CAPM Practice Question: Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts
A project team is working on a construction project. The project manager notices that the actual cost is consistently higher than planned. Which project management process is most directly responsible for monitoring and controlling costs?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse the planning processes (Estimate Costs, Determine Budget) with the monitoring and controlling process (Control Costs), mistakenly thinking that planning includes ongoing cost oversight.
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 directly responsible for monitoring project expenditures and managing changes to the cost baseline. When actual cost consistently exceeds planned cost, the project manager must use Control Costs to analyze variance, forecast future costs, and implement corrective actions to bring spending back in line with the 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.
- ✗
Estimate Costs
Why it's wrong here
Estimate Costs approximates the monetary resources needed for activities; it occurs during planning and produces cost estimates, not monitoring of actual expenditure. It is tempting because it deals directly with cost figures, and it would be correct when forecasting activity or work-package costs before the budget is set.
- ✗
Plan Cost Management
Why it's wrong here
Plan Cost Management defines how costs will be estimated, budgeted, monitored and controlled; it produces the cost management plan, not ongoing variance tracking. It is tempting because it governs cost processes, and it would be correct at project initiation when deciding the policies and procedures for cost control.
- ✗
Determine Budget
Why it's wrong here
Determine Budget aggregates estimated costs into an authorised cost baseline; it is performed during planning, not for tracking actual spend against that baseline. It is tempting because it produces the budget figures, and it would be correct when establishing the cost baseline before execution begins.
- ✓
Control Costs
Why this is correct
Control Costs is the Monitoring and Controlling process that tracks actual spend against the cost baseline, analyses variances and approves corrective action. It directly addresses the stem's constraint of actual cost consistently exceeding planned cost.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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 →
JA
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.