CAPM Predictive Plan-Based Methodologies Practice Question
A project team is troubleshooting a delay in the critical path. The project manager identifies that a non-critical activity has slipped by five days but the project end date remains unchanged. What is the most likely reason for this?
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
✓
The slipped activity has sufficient total float to absorb the delay without affecting the critical path.
Activities not on the critical path have total float; a slip within that float does not affect the project end date. Option A is incorrect because crashing would compress the schedule to mitigate the delay, which would change the end date or not be needed if float is sufficient. Option C is incorrect: if the slipped activity were on the critical path, the end date would be impacted. Option D is incorrect because fast tracking overlaps activities to compress schedule, but here the delay was absorbed by float without any compression technique applied.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The team used crashing to accelerate the non-critical activity.
Why it's wrong here
Crashing is applied to critical path activities to reduce schedule, not to non-critical ones.
- ✓
The slipped activity has sufficient total float to absorb the delay without affecting the critical path.
Why this is correct
Total float allows non-critical activities to slip without impacting project completion.
- ✗
The slipped activity is actually on the critical path and the end date was recalculated incorrectly.
Why it's wrong here
If it were on the critical path, the end date would be delayed.
- ✗
The project manager applied fast tracking to overlap the slipped activity with its successor.
Why it's wrong here
Fast tracking is a schedule compression technique, but it does not automatically explain an unchanged end date.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.