Project Management Risk Response Planning — Questions and Answers

Question 1: A project manager decides to purchase insurance to cover potential financial losses from a risk event. Which risk response strategy is being used?

Avoid
Mitigate
Transfer (Correct answer)
Accept

Correct answer: Transfer

Purchasing insurance transfers the financial consequence of a risk to a third party (the insurer).

Question 2: Which document serves as the primary input for developing risk responses in the Plan Risk Responses process?

Risk management plan
Risk register (Correct answer)
Issue log
Lessons learned register

Correct answer: Risk register

The risk register contains identified risks, their probability/impact ratings, and priority rankings that drive response planning.

Question 3: A project team chooses to use a more proven technology instead of a cutting-edge one to eliminate the chance of a technical failure risk. This is an example of:

Mitigate
Transfer
Avoid (Correct answer)
Escalate

Correct answer: Avoid

Changing the approach to eliminate the risk entirely is avoidance, the most aggressive threat response strategy.

Question 4: When a risk response is implemented, it may introduce new risks. These newly created risks are called:

Residual risks
Secondary risks (Correct answer)
Trigger risks
Emergent risks

Correct answer: Secondary risks

Secondary risks are risks that arise as a direct result of implementing a risk response.

Question 5: A project manager accepts a risk and sets aside $50,000 in the contingency reserve. This is an example of:

Passive acceptance
Active acceptance (Correct answer)
Transfer
Mitigate

Correct answer: Active acceptance

Active acceptance involves establishing a contingency reserve (time, money, or resources) to deal with the risk if it occurs.

Question 6: Which risk response strategy for opportunities is the BEST match for the threat response strategy of 'transfer'?

Exploit
Enhance
Share (Correct answer)
Accept

Correct answer: Share

Sharing an opportunity (e.g., forming a joint venture) is the opportunity equivalent of transferring a threat to a third party better able to capture it.

Question 7: A risk owner is assigned during the Plan Risk Responses process. What is the PRIMARY responsibility of a risk owner?

Approving the risk management plan
Monitoring the risk and implementing the agreed response (Correct answer)
Funding the contingency reserve
Updating the WBS for risk-related tasks

Correct answer: Monitoring the risk and implementing the agreed response

The risk owner is accountable for monitoring the assigned risk and executing the planned response if the risk occurs or its status changes.

Question 8: A project manager wants to reduce the probability of a supplier delay risk by adding a second approved supplier. This strategy is BEST described as:

Avoid
Mitigate (Correct answer)
Transfer
Share

Correct answer: Mitigate

Adding a second supplier reduces the probability of the delay risk occurring, which is the definition of mitigation.

Question 9: A risk has been identified that exceeds the project manager's authority level to address. The BEST response is to:

Accept the risk passively
Mitigate the risk immediately
Escalate the risk to the sponsor or senior management (Correct answer)
Transfer the risk to a vendor

Correct answer: Escalate the risk to the sponsor or senior management

Escalation is the appropriate strategy when a risk falls outside the project's authority or scope to address.

Question 10: Which of the following BEST describes a contingency plan?

A proactive action taken before a risk event occurs
A pre-planned response that activates when a defined trigger event happens (Correct answer)
A reserve set aside in the project budget
A list of all identified risks and their owners

Correct answer: A pre-planned response that activates when a defined trigger event happens

A contingency plan is a pre-defined response activated when a specific trigger (risk event) occurs.

Question 11: The 'Exploit' strategy for opportunities aims to:

Reduce the probability of a positive risk
Ensure the opportunity definitely occurs (Correct answer)
Transfer the opportunity to a third party
Accept the opportunity if it occurs naturally

Correct answer: Ensure the opportunity definitely occurs

Exploiting an opportunity means taking actions to ensure the positive event definitely happens, maximizing its probability to 100%.

Question 12: A project manager updates the project documents and risk register after completing Plan Risk Responses. Which document captures agreed-upon response strategies and risk owners?

Project charter
Risk report (Correct answer)
Stakeholder register
Quality management plan

Correct answer: Risk report

The risk report (introduced in PMBOK 6) consolidates overall risk exposure and individual risk information including responses and ownership.

Question 13: A risk response that reduces the financial impact of a risk by negotiating a fixed-price contract with a vendor is BEST categorized as:

Avoid
Mitigate
Transfer (Correct answer)
Accept

Correct answer: Transfer

A fixed-price contract shifts the financial risk of cost overruns to the vendor, making it a transfer strategy.

Question 14: After all planned responses are implemented, the remaining risk exposure is known as:

Secondary risk
Residual risk (Correct answer)
Inherent risk
Trigger risk

Correct answer: Residual risk

Residual risk is the remaining risk that persists after responses have been implemented and accepted by stakeholders.

Question 15: Which of the following is an example of the 'Enhance' strategy for opportunities?

Eliminating all obstacles to ensure an early delivery occurs (Correct answer)
Assigning the opportunity to a third party better positioned to capture it
Doing nothing and letting the opportunity arise naturally
Sharing resources with another project to reduce costs

Correct answer: Eliminating all obstacles to ensure an early delivery occurs

Enhance increases the probability or positive impact of an opportunity by removing barriers or strengthening causes.

Question 16: A risk response requires the project manager to revise the project schedule. Which document must be updated as a result?

Risk register only
Project management plan (Correct answer)
Lessons learned register
Stakeholder engagement plan

Correct answer: Project management plan

When risk responses affect schedule, cost, or scope, the relevant subsidiary plans within the project management plan must be updated.

Question 17: A project manager is deciding between two risk responses. Response A costs $10,000 and reduces expected loss from $80,000 to $20,000. Response B costs $5,000 and reduces expected loss from $80,000 to $50,000. Which response provides better value?

Response A, because it reduces more risk
Response B, because it costs less
Response A, because net savings ($60,000) exceed Response B net savings ($25,000) (Correct answer)
Response B, because cost-benefit ratio is higher

Correct answer: Response A, because net savings ($60,000) exceed Response B net savings ($25,000)

Response A yields $60,000 net savings (80k-20k-10k) vs. Response B's $25,000 net savings (80k-50k-5k), making A the better value.

Question 18: In risk response planning, a 'workaround' differs from a contingency plan because a workaround is:

Planned in advance for known risks
An unplanned response developed for risks that were not anticipated (Correct answer)
A reserve set aside in the project budget
A risk that has been escalated to the sponsor

Correct answer: An unplanned response developed for risks that were not anticipated

A workaround is an unplanned response to an unanticipated risk (unknown risk) or a risk whose contingency plan was not pre-defined.

Question 19: Which of the following characteristics makes a risk response strategy MOST effective?

It is the least expensive option available
It is timely, realistic, agreed upon by all parties, and owned by a responsible person (Correct answer)
It eliminates all residual and secondary risks
It is approved by the project sponsor before implementation

Correct answer: It is timely, realistic, agreed upon by all parties, and owned by a responsible person

Effective responses must be timely, realistic, cost-effective, agreed upon, and owned by a single accountable person.

Question 20: A project team identifies a risk that has a high probability but very low impact. The MOST appropriate response is typically:

Avoid the risk immediately
Accept the risk passively (Correct answer)
Transfer the risk to a vendor
Escalate the risk to senior management

Correct answer: Accept the risk passively

Low-impact risks often do not justify the cost of active responses, making passive acceptance the most efficient approach.

Question 21: When forming a joint venture to pursue a market opportunity, the project is using which opportunity response strategy?

Exploit
Enhance
Share (Correct answer)
Accept

Correct answer: Share

Sharing involves allocating ownership of an opportunity to a third party (e.g., joint venture, partnership) better able to capture it.

Project Management Risk Response Planning

A project manager decides to purchase insurance to cover potential financial losses from a risk event.
Which risk response strategy is being used?

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