CAPM Project Scheduling & Critical Path 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the purpose of a schedule baseline in project management?
- To assign resources to activities
- To serve as the approved reference for measuring and reporting schedule performance (Correct answer)
- To identify the critical path automatically
- To track actual costs against planned costs
Correct answer: To serve as the approved reference for measuring and reporting schedule performance
The schedule baseline is the approved version of the schedule model used to compare actual progress against planned performance.
Question 2: Activity B has an Early Start of day 5, Early Finish of day 10, Late Start of day 8, and Late Finish of day 13. What is its total float?
- 0 days
- 2 days
- 3 days (Correct answer)
- 5 days
Correct answer: 3 days
Total float = Late Start − Early Start = 8 − 5 = 3 days (or Late Finish − Early Finish = 13 − 10 = 3 days).
Question 3: A lag in a project schedule means:
- A waiting period added after a predecessor activity before the successor can start (Correct answer)
- An overlap allowing the successor to start before the predecessor finishes
- Extra buffer time added to all activities
- A delay caused by resource unavailability
Correct answer: A waiting period added after a predecessor activity before the successor can start
A lag is a mandatory waiting period between a predecessor and successor activity, such as waiting for concrete to cure before building on it.
Question 4: Which of the following BEST describes the critical chain method?
- Scheduling based only on logical dependencies
- A schedule method that accounts for resource constraints and uses project and feeding buffers (Correct answer)
- A technique that compresses the schedule by overlapping activities
- A method that uses three-point estimates for duration
Correct answer: A schedule method that accounts for resource constraints and uses project and feeding buffers
Critical Chain Method modifies the schedule to account for limited resources and protects the project completion date with strategically placed buffers.
Question 5: When performing a forward pass in CPM, you are calculating:
- Late Start and Late Finish dates
- Float for each activity
- Early Start and Early Finish dates (Correct answer)
- Resource requirements per activity
Correct answer: Early Start and Early Finish dates
The forward pass moves from left to right through the network to calculate the earliest possible start and finish dates for each activity.
Question 6: A project manager needs to shorten the project schedule with minimum cost impact. Which technique is preferred over crashing?
- Resource leveling
- Fast tracking (Correct answer)
- Monte Carlo simulation
- Decomposition
Correct answer: Fast tracking
Fast tracking compresses the schedule by overlapping activities in parallel and typically does not add direct cost, unlike crashing which requires additional resources.
Question 7: In PERT, if the optimistic estimate is 4 days, pessimistic is 16 days, and most likely is 7 days, what is the expected duration?
- 7 days
- 8 days (Correct answer)
- 9 days
- 10 days
Correct answer: 8 days
PERT expected duration = (O + 4M + P) / 6 = (4 + 4×7 + 16) / 6 = (4 + 28 + 16) / 6 = 48 / 6 = 8 days.
CAPM Project Scheduling & Critical Path 3
What is the purpose of a schedule baseline in project management?