PMP Practice Test 48 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Your construction project is 60% complete. Due to a material shortage, the critical path extended by 10 days. You have float on some non-critical tasks. The sponsor is concerned about the project finishing on time. What should you do FIRST?

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

Accepted Answer

Analyze the schedule for opportunities to crash or fast-track the remaining activities. PMI's best practice is to first analyze whether schedule compression techniques (crash or fast-track) can recover the delay before informing the sponsor. Option D is incorrect because fast-tracking only applies to critical path activities and may not be feasible without analysis; also, it increases risk. Option A is reactive and skips analysis. Option B is premature because you haven't yet determined if compression is possible.

Answer

Increase the budget to procure materials faster

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Immediately notify the sponsor that the project will be delayed

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Fast-track the remaining critical path activities

Question 2

You are managing a large project with multiple vendors. One vendor has delivered a critical component two weeks late, jeopardizing the project schedule. The vendor claims that the delay was caused by unclear specifications from your team. Your team insists the specifications were clear. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting between the vendor and your team to clarify specifications and agree on a recovery plan. As the project manager, your first responsibility is to facilitate collaboration and resolve the root cause of the conflict—unclear specifications—before escalating or assigning blame. By bringing the vendor and your team together, you can clarify the requirements, identify the actual gap, and jointly develop a recovery plan to mitigate the schedule impact. This aligns with the PMP's focus on stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution as a proactive leadership practice.

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Review the contract and specifications yourself to determine who is at fault

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Refer the matter to the legal department for breach of contract

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Ask the vendor to expedite delivery at no extra cost to make up for the delay

Question 3

Your project is using a hybrid approach. An executive stakeholder has been bypassing you and giving direct instructions to the development team. The team is confused about priorities. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Speak privately with the executive stakeholder to remind them of the communication protocols and the impact of their actions on the team. In a hybrid project, the project manager is responsible for maintaining clear communication channels and protecting the team from conflicting priorities. Option C is correct because the first step is to address the issue directly with the executive stakeholder in a private, respectful conversation, explaining how bypassing the PM disrupts the agreed-upon communication protocols and creates confusion for the development team. This aligns with the PMI principle of managing stakeholders and ensuring the team can focus on the prioritized backlog without interference.

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Instruct the team to ignore any instructions that do not come through you

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Update the communications management plan to include the stakeholder's preferred communication channels

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Escalate the issue to the sponsor and request intervention

Question 4

A new team member joins a high-performing agile team. The existing team members are concerned that the new member's pace is slower. What should the project manager do to integrate the new member effectively?

Accepted Answer

Pair the new member with a senior team member for mentoring and knowledge sharing. Pairing the new member with a senior team member leverages mentoring and knowledge sharing, which aligns with agile principles of collaboration and continuous learning. This approach helps the new member ramp up efficiently while maintaining team cohesion and velocity, as the senior member can provide real-time guidance on the team's coding standards, architecture, and workflow.

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Assign less complex tasks to the new member until they catch up

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Ask the team to work overtime to compensate

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Extend the sprint duration to give the new member more time

Question 5

In an agile project, the sprint velocity has been dropping for three consecutive sprints. The team is demotivated and blaming each other during retrospectives. What should you do as the project manager?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a root cause analysis session to identify impediments and collaboratively find solutions. The root cause analysis session directly addresses the team's demotivation and blame culture by shifting focus to systemic impediments rather than individual performance. In agile, velocity drops often stem from process issues, technical debt, or external blockers—not lack of effort. Facilitating a collaborative session aligns with the PMI's emphasis on servant leadership and removing impediments to restore team morale and productivity.

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Set higher performance targets to push the team to improve

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Reduce the sprint workload to boost velocity

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Replace underperforming team members

Question 6

An executive stakeholder bypasses you and gives direct instructions to a team member to add a new feature immediately. The team member is confused and asks you what to do. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Speak privately with the executive to explain the change control process and request they route requests through you. As the project manager, you are responsible for maintaining the change control process and protecting the team from scope creep. Speaking privately with the executive allows you to professionally reinforce the proper escalation path and ensure all changes are evaluated for impact on cost, schedule, and quality before implementation.

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Tell the team member to follow the executive's instructions to avoid conflict

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Ask the team member to ignore the executive's instructions

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Submit a change request for the new feature without further discussion

Question 7

You are managing a project to develop a mobile app. The sponsor asks you to skip user acceptance testing (UAT) to meet an aggressive launch date. The team is concerned about quality risks. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping UAT and propose a change request to adjust the schedule. It demonstrates the project manager's responsibility to balance stakeholder requests with quality standards. By explaining the risks of skipping UAT—such as undetected defects leading to user dissatisfaction or rework—and proposing a change request to adjust the schedule, you follow the PMI ethical code and the change control process. This approach respects the sponsor's authority while advocating for project quality, aligning with the 'People' domain of leading the team and stakeholders.

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Refuse the request without further discussion

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Comply with the sponsor's request to meet the deadline

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Proceed with UAT secretly and report the launch date as planned

Question 8

In a hybrid project, the project sponsor asks you to skip the testing phase to meet the deadline. The product is critical for an upcoming trade show. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Explain the risks of skipping testing and propose reducing the scope of testing to high-risk areas only. The PM should explain the risks of skipping testing and propose alternatives that balance quality and schedule. Option A is wrong because it is overly rigid and does not engage the sponsor in a discussion about viable compromises; instead, it simply refuses without offering any alternative. Option C is wrong because the PM is responsible for quality and should not simply accept the request. Option D is wrong because it abdicates the PM's responsibility to manage stakeholder expectations and quality.

Answer

Tell the sponsor that testing is mandatory and cannot be skipped

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Skip testing as requested to meet the deadline

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Ask the quality assurance manager to decide

Question 9

Your project is in the execution phase, and you discover that a key vendor will deliver a critical component two weeks late, impacting the critical path. The contract does not include penalties for late delivery. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Evaluate the impact on the project schedule and consider schedule compression techniques like fast-tracking or crashing. The first step when a vendor delay occurs is to analyze its impact on the project schedule and explore compression techniques (fast-tracking or crashing) to mitigate the delay. Option A is wrong because escalating to senior management without first assessing the impact and options is premature. Option C is wrong because enforcing penalty clauses is not possible if the contract doesn't include them, and even if it did, it would not be the immediate action. Option D is wrong because accepting the delay without analysis is not proactive project management.

Answer

Escalate the issue to senior management immediately

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Enforce penalty clauses in the contract to motivate the vendor

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Accept the delay and inform stakeholders that the project will be late

Question 10

Your project is in the execution phase and you discover that a key vendor will not deliver a critical component on time due to production issues. This risk was identified and documented in the risk register with a response plan to mitigate by having a backup vendor. However, the backup vendor requires a contract amendment that will take two weeks to approve. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Initiate the contract amendment process with the backup vendor while assessing schedule impact.. The risk has occurred, and the first step is to execute the planned risk response. Initiating the backup vendor contract amendment is the proactive action aligned with the risk response plan.

Answer

Inform the sponsor and stakeholders immediately about the delay and its impact.

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Update the risk register and document the issue without taking action yet.

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Ask the original vendor to expedite production even if it costs more.

Question 11

You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. During a sprint review, two senior developers get into a heated argument about the technical design of a feature. The argument is causing tension and delaying the review. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Intervene calmly, acknowledge both viewpoints, and suggest discussing the matter offline after the review. As the project manager, your first responsibility is to restore order and keep the sprint review productive. By calmly acknowledging both viewpoints and suggesting an offline discussion, you de-escalate the conflict without derailing the review or taking sides. This aligns with the PMI People domain principle of addressing interpersonal conflict early and constructively, while preserving the team's focus on the sprint goal.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for resolution

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End the meeting early and schedule a separate session to resolve the conflict

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Ignore the argument and continue the review, hoping it resolves on its own

Question 12

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?

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 13

During a complex construction project, a key vendor notifies you that they cannot deliver a critical component for another 4 weeks. This component is on the critical path and has no float. You have identified this risk in the risk register with a planned response of 'mitigate' by having a backup vendor. However, the backup vendor also cannot deliver on time. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Evaluate alternative options such as fast-tracking other activities or sourcing from a different vendor, and then communicate the impact to stakeholders. As the project manager, your first duty is to analyze the situation and identify feasible alternatives (e.g., sourcing from a different vendor, fast-tracking other critical path activities) before escalating or accepting the delay. The risk response (mitigate via backup vendor) has failed, so you must reassess options and then communicate the impact to stakeholders, as per the iterative risk management process in the PMBOK Guide.

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Escalate the issue to the project sponsor and request a schedule extension

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Accept the delay and update the project schedule accordingly

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Immediately crash the schedule by adding resources to other activities to compress time

Question 14

A project manager is leading a team in a country with a high power distance culture. The team members are reluctant to speak up in meetings or challenge the project manager's ideas. How should the project manager foster an inclusive environment?

Accepted Answer

Use anonymous surveys and one-on-one meetings to gather input and encourage participation. In high power distance cultures, direct confrontation or open disagreement with authority figures is often seen as disrespectful. Using anonymous surveys and one-on-one meetings allows the project manager to gather honest input without putting team members in a culturally uncomfortable position, thereby fostering an inclusive environment while respecting cultural norms.

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Tell the team that they must speak up and share their opinions openly

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Appoint a team representative who will speak on behalf of the group

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Ignore the behavior because it is culturally appropriate

Question 15

In a project closure phase, you are preparing the lessons learned report. The project performed well, but some stakeholders were dissatisfied with the communication frequency. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Document the communication issue and recommend a more frequent communication plan for future projects. The lessons learned report is the appropriate repository for capturing stakeholder feedback on communication frequency, and recommending a more frequent communication plan for future projects directly addresses the root cause of dissatisfaction. This aligns with the PMBOK Guide's emphasis on using lessons learned to improve organizational process assets, particularly in the context of project communications management.

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Add the feedback to the issue log for resolution

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Focus only on technical successes and omit the communication issue

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Explain to stakeholders that communication was adequate and disregard their feedback