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Free PMP exam questions with answers
41 free PMP practice questions with answers and explanations in simple English. The first 20 are exam-level scenario questions like the real PMP exam: several answers look right, and only one is the best. Choose your answer, then open the explanation.
How to use these questions
Answer each question before you open the explanation. Look for the key words in the question: they decide the answer. When you get one wrong, open the free lesson linked under it. Want more? PMCLEAR has 1,765 PMP exam questions and 96 lessons, including timed 45, 90 and 180-question practice exams.
Exam-level scenario questions (20)
Question 1 People · Agile
During daily standups, one senior developer routinely spends several minutes explaining technical details and interrupting others. Over three sprints, the rest of the team has grown noticeably quieter and the standup now runs close to thirty minutes. Two members have privately told the project manager they no longer see the point of attending. What should the project manager do first?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. PMI expects the project manager to address individual behaviour with the individual, privately and directly, before involving the group or anyone else.
🗝 Key words: “do first”
PMP rule: Individual behaviour is handled one-on-one first. Escalation and group forums come only after a direct conversation has failed.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. This treats the symptom. A timer may shorten the meeting without restoring participation, and the underlying behaviour is unaddressed.
- C. Retrospectives are for team process, not for confronting one person's conduct. Raising it there first risks embarrassing the developer and damaging trust.
- D. Escalating to a functional manager is premature. The project manager has not yet spoken to the person themselves.
The trap: Three options are all things you might legitimately do. Only one is the correct starting point. 'First' turns a list of reasonable actions into a sequencing question.
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 2 People · Hybrid
Two senior engineers disagree about which control architecture to use for a key subsystem. The disagreement has surfaced in the last three status meetings, each time consuming most of the agenda, and the design milestone is now a week behind. Both engineers are highly respected and each has a defensible technical position. What is the best action for the project manager?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. Collaborating and problem-solving is the preferred conflict resolution mode. Structured criteria turn an argument about opinions into a decision about evidence.
🗝 Key words: “best action”
PMP rule: Collaborate/problem-solve is the highest-value conflict mode. Give the disagreement a structure and it usually resolves itself.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Deciding by seniority is forcing. It resolves the schedule issue but leaves the losing engineer disengaged and the technical rationale undocumented.
- C. The sponsor is not the right decision maker for a technical trade-off the team is capable of resolving. Escalating first is a common wrong answer.
- D. Building both is waste and does not resolve the conflict. It defers the decision at real cost.
The trap: The schedule pressure in the stem tempts you toward the fastest option. Speed is not the criterion. The exam rewards resolving the conflict properly, not clearing the agenda.
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 3 People · Agile
A team has failed to complete its sprint commitment in four consecutive iterations. Carry-over is growing and the release forecast has slipped twice. A senior manager instructs the project manager to add two developers to the team immediately to recover the shortfall. What should the project manager do next?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. The cause is unknown. A retrospective is the team's own mechanism for surfacing it, and it must come before a structural change to the team.
🗝 Key words: “next”
PMP rule: Diagnose before you change the system. On an adaptive team, the retrospective is the diagnostic instrument.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Acting on the instruction without diagnosis may make things worse. New members reduce velocity while they onboard, and the real cause is untouched.
- C. Reducing commitment may be a valid outcome of the retrospective, but choosing it now is guessing.
- D. The point is defensible but it is an argument, not an action, and it still skips the diagnosis. Rejecting a manager's instruction is rarely the exam answer.
The trap: The instruction from a senior manager creates false urgency. An instruction in the stem does not make compliance the correct answer.
📘 Free lesson: The retrospective: improving how the team works
Question 4 People · Hybrid
A project team is distributed across three time zones. All meetings are held at a time convenient for the largest group. Over the last month, the two members in the most inconvenient time zone have stopped raising issues in meetings, although their written updates show they are aware of several risks. What should the project manager do?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. The cause of the silence has been assumed, not established. Ask the people affected, then adapt. Every other option is a solution chosen before the problem is understood.
🗝 Key words: “stopped raising issues”
PMP rule: Do not fix a cause you have not confirmed. With people questions, the answer that starts by asking the person is usually right.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Rotation is a plausible remedy and may well be the outcome — but only if timing is actually the barrier. It may be language, hierarchy or something else entirely.
- C. This works around the exclusion rather than removing it, and keeps them out of the live conversation where decisions get made.
- D. Asynchronous review keeps them permanently one cycle behind the discussion.
The trap: Time zone is mentioned prominently, which pulls you toward the rotation answer. The stem never says timing is the cause — you would be inferring it.
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 5 People · Predictive
A normally strong team member has missed three consecutive deliverables and has been arriving late. Other team members have quietly absorbed the work and one has complained to the project manager about the imbalance. The project manager is aware the team member is dealing with a family illness. What should the project manager do first?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. Speak to the person before acting on their behalf. The plan is agreed with them, not decided for them.
🗝 Key words: “first”
PMP rule: Confidentiality and direct conversation govern personal performance issues. Never discuss one member's private circumstances with the team.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Reassigning work without speaking to the person removes their agency and may be entirely unnecessary if a short adjustment would do.
- C. Disclosing a colleague's personal circumstances to the team is a confidentiality breach, however well intended.
- D. This may be a useful part of the conversation, but offering it before you have spoken to them makes it a deflection rather than support.
The trap: The complaint from the other member pulls you toward addressing the team. The exam wants the affected individual handled first, and privately.
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 6 Process · Predictive
At the end of the reporting period a project shows CPI of 0.85 and SPI of 1.06. The sponsor asks the project manager to explain the position and recommend an action. Which statement and action are correct?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. CPI below 1.0 means you are getting less than a dollar of value per dollar spent — over budget. SPI above 1.0 means work is ahead of plan. The next step is root cause, not remedy.
🗝 Key words: “CPI 0.85 · SPI 1.06”
PMP rule: For both indices, above 1.0 is good and below 1.0 is bad. And a variance is a signal to investigate, not yet a reason to act.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. The interpretation is reversed on both indices.
- C. The cost reading is right but the schedule reading is wrong, and revising baselines before diagnosis is out of order.
- D. Both readings are reversed, and releasing contingency on a project that is over-consuming budget is the opposite of what the data supports.
The trap: Two-part options. An option can be half right and still wrong. Read the interpretation and the action separately before selecting.
📘 Free lesson: Earned value basics: PV, EV, AC, CPI and SPI
Question 7 Process · Hybrid
During execution a team member identifies a threat that was never captured during planning. Initial discussion suggests it is both likely and damaging. The project manager has no response planned and the team is asking what to do. What should the project manager do next?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. Register, then analyse, then respond. 'Likely and damaging' is an impression from a discussion, not an assessment.
🗝 Key words: “likely and damaging”
PMP rule: Identify, analyse, respond — in that order, every time. Risk identification is continuous throughout the project, not a planning-phase event.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Skipping analysis means you choose a response before you know the size of the exposure. Mitigation costs money that may not be warranted.
- C. Management reserve is for unknown-unknowns and is not the project manager's to draw on, and no amount has been established.
- D. Escalation without analysis gives the sponsor a problem with no information attached.
The trap: That phrase reads like an assessment and is not one. Nobody has scored this risk yet — the words came out of a hallway conversation.
📘 Free lesson: Risk process and the risk register
Question 8 People · Hybrid
During a review meeting, a senior stakeholder interrupts the project manager, criticises the team's work in front of the whole group and questions the project manager's competence. The criticism is not accurate. The room falls silent. What should the project manager do?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Acknowledge without conceding, protect the meeting's purpose, and take the conflict into a private setting where it can actually be resolved.
🗝 Key words: “not accurate”
PMP rule: Self-regulation first. Public confrontation is deferred to a private conversation, and the team is never made the shield.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- A. Correcting the record in the room turns the meeting into a contest with a senior stakeholder in front of the team. Being right is not the objective here.
- C. Ending the meeting rewards the outburst by making it effective, and leaves the criticism as the last thing everybody heard.
- D. Putting the team in front of a hostile senior stakeholder is the opposite of what the project manager is there to do.
The trap: Being told the criticism is wrong invites you to defend yourself. The exam is testing emotional regulation, not accuracy.
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 9 People · Hybrid
Whenever two senior team members disagree, the project manager emphasises their shared goals and moves the meeting on. The same disagreement has now resurfaced four times, each time later in the schedule and with more work already built on the unresolved assumption. What should the project manager do?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. Smoothing has been tried four times and has failed four times. Collaborating on the substance is the only mode that removes the disagreement rather than postponing it.
🗝 Key words: “resurfaced four times”
PMP rule: Smoothing defers conflict at compounding cost. When a disagreement recurs, the underlying issue has never been addressed.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Forcing produces a decision but leaves one senior member uncommitted to work he must now support.
- C. Smoothing is the technique that produced this situation. Repeating it guarantees a fifth recurrence at higher cost.
- D. Circulating two positions informs everyone of a disagreement without resolving it.
The trap: Avoiding conflict between senior people feels like good judgement. The repetition count is the evidence it is not working.
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 10 Process · Predictive
During a design review the project manager finds that an engineer has added a data-logging function to a control system. The customer did not request it and it is not in the requirements. The engineer explains it took only a day and the customer will appreciate it. What should the project manager do?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. This is gold plating. Unrequested scope carries testing, documentation, validation and warranty obligations, and it was never assessed or approved.
🗝 Key words: “the customer did not request it”
PMP rule: Gold plating is scope the customer never asked for. Extra is not free — it carries test, documentation and warranty cost.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Offering it free creates an expectation, a support obligation and a precedent, and the customer may not want it at all.
- C. Change control exists to assess proposed changes, not to retrospectively legitimise work that should not have been started.
- D. Shipping an untested, undocumented function is the worst available outcome and creates direct warranty exposure.
The trap: 'Only a day' frames the cost as trivial. The development time is the smallest part of what an unrequested function costs.
📘 Free lesson: WBS and the scope baseline
Question 11 Process · Predictive
A project has a budget at completion of $800,000. Earned value is $300,000, actual cost is $375,000 and planned value is $320,000. The sponsor asks for the estimate at completion, assuming current cost performance continues. What should the project manager report?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D. CPI = 300,000 ÷ 375,000 = 0.8. Where current cost performance is expected to continue, EAC = BAC ÷ CPI = 800,000 ÷ 0.8 = $1,000,000.
🗝 Key words: “assuming current cost performance continues”
PMP rule: EAC = BAC ÷ CPI when current performance is expected to continue. When the variance is atypical, EAC = AC + (BAC − EV).
Why the other answers are wrong:
- A. BAC is the original budget. It is not a forecast and takes no account of performance to date.
- B. This is the EAC formula for a variance considered atypical, which contradicts the stated assumption that current performance continues.
- C. AC plus remaining BAC also assumes the rest of the work runs at plan, which again contradicts the assumption given.
The trap: Several EAC formulas exist and each is right under a different assumption. That clause is what selects the formula — it is not filler.
📘 Free lesson: Earned value basics: PV, EV, AC, CPI and SPI
Question 12 Process · Predictive
Activity K has an early start of day 20, an early finish of day 28, a late start of day 26 and a late finish of day 34. The successor activity has an early start of day 30. The project manager is asked how long Activity K could be delayed without affecting anything. What is the correct answer?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. Free float is the successor's early start minus this activity's early finish: 30 − 28 = 2 days. Total float is LS − ES = 26 − 20 = 6 days, which is the delay tolerable before the project finish moves.
🗝 Key words: “without affecting anything”
PMP rule: Free float is delay available before the next activity slips. Total float is delay available before the project finish slips.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. The two figures are reversed. Free float is the smaller number here.
- C. Six days is total float only. Delaying six days would push the successor's start by four days.
- D. Two days is free float only. The project has more tolerance than that before its finish date moves.
The trap: The question deliberately blurs the two floats. The successor's early start is given for one calculation and the late start for the other.
📘 Free lesson: Critical path and float
Question 13 Process · Predictive
A control chart for a machining process shows all measurements inside the control limits. However, the last eight consecutive points fall above the mean, forming a steady upward drift. What should the project manager conclude?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D. The rule of seven: seven or more consecutive points on one side of the mean indicates a non-random pattern requiring investigation, even inside the control limits.
🗝 Key words: “eight consecutive points”
PMP rule: Control limits are not specification limits. Seven or more consecutive points on one side of the mean signal an assignable cause.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- A. Staying inside the limits is necessary but not sufficient. A non-random pattern indicates an assignable cause.
- B. Control limits and specification limits are different things. Nothing in the stem says any part is outside specification.
- C. Recalculating the limits to accommodate a drift hides the very signal the chart exists to produce.
The trap: 'All measurements inside the control limits' is designed to sound like a pass. The run length is the signal.
📘 Free lesson: The quality tools: which one, when?
Question 14 Process · Hybrid
A project has logged 340 defects across eleven categories in the last quarter. The team has limited capacity for improvement work and wants to know where to direct it. Which technique should the project manager apply?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. Pareto ranks causes by frequency so limited improvement capacity goes where it removes the most defects. That is precisely the question being asked.
🗝 Key words: “limited capacity”
PMP rule: Pareto: roughly 80 percent of problems come from 20 percent of causes. Use it to direct limited improvement capacity.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. A control chart shows stability over time but does not rank causes or tell you where to start.
- C. A cause and effect diagram generates candidate causes. Here the categories are already known and counted — the need is prioritisation, not generation.
- D. A scatter diagram tests correlation between two variables and does not apply to ranking eleven defect categories.
The trap: Several quality tools are plausible in a defect context. The constraint in the stem is what selects the one that ranks and prioritises.
📘 Free lesson: The quality tools: which one, when?
Question 15 Process · Predictive
A project carries a low-probability risk that, if it occurred, would cause losses far exceeding the project's budget. The organisation cannot absorb that loss, and the activity cannot be avoided because it is central to the scope. What response should the project manager consider?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D. Transfer moves the financial impact to a third party, typically via insurance, bonds or contract terms. It is the standard response to low-probability, catastrophic-impact risk.
🗝 Key words: “cannot absorb that loss”
PMP rule: Transfer moves the impact, usually for a premium. It suits risks the organisation cannot absorb but cannot avoid.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- A. Acceptance is untenable when the organisation cannot survive the impact, however unlikely it is.
- B. Mitigation reduces probability or impact but leaves the organisation exposed to the full remaining loss if it occurs.
- C. Escalation is for risks outside the project's scope of authority. This risk is within the project's scope; the response simply must be transfer.
The trap: Low probability makes acceptance tempting. The impact clause is what rules it out, and 'cannot be avoided' removes avoidance.
📘 Free lesson: Risk process and the risk register
Question 16 Process · Hybrid
To reduce the risk of a supplier delay, the project manager decides to dual source a critical component. Reviewing the plan, a team member points out that using two suppliers will introduce variation between units and complicate spare parts management. What should the project manager do with this second risk?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. A secondary risk is one created by implementing a risk response. Dual sourcing is the response; the variation and spares issue is its offspring.
🗝 Key words: “arising from the chosen response”
PMP rule: Secondary risk is created by a response. Residual risk is what remains after it. Both are identified and managed.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Residual risk is what remains of the original risk after the response — here, whatever delay exposure survives dual sourcing. This is a different thing.
- C. Risks are not dismissed by comparison. Both are managed; they are not in competition.
- D. Almost every response creates some secondary risk. Reversing on that basis would leave no response available at all.
The trap: Secondary and residual are easily swapped. Ask whether the risk was created by the response or merely survived it.
📘 Free lesson: Risk process and the risk register
Question 17 Process · Agile
At the end of each iteration a team holds a single ninety-minute meeting where it demonstrates completed work to stakeholders and, in the same session, discusses how the team could work better. Stakeholders remain in the room throughout. Team members have become reluctant to raise process problems. What should the project manager do?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. The review demonstrates the increment and gathers stakeholder feedback. The retrospective is the team's own inspection of how it works, and it needs the team's own space to be candid.
🗝 Key words: “reluctant to raise process problems”
PMP rule: The review is about the product and includes stakeholders. The retrospective is about the team's process and belongs to the team.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- B. Reordering does not change who is in the room, which is what is suppressing candour.
- C. Silent observers still inhibit honest discussion of the team's own shortcomings.
- D. Anonymous written input is a workaround for a room that should not contain those people in the first place.
The trap: The format looks efficient — one meeting instead of two. Efficiency is why the two purposes got collapsed, and why the retrospective stopped working.
📘 Free lesson: The retrospective: improving how the team works
Question 18 Business Environment · Hybrid
A senior executive verbally asks a project manager to begin work immediately on a new initiative, saying the charter will follow in due course. The project manager will need to draw resources from three departments. What should the project manager do first?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. The charter formally authorises the project's existence and the project manager's authority to apply organisational resources. Without it, there is no basis for drawing from three departments.
🗝 Key words: “the charter will follow”
PMP rule: The project charter authorises the project and grants the project manager authority to apply organisational resources. Work does not begin without it.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- A. Informal planning consumes real resources without authority, and it normalises starting projects that have never been authorised.
- B. Departmental agreement without a charter has no foundation. The charter is what gives the project manager standing to ask.
- D. An email records who asked, but it does not authorise the project or confer any authority over resources.
The trap: A senior executive's instruction feels like sufficient authority. The exam treats the charter, not seniority, as the source of the project manager's authority.
📘 Free lesson: The project charter: the official 'go'
Question 19 People · Predictive
During design reviews a team member who disagrees with the direction says nothing, then afterwards tells colleagues privately that the approach will not work. Two of his concerns have since proved correct and caused rework. What should the project manager do first?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Withdrawal is a conflict-avoidance response, and it has a cause — hierarchy, past experience, language, or something else. Ask the person before designing a remedy.
🗝 Key words: “two of his concerns have since proved correct”
PMP rule: Withdrawal is a conflict mode with a cause. Understand the cause from the person before changing the process around them.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- A. Naming the pattern in front of the team exposes him publicly and makes it less likely, not more, that he speaks next time.
- C. A written channel works around the silence without addressing why it exists, and keeps him out of the live discussion.
- D. Forcing a stated position may extract a yes from someone who is avoiding conflict. Compliance under procedure is not candour.
The trap: Being right makes the rework feel like his fault. The exam is asking why the environment is not getting his input, not how to penalise him.
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 20 People · Hybrid
A senior manager whose department will use the delivered system has been openly critical of the project in meetings and has declined two invitations to review progress. The project manager assesses her current engagement as resistant and the level needed as supportive. What should the project manager do next?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D. The stakeholder engagement assessment matrix identifies the gap between current and desired engagement. Closing it starts with understanding why the person sits where she does.
🗝 Key words: “resistant ... supportive”
PMP rule: The engagement matrix identifies the gap; a tailored conversation closes it. Resistance almost always has a reason worth hearing.
Why the other answers are wrong:
- A. Directing someone to participate produces attendance, not support, and makes the relationship worse.
- B. Bypassing a department head to reach her staff is a serious relationship error and will be discovered.
- C. Reports inform; they do not move anyone from resistant to supportive. Engagement level is a relationship, not an information state.
The trap: Her seniority and public criticism make escalation feel proportionate. The matrix exists to prompt engagement strategy, not enforcement.
📘 Free lesson: Identifying and analysing stakeholders
Topic questions (21)
Question 21 Project charter
A senior executive tells you to start a project immediately and says the charter will be written later. What should you do first?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. The charter authorizes the project and the PM's use of resources. A verbal instruction, even from a senior executive, is not enough.
🗝 Key words: “the charter will be written later”
PMP rule: PROJECT NOT YET AUTHORIZED
📘 Free lesson: The project charter: the official 'go'
Question 22 Project charter
A hybrid project will use sprints for software and a fixed plan for installation. Is a project charter needed?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. The approach does not change authorization. A team charter is a different document (working agreements).
🗝 Key words: “Is a project charter needed?”
PMP rule: CHARTER APPLIES TO EVERY APPROACH
📘 Free lesson: The project charter: the official 'go'
Question 23 Project charter
A project manager is named in a signed charter, but a department manager says the PM has no authority to ask his staff for work estimates. What should the PM do?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. The charter is what establishes the PM's authority; use it, and agree a practical way of working.
🗝 Key words: “has no authority”
PMP rule: CHARTER GIVES THE AUTHORITY
📘 Free lesson: The project charter: the official 'go'
Question 24 Conflict management
Two team members disagree about a technical approach. What should the PM do first?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Direct collaboration first.
🗝 Key words: “disagree about a technical approach”
PMP rule: CONFLICT → COLLABORATE FIRST
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 25 Conflict management
There is an immediate safety hazard and team members disagree about stopping the line. Which conflict approach fits?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. In an emergency, direct action is justified.
🗝 Key words: “immediate safety hazard”
PMP rule: EMERGENCY → FORCE/DIRECT
📘 Free lesson: Conflict management: five techniques and when to use each
Question 26 Stakeholders: identify, engage, monitor
Late in the project, a new influential stakeholder appears. What should the PM do first?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Identification continues throughout the project.
🗝 Key words: “a new influential stakeholder appears”
PMP rule: NEW STAKEHOLDER → REGISTER + ANALYZE
📘 Free lesson: Identifying and analysing stakeholders
Question 27 Stakeholders: identify, engage, monitor
A key stakeholder is resistant. Which approach best reflects stakeholder engagement?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Engagement is two-way: listen and address concerns.
🗝 Key words: “is resistant”
PMP rule: RESISTANCE → ENGAGE, LISTEN
📘 Free lesson: Identifying and analysing stakeholders
Question 28 Scope planning: requirements, WBS, baseline
The team adds a feature the customer did not request because they think the customer will like it. This is:
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Unrequested work adds cost and risk; it's gold plating.
🗝 Key words: “the customer did not request”
PMP rule: GOLD PLATING
📘 Free lesson: WBS and the scope baseline
Question 29 Scope planning: requirements, WBS, baseline
What makes up the scope baseline?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. These three approved items form the scope baseline.
🗝 Key words: “scope baseline”
PMP rule: SCOPE STATEMENT + WBS + WBS DICTIONARY
📘 Free lesson: WBS and the scope baseline
Question 30 Critical path, float, crashing, fast tracking
An activity with 3 days of float is delayed by 2 days. What happens to the project end date?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. The delay is within float, so the end date holds; 3 − 2 = 1 day of float remains, so the path is now near-critical.
🗝 Key words: “3 days of float is delayed by 2 days”
PMP rule: DELAY < FLOAT → END DATE HOLDS
📘 Free lesson: Critical path and float
Question 31 Critical path, float, crashing, fast tracking
The schedule must be shortened without adding cost. Which technique fits?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Fast tracking overlaps work; it adds risk but not direct cost. Crashing adds cost.
🗝 Key words: “without adding cost”
PMP rule: FAST TRACKING, NOT CRASHING
📘 Free lesson: Critical path and float
Question 32 Earned value: CPI, SPI, EAC, ETC, VAC
A project has CPI = 0.85 and SPI = 1.10. What does this mean?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. CPI < 1 = spending more than planned for the work done. SPI > 1 = more work done than planned.
🗝 Key words: “CPI = 0.85 and SPI = 1.10”
PMP rule: CPI < 1 OVER BUDGET · SPI > 1 AHEAD
📘 Free lesson: Earned value basics: PV, EV, AC, CPI and SPI
Question 33 Earned value: CPI, SPI, EAC, ETC, VAC
PV = 200, EV = 160, AC = 180. What is the SPI?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A. SPI = EV ÷ PV = 160 ÷ 200 = 0.80, so behind schedule. (CPI = 160 ÷ 180 ≈ 0.89, over budget.)
🗝 Key words: “What is the SPI?”
PMP rule: SPI = EV ÷ PV
📘 Free lesson: Earned value basics: PV, EV, AC, CPI and SPI
Question 34 Risk responses: escalate, avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept
A risk identified during planning has just occurred. What should the PM do?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. The response was already planned; the risk owner carries it out.
🗝 Key words: “identified during planning has just occurred”
PMP rule: PLANNED RISK OCCURRED → IMPLEMENT RESPONSE
📘 Free lesson: Risk process and the risk register
Question 35 Risk responses: escalate, avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept
The team uses a proven gripper instead of a new design to eliminate a technical risk. This response is:
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. Changing the plan to remove the threat is avoidance.
🗝 Key words: “to eliminate a technical risk”
PMP rule: ELIMINATE = AVOID
📘 Free lesson: Risk process and the risk register
Question 36 Quality tools: Pareto, fishbone, control chart
The team wants to decide which defect types to fix first, based on how often they occur. Which tool fits best?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Pareto ranks causes by frequency.
🗝 Key words: “based on how often they occur”
PMP rule: FREQUENCY RANKING = PARETO
📘 Free lesson: The quality tools: which one, when?
Question 37 Quality tools: Pareto, fishbone, control chart
Where do specification limits and control limits come from?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Spec = customer's voice. Control = process's voice.
🗝 Key words: “specification limits and control limits”
PMP rule: SPEC = CUSTOMER · CONTROL = PROCESS
📘 Free lesson: The quality tools: which one, when?
Question 38 Retrospective
The team keeps losing time because hand-offs between developers and testers are unclear. Where is the best place to address this?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. A recurring problem with how the team works is a process issue: the retrospective.
🗝 Key words: “hand-offs between developers and testers are unclear”
PMP rule: HOW THE TEAM WORKED → RETROSPECTIVE
📘 Free lesson: The retrospective: improving how the team works
Question 39 Retrospective
What is the main difference between a sprint retrospective and a sprint review?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. Retro = how we work. Review = what we built, with stakeholders.
🗝 Key words: “retrospective and a sprint review”
PMP rule: PROCESS vs PRODUCT
📘 Free lesson: The retrospective: improving how the team works
Question 40 Definition of Done
At the end of the sprint, a story has been coded but not tested. The Definition of Done requires testing. What happens?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C. No partial credit. Not meeting the DoD = not done.
🗝 Key words: “coded but not tested”
PMP rule: NOT MEETING DoD = NOT DONE
📘 Free lesson: Definition of ready and definition of done
Question 41 Definition of Done
What is the difference between the Definition of Done and acceptance criteria?
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: B. DoD = team-wide checklist. Acceptance criteria = story-specific conditions.
🗝 Key words: “Definition of Done and acceptance criteria”
PMP rule: ALL ITEMS vs ONE STORY
📘 Free lesson: Definition of ready and definition of done
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