PMP Practice Questions

You are managing a manufacturing facility construction project with a detailed WBS and baseline schedule. During month 4 of the 18-month project, you receive the performance reviews for your project team members from their functional managers. You notice that one of your key electrical engineers received a below-average rating, citing lack of contribution to departmental initiatives. However, this engineer has been fully dedicated to your project, meeting all assigned deadlines and producing high-quality work. The functional manager suggests reducing this person's allocation to your project. What should you do?

August 31, 2026

You are leading a government software development project using a waterfall approach. Three months into the project, you notice that two senior developers who were highly collaborative during planning have become increasingly adversarial, disagreeing on technical approaches during design reviews and making critical comments about each other's work. Their conflict is starting to affect team morale, and other team members are beginning to take sides. The design phase is scheduled to complete in two weeks. What is your best course of action?

August 31, 2026

You are managing a complex infrastructure project with a 24-month timeline. During the planning phase, you identify that your team will need specialized database architects for months 8-12, but your functional manager can only commit these resources for months 10-14 due to competing organizational priorities. The project schedule shows critical database design activities starting in month 8, and any delay would impact the critical path. What should you do first?

August 31, 2026

You are managing a bridge construction project with a 36-month timeline and a team of 45 people including engineers, construction workers, and safety officers. The project is performing well against the baseline, with CPI at 1.02 and SPI at 0.98. During month 12, your construction superintendent, who has 20 years of experience and has been instrumental in maintaining quality and safety standards, submits a resignation letter citing a better opportunity. The construction superintendent is not easily replaceable due to specialized knowledge of the bridge design and local regulations. What is your most important immediate action?

August 31, 2026

You are managing a product development project for a new medical device. The project is in the execution phase, and you have a cross-functional team including engineers, regulatory specialists, and quality assurance professionals. During a weekly team meeting, you notice that the regulatory specialists consistently remain silent when technical decisions are being discussed, even though these decisions have significant regulatory implications. When you ask them directly for input, they provide valuable insights. The team is approaching a critical design decision milestone next week. How should you address this situation?

August 31, 2026

You are managing a manufacturing project with a geographically distributed team across three countries and multiple time zones. The project follows a traditional waterfall methodology with detailed planning completed upfront. Team members have raised concerns about feeling disconnected and unclear about how their work contributes to overall project objectives. Team performance metrics show declining productivity and increasing miscommunication. What should you do to address this situation?

August 28, 2026

You are managing a software development project using a stage-gate approach with formal phase reviews. During the design phase, you learn that three key team members will be pulled to support an emergency customer issue for approximately two weeks, starting next week. The design deliverables are due to the steering committee in three weeks for gate approval. What is the best course of action?

August 28, 2026

Your predictive project has entered the execution phase, and you notice that one team member consistently delivers high-quality work but is frequently late with deliverables, causing delays to dependent tasks. During your one-on-one meeting, the team member reveals they are struggling with the technical complexity of their assignments but were hesitant to ask for help. What should be your primary response?

August 28, 2026

You are leading a construction project following a waterfall methodology. One of your senior engineers, who has been with the company for 15 years, consistently questions your decisions in team meetings and undermines your authority in front of other team members. This behavior is affecting team morale and productivity. You have the project's RACI matrix clearly defining roles and responsibilities. What is the most appropriate action?

August 28, 2026

You are managing a large infrastructure project using a predictive approach with a detailed WBS and resource-loaded schedule. During the planning phase, you identify that two critical team members have overlapping assignments during months 4-6, which will cause resource over-allocation. The project sponsor is pressuring you to maintain the current timeline. What should you do first?

August 28, 2026

You are leading a pharmaceutical research project with strict regulatory requirements. During a risk review meeting, your team identifies a new risk: a potential change in regulatory standards that could require significant protocol modifications. The probability is estimated at 30% and the impact would be a 4-month delay and $200,000 in additional costs. The change, if it occurs, would happen in approximately 6 months. Your risk response strategy includes creating a contingency plan. What should you do NEXT?

August 28, 2026

You are managing an infrastructure project with multiple external vendors. One vendor has consistently missed milestone dates, causing delays to dependent activities. You have documented these issues and discussed them in previous status meetings. The vendor's project manager claims their delays are due to incomplete information from your team, though your records show all required information was provided on schedule. The vendor is now 10 days behind on a critical path activity. What is the MOST appropriate next step?

August 28, 2026

Your manufacturing project is in the execution phase with a CPI of 0.92 and an SPI of 1.05. During a quality audit, the quality assurance team discovers that several deliverables do not meet the specifications defined in the quality management plan. The project sponsor is pleased with the schedule performance and is pressuring you to maintain the current pace. Rework to fix the quality issues would cost an additional $40,000 and require 2 weeks. What should you do?

August 28, 2026

You are managing a software development project following a waterfall methodology. The design phase has been completed and approved by stakeholders. During the development phase, the development team identifies that implementing a specific approved feature will require significant architectural changes that were not identified during design. The team estimates this will add 3 weeks to the schedule and $25,000 to the budget. The change would improve system performance but is not required to meet the original requirements. What is the BEST course of action?

August 28, 2026

You are managing a construction project using a predictive approach. During the execution phase, a key supplier notifies you that they cannot deliver critical materials on the originally agreed date due to manufacturing delays. This delay will impact activities on the critical path. The supplier offers to expedite shipping at an additional cost of $15,000, which would maintain the original schedule. Your project has a management reserve of $50,000 and a contingency reserve of $30,000. What should you do first?

August 28, 2026

You are leading an agile project to modernize a legacy insurance claims processing system. The team has completed 6 sprints with an average velocity of 28 story points. During backlog refinement for Sprint 7, the team is reviewing a complex user story estimated at 21 story points. The product owner wants this story included in the next sprint along with other stories totaling 15 points. Several team members express concern that the 21-point story is too large and poorly understood. What should you recommend?

August 28, 2026

Your development team is working on Sprint 7 of a customer relationship management (CRM) system. On day 8 of the 10-day sprint, the team discovers that a critical third-party API they planned to integrate has been deprecated by the vendor, making three of the six committed user stories impossible to complete as planned. The team's burndown chart shows they are otherwise on track. The product owner is concerned about meeting the sprint goal. What should you do?

August 28, 2026

You are managing an agile project for developing an e-commerce platform. At the end of Sprint 5, the team demonstrates the completed user stories to stakeholders. A major stakeholder sees the shopping cart functionality and requests significant changes to the user interface, saying it doesn't match their vision despite the original acceptance criteria being met. The product owner is uncertain because this stakeholder has significant influence. The requested changes would require approximately 2 sprints of rework. What is the best course of action?

August 28, 2026

Your agile team has completed their fourth sprint on a financial software project. During the retrospective, several team members mention that the daily standups have become status report meetings where everyone just talks to you, the project manager, rather than coordinating with each other. Team members seem disengaged, and blockers mentioned during standup often don't get resolved until the next day. The team says they don't find the standups valuable anymore. How should you address this situation?

August 28, 2026

You are leading an agile project to develop a mobile application for a retail client. During sprint planning, the product owner presents 15 user stories, but the development team estimates they can only complete 8 stories based on their historical velocity of 32 story points per sprint. The product owner insists all 15 stories are critical for the upcoming product demo in three weeks. The total estimate for all 15 stories is 60 story points. What should you do first?

August 28, 2026

A financial services company is developing a customer portal using a hybrid delivery approach. The security and compliance components follow predictive planning due to regulatory requirements, while the user experience features are developed iteratively based on customer feedback. During a sprint review, the compliance officer raises concerns that new data privacy regulations will take effect in six months, potentially requiring significant changes to the security architecture already under development. The project is currently 40% complete. What is the most appropriate response?

August 24, 2026

A manufacturing company is implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system using a hybrid approach. The predictive phase covers infrastructure setup and data migration, while the adaptive phase handles user interface customization and training. The executive sponsor informs the project manager that a major competitor has just been acquired by their parent company, potentially changing strategic priorities. The project manager needs to assess how this external change might impact the project. What should the project manager do first?

August 24, 2026

A telecommunications company is deploying a network infrastructure upgrade using a hybrid approach. The physical infrastructure deployment follows a predictive schedule across 50 cities, while the software-defined networking features are developed using Scrum. Three months into the project, a major technology vendor announces end-of-life for a key hardware component that was planned for 30 of the remaining cities. The vendor is offering a next-generation replacement that provides better performance but requires different configuration and has a longer lead time. How should the project manager address this market change?

August 24, 2026

A retail company is implementing a supply chain optimization system using a hybrid approach. The warehouse management system integration follows a predictive methodology due to hardware dependencies, while the demand forecasting module is developed iteratively with frequent releases. The project manager notices that economic indicators suggest a potential recession within the next year, which could significantly impact consumer demand patterns and inventory strategies. Several stakeholders have different opinions on how to proceed. What should the project manager do to address this external business factor?

August 24, 2026

A healthcare organization is implementing a patient management system using a hybrid approach. The core clinical workflows are being developed predictively to ensure regulatory compliance, while the patient-facing mobile application is being developed using Scrum. The project manager learns that a new healthcare provider network is merging with the organization in eight months, which will double the user base and add three new service lines. The steering committee asks how this will affect the project timeline and deliverables. What should the project manager recommend?

August 24, 2026