PMP Practice Questions

You are managing a complex systems integration project with 12 external vendors and 45 internal team members. The network diagram shows 8 paths through the project, with the critical path having 14 months duration and 4 months total float across all activities. During month 6, you perform schedule compression analysis because a key stakeholder requests moving the completion date forward by 3 months. Your analysis shows: fast-tracking would create 18 new dependency relationships and increase risk significantly; crashing the critical path would cost $2.4M for a 2-month reduction; adding resources to near-critical Path B (currently 11 months with 3 months float) could reduce it to 8 months for $800K. The stakeholder has approved a budget increase of up to $1.5M for acceleration. What is the MOST effective approach?

October 9, 2026

You are managing a defense contractor project using a firm-fixed-price contract worth $28M. During planning, you identified 47 risks and developed response plans with allocated contingency reserves totaling $2.1M. At the 60% completion point, you have consumed $1.85M of contingency reserves, primarily due to three risks that materialized with greater impact than anticipated. You identify a new high-probability, high-impact risk related to a critical supplier's financial instability that could halt production of a custom component with no alternative sources. The risk response would require $450K for a mitigation strategy (qualifying a second supplier). Your remaining contingency reserve is $250K, and management reserves are $800K controlled by the sponsor. What should you do?

October 9, 2026

Your construction project has a 16-month duration with four major phase gates requiring customer sign-off. You are currently in month 11, approaching the third phase gate. Quality inspections reveal that 23% of the concrete structural work completed in the previous phase has microfractures that don't meet specifications, likely due to temperature control issues during curing. The work passed initial inspections but was caught during detailed pre-gate review. Remediation will cost $1.2M and delay the phase gate by 8 weeks. The customer relationship is already strained from previous minor delays. The quality manager suggests accepting the work since the microfractures are within building code minimums, though not project specifications. What is the BEST course of action?

October 9, 2026

You are managing a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility construction project following a waterfall approach. The design phase deliverables were approved three months ago, and construction is 40% complete. A new regulatory requirement has been published that mandates additional safety features in the HVAC system, requiring significant design changes. The change will cost $2.8M (8% of the total budget) and add 6 weeks to the critical path. The regulatory compliance officer insists this is a mandatory change and not subject to change control. Your project charter states that regulatory compliance changes require automatic approval. What should you do FIRST?

October 9, 2026

You are managing a large-scale infrastructure project with a 24-month timeline and a budget of $45 million. During the eighth month, earned value analysis shows: PV = $15M, EV = $12M, AC = $13.5M. Your sponsor is concerned about the schedule variance and asks whether the project can still finish on time within the original budget. You calculate TCPI based on BAC and determine it is 1.18. The project team's historical performance shows they typically achieve a CPI between 0.85 and 0.95 on similar projects. What is the MOST appropriate recommendation?

October 9, 2026

You are managing a pharmaceutical research project following a stage-gate process. Your project has just completed the Phase 2 clinical trials deliverable. According to the project management plan, a phase gate review is scheduled before proceeding to Phase 3 trials, which will require significant investment. During your preparation for the gate review, you discover that while the trials met their primary endpoint, two secondary endpoints showed concerning trends. The data is not conclusive but suggests potential issues. The project is currently on schedule and under budget. What should you do?

October 7, 2026

Your project team has completed the project scope statement and is now developing the work breakdown structure (WBS). One of your team members suggests creating work packages at different levels of decomposition across the WBS—some at a very detailed level that can be completed in days, and others at a higher level representing several weeks of work. The team member argues this will save time in the planning process. What is the best approach?

October 7, 2026

You are managing a software development project using a waterfall methodology. During the design phase, your technical lead identifies that implementing a requested feature will require a third-party library that introduces significant security vulnerabilities. The feature was explicitly defined in the approved scope baseline and is important to the customer. After analysis, your team proposes an alternative technical approach that provides similar functionality without the security risk but will add $15,000 to the project cost. What should you do?

October 7, 2026

Your construction project is 60% complete when you conduct an earned value analysis. The results show: PV = $500,000, EV = $450,000, AC = $480,000. The project sponsor asks you to provide a forecast of the final project cost. Based on current performance trends, you believe the cost variance is atypical and future work will be performed at the planned rate. What estimate at completion (EAC) should you report?

October 7, 2026

You are managing a large infrastructure project using a predictive approach. During the execution phase, a key vendor informs you that a critical component will be delayed by three weeks due to manufacturing issues. This delay will impact the critical path and potentially the project's contractual completion date. The project sponsor is highly concerned about meeting the deadline. What should you do first?

October 7, 2026

You're managing a hybrid project to modernize a legacy system. Phase 1 (months 1-4) uses predictive approach for infrastructure and data architecture, while Phase 2 (months 5-10) uses Scrum for application development. You're now in month 3, and the infrastructure team has encountered unexpected complexity that will delay their completion by 6 weeks, pushing into month 5.5. The development team's sprint 0 is scheduled for month 5, and team members are already assigned. Waiting would idle 8 developers for 6 weeks at $180K cost. The development team suggests they could begin working on independent modules using simulated infrastructure. What factors should most heavily influence your decision?

October 6, 2026

Your hybrid project combines predictive hardware development with agile firmware iterations. The hardware team has completed their design phase and moved into manufacturing (month 8 of 14), while the firmware team is in sprint 12 of 20. During sprint 12, the firmware team discovers that achieving optimal performance requires a minor hardware modification that would cost $45K and delay manufacturing by 3 weeks. Without this change, the product will meet minimum specifications but perform 25% slower than competitors. The product owner wants to make the change, but the hardware lead argues the decision should follow the formal change control process with steering committee approval, which meets monthly. What should you do?

October 6, 2026

You're leading a digital transformation project using a hybrid approach where compliance and regulatory work follows predictive planning, while customer-facing features are developed iteratively. During the fifth sprint review, the product owner and development team demonstrate working features, but the compliance officer identifies that three completed user stories don't meet regulatory requirements that were documented in the initial project charter. The team claims they followed the acceptance criteria in the user stories. The compliance deliverables are managed separately and weren't scheduled for integration testing until next month. What is the root cause you should address?

October 6, 2026

Your organization is implementing a new ERP system using a hybrid approach: data migration and infrastructure use waterfall phases, while business process configuration uses iterative cycles. After the second iteration, stakeholders from finance request significant changes to the chart of accounts structure, which impacts both the completed data migration design and upcoming infrastructure specifications. The change would add substantial business value but requires rework across both predictive and adaptive streams. The project is at 40% completion with moderate schedule pressure. How should you proceed?

October 6, 2026

You are managing a hybrid project where the infrastructure team works in predictive mode with a 6-month timeline, while the application development team uses 2-week Scrum sprints. During sprint planning, the development team commits to features that depend on infrastructure components scheduled for delivery in month 5. The infrastructure team is currently on track but has no buffer. The development team argues they need these features in sprint 8 (month 4) to meet a critical market window. What should you do first?

October 6, 2026

Your organization is executing a hybrid project to implement a new financial system. The software configuration follows an adaptive approach with two-week iterations, while data migration and cutover activities are planned predictively due to strict regulatory windows. You're currently in iteration 5 of 10. During a governance review, the CFO requests a detailed status report showing percentage complete for the entire project and exact completion dates for all remaining work. Your adaptive team tracks progress using velocity and burndown charts. How should you respond to this request?

September 30, 2026

You're managing a product development project using a hybrid approach where research and design follow a stage-gate process, while development and testing use Scrum. The design team has just completed the design phase and handed off detailed specifications to the development team. During sprint planning, the development team identifies several design elements that are technically infeasible with current technology and proposes alternative approaches that would require design changes. The design lead is resistant, stating that the design was approved through the formal gate review and shouldn't change without going back through governance. What should you do?

September 30, 2026

You are leading a hybrid project where marketing campaigns follow a waterfall approach with fixed launch dates, while the supporting digital platform is developed using Kanban. The platform team has adopted a continuous flow model and deploys features as they're completed. The marketing director is frustrated because features are being released without coordination with campaign timelines, resulting in promotional materials that don't match current functionality. The platform team argues that continuous delivery provides faster value. What is the best way to resolve this conflict?

September 30, 2026

Your hybrid project uses iterative development for customer-facing features and predictive planning for regulatory compliance activities. During a retrospective, the development team reports that compliance reviews are causing significant delays because compliance work is scheduled in sequential phases without team input. The compliance manager insists on following the approved plan to ensure audit readiness. Team morale is declining as they feel the rigid compliance process contradicts the adaptive approach they use for features. How should you address this situation?

September 30, 2026

You are managing a hybrid project where the development team uses Scrum for software components while infrastructure deployment follows a predictive approach. The software team has completed three sprints successfully, but the infrastructure team is two weeks behind schedule due to unexpected vendor delays. Stakeholders are concerned about integration timelines. The next sprint planning meeting is in two days, and the infrastructure team's delay will impact the planned software features that depend on the new servers. What should you do first?

September 30, 2026

You are facilitating a sprint retrospective for a team that has just completed a challenging sprint where they missed their sprint goal. During the retrospective, two team members begin blaming each other for technical decisions that led to delays. Other team members become defensive, and the conversation is deteriorating into personal criticism rather than focusing on process improvement. The team has worked well together in the past, but the pressure of the missed goal is creating tension. As the facilitator, what should you do?

September 29, 2026

Your Kanban team has been tracking their flow metrics, and you notice the average cycle time has increased from 4 days to 7 days over the past month. The team's WIP limits haven't changed, and the work item types are consistent with previous months. During a team discussion, you discover that items are spending significantly more time in the 'Code Review' column, often waiting 2-3 days before being reviewed. Team members mention they're focused on completing their own work before reviewing others' contributions. What should the team do to address this issue?

September 29, 2026

Your agile team is three sprints into developing a mobile application. During the latest sprint review, stakeholders provide feedback that the user interface doesn't match their expectations, even though the implemented features match the acceptance criteria in the user stories. The Product Owner explains they wrote the acceptance criteria based on their understanding but didn't include UI specifications. The team is frustrated because they'll need to rework completed features. How should this situation be addressed going forward?

September 29, 2026

During sprint planning, your development team is struggling to break down a large user story estimated at 21 story points. The Product Owner insists this story must be completed in the upcoming two-week sprint because it's critical for an upcoming trade show demonstration. The team expresses concern that they typically complete 25-30 story points per sprint, but this single story would consume most of their capacity and carries significant technical risk. The story cannot be demonstrated partially. What is the best approach?

September 29, 2026

Your Scrum team has completed their third sprint, and the Product Owner notices that the team's velocity has been inconsistent: 21 story points in Sprint 1, 15 in Sprint 2, and 18 in Sprint 3. The Product Owner is concerned about meeting the release deadline and asks you, as the Scrum Master, to commit to a specific velocity for the remaining sprints so stakeholders can plan accordingly. The team is still learning to work together and refining their estimation practices. What should you do?

September 29, 2026