CAPM Project Scheduling & Critical Path 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project has activities A→C→E on one path (durations 3,5,4) and A→B→D→E on another (durations 3,2,6,4). Which path is critical?
- A→C→E with duration 12
- A→B→D→E with duration 15 (Correct answer)
- Both paths are critical
- Neither path is critical
Correct answer: A→B→D→E with duration 15
A→B→D→E totals 3+2+6+4=15 days, which is longer than A→C→E at 3+5+4=12 days, making it the critical path.
Question 2: What does a negative float (slack) value on an activity indicate?
- The activity has extra time available
- The schedule has a constraint violation or the project is behind schedule (Correct answer)
- The activity is on the critical path
- The activity can be delayed without impact
Correct answer: The schedule has a constraint violation or the project is behind schedule
Negative float means the activity's late finish is earlier than its early finish, indicating a schedule constraint violation or delay.
Question 3: Which scheduling technique uses three time estimates (optimistic, pessimistic, most likely) to calculate expected activity durations?
- Critical Path Method (CPM)
- Gantt charting
- Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (Correct answer)
- Resource leveling
Correct answer: Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
PERT uses three-point estimates with the formula (O + 4M + P) / 6 to calculate expected duration under uncertainty.
Question 4: In a Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) network, which relationship type means successor cannot start until predecessor finishes?
- Start-to-Start (SS)
- Finish-to-Finish (FF)
- Start-to-Finish (SF)
- Finish-to-Start (FS) (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Finish-to-Start (FS)
Finish-to-Start (FS) is the most common dependency type, where the successor activity cannot begin until the predecessor is complete.
Question 5: A project manager applies fast tracking to compress the schedule. What is a primary risk of this technique?
- Increased project costs due to overtime
- Rework because activities that were meant to be sequential now overlap (Correct answer)
- Loss of resources to other projects
- Scope creep from parallel work streams
Correct answer: Rework because activities that were meant to be sequential now overlap
Fast tracking overlaps activities that were originally planned sequentially, which can cause rework if later work depends on outputs from earlier work that isn't complete.
Question 6: The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) for a project is 0.85. What does this indicate?
- The project is 15% ahead of schedule
- The project is performing at 85% of the planned rate of progress (Correct answer)
- The project has spent 15% less than planned
- The project is 85% complete
Correct answer: The project is performing at 85% of the planned rate of progress
An SPI of 0.85 means the project is only accomplishing 85 cents of work for every dollar of scheduled work, indicating it is behind schedule.
Question 7: Which output of the Develop Schedule process shows planned start and finish dates for project activities?
- Activity list
- Project schedule baseline (Correct answer)
- Work breakdown structure
- Resource calendar
Correct answer: Project schedule baseline
The project schedule baseline is the approved version of the schedule model, showing planned start and finish dates used to measure schedule performance.
CAPM Project Scheduling & Critical Path 2
A project has activities A→C→E on one path (durations 3,5,4) and A→B→D→E on another (durations 3,2,6,4).
Which path is critical?