PMP Practice Questions

You are leading a pharmaceutical research project to develop a new drug formulation. During risk identification workshops, your team identifies a risk that a key regulatory approval might be delayed by up to 6 months due to recent policy changes. The probability is assessed at 40% and the impact on project completion would be significant. What should you do with this information?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a product development project with a fixed budget of $500,000. At the end of month 3, your earned value analysis shows: Planned Value (PV) = $150,000, Earned Value (EV) = $120,000, and Actual Cost (AC) = $130,000. The project sponsor asks for a status update. What should you report about the project performance?

July 13, 2026

Your team is developing a project schedule for a manufacturing facility upgrade. You have identified all activities, sequenced them, and estimated their durations. Several team members have been assigned to multiple concurrent activities. What should you do next to complete the schedule development process?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a software implementation project using a waterfall approach. The testing phase has just begun, and the QA team reports that 15% of test cases are failing due to missing requirements that were not included in the requirements specification document approved three months ago. The client insists these requirements are essential. What is the best course of action?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a construction project to build a new office building. During the planning phase, you identify that specialized steel beams must be ordered from an overseas supplier with a 12-week lead time. The beams are needed in week 20 of the project schedule. Your team is currently in week 2 of the project. What should you do first?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a manufacturing project to develop a new production line. During a risk review meeting, the engineering team identifies a potential risk: a key piece of automated equipment might not integrate properly with existing systems, which could delay commissioning by four weeks. The probability is assessed at 40% and the impact would be $150,000 in additional costs. After discussing response strategies, the team proposes purchasing a backup manual system for $45,000 that could be used if the integration fails. What risk response strategy does this represent?

July 13, 2026

You are managing an infrastructure project with a fixed budget of $2.5 million. At the end of month 4, your earned value analysis shows: PV = $800,000, EV = $750,000, AC = $825,000. The project is planned for 12 months total. Based on this information, senior management asks you to forecast the final project cost. What is the most appropriate estimate at completion (EAC) to present if you expect current performance to continue?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a pharmaceutical research project with strict regulatory requirements. During quality inspections, you discover that 15% of the test samples from the last production batch do not meet the acceptance criteria defined in the quality management plan. The lab supervisor suggests reworking the samples, while the quality manager recommends disposing of the batch and starting over. The rework would save two weeks but carries some risk. What should you do?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a software development project using a waterfall approach. During the design phase, your technical lead discovers that a third-party component you planned to integrate has been discontinued by the vendor. This component was included in the approved project scope and budget. The technical lead suggests two alternatives: building the component in-house or using a different vendor's solution with similar functionality but different technical specifications. What is the best course of action?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a construction project to build a new office building. During the execution phase, a key supplier notifies you that the specialized steel components will be delayed by three weeks due to manufacturing issues. The critical path includes the steel frame installation, and this delay will impact the project completion date. Your project sponsor is very concerned about meeting the contractual deadline. What should you do first?

July 13, 2026

You are managing a product development project using a stage-gate approach. The project is approaching the gate review for Phase 2 completion. During quality inspections, you discover that three of the fifteen deliverables have minor defects that do not prevent functionality but fall slightly below the quality standards documented in the quality management plan. Correcting these defects would take two weeks and consume the remaining schedule buffer. The gate review is scheduled for next week, and senior management is eager to proceed to Phase 3. What should you do?

July 10, 2026

You are managing an infrastructure project with a detailed WBS and network diagram. A key stakeholder requests the addition of a new feature that was not included in the original scope baseline. The change would provide significant value to end users and has strong executive support. After analysis, you determine the change would add three weeks to the schedule and increase costs by 8%. The change control board (CCB) has approved the change request. What should you do next?

July 10, 2026

Your manufacturing project has a Cost Performance Index (CPI) of 0.85 and a Schedule Performance Index (SPI) of 1.10. The project is 60% complete with six months remaining until the planned completion date. During the monthly steering committee meeting, the CFO expresses concern about the budget overrun and asks whether the project can be completed within the approved budget. What should you present to the steering committee?

July 10, 2026

You are leading a software development project using a waterfall methodology. During the testing phase, the QA team discovers that 15% of the delivered functionality does not meet the acceptance criteria defined in the requirements document. The development team claims the requirements were ambiguous and their interpretation was reasonable. The testing phase is scheduled to end in one week, and any rework will delay the go-live date. What is the most appropriate action?

July 10, 2026

You are managing a construction project using a predictive approach. During the execution phase, a supplier informs you that a critical material will be delayed by three weeks due to manufacturing issues. This delay will impact the critical path and push the project completion date beyond the contractual deadline. You have already exhausted schedule reserves on previous delays. The project sponsor is highly concerned about contractual penalties. What should you do first?

July 10, 2026

You are managing a complex systems integration project following a predictive lifecycle. Three months before a major milestone delivery, your technical lead identifies that integrating two vendor systems will require an interface component that was not in the original design. Without this component, the systems cannot communicate, and the milestone deliverable cannot function. Analysis shows: developing the interface will cost $185K and take 8 weeks; the milestone is on the critical path; contingency reserve has $120K remaining; and both vendors claim the interface requirement was implied in the SOW but not explicitly stated. Your legal team is investigating liability. What should you prioritize as project manager?

July 8, 2026

Your construction project is in month 18 of a 30-month schedule. A new environmental regulation has been enacted that requires additional soil remediation procedures for your project site. The regulation applies retroactively to work already completed. Your legal team estimates compliance will add $1.2M in costs and 3 months to the schedule. You have management reserve of $800K and schedule reserve of 6 weeks. The contract includes a force majeure clause and regulatory change provisions. Your CFO wants to minimize financial impact, your customer is concerned about schedule, and your legal counsel advises documenting everything for potential claims. What is your best course of action as the project manager?

July 8, 2026

You are managing a government defense project with strict predictive controls and a fixed-price contract. During the testing phase, quality inspections reveal that 18% of manufactured units fail to meet specification tolerances defined in the quality management plan. Investigation shows the root cause is a calibration drift in manufacturing equipment that began gradually six weeks ago. The cost of rework is $340,000, and recalibrating will halt production for one week, impacting the critical path. Your quality manager wants to adjust acceptance criteria to pass more units, your operations manager wants to continue production and rework later, and your sponsor wants to understand the control implications. What should you do first?

July 8, 2026

Your pharmaceutical project is developing a new drug delivery system using a predictive approach. During the design phase, a critical supplier notifies you that a key component's lead time has increased from 8 weeks to 20 weeks due to raw material shortages. This component is needed for three activities on the critical path and two on a near-critical path (total float of 5 days). The project is currently on schedule, and regulatory submission deadlines are contractually fixed. Your team proposes four risk response strategies. Which response best addresses this threat while maintaining predictive project controls?

July 8, 2026

You are managing a complex infrastructure project with a 24-month timeline and a $15M budget. During month 14, earned value analysis shows: PV = $8.5M, EV = $7.2M, AC = $8.1M. The project has experienced significant scope changes, and three critical path activities are behind schedule. Your sponsor asks for a realistic forecast of final project cost and wants to understand if the current cost performance will continue. Considering the CPI trend has been declining over the past four months from 0.92 to 0.89, what is the most appropriate estimate at completion (EAC) to present?

July 8, 2026

You are managing a product development project using a predictive approach. The project management plan has been approved and execution has begun. During a team meeting, you realize that several team members are unclear about their specific responsibilities and who has decision-making authority for various project activities. This confusion is beginning to cause delays. What document should you reference or update to clarify these roles and responsibilities?

July 2, 2026

You are leading a predictive infrastructure project that is currently in the executing phase. A stakeholder who was not involved in initial planning requests a significant change to the project scope that would add new deliverables. The stakeholder insists the change is critical and wants it implemented immediately. What is the most appropriate action to take?

July 2, 2026

You are managing a manufacturing project to develop a new product line. During the execution phase, one of your team members discovers that a delivered component does not meet the specifications documented in the project requirements. The supplier claims the component meets industry standards, but it clearly does not match what was agreed upon in the procurement contract. What should be your first step?

July 2, 2026

You are planning a software implementation project for a financial services company. The project sponsor has approved a budget of $500,000. During cost planning, you need to establish a performance measurement baseline that will be used to monitor and control project costs throughout execution. The baseline should integrate scope, schedule, and cost to enable earned value management. What should you create?

July 2, 2026

You are managing a construction project to build a new office building. During the planning phase, you need to determine the total project duration by analyzing the sequence of activities and their dependencies. You have identified all activities, estimated their durations, and mapped out their logical relationships. What technique should you use to calculate the longest path through the project and identify the minimum project duration?

July 2, 2026