PMP Practice Test
Which of the following options best defines the Scope Baseline's contents?
Explanation:
According to the PMBOK‘=3 Guide (6th Edition) the scope
baseline includes the WBS, WBS dictionary, and the project
scope statement.
You're utilizing an Ishikawa Diagram as a project manager to figure out what might have caused the project's potential dangers. Which procedure best describes the one you're working on?
Explanation:
Cause and effect diagrams (also known as Ishikawa or fishbone
diagrams) are used both on quality management and risk
management. However, the situation explained in this question
refers only to the information gathering techniques of the
Identify Risks process.
You're in charge of a software development project with pre-set milestones. Your team has finished all milestones, and now you're checking to see if the product fits the project management plan's standards. Which process group are you in right now?
Explanation:
Verifying that a product meets specifications is part of
Monitoring and Controlling.
You're in charge of a construction project. In formal project management training, you'll learn that you should keep track of contract schedules, scopes, quality, and cost performance, as well as all contract change papers, payment records, and inspection reports. Your instructor also tells you that this information can be utilized to review lessons learned and to evaluate contractors for future contracts. What document is your instructor referring to?
Explanation:
According to the PMBOK© Guide (6th Edition), to close the
contract, all procurement documentation is collected, indexed,
and filed. Information on contract schedule, scope, quality, and
cost performance along with all contract change
documentation, payment records, and inspection results are
cataloged. This information can be used for lessons learned
and as a basis for evaluating contractors for future contracts.
Your building project is in a region where overnight burglaries are common. Since this is a problem that you are unable to solve, your project team has decided to take no action against this risk other than to get an insurance policy. Is this a sort of risk response planning?
Explanation:
The use of insurance to shift the negative impact of a risk, in
this case burglary, is an example of risk transference.
You're in charge of an IT project, and you're now estimating activity costs. With a 30% probability, software testing will cost $150, $170 with a 50% probability, and $220 with a 20% probability. What is the Activity Cost's Estimated Monetary Value?
Explanation:
The Expected Monetary Value of the activity cost is:
(150 x 0.3) + (170 x 0.5) + (220 x 0.2) = 174
You are given the task of managing a project with 250 stakeholders for the first time in your career. You've never worked on a project with so many people involved. In this case, what would be the best course of action?
Explanation:
As a project manager you cannot eliminate some stakeholders
or consider their requirements according to their degree of
importance or influence. You have to consider the
requirements of all stakeholders.
Your project has a $1,000,000 budget and is expected to last one year. The work and budget are evenly distributed throughout the year. The CPI is now at 0.8. In this situation, what is Variance at Completion?
Explanation:
Variance at Completion = BAC — EAC
Estimate at Completion (EAC) = BAC / CPI
2 $1,000,000 / 0.8
2 $1,250,000
Variance at Completion 2 $1,000,000 — $1,250,000
2 —$250,000
The project manager has more power in which of the following organizations?
Explanation:
The project manager has more power in a strong matrix
organization. In a strong matrix organization the project
managers have authorities comparable to that of functional
managers and normally they are not under the supervision of
the functional managers. In a weak matrix organization the
project manager is organizationally under the supervision of a
functional manager who is given the project responsibilities.
You discover that the project will be completed one month beyond the targeted completion date, based on the most recent update to the project timeline. You have more resources on hand, and the activity dependencies are more important. The project is low-risk, with an SPI of 0.89 so far. What is the best course of action for a project manager in this situation?
Explanation:
Leveling the resources would generally increase the project
duration. Removing the activities under some conditions and
using the project change process (discretionary dependency)
might be possible but considering that dependencies are
preferential and you have extra resources the first thing could
be to make more activities concurrent.
Jerry is in charge of a project that was contracted on a time and material basis, and he discovers that some of the jobs are taking less time than anticipated. On average, each team member only needed 25 hours to complete work that had been scheduled for 37.5 hours over the week. What is Jerry's best course of action in this situation?
Explanation:
You would need to report the status accurately to the
customer even if it means losing some revenue. Reporting that
each team member has spent 37.5 hours a week is both
inaccurate and ethically wrong.
Project conflicts are widespread and unavoidable. Which of the following are the three most typical causes of project conflict?
Explanation:
Conflict can come from seven main sources, of which the first
three account for 50%:
1. Schedules
2. Project priorities
3. Manpower/human resource availability
4. Technical opinions
5. Procedural or project administration
6. Costs
7. Personalities
Which structured strategy in the Manage Quality process entails finding a long-term solution to an issue that has been discovered?
Explanation:
Performance reviews is a tool and technique of Control
Quality. Design for X, Root cause analysis and Problem solving
are all Manage Quality techniques however Design for X
involves optimizing around an identified variable and Root
cause analysis helps reveal the issue but does not go so far as
to work towards and define a solution. Problem solving
involves finding a long-lasting solution to a problem by
identifying it, analyzing it, choosing the best solution of the
alternatives and putting the solution into action.
Which of the following is not one of the Control Quality process' tools and techniques?
Explanation:
According to the PMBOK® Guide (6th Edition), quality audits
are a technique used for the Manage Quality process. The rest
of the options are used for the Control Quality Process. A
scatter diagram is one of the seven basic quality tools.
As the project manager of a key project, you walk into your office to find a phone call from your client requesting an urgent review meeting to discuss a delay in the delivery of one of the project's major pieces of equipment. When you open your e-mail, you're flooded with emails from two of your coworkers about a fight that began this morning. You get a phone call from one of them after a few minutes, and the other one shows up at your office. Which method of conflict resolution would you employ right away?
Explanation:
Collaborating or problem solving is the best way to resolve
conflict but not in this situation. Since you should choose a
technique to deal with the conflict immediately and it's
explained that there is an urgent meeting on an important
issue in your critical project that you that you need to take
care of, the best method in this situation would be to delay the
conflict resolution, i.e. smoothing.
You had to estimate certain activity durations as the project manager of a manufacturing facility construction project before you could hire all of the project team members. You discover that the actual skill levels of the project team members are substantially lower than what you had anticipated when estimating the activity durations throughout the acquisition process. In this case, what is the best course of action?
Explanation:
The best course of action is to fully understand the
consequences of the lower competency of the team members.
That is only possible if you incorporate the changed level of
competency in the activity duration estimations and the
project schedule accordingly. Keeping the schedule as it is
would not solve the problem. It is too soon to ask for overtime
or inform the stakeholders about the delay, considering that
the project is in its early stages and you still don’t know the
exact effects of the lower competency of the team members
on the schedule.
You've recently been appointed as the project manager for a major national project that must be completed in a fraction of the time required for previous projects. You realize that the project will not be completed on time after creating the first draft of the project network diagram. What would be the best course of action if the network diagram could no longer be altered and you had extra human resources?
Explanation:
In this situation, leveling the resources will generally increase
the duration. Since the network diagram cannot be changed,
the fast tracking option is also not feasible. So crashing
remains as the best option in this situation to decrease the
duration.
Your project's risk management procedure is presently being implemented. There are a number of risks in your project that have been recognized; nevertheless, the team has decided not to alter the project plan to address the risk, but they have developed a contingency reserve in case some of these risks are triggered. What form of risk reduction method is this an example of?
Explanation:
Recognizing the risk and not changing the plan, but making
some contingencies in the event the risk is triggered, is an
example of active acceptance. Passive acceptance would be if
no contingencies were put in place and avoidance would be
correct if the project plan were modified to accommodate the
risks.
You've just been hired as a project manager for a huge corporation, and the project charter has been approved. You're aware that your company is known for taking on difficult projects, and yours is no different. What's the first thing you should do?
Explanation:
Read the question carefully. You as the project manager have
not been involved in the project charter development,
therefore it is your responsibility to make sure that the charter
is complete and all of the stakeholders have their inputs in it
before proceeding with the next step in project planning.
A source of variation on a control chart that is intermittent, not inherent in the system, and unpredictable is known as:
Explanation:
On a control chart, a source of variation that is intermittent,
not inherent in the system, and not predictable, is called a
Special or Assignable Cause which is an unusual event.
As the project manager, you are in the process of closing your project and reviewing various documents that you have in your archive. You have an untitled document in which you have logged differences of opinion, issues to be explored, and emerging or unanticipated duties at numerous project meetings. Which of the following would you use as the title for this document if you had to choose one?
Explanation:
The issue log is a tool used in the Manage Team process.
According to the PMBOK© Guide (6th Edition), an issue log is
used to document and monitor who is responsible for
resolving specific issues by a target date.
You're preparing to begin project closure efforts as the manager of a large project that includes a significant portion of procurement activity. The project's final deliverables have all been validated. What should your first project closure step be?
Explanation:
According to the PMBOKC" Guide (6th Edition), when closing
the project the project manager must review all the prior
information from the previous phase closure to ensure that all
project work is completed and that the project has met its
objectives. Since project scope is measured against the scope
management plan, the project manager reviews the scope
baseline (part of the project management plan) to ensure
completion before considering the project closed.
As the manager of your company, you are about to begin your fifth project. You know from previous experience that one of the stakeholders has consistently made several adjustments to the projects. What would be your best strategy for dealing with this particular stakeholder at the start of the project?
Explanation:
Changes are not bad! Changes normally come from lack of
input at the beginning of the project. If we begin effective
communication with this stakeholder early, we stand a much
better chance of discovering their changes during the planning
process when they will have less of an impact on the project.
Trying to eliminate the stakeholder is the wrong approach.
You're in charge of a project that has had some small delays in the delivery of a few project deliverables. You've been invited to a meeting with the members of the team who are in responsibility of the late deliveries. Which of the following tools do you believe should be utilized at the meeting to show the accountable team members the project schedule status?
Explanation:
In a meeting with team members you need a tool which shows
the schedule details such as delays, completion, and timeline.
You've opted to extend the duration of an activity that has 30 days of free float as the project manager. Which of the following is most likely to follow as a result of your decision?
Explanation:
If the activity duration is extended less than than its free float it
won't change the project duration or the start of the successor
activity. In this question it is not mentioned that the activity
duration is extended more or less than the free float, but the
question is asking about the most probable consequence.
Extending the duration will probably change the resource
utilization schedule, but depending on the amount of change,
it might or might not affect the project duration or start of the
successor activity. Quality of work is totally irrelevant to the
activity duration.