Project Management Professional (PMP) — All Questions

Midway through a predictive project, a stakeholder submits a formal request to add a significant new feature. What should the project manager do first?

• a.Add the feature only if the team has spare capacity this week
• b.Evaluate the change's impact on scope, schedule, cost, and risk, then route it through the change control process✓
• c.Immediately implement the change to keep the stakeholder satisfied
• d.Reject the request because the baseline is already approved

Integrated change control requires assessing the full impact of a requested change and submitting it for approval before any action. Implementing immediately bypasses governance, outright rejection ignores potential value, and acting on spare capacity skips formal impact analysis and authorization.

An EVM report shows a project with CPI = 0.85 and SPI = 1.05. What does this indicate about project performance?

• a.The project is on budget and on schedule
• b.The project is over budget and behind schedule
• c.The project is under budget and behind schedule
• d.The project is over budget but ahead of schedule✓

CPI below 1.0 means the project is spending more than the value earned, so it is over budget, while SPI above 1.0 means more value has been earned than planned, so it is ahead of schedule. Recognizing that CPI addresses cost efficiency and SPI addresses schedule efficiency is essential to interpret combined performance correctly.

A hybrid project uses predictive planning for hardware and agile delivery for software. The software backlog keeps changing, disrupting hardware milestones. What is the best approach?

• a.Define clear integration points and coordinate cadences so software iterations align with hardware milestones✓
• b.Force the software team to adopt a fixed, unchangeable scope
• c.Abandon the predictive approach for the hardware component
• d.Let each team work independently with no synchronization

Hybrid delivery succeeds when teams establish integration points and synchronize cadences so evolving work aligns with fixed milestones. Freezing software scope defeats agility, converting hardware to pure agile may not fit its constraints, and removing synchronization guarantees misalignment.

During execution, the project manager notices that a risk previously logged as low probability now appears likely to occur. What should be done?

• a.Remove the risk from the register to avoid alarming stakeholders
• b.Reassess the risk, update the risk register, and implement the appropriate response strategy✓
• c.Immediately execute a fallback plan
• d.Ignore it until it actually occurs

Risk monitoring is continuous; when a risk's probability changes, the project manager reassesses it, updates the risk register, and triggers the planned response. Waiting until it occurs forfeits proactive control, jumping to a fallback skips analysis of the primary response, and deleting the risk hides critical information.

A project manager is planning procurement for specialized components with well-defined specifications and a stable market. Which contract type best transfers cost risk to the seller?

• a.Time-and-materials (T&M)
• b.Cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF)
• c.Cost-plus-incentive-fee (CPIF)
• d.Firm-fixed-price (FFP)✓

A firm-fixed-price contract sets a fixed total price for well-defined work, placing the cost risk on the seller since overruns are the seller's responsibility. Cost-reimbursable and T&M contracts leave more cost risk with the buyer and are better suited to uncertain or evolving scope.

An agile team consistently completes fewer story points than committed each sprint, eroding stakeholder trust. What should the project manager coach the team to do?

• a.Use empirical velocity to forecast commitments and refine backlog estimates during planning✓
• b.Extend every sprint until all committed work is done
• c.Stop measuring velocity to reduce pressure
• d.Commit to more points to push the team harder

Agile forecasting relies on empirical data; using actual historical velocity and refining estimates produces realistic, sustainable commitments that rebuild trust. Over-committing worsens the gap, dropping velocity removes a key feedback metric, and stretching sprint length breaks the fixed-cadence principle.

A project's schedule shows the critical path has zero float, and a non-critical activity has 6 days of float. An unexpected delay consumes 4 days of that activity's float. What is the schedule impact?

• a.The project end date is unaffected because float remains on that activity✓
• b.The project must be crashed to recover
• c.The project end date slips by 4 days
• d.The critical path immediately changes to that activity

Float is the amount of delay an activity can absorb without affecting the project finish date; consuming 4 of 6 days of float still leaves 2 days, so the end date is unaffected. Only when a delay exceeds available float does it affect the critical path or the project completion date.

Quality inspections reveal a recurring defect in a deliverable. The project manager wants to prevent recurrence rather than just fix the symptom. Which tool is most appropriate?

• a.A responsibility assignment matrix to reassign work
• b.A stakeholder register to log concerns
• c.A milestone chart to track completion
• d.A root-cause analysis such as a fishbone diagram to identify underlying causes✓

Preventing recurrence requires identifying underlying causes, and a cause-and-effect (fishbone) diagram or the 5 Whys systematically uncovers root causes. Milestone charts, RAMs, and stakeholder registers serve tracking and assignment purposes, not defect-cause analysis.

At the start of an iteration, the product owner reprioritizes the backlog so a high-value feature moves to the top. How should the team respond during iteration planning?

• a.Pull the reprioritized high-value items into the iteration based on capacity and definition of ready✓
• b.Complete the previous order first, then address the new priority next iteration
• c.Split the team so half works on old priorities and half on new
• d.Refuse the change because the backlog was already set

Agile embraces changing priorities between iterations; the team pulls the newly prioritized, ready items into the upcoming iteration according to its capacity. Refusing the change ignores value delivery, deferring high-value work delays benefits, and splitting the team fragments focus and reduces flow.

A project charter has just been approved, but stakeholders keep debating what the project will and will not deliver. What should the project manager do next to establish a shared understanding of the work?

• a.Ask the sponsor to make all scope decisions unilaterally
• b.Begin executing the highest-value work immediately to build momentum
• c.Freeze scope discussions until the schedule baseline is set
• d.Collect requirements from stakeholders and develop a scope statement and WBS✓

Defining scope is the foundation for planning: the PM collects requirements, writes a clear scope statement, and decomposes the work into a WBS so everyone shares the same boundaries. Executing before scope is defined, deferring scope, or centralizing all decisions ignores the requirements-gathering step that prevents later rework.

During execution of a predictive project, a team member completes work that was never requested, believing it would add value. The extra work delayed an approved deliverable. What does this situation represent?

• a.A legitimate change that requires no documentation
• b.Gold plating, which should be prevented by controlling scope to the baseline✓
• c.Scope creep initiated by the customer that must be accepted
• d.Progressive elaboration of the requirements

Adding unrequested extras that were not authorized is gold plating, and controlling scope means delivering exactly what was approved, no more and no less. Scope creep comes from uncontrolled stakeholder changes, progressive elaboration refines defined work, and any real change must go through change control.

A project has BAC = $200,000. At the status date, work is 40% complete, PV was planned at $100,000, and AC is $90,000. What is the cost variance (CV)?

• a.-$20,000
• b.$20,000
• c.-$10,000✓
• d.$10,000

EV = 40% of BAC = 0.40 x $200,000 = $80,000, and CV = EV - AC = $80,000 - $90,000 = -$10,000. A negative CV means the project has spent more than the value earned and is over budget; PV is used for schedule variance, not cost variance.

Using the same data (EV = $80,000, PV = $100,000), what is the schedule performance index (SPI), and what does it mean?

• a.1.25, meaning the project is ahead of schedule
• b.0.89, meaning the project is over budget
• c.1.11, meaning the project is on schedule
• d.0.80, meaning the project is behind schedule✓

SPI = EV / PV = $80,000 / $100,000 = 0.80, and an SPI below 1.0 means less value has been earned than planned, so the project is behind schedule. Cost efficiency is measured by CPI (EV/AC), not SPI.

A project has BAC = $500,000, EV = $200,000, and AC = $250,000. Assuming current cost performance continues, what is the estimate at completion (EAC)?

• a.$450,000
• b.$500,000
• c.$550,000
• d.$625,000✓

CPI = EV/AC = 200,000/250,000 = 0.80, and when current performance is expected to continue, EAC = BAC/CPI = 500,000/0.80 = $625,000. This formula projects the final cost by extrapolating the cost efficiency observed so far.

A network diagram has two paths to completion: Path A (Start-B-D-End) totals 15 days and Path B (Start-C-E-End) totals 12 days. What is the total float of activity C on Path B?

• a.12 days
• b.15 days
• c.3 days✓
• d.0 days

The critical path is the longest path at 15 days, so Path B has 15 - 12 = 3 days of total float shared across its activities. Activity C can slip up to 3 days without delaying the project; only critical path activities have zero float.

The sponsor wants the project finished two weeks earlier and has approved additional budget. The PM decides to add resources to critical path activities. Which schedule compression technique is this?

• a.Resource leveling
• b.Fast tracking
• c.Crashing✓
• d.Rolling wave planning

Crashing shortens the schedule by adding resources to critical path activities, typically increasing cost. Fast tracking overlaps activities that were planned in sequence, resource leveling adjusts for resource constraints, and rolling wave is a progressive planning technique.

To recover schedule without extra cost, a PM decides to begin design of module two before design of module one is fully complete, accepting some rework risk. Which technique is being used?

• a.Monte Carlo simulation
• b.Fast tracking✓
• c.Crashing
• d.Critical chain buffering

Fast tracking performs activities in parallel that were originally scheduled in sequence, compressing the schedule at the cost of increased risk and potential rework. Crashing adds resources and cost, while the other options are analysis or buffering techniques, not compression by overlap.

During sprint planning, the team and product owner disagree on how much work fits in the upcoming iteration. What is the best basis for the team's commitment?

• a.The team's recent average velocity and current capacity✓
• b.The maximum output the team achieved in its single best sprint
• c.A fixed number of story points mandated by management
• d.The product owner's desired scope for the release

Sustainable, realistic commitments are based on empirical average velocity and the team's actual capacity for the iteration. Using a single best sprint, a management mandate, or the product owner's wish list ignores real capacity and undermines predictability and trust.

A stakeholder requests a change during execution. The change control board has not yet met. A team member asks if they can start the change now to save time. What should the PM say?

• a.No; the change must be evaluated and approved through integrated change control before work begins✓
• b.No; because every change request should simply be rejected outright to protect the approved baseline from any disruption
• c.Yes, because responding quickly to stakeholders is always the priority
• d.Yes, as long as the change is small enough to fit in the current period

Integrated change control requires that a requested change be assessed for impact and formally approved before any implementation. Starting early bypasses governance, blanket rejection ignores value, and change size does not exempt a request from the approval process.

A project is halfway through, and the customer indicates requirements are likely to keep evolving as they learn from early deliverables. Which delivery approach is most appropriate for the remaining work?

• a.A fully predictive approach with a locked scope baseline
• b.An adaptive (agile) approach delivering in short increments with feedback✓
• c.No planning at all, letting the team decide day to day
• d.A single big-bang delivery at the very end

High requirement uncertainty and the need to learn from early results favor an adaptive approach that delivers increments and incorporates feedback each cycle. A locked predictive baseline resists change, a single big-bang delivery defers all learning, and no planning provides no direction.

A newly identified risk could severely impact the project, but its response would be expensive. The PM decides to purchase insurance to shift the financial consequence to a third party. Which risk response strategy is this?

• a.Accept
• b.Avoid
• c.Transfer✓
• d.Mitigate

Transferring shifts the impact and ownership of a threat to a third party, commonly through insurance, warranties, or contracts. Mitigation reduces probability or impact directly, avoidance eliminates the threat, and acceptance takes no proactive action.

A risk with high probability and high impact is identified early. The PM changes the project plan to eliminate the condition that gives rise to the risk entirely. Which response strategy is this?

• a.Transfer
• b.Accept
• c.Avoid✓
• d.Escalate

Avoidance eliminates a threat by removing its cause, for example by changing scope, approach, or plan so the risk can no longer occur. Transfer shifts impact to another party, acceptance takes no action, and escalation moves a risk outside the project's authority.

During procurement, the buyer's requirements are not fully defined and the level of effort is uncertain. Which contract type is generally most appropriate?

• a.Fixed-price with economic price adjustment
• b.Firm-fixed-price
• c.Cost-reimbursable or time-and-materials✓
• d.Fixed-price-incentive-fee with a hard ceiling

When scope is uncertain and effort is hard to estimate, cost-reimbursable or T&M contracts fit because they do not require a fully defined deliverable up front. Fixed-price variants require well-defined scope and place cost risk on the seller, which is unsuitable when requirements are unclear.

A key stakeholder has high power and high interest but is currently resistant to the project. What is the most appropriate engagement approach?

• a.Avoid contact to prevent conflict
• b.Manage them closely with proactive, tailored engagement to move them toward support✓
• c.Keep them informed with periodic updates only, treating a resistant high-power stakeholder as a lower priority
• d.Monitor them with minimal effort

High-power, high-interest stakeholders should be managed closely, and a resistant one needs proactive, tailored engagement to shift them toward support. Minimal monitoring or merely keeping them informed underuses engagement, and avoiding contact allows resistance to grow unchecked.

A project has 6 stakeholders now, and 3 more will join next month. Using the communication channels formula, how many additional channels are created when the team grows from 6 to 9?

• a.15
• b.21✓
• c.36
• d.3

Channels = n(n-1)/2, so 6 people give 15 channels and 9 people give 36 channels; the increase is 36 - 15 = 21 additional channels. The formula shows communication complexity grows faster than headcount, which is why larger teams need deliberate communication planning.

A defect is discovered during quality control inspection late in the project. The PM wants to understand where in the process the defect was introduced and stop it from recurring. Which tool best supports this?

• a.A histogram of measurement values
• b.A cause-and-effect (fishbone) diagram to trace root causes✓
• c.A control chart showing whether the process is stable
• d.A Pareto chart ranking defect frequencies

To trace the underlying cause of a defect and prevent recurrence, a cause-and-effect (Ishikawa/fishbone) diagram systematically explores potential root causes. Control charts show stability, Pareto charts rank frequency, and histograms show distribution, but none isolate root cause the way a fishbone does.

The project manager wants to distinguish between quality assurance and quality control. Which statement correctly describes quality assurance?

• a.It focuses on improving and auditing processes to build quality in✓
• b.It inspects deliverables to detect defects after they occur
• c.It is performed only at the end of the project during closeout
• d.It measures whether individual outputs meet specifications

Quality assurance is process-focused and proactive, auditing and improving processes so quality is built into deliverables. Quality control is product-focused and inspects specific deliverables to detect defects, which is a reactive, output-level activity.

During a retrospective, the team identifies a recurring impediment caused by slow approvals from an external department. What should the PM do with this information?

• a.Act as a servant-leader to remove the impediment by engaging the external department✓
• b.Ignore it because it originates outside the team
• c.Ask the team to quietly work around the impediment each sprint, since it originates in an external department
• d.Wait until the impediment blocks a release entirely

A servant-leader actively removes impediments, including those outside the team, by engaging the responsible parties to unblock the team. Ignoring, working around, or waiting for the impediment to worsen allows a known drag on flow to persist.

A predictive project's scope baseline consists of which three components?

• a.Charter, business case, and benefits management plan
• b.Requirements traceability matrix, RACI, and risk register
• c.Approved scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary✓
• d.Schedule, cost, and quality baselines

The scope baseline is the approved scope statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary, which together define the authorized work. The other groupings mix charter-level documents, other baselines, or supporting artifacts that are not the scope baseline itself.

A project manager is starting a large, multi-phase program where later phases cannot be planned in detail yet. Which planning technique should be applied?

• a.Complete detailed planning of all phases up front before any execution begins so nothing is left to elaborate later
• b.Fast tracking all phases at once
• c.Skip planning for later phases entirely
• d.Rolling wave planning, elaborating near-term work in detail and later work at a higher level✓

Rolling wave planning elaborates imminent work in detail while keeping distant work at a higher level, refining it as more information becomes available. Planning everything up front is wasteful when information is incomplete, skipping planning creates gaps, and fast tracking is a compression technique, not a planning approach.

A project has BAC = $400,000, EV = $150,000, AC = $180,000. What is the cost performance index (CPI)?

• a.0.94
• b.1.07
• c.0.83✓
• d.1.20

CPI = EV/AC = 150,000/180,000 = 0.83, indicating the project earns about 83 cents of value per dollar spent and is over budget. A CPI below 1.0 signals cost overrun; values above 1.0 would indicate under-budget performance.

Given BAC = $400,000, EV = $150,000, AC = $180,000, and assuming remaining work will be performed at the budgeted rate, what is the estimate at completion (EAC)?

• a.$216,000
• b.$400,000
• c.$430,000✓
• d.$480,000

When remaining work is expected to proceed at the planned rate (atypical variance), EAC = AC + (BAC - EV) = 180,000 + (400,000 - 150,000) = $430,000. This treats the past cost overrun as a one-time event rather than a continuing trend.

A team using Scrum has just finished a sprint. Which event should occur to inspect the increment and gather stakeholder feedback before the retrospective?

• a.Sprint review✓
• b.Daily standup
• c.Backlog refinement
• d.Sprint planning

The sprint review inspects the increment with stakeholders and gathers feedback to adapt the product backlog, and it precedes the retrospective. Sprint planning starts the sprint, the daily standup coordinates daily work, and backlog refinement prepares future items.

During a project, the PM realizes the risk register was created at initiation and never revisited, though conditions have changed significantly. What should the PM do?

• a.Continuously monitor risks and update the register throughout the project✓
• b.Leave the register as-is since it was approved originally
• c.Delete outdated risks to keep it short
• d.Wait for the next phase gate to review it

Risk management is iterative: the register must be continuously monitored and updated as risks change, close, or emerge. A static register based on initiation-only data misses new threats and opportunities, and deleting risks removes valuable history rather than reassessing status.

A stakeholder submits a change that, on analysis, would increase project value but also extend the schedule. After impact analysis, what is the PM's next step?

• a.Reject the change because it affects the schedule
• b.Present the analyzed change with options to the change control board or sponsor for a decision✓
• c.Approve the change directly since it clearly adds value, then inform the change control board about it afterward
• d.Implement the change and report it later

After analyzing impacts, the PM presents the change and its trade-offs to the appropriate authority (CCB or sponsor) for a decision rather than deciding unilaterally. Approving, rejecting, or implementing without authorization bypasses the governance that integrated change control requires.

In a Kanban system, the team notices that work items are piling up in the 'testing' column while developers keep pulling new items into 'in progress.' What is the best corrective action?

• a.Remove the testing column to simplify the board
• b.Enforce WIP limits and swarm to clear the testing bottleneck✓
• c.Increase the work-in-progress limit for development
• d.Add more items to the backlog to keep developers busy

Kanban uses WIP limits to expose and resolve bottlenecks; when testing backs up, the team should stop starting new work and swarm to finish testing. Raising WIP or adding backlog items worsens flow, and removing the testing column hides the problem instead of resolving it.

A procurement is underway and the seller proposes a change to the agreed statement of work. How should the buyer's PM handle it?

• a.Let the seller proceed and reconcile the paperwork at closeout
• b.Process it through the contract change control system with a formal contract amendment✓
• c.Ignore it and hold the seller to the original terms
• d.Accept the seller's proposed change verbally to preserve goodwill, then reconcile the paperwork informally at closeout

Changes to a contract must go through the contract change control system and be captured in a formal amendment signed by both parties. Verbal agreements, ignoring the request, or deferring documentation create legal and scope ambiguity that can lead to disputes.

A project manager wants to estimate an activity's duration using optimistic (O) = 6 days, most likely (M) = 12 days, and pessimistic (P) = 30 days. What is the PERT (triangular vs. beta) beta expected duration?

• a.12 days
• b.18 days
• c.16 days
• d.14 days✓

The beta (PERT) estimate is (O + 4M + P)/6 = (6 + 48 + 30)/6 = 84/6 = 14 days. This weighted average gives the most likely value four times the weight of the extremes, producing a more realistic single-point estimate than a simple average.

Using O = 6, M = 12, P = 30, what is the standard deviation of the activity duration (beta distribution)?

• a.4 days✓
• b.3 days
• c.6 days
• d.8 days

The beta standard deviation is (P - O)/6 = (30 - 6)/6 = 24/6 = 4 days. This measures estimate uncertainty; a wider range between optimistic and pessimistic values yields a larger standard deviation and more risk.

Halfway through a predictive project, the customer asks for a demo of partially completed work to reduce uncertainty. The PM realizes several stakeholders would benefit from earlier feedback. What should the PM consider?

• a.Canceling remaining planning to focus on demos
• b.Switching the entire project to Scrum immediately
• c.Refusing the demo because predictive projects are designed to deliver value only in a single handover at the very end
• d.Adding periodic review points or a hybrid increment to gather feedback earlier✓

Introducing periodic reviews or hybrid increments lets a largely predictive project gather feedback earlier without abandoning its structure. Refusing forgoes valuable learning, an abrupt full switch to Scrum is disruptive, and canceling planning removes needed control.