easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
PK0-005 Practice Question: During project execution, the project manager…
During project execution, the project manager notices that actual costs are consistently higher than planned. Which process should the project manager use to analyze this variance?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse the planning processes (Plan Cost Management, Estimate Costs, Determine Budget) with the monitoring and controlling process (Control Costs), mistakenly selecting a planning process to analyze execution-phase variances.
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
✓
Control Costs
The Control Costs process is responsible for monitoring cost performance, analyzing variances from the cost baseline, and implementing corrective actions. Since the project manager observes actual costs exceeding planned costs, they must use Control Costs to perform earned value management (EVM) calculations such as cost variance (CV) and cost performance index (CPI) to quantify and analyze the deviation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Plan Cost Management
Why it's wrong here
This is planning, not monitoring.
- ✓
Control Costs
Why this is correct
Control Costs process analyzes cost variances.
- ✗
Estimate Costs
Why it's wrong here
Estimation is done before execution.
- ✗
Determine Budget
Why it's wrong here
Budget setting is part of planning.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PK0-005 question from scratch — 980 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.