CAPM Practice Question: Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts
A project manager notices that the project is behind schedule. Which of the following actions is most appropriate to bring the project back on track?
⚠ Common exam trap
CAPM often tests the misconception that any resource addition helps — candidates must recognize that only critical path tasks affect duration and that scope reduction requires formal approval.
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
✓
Add more resources to critical path tasks.
Adding resources to critical path tasks is a form of crashing — a schedule compression technique that shortens the critical path by increasing the resources applied to it. Since only critical path activities directly determine project duration, adding resources there is the most direct and legitimate way to recover schedule.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reduce the project scope without stakeholder approval.
Why it's wrong here
Cutting scope unilaterally bypasses the change control process and stakeholder agreement, altering the agreed deliverable without authorisation. It is tempting because scope reduction does relieve schedule pressure, and would be correct only after a formally approved change request.
- ✗
Ask team members to work overtime without compensation.
Why it's wrong here
Uncompensated overtime breaches employment law and destroys morale, and it addresses effort rather than the schedule variance's root cause. Crashing or fast-tracking specific critical-path activities is the legitimate recovery technique. Overtime with pay is tempting because adding hours genuinely compresses duration, but only where the task is effort-driven and the team agrees.
- ✗
Ignore the delay as it will recover later.
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring the variance forgoes corrective action, letting the schedule baseline slip further with no analysis of cause or recovery. It is tempting because some delays self-correct, and would be correct only after monitoring confirms the variance is trivial and non-recurring.
- ✓
Add more resources to critical path tasks.
Why this is correct
Adding resources to critical path tasks shortens their duration through crashing, directly reducing total project duration. Only critical path activities affect the finish date, so this addresses the schedule variance, whereas adding resources elsewhere would not recover time.
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About these practice questions
One of 451 original CAPM practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on CAPM
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A project is behind schedule. Which schedule compression technique involves adding additional resources to critical path activities?
medium- A.Resource leveling
- B.Monte Carlo simulation
- C.Rolling wave planning
- ✓ D.Crashing
Why D: Crashing is the schedule compression technique that adds additional resources to critical path activities to shorten duration, typically at increased cost. It is used when the project must be accelerated and cost is acceptable. Resource leveling, by contrast, adjusts start/finish dates based on resource constraints and often extends duration.
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official PMI exam blueprint
This CAPM practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI 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 CAPM exam.