PK0-005 Practice Test 3 — 30 Questions

Question 1

A company is initiating a project to develop a new mobile application. The project manager needs to secure approval and funding. Which project role is primarily responsible for providing the necessary resources and championing the project?

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

Accepted Answer

Project sponsor. The project sponsor is the executive champion who provides resources and supports the project.

Answer

Project team member

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Project manager

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Steering committee

Question 2

During project execution, a key stakeholder requests a change that will affect the project scope. The project manager assesses the impact and finds it will increase costs by 15% and delay the schedule by two weeks. What is the FIRST action the project manager should take?

Accepted Answer

Submit the change request to the change control board for review.. In project management, when a change request impacts scope, cost, or schedule, the project manager must follow the formal change control process. The first action is to submit the change request to the change control board (CCB) for review and approval, as the project manager does not have unilateral authority to approve or reject changes that affect the project baseline. This ensures proper governance and stakeholder alignment.

Answer

Reject the change because it will impact schedule and cost.

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Approve the change since the impact is minimal.

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Implement the change immediately to satisfy the stakeholder.

Question 3

A project manager is planning risk responses for identified risks. Which THREE are valid risk response strategies?

Accepted Answer

Avoid. The main risk response strategies are Avoid, Transfer, Mitigate, and Accept. Enhance is for opportunities, not threats.

Answer

Ignore

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Enhance

Question 4

Refer to the exhibit. A developer deployed a new version of an application to production. After restarting the service, the application fails to connect to the database. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The database user 'app_user' does not have permission to access the 'SalesDB' database.. The exhibit shows that the connection string in the application configuration explicitly references the 'SalesDB' database and uses the 'app_user' account. The error message indicates a login failure for user 'app_user', which in SQL Server typically means the login succeeded at the server level but the user lacks a mapped database user or the CONNECT permission on the specified database. Since the database name and server are correctly specified, the most likely cause is that 'app_user' does not have permission to access 'SalesDB'.

Answer

The database server name in the configuration is incorrect.

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The application is not configured to use the correct environment.

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The password in the connection string is incorrect.

Question 5

A project manager is calculating the estimate to complete (ETC) for a task using earned value management. The task has a budget at completion (BAC) of $10,000, earned value (EV) of $4,000, and actual cost (AC) of $5,000. Assuming the work will continue at the planned rate, what is the ETC?

Accepted Answer

$6,000. The estimate to complete (ETC) is the expected cost to finish the remaining work. When work continues at the planned rate, the formula is ETC = BAC - EV. Here, BAC is $10,000 and EV is $4,000, so ETC = $10,000 - $4,000 = $6,000. This assumes the cost performance index (CPI) is 1.0, meaning future work will be performed exactly as budgeted.

Answer

$11,000

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$4,000

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$5,000

Question 6

A project manager is creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a software development project. Which technique is most effective for decomposing the project scope into manageable components?

Accepted Answer

Decomposition. Decomposition is the process of breaking down deliverables into smaller components for the WBS. Option D is correct. Rolling wave is for progressive elaboration; bottom-up and analogous are estimating techniques.

Answer

Bottom-up estimating

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Rolling wave planning

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Analogous estimating

Question 7

A project manager is developing a stakeholder engagement plan. Which THREE items should be included in this plan? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Stakeholder list. The stakeholder list is a foundational component of the stakeholder engagement plan because it identifies all individuals, groups, or organizations that may be affected by or have an influence on the project. Without a complete and accurate stakeholder list, the project manager cannot effectively tailor engagement strategies or communication requirements. This list typically includes names, roles, influence levels, and interest levels, which directly inform the subsequent planning activities.

Answer

Budget for stakeholder activities

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Risk thresholds

Question 8

During a project, the team adds extra features to a deliverable because they believe it will increase customer satisfaction, even though the features were not specified in the requirements. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Gold plating. Gold plating is adding extra features beyond specified requirements. Scope creep is uncontrolled changes to scope, but gold plating is specifically adding extras without approval.

Answer

Scope creep

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Risk response

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Value engineering

Question 9

A project manager needs to document the roles and responsibilities of team members for a new project. Which document should the project manager create?

Accepted Answer

RACI chart. A RACI chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) is the correct document for defining and documenting team member roles and responsibilities in a project. It provides a clear matrix that maps tasks or deliverables against team members, specifying their level of involvement, which is essential for accountability and communication in project management.

Answer

Project charter

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Stakeholder register

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Communication plan

Question 10

Which document formally authorizes the project and identifies the project manager?

Accepted Answer

Project charter. The project charter is the document that formally authorizes the project, provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities, and identifies the project manager by name. It is issued by a sponsor external to the project and serves as the foundational document that links the project to the ongoing work of the organization.

Answer

Communication plan

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Risk register

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Project scope statement

Question 11

A project manager is using an issue log to track problems. During a weekly status meeting, a team member reports a new issue that has already caused a one-day delay. The project manager adds it to the issue log. What is the NEXT step?

Accepted Answer

Assign an owner and a target resolution date. Once an issue is added to the issue log, the next step is to assign an owner and a target resolution date. This ensures accountability and provides a clear deadline for resolving the problem, which is essential for tracking progress and minimizing further impact on the project schedule.

Answer

Close the issue since it has already occurred

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Communicate the delay to stakeholders immediately

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Update the risk register with the issue

Question 12

A project team discovers a problem that is currently happening and affecting project deliverables. The project manager needs to document this situation. Which document should be used to record this?

Accepted Answer

Issue log. An issue log is used to document current problems that have occurred, as opposed to risks which are uncertain future events.

Answer

Change log

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Risk register

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Lessons learned

Question 13

A project manager is developing the risk management plan. Which of the following is the primary purpose of this plan?

Accepted Answer

Define how risk management activities will be conducted. The risk management plan describes how risk management will be performed, while the risk register captures the actual risks.

Answer

List all identified risks

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Prioritize risks

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Assign risk owners

Question 14

A project manager is assigned to a new project and needs to document high-level risks, assumptions, and constraints. Which document should the project manager create first?

Accepted Answer

Project charter. The project charter is the document that formally authorizes the project and includes high-level risks, assumptions, and constraints. Option A is incorrect because the project management plan is developed after the charter and is more detailed. Option B is incorrect because the risk register is created during the planning process, not initially. Option C is incorrect because the work breakdown structure is also developed later during planning. Therefore, the project charter is the first document to capture these high-level elements.

Answer

Project management plan

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Risk register

Answer

Work breakdown structure

Question 15

A project manager at a marketing firm is using Microsoft Project to manage a campaign launch. The project has 15 tasks with several dependencies, including finish-to-start and start-to-start. Team members update their task progress daily. After a week, the project manager notices that some tasks are not reflecting updated finish dates even though dependencies are marked as complete. For example, Task 4 (Design finalization) has a finish-to-start dependency on Task 3 (Concept approval), which was completed three days ago, but Task 4's start date remains unchanged, causing the entire schedule to appear delayed. The project manager has verified that all task links are correctly set in the software. What should the project manager do first?

Accepted Answer

Recalculate the schedule after verifying that all dependencies are correctly set and that completed tasks have actual finish dates entered.. The most likely cause of the issue is that the actual finish dates for completed tasks (like Task 3) have not been entered in Microsoft Project. Without actual finish dates, the scheduling engine cannot calculate the successor task's start date, even if dependencies are correctly set. Recalculating the schedule after verifying and entering actual dates forces the tool to update the forward pass and reflect the true project status.

Answer

Reassign Task 4 to a different team member to speed up its start.

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Ignore the discrepancy because the overall schedule variance is still within the acceptable threshold of 5%.

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Manually adjust the start date of Task 4 to align with the completion of Task 3.

Question 16

A software development project is currently in the execution phase. The project manager has a team of 10 developers and 2 testers. The project is scheduled to be completed in 6 months, with a budget of $500,000. At the end of month 3, the project manager reviews the status and finds that only 40% of the work is complete, whereas 50% was planned. The actual cost incurred is $280,000. The project manager calculates the CPI as 0.71 and the SPI as 0.80. The project sponsor is concerned and asks for a recovery plan. The project manager must decide the best course of action. Which action should the project manager take?

Accepted Answer

Fast track the project by starting tasks concurrently. The project is behind schedule (SPI 0.8) and over budget (CPI 0.71). The sponsor wants a recovery plan. Since the project is already over budget, crashing (adding more developers) would increase costs further, which is not advisable. Fast tracking (starting tasks concurrently) can help recover the schedule without adding significant cost, although it does increase risk of rework. Reducing scope requires formal change and may not be acceptable. Replacing senior with junior developers would likely worsen quality and schedule. Therefore, fast tracking is the best immediate action in this situation.

Answer

Add more developers to critical path tasks to catch up on schedule

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Reduce the project scope to align with the current progress

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Replace senior developers with junior ones to reduce cost

Question 17

A project manager is creating a document that identifies all project stakeholders and their influence, interest, and impact on the project. Which document is being created?

Accepted Answer

Stakeholder register. The stakeholder register is the document that captures all stakeholders along with their influence, interest, and impact on the project. This register serves as the foundational input for stakeholder analysis and engagement planning, directly matching the description in the question.

Answer

Project scope statement

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Communication plan

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Risk register

Question 18

A project manager is developing the project management plan. The sponsor requests detailed cost estimates for each work package, but the activities have not yet been defined. What should the project manager do?

Accepted Answer

Defer the cost estimates until after activity definition.. Detailed cost estimates require that activities are defined first, as per the typical planning process sequence (e.g., PMBOK). Without activity definition, the project manager cannot accurately estimate costs for each work package. Option A is wrong because analogous estimating provides rough estimates, not detailed ones, and is used when little information is available—not suitable for this scenario. Option B is wrong because a rough order of magnitude estimate is not detailed and does not meet the sponsor's request for detailed cost estimates. Option D is wrong because breaking down work packages into activities is part of activity definition, which has not yet been done; bottom-up estimates should follow activity definition, not precede it.

Answer

Use analogous estimating to provide rough estimates.

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Ask the sponsor to approve a rough order of magnitude estimate.

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Break down the work packages into activities and create bottom-up estimates.

Question 19

Which THREE of the following are examples of project constraints?

Accepted Answer

Scope. Scope is a classic project constraint because it defines the boundaries of what the project will deliver. Any change to scope directly impacts time and cost, forming the core of the triple constraint model. In project management, scope must be clearly defined and controlled to prevent scope creep, which can derail project objectives.

Answer

Communication

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Risk

Question 20

A project manager is leading a hybrid project that combines waterfall planning with iterative execution. Which of the following is a key challenge in managing such a project?

Accepted Answer

Balancing scope changes with baseline control. In a hybrid project combining waterfall planning with iterative execution, the key challenge is balancing scope changes (which are natural in iterative cycles) with baseline control (which is rigidly defined in waterfall planning). This tension requires careful change management to prevent scope creep while still allowing adaptive adjustments, making option A correct.

Answer

Eliminating all documentation

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Using only daily stand-ups for communication

Answer

Ensuring strict adherence to a fixed schedule