PMP practice questions with answers

Answer: A) Team members raise the lateness with the person directly, pointing to the ground rules everyone agreed to

A team owns the ground rules it creates, so the first response to a breach is for members to hold each other accountable to that agreement. The project manager supports this and escalates only if needed.

• ACorrect. The team wrote the ground rules, so it owns them. Members holding each other accountable to their own agreement is the first step, and the project manager supports and coaches as needed. Escalation comes only if the team can't resolve it.
• BIncorrect. A private conversation is reasonable, but jumping straight to a performance-review threat makes this a disciplinary matter before the team has used its own agreement. It also moves accountability from the team to the PM.
• CIncorrect. The team creates and changes its own ground rules. When the PM imposes a new rule alone, the team loses ownership, and the existing agreement hasn't been enforced yet.
• DIncorrect. Escalation is premature. The team and PM should first try to resolve the issue using the team's own agreements, and escalate only if that fails.

Answer: A) Meet privately with the developer to understand their availability and agree a flexible working arrangement

When a team member raises a personal difficulty, the project manager first talks with them privately to understand their constraints and agree a workable arrangement. Only then can the schedule impact be assessed accurately and handled while protecting confidentiality.

• ACorrect. Empathy and servant leadership start with understanding the person's real constraints in private. Once a workable arrangement is agreed, the project manager can assess the milestone impact accurately and plan any redistribution without revealing private details.
• BIncorrect. This is premature. It skips finding out what the developer can still contribute, may damage trust and engagement, and could lose critical knowledge when it is not necessary.
• CIncorrect. This is passive. It neither supports the team member nor deals with a known threat to a critical-path milestone, and accepting the risk without analysis is not appropriate.
• DIncorrect. Self-organization is a valid principle, but the developer shared the situation privately. Disclosing it without consent breaches confidentiality and damages trust.

Answer: A) Mentoring — a longer-term, relationship-based development of the person's overall growth and perspective

• AMentoring focuses on the whole person and career over time. Coaching is more task- and performance-specific and time-bound; facilitating is guiding a group process toward an outcome.
• BFacilitation is neutral guidance of a group's process, not one-on-one long-term development.
• CAn appraisal is a periodic evaluation, not ongoing developmental support.
• DTelling someone how to do a task is directing, not the developmental relationship described.

Answer: A) Contact the infrastructure team lead right after the standup and follow up until the environment is restored

Removing impediments the team cannot clear itself is a core servant-leadership duty. The project manager follows up on blockers raised at the standup right away, instead of working around them, discussing them at length in the meeting, or putting them off.

• ACorrect. The team cannot clear this blocker itself, so the project manager acts as a servant leader and uses their reach outside the team to get it removed. The standup brought the impediment to light, and the follow-up happens straight after it.
• BIncorrect. Finding other work for the developer may help for a short time, but nobody is pushing to resolve the outage. The blocker stays in place and keeps slowing delivery.
• CIncorrect. The daily standup is a short meeting for checking progress and spotting impediments, not for solving them. Detailed problem-solving should happen afterwards with only the people who are needed.
• DIncorrect. The outage has already happened, so it is an issue to act on now, not a future risk. Waiting for the next scheduled review would make the delay longer.

Answer: A) Have an experienced practitioner pair with team members on the work so the skill transfers during delivery

Pairing an experienced practitioner with team members on real work transfers skills while delivering value. This builds a cross-functional team instead of creating dependencies or silos.

• APairing delivers the current work and spreads the knowledge across the team. This increases cross-functionality and reduces future dependencies.
• BThis delivers the work, but the knowledge leaves with the contractor. The team gains no capability and stays dependent on outside help.
• CThis builds some skill, but it delays delivery and puts the knowledge in a single person, which creates a bottleneck.
• DThis creates a knowledge silo and a single point of failure, and it leaves the rest of the team without the skill.

Answer: A) Configuration management

• AConfiguration management controls versions and changes to project artifacts.
• BLeveling adjusts schedules for resources.
• CFast tracking overlaps activities.
• DEVA measures performance.

Answer: A) A risk trigger

• ATriggers indicate a risk is about to occur or has occurred.
• BSecondary risks arise from implementing responses.
• CResidual risk remains after responses.
• DAn issue is a current problem, not a warning sign.

Answer: A) Have the product owner order the backlog by value, risk, dependencies and cost of delay, using a technique such as MoSCoW

The product owner keeps a single ordered backlog based on value, risk, dependencies and cost of delay (for example, using MoSCoW), so the highest-value work is delivered first.

• AOne ordered backlog based on relative value and factors such as risk, dependencies and cost of delay means the most valuable items are delivered first. Lower-value work is deferred or dropped.
• BSeniority is not a measure of value or urgency. Ordering by rank can deliver low-value work early while high-value items wait.
• CSplitting capacity evenly increases work in progress and delays every outcome. It avoids prioritizing rather than maximizing value.
• DItem size alone ignores value, risk and dependencies. Finishing many small, low-value items doesn't maximize the product's value.

Answer: A) Resource smoothing

• ASmoothing adjusts activities within float, so the critical path and end date don't change.
• BLeveling can extend the schedule to resolve overallocation.
• CCrashing adds resources to shorten duration.
• DFast tracking overlaps activities.

Answer: A) Note the slip, confirm the activity still has positive float and hasn't affected the critical path, and continue monitoring it

• AA two-day slip against five days of float doesn't delay the project; the PM verifies the critical path is unaffected and watches the activity in case it slips further and consumes its float.
• BSpending money to compress an activity that still has float is unnecessary.
• CThe project end date hasn't moved; float absorbed the slip.
• DA minor slip within available float doesn't warrant re-baselining.

Answer: A) Execute the pre-approved contingency plan and update the risk register and reserves

• AWhen a risk trigger fires, the planned response is enacted, and the register and reserves are updated to reflect the change.
• BA response was already prepared; re-planning wastes time during the event.
• CA realized risk becomes an issue that needs action.
• DContingency reserve exists for identified risks; management reserve is for the unforeseen.

Answer: A) Present both options to the sponsor with lifecycle cost, disposal and compliance impacts, and fit with the published commitments, so a decision can be made

Under PMI's stewardship principle, the project manager weighs financial, social and environmental impacts, including organizational commitments, and brings a total-value analysis to the appropriate decision-maker. Upfront cost alone should not decide the choice.

• AStewardship means considering financial, social and environmental impacts together. Showing the full total-value picture lets the appropriate decision-maker make an informed trade-off that reflects both the business case and the organization's commitments.
• BLooking only at the upfront price ignores disposal costs, compliance and reputational risk, and the organization's stated commitments. These are all part of total value.
• CThis makes a values trade-off without the sponsor and misuses contingency reserve, which is set aside for identified risks and not for discretionary scope or design choices.
• DSuppliers can provide data, but a trade-off involving cost and organizational commitments is a decision for the organization's stakeholders, not something to hand off to a vendor.

Answer: A) Capture the standard's applicable clauses as project requirements and trace them through design, testing, and acceptance

Mandatory standards should be identified early and recorded as requirements, built into the scope and design, and traced through verification to acceptance, rather than inspected or fixed late.

• ACorrect. Treating compliance as a requirement puts it into the scope and WBS early, where it can be designed in and verified through traceability. Fixing it late is costly and risky.
• BIncorrect. A late audit finds gaps only after design decisions are locked in, which leads to expensive rework. Compliance has to be built in, not just inspected at the end.
• CIncorrect. The standard is mandatory. Seeking waivers before confirming which requirements apply, and planning to meet them, is not the right first step. Waivers are exceptional and rarely granted for cost reasons.
• DIncorrect. A reserve funds the cost of non-compliance after the fact. It does nothing to make sure the deliverable meets the standard in the first place.

Answer: A) The framework of authority, decision rights, escalation paths, and oversight through which the project is directed and controlled

Project governance is the framework of authority, decision rights, escalation paths and oversight that directs and controls a project. It is separate from the plan, the tracking tools and staffing.

• ACorrect. Governance sets who can decide what, at what thresholds issues are escalated and to whom, and how the project is held accountable to the organization.
• BIncorrect. This describes the project management plan and its baselines. Governance sets the decision and oversight framework the plan operates within.
• CIncorrect. These are project management and control tools. They support reporting to governance bodies but are not the governance framework itself.
• DIncorrect. This is resource acquisition and management. It is not the organization's structure of authority, decision rights and oversight over the project.

Answer: A) Plan structured change management that engages staff early, addresses resistance, and reinforces the change after go-live

Lasting adoption of a new way of working requires structured organizational change management. That means engaging impacted people, addressing resistance, preparing them and reinforcing the change. Testing, mandates or one-off training are not enough by themselves.

• ACorrect. Organizational change management deals with the people side of change: building awareness and support, uncovering and resolving resistance, preparing people, and reinforcing new behaviors so the change lasts.
• BIncorrect. More testing confirms that the solution works, but it does nothing about staff willingness or readiness to change how they work, which is the sponsor's concern.
• CIncorrect. A top-down mandate may force compliance at first, but without engagement and support it often leads to resistance and workarounds rather than real adoption.
• DIncorrect. Training is needed, but a single session on its own does not address resistance or reinforce the new behaviors after go-live, so adoption may fade.