CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) Practice Exam — All Questions

A predictive (plan-based) life cycle is most appropriate when which condition holds?

• a.Requirements are well understood and stable, allowing detailed up-front planning✓
• b.Requirements are expected to change frequently throughout delivery
• c.The team wants to deliver small increments and gather feedback each iteration
• d.The product cannot be defined until it is partly built

Predictive life cycles suit projects with clear, stable requirements that can be defined early. Scope, schedule, and cost are planned in detail up front, and change is managed through formal change control.

On a network diagram, what does the critical path represent?

• a.The path with the most activities regardless of duration
• b.The sequence of activities that carries the greatest cost
• c.The longest path through the network, determining the shortest possible project duration✓
• d.The path that contains the most float or slack

The critical path is the longest duration path through the schedule network and defines the shortest time in which the project can finish. Activities on it have zero float, so delays there delay the project.

In earned value management, a Cost Performance Index (CPI) of 0.85 indicates what?

• a.The project is ahead of schedule
• b.The project is over budget, earning 85 cents of value for every dollar spent✓
• c.The project is exactly on budget
• d.The project is under budget and running efficiently

CPI equals earned value divided by actual cost. A CPI below 1.0 means the project is over budget: at 0.85, only 85 cents of planned value is being earned for each dollar actually spent.

Which sequence correctly orders progressively more detailed cost estimates from least to most accurate?

• a.Definitive, then budgetary, then rough order of magnitude
• b.Budgetary, then definitive, then rough order of magnitude
• c.Definitive, then rough order of magnitude, then budgetary
• d.Rough order of magnitude, then budgetary, then definitive✓

Estimates become more accurate as planning progresses: a rough order of magnitude estimate is broad and early, a budgetary estimate is intermediate, and a definitive estimate, made with detailed information, is the most accurate.