PMP Practice Test 44 — 15 Questions

Question 1

In an agile project, the team's velocity has dropped across three consecutive sprints. The project manager suspects that technical debt is causing slowdowns. What should the PM do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a retrospective to identify impediments and create an action plan. Facilitating a retrospective allows the team to openly discuss the causes of the velocity drop, including technical debt, and collaboratively create an action plan to address it. Option A is incorrect because replacing team members does not address underlying issues. Option C is incorrect because increasing sprint duration may mask the problem without solving it. Option D is incorrect because immediate escalation to the sponsor bypasses the team's problem-solving process.

Answer

Replace the underperforming team members

Answer

Increase the sprint duration to give the team more time

Answer

Report the velocity drop to the sponsor immediately

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.

Answer

Give the team member a monetary bonus.

Answer

Assign the team member more challenging tasks.

Question 3

You are a project manager for a software development project using Scrum. The product owner has been pressuring the team to increase velocity and deliver more features per sprint. The team feels overwhelmed and quality has started to suffer. Which TWO actions should the project manager take to address this situation?

Accepted Answer

Involve the team in sprint planning to ensure they commit to a realistic amount of work.. The correct actions are A and E. Option A involves the team in sprint planning to ensure realistic commitments, which aligns with Scrum's self-organizing teams. Option E facilitates a meeting between the product owner and the team to discuss sustainable pace, preventing burnout and quality issues. Options B, C, and D are counterproductive: overtime leads to burnout, reducing testing harms quality, and adding team members mid-sprint causes delays and learning curves.

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to meet the product owner's expectations.

Answer

Encourage the team to reduce testing to save time.

Answer

Add more team members to the project to increase capacity.

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

Answer

Apply resource leveling to smooth resource usage

Answer

Crashing the critical path by adding more resources

Question 5

In a hybrid project, the team uses Scrum but the organization requires detailed phase-gate reviews. During the gate review, the steering committee asks for a Gantt chart showing all tasks until project completion. The Scrum team only maintains a product backlog and sprint backlogs. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Create a high-level milestone schedule for the remaining phases. In a hybrid project, the team uses Scrum but the organization requires phase-gate reviews. The steering committee requests a Gantt chart, but the Scrum team only maintains backlogs. To satisfy governance without disrupting the team's agile practices, you should create a high-level milestone schedule for the remaining phases (C), provide a release plan with expected feature delivery dates by sprint (D), and educate the steering committee on agile principles and the value of iterative delivery (E). Converting to pure waterfall (A) is unnecessary and would undermine the benefits of agile. Asking the team to create a detailed Gantt chart for all future sprints (B) is impractical because detailed planning is done sprint by sprint in Scrum.

Answer

Convert the project to a pure waterfall approach to meet governance requirements

Answer

Ask the team to create a detailed Gantt chart for all future sprints

Question 6

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.

Answer

Encourage open conflict to surface issues.

Question 7

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

Answer

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

Answer

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

Question 8

Your project is being audited for compliance with a new data protection regulation. The audit reveals several non-compliance issues. Which TWO actions should you take FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a root cause analysis to understand why non-compliance occurred. The first actions should be to understand why non-compliance occurred and then plan how to fix it. Option A (root cause analysis) is correct because it helps prevent recurrence by addressing underlying causes. Option E (remediation plan) is correct because it outlines specific steps to resolve the issues. Option B is wrong because ignoring the report is unacceptable and could lead to further violations. Option C is wrong while escalation may be needed later, the project manager should first analyze the situation and propose a plan. Option D is wrong because reassigning the team does not address the non-compliance and is not a first step.

Answer

Ignore the audit report until the project is complete

Answer

Escalate the audit findings to executive management immediately

Answer

Reassign the project team to different tasks to avoid further issues

Question 9

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 10

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

Answer

Immediately update the project baseline to reflect the delay

Answer

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

Question 11

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

Answer

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

Answer

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

Question 12

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

Answer

Update the project charter to reflect the strategic goal

Answer

Wait until the end of the project to measure benefits realization

Question 13

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.

Answer

Proceed with the change but extend the sprint duration.

Answer

Ignore the request until the next project phase.

Question 14

You are a project manager overseeing a 12-month ERP implementation. During sprint 6 of 20, the product owner informs you that a key stakeholder wants to add a new reporting module that was not in the original scope. The team estimates this would add 3 weeks to the schedule. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request through the Integrated Change Control process and assess the impact on scope, schedule, and cost. The addition of a new reporting module represents a change to the approved scope baseline. According to the PMBOK Guide, any change to scope must go through the Integrated Change Control (ICC) process, which includes submitting a formal change request, assessing impacts on scope, schedule, cost, and quality, and obtaining approval before implementation. This ensures that all changes are evaluated and controlled, preventing scope creep and maintaining project alignment with business objectives.

Answer

Ask the team to begin work on the module immediately to accommodate the stakeholder

Answer

Inform the stakeholder that no changes can be made once the project has started

Answer

Add the requirement to the product backlog and let the team address it in a future sprint without formal approval

Question 15

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

Answer

Update the risk register and close the risk

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor and request additional budget