PK0-005 Project Management Concepts Practice Question
A project team is adding extra features to a deliverable that were not requested by the customer, in an effort to improve the product. This practice is known as:
⚠ Common exam trap
PK0-005 often tests the confusion between gold plating (team-initiated extras) and scope creep (stakeholder-driven expansion), so candidates must focus on who is adding the unrequested work.
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
✓
Gold plating
Gold plating is the practice of adding features or functionality beyond what the customer requested or what the scope defines, usually with the intent of improving the product or pleasing the customer. It is considered a scope-related risk because it consumes budget and schedule without customer approval and can introduce untested defects.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Benchmarking
Why it's wrong here
Benchmarking compares processes or performance against reference standards; it does not describe adding unrequested features, which is gold plating. It tempts because both concern improving delivery quality, and would be correct if the team were measuring its performance against industry or competitor baselines.
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Value engineering
Why it's wrong here
Value engineering improves function relative to cost through deliberate analysis, not by adding unrequested features to a deliverable; that is gold plating. It tempts because both aim to enhance the product, and would be correct if the team were reducing cost while preserving required functionality.
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Gold plating
Why this is correct
Gold plating is adding unrequested features beyond scope to improve a deliverable, consuming budget and time without customer approval. This precisely matches the stem's description of extra unrequested work, unlike scope creep which stems from stakeholder requests.
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Scope creep
Why it's wrong here
Scope creep is uncontrolled expansion of scope without approved change control, whereas this scenario describes deliberately adding unrequested features, which is gold plating. It tempts because both involve extra work beyond the baseline, and would be correct if the additions were unapproved customer-driven changes rather than team-initiated enhancements.
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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 →
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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.