines, affecting the project schedule. You have spoken to them twice about the issue, but performance has not improved. What should you do NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the team member privately to explore any obstacles or personal challenges.. The PM should first seek to understand the root cause of the performance issue through a private, supportive conversation. This aligns with the PMP's 'People' domain, emphasizing servant leadership and emotional intelligence. Exploring obstacles or personal challenges addresses potential underlying factors (e.g., unclear requirements, resource constraints, or personal stress) before escalating or reassigning work.

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Reassign the tasks to another team member.

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Escalate the matter to the team member's functional manager.

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Ignore the issue to avoid conflict.

Question 12

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. During a sprint review, the product owner requests a new feature that was not in the backlog. The team estimates it will take 5 additional days. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board and assess impact on schedule, cost, and resources. According to PMI, any scope change must go through the change control process. The most appropriate first step is to document and assess the impact of the change.

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Add the feature to the product backlog and prioritize it in the next sprint planning

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Inform the product owner that no changes can be made once the sprint has started

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Ask the team to start working on the feature immediately to satisfy the stakeholder

Question 13

Your organization is undergoing an agile transformation. The current project uses Scrum, but the executive sponsor wants to adopt SAFe to align with enterprise strategy. Several team members resist the change, citing loss of autonomy. As the project manager, what should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Organize a meeting with the team to discuss concerns and explain the benefits of SAFe in alignment with organizational strategy. In an agile transformation, resistance to change is best addressed through open communication and engagement — meeting with the team to understand concerns and explain how SAFe aligns with organizational strategy builds buy-in and respects the team's autonomy concerns. This is the servant-leadership and stakeholder-engagement approach PMP expects.

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Mandate the adoption of SAFe and enforce it through performance reviews

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Delay the transformation until the next fiscal year to avoid conflict

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Escalate to the project sponsor and request that the team be replaced

Question 14

In an agile transformation initiative, the project manager notices that the team's velocity has dropped significantly over the last three sprints. The team cites unclear requirements and frequent interruptions from stakeholders. The project manager also notes that the product owner has been absent from sprint planning and review meetings. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule a meeting with the product owner and the project sponsor to discuss the importance of the product owner's role and its impact on velocity.. The correct first step is to address the root cause: the product owner's absence, which leads to unclear requirements and stakeholder interruptions. Option A directly involves the product owner and sponsor to reinforce the product owner's critical role in agile. Option B (stricter definition of done) does not address the absence or requirement issues. Option C (adding buffer) is reactive and does not solve the underlying problem. Option D (escalating to replace) is premature without first discussing the issue with the product owner and sponsor.

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Implement a stricter definition of 'done' and enforce it during sprint reviews.

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Add more buffer time to future sprint backlogs to compensate for the low velocity.

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Escalate to the PMO to replace the product owner.

Question 15

Your project is using a predictive approach. A key vendor has informed you that they will be unable to deliver a critical component on time, which could delay the project by three weeks. You have identified this risk in the risk register. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Implement the risk response plan that was documented in the risk register. Because the risk was already identified and documented in the risk register, the appropriate first action is to execute the pre-planned risk response. In predictive (waterfall) project management, identified risks have documented response strategies (avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept) with owners and triggers — when the trigger occurs, the response plan is implemented. This is the proactive, planned approach that PMBOK and the PMP exam expect.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor immediately without taking any action

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Update the risk register and continue monitoring, as the risk was expected

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Ask the team to find a workaround without consulting the risk register