CAPM Predictive Plan-Based Methodologies Practice Question
During project planning, the team identifies that a task has a duration of 10 days, a predecessor finish-to-start relationship, and a lag of 2 days. What is the earliest the successor task can start if the predecessor starts on day 1?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often forget to include the predecessor's full duration when calculating the successor's start, mistakenly adding the lag to the start date instead of the finish date, leading to an answer like day 3 or day 12.
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
✓
Day 12
The predecessor starts on day 1 and has a duration of 10 days, so its early finish is day 10 (assuming no gaps). With a finish-to-start relationship and a lag of 2 days, the successor's early start is the predecessor's early finish plus the lag: 10 + 2 = 12. Therefore, the earliest the successor can start is day 12.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Day 11
Why it's wrong here
Day 11: This would be the case if the lag were 1 day instead of 2, or if you incorrectly added only 1 day after the finish.
- ✗
Day 10
Why it's wrong here
Day 10: This would be the case if there were no lag and the successor could start immediately after the predecessor finishes.
- ✓
Day 12
Why this is correct
Day 12: Correct, as calculated by adding the lag to the predecessor's finish date.
- ✗
Day 13
Why it's wrong here
Day 13: This is a common mistake where candidates add the lag to the start date (1 + 10 + 2 = 13) instead of the finish date, or they misinterpret the finish day.
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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.