PMI Project Planning & Scheduling 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which scheduling technique uses probabilistic time estimates to account for uncertainty in activity durations?
- Critical Path Method (CPM)
- Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) (Correct answer)
- Gantt Chart
- Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
Correct answer: Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
PERT uses three-point estimates (optimistic, most likely, pessimistic) to handle schedule uncertainty and calculate expected durations.
Question 2: A project manager applies a 15% buffer to all activity estimates before finalizing the schedule. This practice most directly indicates a failure to apply which principle?
- Reserve analysis
- Parkinson's Law awareness (Correct answer)
- Bottom-up estimating
- Resource leveling
Correct answer: Parkinson's Law awareness
Padding estimates inflates the schedule and reflects poor awareness of Parkinson's Law, where work expands to fill the time allotted.
Question 3: When two activities must finish before a third can start, this represents which type of logical relationship?
- Finish-to-Start (FS) (Correct answer)
- Start-to-Start (SS)
- Finish-to-Finish (FF)
- Start-to-Finish (SF)
Correct answer: Finish-to-Start (FS)
Finish-to-Start is the most common dependency, where the successor activity cannot begin until the predecessor activity is complete.
Question 4: Which document formally authorizes work packages and assigns responsibility to performing organizations in the project plan?
- Project Charter
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Work Package Authorization (Correct answer)
- RAM (Responsibility Assignment Matrix)
Correct answer: Work Package Authorization
Work Package Authorization documents formally authorize work to begin and assign accountability for deliverables within the project plan.
Question 5: During schedule development, the project manager identifies that a resource is assigned 150% capacity during week 3. The BEST corrective action is to:
- Compress the schedule using fast-tracking
- Apply resource leveling or resource smoothing (Correct answer)
- Increase the project budget to hire additional resources
- Remove non-critical activities from the schedule
Correct answer: Apply resource leveling or resource smoothing
Resource leveling adjusts start and finish dates based on resource constraints to resolve overallocation without necessarily crashing the schedule.
Question 6: A schedule baseline differs from the project schedule in that the baseline:
- Includes resource assignments while the schedule does not
- Is the approved version used as a comparison for performance measurement (Correct answer)
- Is updated weekly while the schedule remains static
- Reflects actual progress while the schedule shows planned work
Correct answer: Is the approved version used as a comparison for performance measurement
The schedule baseline is the approved version of the schedule that serves as a fixed reference point for measuring and reporting schedule performance.
Question 7: The formula for calculating PERT expected duration using three-point estimates is:
- (O + M + P) / 3
- (O + 4M + P) / 6 (Correct answer)
- (O + 2M + P) / 4
- (O + 3M + P) / 5
Correct answer: (O + 4M + P) / 6
The PERT beta distribution formula weights the most likely estimate four times more than the optimistic or pessimistic estimates: (O + 4M + P) / 6.
PMI Project Planning & Scheduling 2
Which scheduling technique uses probabilistic time estimates to account for uncertainty in activity durations?