PMP Practice Questions

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 predictive project to implement a new financial reporting system. Midway through the project, your lead business analyst, who has been with the company for 15 years and knows the legacy systems intimately, announces she will retire in six weeks. Her knowledge is crucial for the remaining requirements validation and user acceptance testing phases scheduled over the next three months. She is willing to help with transition activities before leaving. What is your best course of action?

July 8, 2026

You are leading a predictive infrastructure project with team members from three different departments. During the third monthly project review meeting, you notice that members from the operations department consistently remain silent when asked for input, even on topics directly affecting their work. Later, one operations team member privately tells you they feel their opinions don't matter because engineering always dominates the discussions. The project requires integrated input from all departments to succeed. How should you address this situation?

July 8, 2026

Your predictive manufacturing project is entering the execution phase with a baseline schedule approved by all stakeholders. You discover that a key subject matter expert, who was promised to your project at 50% allocation, is now only available 20% due to competing organizational priorities. This resource was critical for your planned knowledge transfer sessions with the implementation team. The functional manager apologizes but says they cannot change the allocation. What should you do?

July 8, 2026

You are managing a construction project using a predictive approach with a detailed WBS and Gantt chart. Three months into the six-month project, you notice that one of your team leads has been consistently missing status meeting deadlines and providing incomplete progress reports. However, their team's deliverables are being completed on time and meeting quality standards. Other team leads have started complaining about the inconsistent reporting. What is the most appropriate action?

July 8, 2026

You are managing a predictive software development project with a team of 12 members. During the planning phase, you notice that two senior developers, who must work closely on the database architecture, have a history of conflict from a previous project. The project schedule is tight, and their collaboration is critical for meeting the milestone dates. Team morale appears positive otherwise, but you're concerned this unresolved tension could impact performance. What should you do first?

July 8, 2026

An agile team working on a financial services application has maintained a consistent velocity of 28-32 story points over the past six sprints. During Sprint 7 planning, the team estimates several user stories and realizes they are consistently giving higher estimates than in previous sprints for similar work. When asked, team members mention they are concerned about upcoming regulatory requirements that might require rework, though the specific requirements won't be finalized until next quarter. The Product Owner is concerned that velocity is decreasing. What should the team do to address this situation?

July 7, 2026

A cross-functional agile team is building a data analytics platform. During Sprint 6, a critical production bug is discovered in functionality delivered two sprints ago that is affecting customer reporting. Fixing the bug will require approximately 13 story points of effort. The current sprint backlog contains 32 story points of planned work, matching the team's average velocity. The Product Owner wants to add the bug fix to the current sprint without removing any planned stories. What should the Scrum Master recommend?

July 7, 2026

An agile team is developing a customer relationship management (CRM) system. After the fourth sprint, the Product Owner reviews the increment during the sprint review and realizes that several features don't match what key stakeholders envisioned. The stakeholders are present and express concern that the product is heading in the wrong direction. The development team is frustrated because they built exactly what was described in the user stories. The team's definition of done includes code review, testing, and documentation. What is the most likely root cause of this issue?

July 7, 2026

A software development team is working on an e-commerce platform using two-week sprints. During sprint planning for Sprint 5, the Product Owner presents 15 user stories totaling 55 story points. Based on their velocity from the last three sprints (average: 34 story points), the team knows they cannot complete all stories. The Product Owner insists all stories are critical for an upcoming trade show demo in four weeks. The team is concerned about committing to work they cannot complete. What is the best approach for the team to take?

July 7, 2026

Your agile team has completed three sprints of a mobile application project. During the sprint retrospective, several team members express frustration that they are spending too much time in meetings and not enough time developing features. The Scrum Master notes that the team is attending daily standups, sprint planning, sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives, and several ad-hoc meetings called by stakeholders. Velocity has declined from 32 story points in Sprint 1 to 21 story points in Sprint 3. What should the Scrum Master do first to address this issue?

July 7, 2026

You are leading a product development project using a hybrid approach where design and development follow Scrum, but manufacturing and supply chain operate in predictive phases. A key team member from manufacturing, who has 20 years of experience, consistently questions agile practices in cross-functional meetings, stating 'this would never work in the real world' and 'we tried this before and it failed.' This is creating doubt among other team members and reducing engagement in collaborative planning sessions. The manufacturing manager confirms this person's technical expertise is critical to project success. What is the most appropriate way to address this?

July 7, 2026

Your hybrid project team includes employees and contractors from a vendor organization. The vendor's contract specifies fixed deliverables and milestones, while your internal team operates using agile sprints with flexible scope. During a sprint review, stakeholders request significant changes that would benefit the product but would require substantial rework from the vendor team. The vendor project manager states they cannot accommodate changes without a contract modification and additional payment. Your internal team is frustrated by the vendor's 'inflexibility.' What should you do?

July 7, 2026

You are managing a hybrid transformation project where half the team is experienced with agile practices and half has only worked in traditional environments. During the first iteration planning session, the traditional team members remain silent while the agile-experienced members dominate the discussion. Later, a traditionally-trained business analyst tells you privately that they feel their expertise in requirements documentation is no longer valued. The project requires both detailed requirements for regulatory purposes and iterative development. How should you address this situation?

July 7, 2026

Your hybrid project has a distributed team across three time zones. The agile software development team conducts daily standups, while the regulatory compliance team works in traditional phases with monthly reviews. You notice that collaboration between these groups is minimal, causing delays when compliance requirements impact sprint deliverables. The compliance lead insists their work cannot be broken into smaller increments, while the development team lead complains about last-minute compliance changes. What is the best approach to improve collaboration?

July 7, 2026

You are leading a hybrid project where the development team works in two-week sprints while the infrastructure team follows a waterfall approach with phase gates. During sprint planning, a senior developer publicly criticizes a junior team member's previous work, causing visible discomfort. The junior member becomes withdrawn for the remainder of the meeting. Several team members later approach you expressing concern about the negative team dynamics. What should you do first to address this situation?

July 7, 2026

An energy company is executing a hybrid project to build a renewable energy monitoring system. The hardware deployment follows a phase-gate approach while the analytics dashboard uses Kanban. A new environmental regulation requires real-time emissions reporting capabilities not in the original scope. The predictive hardware phase is in execution, and the agile team is working on visualization features. The compliance deadline is 8 months away. How should the project manager address this requirement?

June 30, 2026

A manufacturing company's hybrid project to implement a smart factory system includes predictive hardware installation phases and agile software development iterations. The project sponsor announces a merger with a competitor that will complete in 6 months. The merged entity plans to standardize on different IoT platforms. The project is 40% complete with significant investment already made. Senior leadership asks the project manager to recommend the best path forward. What should the project manager recommend?

June 30, 2026

A financial services organization is running a hybrid project to modernize its trading platform. The infrastructure upgrades follow a waterfall approach due to strict security requirements, while the user interface development uses Scrum. During a compliance audit, auditors request comprehensive documentation for all architectural decisions. The Scrum team has been maintaining lightweight documentation in their wiki and user stories. What should the project manager do?

June 30, 2026

A pharmaceutical company is executing a hybrid project to develop a new drug delivery system. The predictive regulatory approval phase runs parallel to agile development sprints for the mobile app interface. A new government regulation requires additional clinical trial documentation, impacting both workstreams. The project manager has identified that the regulatory team needs 3 additional months while the development team can adapt within their sprint cycle. What should the project manager do first?

June 30, 2026

A healthcare provider is running a hybrid project to implement a patient portal system. The security and infrastructure components use predictive planning due to HIPAA requirements, while patient-facing features are developed using Scrum. Market analysis reveals a competitor launched a similar portal with telehealth integration, which is becoming an industry expectation. The sponsor wants to add telehealth capabilities to remain competitive. The project is 60% complete and on schedule. What is the project manager's best course of action?

June 30, 2026