Practice for the PMP exam with 17 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: A project manager is starting a project using a hybrid approach and notices some team members only have knowledge of pre. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- A project manager is starting a project using a hybrid approach and notices some team members only have knowl…
- One of the team members is consistently absent in team meetings, but always completes their assigned tasks on…
- Toward the end of a project, the project manager did not receive approval from a key stakeholder because the…
- A project manager has recently joined a small company. The company's chief operating officer (COO) asked the…
- An agile project team discovers that they are unable to implement a feature completely in the first iteration…
- A project manager is working on a large project with a very difficult client. During the course of the projec…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. A project manager is starting a project using a hybrid approach and notices some team members only have knowledge of predictive approaches. What does the project manager need to do first in order to have good project performance?
Answer: C. C. Assess the required training per team member.
Assessing the required training per team member is the correct first step to identify specific skill gaps. Providing uniform training to everyone wastes resources, while changing the team entirely avoids necessary professional development.
Q2. One of the team members is consistently absent in team meetings, but always completes their assigned tasks on time. Other team members think this member should attend the meetings. What should the project manager do?
Answer: C. C. Understand the reason for the team member's absence and encourage them to attend future meetings.
Understanding the reason for the absence and encouraging attendance is the correct approach. Using emotional intelligence builds rapport. Mandating attendance through ground rules might cause resentment without fixing the underlying conflict.
Q3. Toward the end of a project, the project manager did not receive approval from a key stakeholder because the necessary deliverables were not functioning as expected. What should the project manager do next?
Answer: B. B. Review the requirements traceability matrix.
Reviewing the requirements traceability matrix verifies if the deliverables meet the approved business needs. This tool links requirements to product functions. The quality management plan is too broad for identifying specific missed requirements.
Q4. A project manager has recently joined a small company. The company's chief operating officer (COO) asked the team to skip some steps in the process in order to work more quickly. The project manager wants to ensure that these steps are not…
Answer: C. C. Schedule a review of the process steps with the team and the COO.
Scheduling a review with the team and the COO builds transparency and shared understanding. This approach explains the value of each step. Unilaterally notifying the team ignores the executive input and creates future conflict.
Q5. An agile project team discovers that they are unable to implement a feature completely in the first iteration. The team believes it may not be able to complete the tasks in the second iteration. The feature is a critical component that the…
Answer: B. B. Split the feature into smaller subfeatures, implement them, and then deliver them incrementally in multiple iterations.
Splitting the feature into smaller subfeatures allows the team to deliver value incrementally across multiple iterations. This aligns perfectly with agile principles. Asking the customer to simplify the feature compromises critical business needs.
Q6. A project manager is working on a large project with a very difficult client. During the course of the project, the project manager realizes that if the project team had a little more time and funding to make some minor changes, the client…
Answer: C. C. Develop a business case and submit it to the client.
Developing a business case allows the project manager to objectively justify the additional time and funding. This gives the client the data needed for decision-making. Updating the plan without approval violates change control procedures.
Q7. A project manager is managing a project with team members who are working all over the globe. The project manager notices that each team member's deliverables do not meet the requirements. What should the project manager do first?
Answer: B. B. Discuss the process used to create the noncompliant deliverables with the project team to see if there was a potential misunderstanding.
Discussing the creation process first helps uncover if a simple requirements misunderstanding caused the noncompliant deliverables. Jumping straight to disciplinary threats or demanding immediate rework skips root cause analysis, which is essential for fixing global team communication gaps.
Q8. A vendor has manufactured a complex product. During a factory acceptance test, several deficiencies were identified. Product delivery is on the critical path, and any delay would impact project completion. What should the project manager d…
Answer: C. C. Assess the schedule impact and evaluate the most feasible solution to keep the project on track.
Assessing the schedule impact and evaluating feasible solutions ensures the project manager makes an informed, data-driven decision during a critical path crisis. Unilaterally holding the shipment or shipping as is without impact analysis risks causing massive schedule delays.
Q9. A project manager is managing an agile project for the first time. Early on, the project manager discovers the team is struggling to agree on the scope of a feature during a sprint. How should the project manager help the team resolve the…
Answer: B. B. Encourage the team to collaborate to resolve their understanding of the feature.
Encouraging the team to collaborate directly applies agile values of self-organization and shared understanding to resolve the scope confusion. Having a senior member dictate the scope violates team empowerment, while simply moving on fails to deliver business value.
Q10. A project team has recently finished a sprint for developing two features for a fleet management system. Although the team delivered the required features, they encountered several issues and conflicts during the sprint. Team members were…
Answer: C. C. Perform a sprint retrospective with the project team members.
Facilitating a sprint retrospective provides a safe space for the team to openly discuss conflicts and processes, which rebuilds trust and motivation. Reviewing sprint planning or progress focuses on mechanics rather than resolving the underlying team dynamics.
Q11. A project manager is assigned to a new project to deliver a product at the end of the year. The project manager was informed by the vendor that a core component could not be shipped on time, which will impact the schedule. What should the…
Answer: D. D. Review and update the issue log and determine if any alternative components can be offered
Capturing the issue in the issue log and exploring alternative components directly addresses the delay while maintaining project momentum. Avoid immediately replacing the vendor or extending deadlines; focus on proactive problem-solving and impact analysis before escalating.
Q12. As part of the strategic plan, a company decides to implement a new software platform to manage a centralized document repository. Some requirements are clear and some need more detail. What should the project manager do first to decide ho…
Answer: B. B. Determine the most appropriate life cycle approach for the project
Evaluating the clarity of requirements allows the project manager to select the most suitable development approach. A hybrid approach might seem viable later, but you must first assess the overall project context and uncertainty before deciding on the life cycle.
Q13. A senior manager attends one of the project review meetings and expresses concern that the project will not meet the quality standards. What should the project manager do?
Answer: C. C. Review the quality management plan with the senior manager
Reviewing the quality management plan transparently demonstrates that quality processes are established and being followed. Dismissing the concern by stating standards are already approved fails to engage the manager constructively or validate their specific worries.
Q14. An agile project will be delivered to a client based on a fixed price in cryptocurrency. Due to the volatility of cryptocurrency, both parties have agreed to adjust the scope to the value of the cryptocurrency at the end of every iteration…
Answer: B. B. An iterative approach starting with the highest value epic.
Starting with the highest value epic using an iterative approach ensures maximum business value is delivered early before the volatile budget depletes. An incremental approach focuses on completing functional subsets rather than refining the most valuable features first.
Q15. An agile project team received an assignment to develop an industrial system that interfaces with robots. The project team does not have any previous experience performing this type of work. Team members are interested in acquiring such ex…
Answer: B. B. Add an experienced professional to the team to reinforce knowledge sharing and help grow team expertise in the new product.
Adding an experienced professional to the team fosters internal mentoring and skill growth while maintaining project ownership. Outsourcing the work completely or using external consultants prevents the team from developing the necessary expertise themselves.
Q16. A project manager is managing a hybrid project. A stakeholder has directly contacted a team member and has requested a change. Due to the request, the team member was distracted from their work, which caused a loss in productivity. What sh…
Answer: B. B. Inform the scrum master regarding the stakeholder's request for a change and the impact this has had on productivity
Informing the scrum master about the request and its productivity impact allows leadership to shield the team and enforce proper communication channels. In a hybrid environment, routing requests directly to a change control board bypasses necessary initial project manager triage.
Q17. A project manager is leading a software development project that will assist in maintenance management for a power plant. The project manager is analyzing project performance data and trying to forecast if the project will have any slippag…
Answer: C. C. Perform trend analysis.
Trend analysis uses historical performance data to predict future performance, allowing the project manager to anticipate potential schedule or cost deviations and take proactive action.
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