PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects — Timed 10 Questions

Question 1

During a project's execution phase, a key stakeholder requests a change that would add a new feature. The project manager estimates the impact: 2 additional weeks to schedule and $15,000 to budget. The project currently has 0 schedule reserve and $5,000 contingency reserve. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Document the change request and conduct a formal impact analysis. Option D is correct because the PMBOK Guide mandates that all change requests must be formally documented and analyzed for impact before any approval or rejection. Even though the project has a contingency reserve, the change introduces a new feature, which is a scope change requiring a formal change control process. The project manager must first document the request and conduct a thorough impact analysis to assess alternatives, risks, and stakeholder implications before deciding on the change.

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Approve the change using contingency reserve and inform the stakeholder

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Implement the change immediately since the stakeholder is key

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Reject the change because there is insufficient reserve

Question 2

A project manager is leading a software development project using agile methodology. The team has completed 3 sprints, but the product owner is dissatisfied because the delivered features do not meet the expected business value. The team claims they followed the prioritized backlog. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a retrospective with the product owner and team to review the definition of done and acceptance criteria. The core issue is a misalignment between what the team delivered and what the product owner expects, despite following the prioritized backlog. The project manager should facilitate a retrospective to review the definition of done and acceptance criteria, as this ensures both parties have a shared understanding of what constitutes a completed, valuable feature. This aligns with agile principles of continuous improvement and stakeholder collaboration, directly addressing the root cause of the dissatisfaction.

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Create a detailed report showing the team's velocity and completed stories

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Replace the product owner with someone who has better domain knowledge

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Ask the team to add more features to the next sprint to increase value

Question 3

A project manager is developing the project schedule. After defining activities and sequencing them, what is the next step in the schedule development process?

Accepted Answer

Estimate activity resources. In the schedule development process, after defining activities and sequencing them, the next step is to estimate the resources required for each activity (option A). This is because resource availability and constraints directly impact activity durations, and you must know what resources are available before you can estimate how long each activity will take. The PMBOK Guide's schedule management process follows the order: Plan Schedule Management → Define Activities → Sequence Activities → Estimate Activity Resources → Estimate Activity Durations → Develop Schedule.

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Estimate activity durations

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Estimate costs

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Develop the schedule baseline

Question 4

A project has a critical path of 120 days with a standard deviation of 5 days. The project sponsor wants to know the probability of completing the project within 130 days. Using the normal distribution, what is the approximate probability?

Accepted Answer

97.5%. The critical path duration is 120 days with a standard deviation of 5 days. Completing within 130 days is 2 standard deviations above the mean (130 - 120 = 10, 10/5 = 2). In a normal distribution, approximately 95% of data falls within ±2 standard deviations, so the probability of being at or below +2σ is 50% + (95%/2) = 97.5%.

Answer

95%

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84%

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68%

Question 5

A project manager is using earned value management. At month 6 of a 12-month project, the EV is $50,000, PV is $60,000, and AC is $55,000. What is the cost performance index (CPI)?

Accepted Answer

0.91. The Cost Performance Index (CPI) is calculated as EV / AC. Here, EV = $50,000 and AC = $55,000, so CPI = 50,000 / 55,000 = 0.909, which rounds to 0.91. A CPI less than 1 indicates the project is over budget, as the cost incurred ($55,000) exceeds the value of work performed ($50,000).

Answer

0.83

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1.20

Answer

1.10

Question 6

Which TWO are inputs to the Control Schedule process? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Project management plan. The Control Schedule process monitors the status of project activities and manages schedule changes. The project management plan (B) is a key input because it contains the schedule management plan, which defines how the schedule will be controlled, including thresholds for variance and reporting formats. Work performance data (C) provides the raw observations and measurements of actual start/finish dates and progress against the schedule baseline, which is essential for calculating schedule variance.

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Schedule data

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Organizational process assets

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Schedule forecasts

Question 7

Which THREE are tools and techniques used in the Plan Risk Management process? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Meetings. Meetings (B) are a key tool and technique in the Plan Risk Management process because they bring stakeholders together to define the risk management approach, establish risk categories, and agree on risk thresholds. These meetings produce the risk management plan, which outlines how risk activities will be structured and performed throughout the project.

Answer

Probability and impact matrix

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Risk categorization

Question 8

A project team is implementing a new software feature. During testing, a critical defect is found that could delay the release. The project manager needs to determine the root cause. Which tool or technique should be used?

Accepted Answer

Cause-and-effect diagram. The cause-and-effect diagram (also known as a fishbone or Ishikawa diagram) is the correct tool for root cause analysis because it systematically maps potential causes of a defect across categories like people, process, technology, and environment. In this software testing scenario, the project manager would use it to brainstorm and visually trace the critical defect back to its underlying technical root cause, such as a coding logic error or integration failure, rather than just observing symptoms.

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Scatter diagram

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Control chart

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Delphi technique

Question 9

A project manager is reviewing the schedule performance index (SPI) and cost performance index (CPI). The current values are SPI = 0.85 and CPI = 1.10. What is the most likely conclusion about the project?

Accepted Answer

The project is behind schedule and under budget.. An SPI of 0.85 indicates the project is behind schedule (less than 1.0), while a CPI of 1.10 indicates the project is under budget (greater than 1.0). Therefore, the project is behind schedule but under budget, making option B correct.

Answer

The project is behind schedule and over budget.

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The project is ahead of schedule and over budget.

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The project is ahead of schedule and under budget.

Question 10

During project execution, a key stakeholder requests a change that will increase the scope. The project manager follows the formal change control process. What is the first step the project manager should take?

Accepted Answer

Document the change request in the change log.. Option C is correct because the first step in the formal change control process, as defined by the PMBOK Guide, is to document the change request in the change log. This ensures that all proposed changes are formally recorded and tracked before any analysis or approval activities occur. Without this initial documentation, there is no official record of the request, which undermines the integrity of the change control system.

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Communicate the change to the project team.

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Submit the change request to the change control board (CCB).

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Analyze the impact on the project constraints.