PMP Practice Exam 54 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A team member consistently misses deadlines, causing delays for the rest of the team. You have already spoken to the team member informally, but the behavior continues. What is the BEST next step?

Accepted Answer

Have a formal meeting with the team member to discuss expectations and consequences. The PM should address performance issues formally by documenting the issue and discussing it with the team member, setting clear expectations and consequences. This follows a progressive discipline approach.

Answer

Remove the team member from the project

Answer

Escalate the issue to the team member's functional manager

Answer

Reassign the team member to less critical tasks

Question 2

During a sprint retrospective, the team identifies that the daily standup meetings are taking too long and not focusing on impediments. Which TWO actions would help improve the effectiveness of the daily standup?

Accepted Answer

Time-box the standup to 15 minutes and use a talking stick.. Effective daily standups are time-boxed (e.g., 15 minutes) and focus on progress, plans, and impediments. Using a visual board helps keep the discussion focused.

Answer

Hold the standup without the scrum master to save time.

Answer

Extend the standup to 30 minutes to allow more detailed discussion.

Answer

Replace the standup with a written status report.

Question 3

In the middle of a project, new government regulations are introduced that affect your deliverables. Compliance is mandatory. The project is currently on schedule and on budget. What should the project manager do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to assess the impact of the regulation on the project baselines.. The PM must assess the impact of the regulation and then follow change control. Option D is correct. Option A bypasses process; Option B is premature; Option C may be needed later but not first.

Answer

Incorporate the changes to comply with the regulation immediately.

Answer

Notify the sponsor that the project will be delayed and over budget.

Answer

Consult legal to determine the exact requirements.

Question 4

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 one week. The project is on schedule and budget. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Submit a change request to the change control board for evaluation and approval.. In a hybrid project, the sprint review is a feedback session, not a change implementation point. The product owner's request is a change to the project scope, and the correct first step is to submit a formal change request to the change control board (CCB) for evaluation and approval, ensuring alignment with the project's governance and baseline.

Answer

Refuse the request because the project is already on schedule and budget.

Answer

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

Answer

Instruct the team to start working on the feature immediately to maintain stakeholder satisfaction.

Question 5

Your agile team has been experiencing declining velocity over the last three sprints. Retrospectives have not identified a clear cause. Several team members mention feeling fatigued and demotivated. As the project manager, what should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Schedule individual one-on-one meetings with team members to understand their concerns and identify obstacles. The first step when facing declining velocity and team demotivation is to engage directly with team members through one-on-one meetings to uncover root causes. This aligns with the PMP's servant leadership approach, where understanding individual concerns and removing obstacles is prioritized before any process or resource changes. The retrospective has already failed to identify the cause, so deeper, private conversations are needed to surface issues like burnout, interpersonal conflicts, or unclear requirements.

Answer

Add more team members to the project to distribute the workload

Answer

Escalate the velocity drop to the steering committee and ask for guidance

Answer

Set stricter deadlines and increase velocity targets to motivate the team

Question 6

During project execution, a team member discovers a defect in a deliverable that was completed two weeks ago. The defect is minor and can be fixed quickly, but fixing it will require rework that is not in the current sprint. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Log the defect in the issue log and decide with the team whether to fix it now or in a future sprint.. The defect should be documented in the issue log, and the team should determine whether to fix it immediately or in a future sprint based on priority. PMI emphasizes documenting and tracking issues.

Answer

Ignore the defect since it is minor and does not affect functionality.

Answer

Fix the defect immediately to avoid a potential quality issue.

Answer

Report the defect to the change control board to get approval for rework.

Question 7

Your project is executing a fixed-price contract with a vendor to develop a key module. The vendor has delivered a module that does not meet the agreed-upon quality standards. The contract includes penalty clauses for non-compliance. What is the BEST action?

Accepted Answer

Document the non-compliance, notify the vendor, and request a corrective action plan. The best action is to document the non-compliance and initiate a formal corrective action, referencing the contract terms. This follows proper procurement management and change control.

Answer

Accept the module and plan to fix it internally to avoid conflict

Answer

Terminate the contract and find a new vendor

Answer

Immediately invoke the penalty clause and withhold payment

Question 8

Your project is 40% complete and running 15% over budget due to unforeseen technical challenges. The project sponsor suggests reducing scope by removing non-essential features to meet the budget. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Analyze the impact of the proposed reduction and submit a change request to the CCB. The project manager should follow the formal change control process to evaluate the impact of reducing scope and obtain approval from the change control board (CCB) before making changes.

Answer

Update the project charter to reflect the new scope without further approval

Answer

Reject the sponsor's suggestion because scope reduction always leads to project failure

Answer

Agree with the sponsor and immediately instruct the team to stop work on non-essential features

Question 9

A new regulatory requirement has been introduced that affects your project's deliverables. The requirement must be implemented within two months. Your project is currently in the execution phase. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Update the project management plan and baselines after approval.. Since the requirement is mandatory, you must assess its impact, submit a change request to incorporate it, and update the project management plan accordingly. Ignoring or delaying is not acceptable.

Answer

Ask the team to implement the change without documentation to save time.

Answer

Ignore the requirement until the next project phase.

Question 10

In an agile project, the team has been working on the same product backlog for several sprints. During sprint planning, the product owner introduces a new high-priority user story that will require the team to reprioritize existing work. What is the BEST approach?

Accepted Answer

Discuss the new story with the team and the product owner, and if accepted, remove a lower-priority story of equivalent size. In agile, the product owner can change priorities, but the team should assess the impact on the sprint goal and capacity. The best approach is to discuss the new story and its priority, and then adjust the sprint backlog accordingly, possibly removing lower-priority items.

Answer

Reject the new story because the sprint has already started

Answer

Put the new story in the product backlog for a future sprint

Answer

Add the new story to the sprint backlog and ask the team to work overtime to complete everything

Question 11

Your hybrid project uses a fixed-price contract with a vendor. The vendor notifies you that they cannot deliver a critical component on time due to a labor shortage. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Review the procurement contract to understand terms, penalties, and remedies. The contract is the governing document; the PM should review it to understand remedies and obligations.

Answer

Escalate to the project sponsor for a decision

Answer

Immediately find a replacement vendor

Answer

Accept the delay and adjust the project schedule

Question 12

You are the project manager for a large infrastructure project. The project is in the execution phase when a key vendor notifies you that they will be unable to deliver a critical component on time due to a supply chain disruption. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Assess the impact on the project schedule and budget. The correct actions are to assess the impact on the project schedule and budget, and to evaluate alternative vendors or solutions to mitigate the delay. Both are proactive steps aligned with PMI's risk management practices.

Answer

Ignore the issue because the vendor will likely resolve it

Answer

Ask the team to work overtime to compensate for the delay

Answer

Immediately terminate the contract with the vendor and hire a new one

Question 13

During a sprint retrospective, the team expresses frustration that they are frequently interrupted by ad-hoc requests from stakeholders. Scrum Master role you are also the PM. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Work with the product owner to establish a process for handling ad-hoc requests and shield the team. As both Scrum Master and PM, your primary responsibility is to protect the team from disruptions while ensuring stakeholder needs are addressed. Working with the Product Owner to establish a formal process for handling ad-hoc requests—such as triaging, prioritizing, and deferring non-critical items—preserves the team's focus and sprint commitment. This aligns with the servant-leader role of a Scrum Master and the PM's duty to manage stakeholder expectations without bypassing the product backlog.

Answer

Ask stakeholders to submit all requests as change requests for formal approval

Answer

Instruct the team to ignore all ad-hoc requests until the next sprint planning

Answer

Add a buffer to the sprint backlog to account for interruptions

Question 14

During a sprint review, the product owner rejects a user story because it does not meet their expectations, even though the team followed the acceptance criteria. The team is frustrated. What should you do FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting between the product owner and the team to clarify the acceptance criteria and align expectations. The immediate conflict stems from a misalignment between the acceptance criteria and the product owner's expectations. As a servant leader, the first step is to facilitate a meeting between the product owner and the team to clarify the acceptance criteria and ensure a shared understanding, which directly addresses the root cause of the frustration without escalating or ignoring the issue.

Answer

Ask the team to rework the story based on the product owner's feedback without further discussion

Answer

Appeal to the project sponsor to mediate the disagreement

Answer

Add the story back to the product backlog for future prioritization

Question 15

During project execution, you notice that the project's cost performance index (CPI) is 0.9 and schedule performance index (SPI) is 0.95. The project is currently 50% complete. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Communicate the current performance and planned corrections to stakeholders. The PMBOK Guide requires the project manager to communicate performance data and planned corrective actions to stakeholders as part of the Monitor and Control Project Work process. With a CPI of 0.9 (10% cost overrun) and SPI of 0.95 (5% schedule delay) at 50% completion, transparency is essential to maintain trust and enable informed decision-making. This aligns with the Manage Communications process, which ensures timely and appropriate collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, and disposition of project information.

Answer

Request additional budget from the sponsor to cover the cost overrun

Answer

Crash the project schedule without considering cost impact

Question 16

Your multinational project has team members in three time zones. The daily standup is held at 9 AM EST, but the Asia team complains it is 9 PM for them. The standup is becoming ineffective. Which TWO actions should you take to improve the situation?

Accepted Answer

Rotate the standup time to different time zones each sprint. Rotating the standup time shares the inconvenience across time zones, promoting fairness and team cohesion. Option D is correct because an asynchronous update via a shared tool allows team members who cannot attend the live standup to still provide and receive status updates, maintaining communication without requiring real-time attendance. Option B is incorrect because canceling the standup eliminates a key daily coordination event, reducing team alignment and collaboration. Option C is incorrect because holding separate standups for different regions silos information, leading to reduced transparency and potential misalignment. Option E is incorrect because requiring the Asia team to attend at 9 PM disregards work-life balance, likely causing dissatisfaction and disengagement.

Answer

Cancel the standup and rely on email updates

Answer

Hold two separate standups: one for Americas and one for Asia

Answer

Require the Asia team to attend at 9 PM despite the inconvenience

Question 17

During project execution, a key stakeholder requests a feature that is not in the scope. The project manager analyzes the request and determines it would add significant business value but also increase risk. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Initiate a change request and present the trade-offs to the change control board.. The PMBOK Guide mandates that any out-of-scope feature must go through the formal change control process. By initiating a change request, the project manager documents the trade-offs (business value vs. increased risk) and lets the Change Control Board (CCB) make an informed decision, ensuring alignment with project governance and stakeholder expectations.

Answer

Reject the request to avoid scope creep.

Answer

Accept the request and manage the risk with a contingency plan.

Answer

Ignore the request because it is out of scope.

Question 18

During a sprint review, the product owner expresses dissatisfaction with the delivered increment because it does not meet their expectations. The team followed the agreed-upon acceptance criteria. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a conversation between the product owner and the team to clarify expectations and update the acceptance criteria for next sprint. The project manager's role in an Agile framework is to facilitate collaboration and ensure alignment between the product owner and the development team. Since the team met the agreed acceptance criteria, the gap is in the product owner's expectations, which must be clarified through direct conversation. Updating the acceptance criteria for the next sprint ensures future increments align with the product owner's vision without redoing work that was technically correct.

Answer

Inform the product owner that the work meets the agreed criteria and cannot be changed

Answer

Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision

Answer

Ask the team to redo the work to meet the product owner's unstated expectations

Question 19

You are managing a project where a key stakeholder requests a scope change that would add significant value but also increase risk and cost. Which TWO actions should you take FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Document the change request and submit it through the change control process. The PMBOK Guide requires that all scope changes be formally documented and submitted through the change control process, regardless of perceived value. This ensures traceability, stakeholder alignment, and proper evaluation before any action is taken. Option C is correct because analyzing the impact on scope, schedule, cost, and risk is a mandatory step within the integrated change control process to inform the decision-making body (e.g., CCB).

Answer

Reject the change because it introduces additional risk

Answer

Accept the change because it adds value to the project

Answer

Update the project baseline to include the new scope

Question 20

During project closure, the customer is satisfied with the deliverables and has signed off. However, the project team has not completed the lessons learned documentation. Which TWO actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Document the lessons learned based on your own observations and interview key stakeholders. Options C and E are correct because lessons learned should be documented as part of project closure. While the customer has signed off, the project is not fully closed until administrative closure is complete, which includes capturing lessons learned. Option C allows you to gather lessons learned through your own observations and interviews, ensuring key knowledge is captured even if the team hasn't completed documentation. Option E involves facilitating a session with the team, which is the best practice for comprehensive knowledge capture before final closure. Options A and D are incorrect because they ignore or postpone lessons learned, missing the opportunity for organizational improvement. Option B is incorrect as delaying closure solely for lessons learned is inefficient; closure can proceed while lessons learned are collected in parallel.

Answer

Proceed to close the project and archive the documents without lessons learned

Answer

Delay project closure until lessons learned are completed

Answer

Close the project and submit lessons learned later