hardMultiple Choice
PK0-005 Practice Question: A project has a budget of $500,000 and is 40%…
A project has a budget of $500,000 and is 40% complete. The actual cost incurred is $250,000. What is the cost variance?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the direction of the variance sign, tricking candidates into thinking a positive variance is always good, but here the actual cost exceeds earned value, so the correct variance is negative.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
-$50,000
Cost variance (CV) is calculated as Earned Value (EV) minus Actual Cost (AC). EV is 40% of the $500,000 budget, which equals $200,000. AC is $250,000, so CV = $200,000 - $250,000 = -$50,000. A negative CV indicates the project is over budget.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
-$50,000
Why this is correct
Earned value is 40% of $500,000, giving $200,000. Cost variance equals earned value minus actual cost: $200,000 − $250,000 = −$50,000. The negative figure indicates the project is over budget by $50,000 at this point.
- ✗
-$20,000
Why it's wrong here
Cost variance is earned value minus actual cost: $200,000 (40% of $500,000) minus $250,000 equals -$50,000, not -$20,000. The figure is tempting because a negative result correctly signals over budget, but the arithmetic must use the $200,000 earned value, giving a $50,000 overspend.
- ✗
$20,000
Why it's wrong here
Cost variance is earned value minus actual cost: $200,000 (40% of $500,000) minus $250,000 equals -$50,000, not $20,000. The positive figure is tempting because it looks like a favourable variance, but the project is overspent, so the correct value is negative.
- ✗
$50,000
Why it's wrong here
Cost variance is earned value minus actual cost: $200,000 (40% of $500,000) minus $250,000 equals -$50,000, not $50,000. The magnitude is right but the sign is wrong; the option is tempting because $50,000 matches the overspend amount, yet cost variance must be negative here.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PK0-005 question from scratch — 954 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PK0-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PK0-005 exam.