PMP Practice Questions

You have just been assigned as project manager for a new manufacturing project. During your first review of the project documentation, you find the project charter, stakeholder register, and several technical specifications. However, you cannot locate a document that clearly defines what is included and excluded from the project, along with the acceptance criteria for deliverables. Which document are you missing?

May 31, 2026

You are managing a pharmaceutical research project with a strict regulatory timeline. During a weekly team meeting, one of your scientists mentions that a required laboratory test is taking longer than expected due to equipment calibration issues. This task is on the critical path and any delay will impact the project completion date. What should you do first?

May 31, 2026

Your team has identified a risk that a key supplier might not deliver critical components on time, which would delay your project by two weeks. After analyzing the risk, you decide to order the components from a backup supplier who can guarantee delivery within your required timeframe, even though this will cost 15% more. What risk response strategy are you implementing?

May 31, 2026

You are leading a software development project using a predictive approach. The project has been ongoing for three months, and you need to report the current status to stakeholders. You calculate that the project has completed $150,000 worth of work, but you have actually spent $175,000. The planned value at this point was $160,000. What is the cost variance (CV) for this project?

May 31, 2026

You are managing a construction project to build a new office building. During the planning phase, you need to create a detailed breakdown of all the deliverables and work required to complete the project. Your sponsor has asked you to organize this information in a hierarchical structure that will serve as the foundation for planning, scheduling, and cost estimation. What should you create?

May 31, 2026

An agile development team is creating a supply chain optimization platform for a logistics company. During a sprint retrospective, team members express concern that they're building features based on assumptions rather than validated customer needs. The product owner has been setting priorities based on executive requests rather than direct customer feedback. The company has 50 potential enterprise customers who have expressed interest but haven't been involved in the development process. What should the project manager recommend?

May 31, 2026

A cross-functional agile team is developing an e-commerce platform for a manufacturing company expanding into direct-to-consumer sales. The finance department has requested detailed project cost tracking and variance reporting similar to traditional project management approaches. The team uses story points for estimation and has been delivering consistent velocity across sprints. The CFO is concerned about the lack of detailed budget forecasts and burn rate metrics. How should the project manager address this concern?

May 31, 2026

An agile team is developing a customer relationship management system for a retail company. During the sprint review, the marketing director expresses frustration that the team hasn't incorporated artificial intelligence features that competitors recently launched. The product owner explains that AI capabilities were not in the original product vision and would require significant technical investment. The marketing director insists this is now a competitive necessity and questions the team's market awareness. What is the most appropriate response?

May 31, 2026

A software development team is working in two-week sprints for a healthcare technology startup. The company has just secured Series B funding, and the CEO announces a strategic pivot to focus on telehealth services instead of the current electronic health records product. The team has completed 60% of the EHR product, and three sprints remain in the current release. Customers have been promised the EHR features in six weeks. How should the project manager navigate this strategic change?

May 31, 2026

Your agile team is developing a mobile banking application for a financial services company. During sprint planning, the compliance officer informs the team that new regulatory requirements will be enforced in three months, requiring additional security features. The product owner wants to continue with the current roadmap focused on customer-requested features. The new regulations will affect 30% of the planned functionality. What should the project manager do first?

May 31, 2026

Your agile development team has been consistently delivering high-quality increments and meeting their sprint goals for the past four sprints. During the latest sprint review, the product owner praises the team's technical excellence but mentions that a key stakeholder was disappointed because they expected different functionality than what was delivered. The team built exactly what was described in the user stories. What should the team focus on improving?

May 29, 2026

You are facilitating a new agile team's first sprint planning session. During the meeting, you notice that two team members are dominating the conversation while three others have barely spoken. The quieter members appear to have relevant expertise based on their backgrounds, but they seem hesitant to contribute. You want to ensure all voices are heard and the team makes the best decisions. What should you do?

May 29, 2026

During a sprint retrospective, your agile team identifies that they have been experiencing frequent interruptions from stakeholders requesting status updates and asking questions throughout the day. These interruptions are affecting the team's ability to focus and complete their sprint commitments. Team members have asked you, as the servant leader, to help address this issue. What should you do?

May 29, 2026

Your agile team has just completed sprint planning for the upcoming two-week iteration. One of the newer developers approaches you privately and admits they don't fully understand two of the user stories they committed to during planning. They are worried about slowing down the team but didn't want to speak up during the planning session. The sprint has just started today. What is the best course of action?

May 29, 2026

You are leading an agile project team that has been working together for three iterations. During the last retrospective, team members expressed frustration about not understanding the business value of the user stories they are working on. The product owner has been unavailable due to other commitments. Team velocity has started to decline, and members seem less engaged during daily standups. What should you do first to address this situation?

May 29, 2026

Your development team has been consistently achieving their sprint goals for the past four sprints with a stable velocity of 30 story points. In sprint planning for the next iteration, the team commits to 30 points of work. However, by mid-sprint during the daily standup, it becomes clear that three critical stories are blocked due to an unexpected production outage requiring immediate team attention. The team estimates they can only complete 18 points this sprint. What should the scrum master do?

May 29, 2026

Your scrum team is working on a healthcare application where regulatory compliance is critical. During the sprint, a team member discovers that a completed story from the previous sprint doesn't meet new HIPAA requirements that were recently clarified by the compliance department. The feature is already in the staging environment and was demonstrated to stakeholders. The Definition of Done includes 'meets all regulatory requirements,' but this specific requirement wasn't known during development. What should the scrum master facilitate?

May 29, 2026

During a sprint review, stakeholders see the completed user stories but express disappointment that the features don't match their expectations. The team followed the acceptance criteria precisely, and all stories meet the Definition of Done. The product owner approved the stories during backlog refinement two weeks ago. Stakeholders now request significant changes that would require reworking most of the sprint's output. What is the most appropriate next step?

May 29, 2026

You are facilitating sprint planning for a new feature that involves complex data migration. The development team estimates the work at 34 story points, but the sprint capacity is only 28 story points based on historical velocity. One developer suggests reducing quality checks to fit everything into the sprint, while another proposes splitting the migration into smaller, independently deliverable chunks. The product owner is concerned about delaying the feature launch. How should you proceed with sprint planning?

May 29, 2026

Your agile team has completed three sprints of a mobile application development project. During the retrospective, team members report that they consistently struggle to complete stories because dependencies on a third-party API team cause delays. The API team works in a different department and follows a waterfall approach with monthly release cycles. Several stories have been carried over to subsequent sprints, affecting the team's velocity. What should the product owner do to address this impediment?

May 29, 2026

An insurance company is managing a hybrid project to modernize its claims processing system. The core system architecture follows a predictive lifecycle, while customer-facing features are developed using Scrum. Six months into the project, the organization announces a merger with another insurance company that uses a completely different technology stack. Senior leadership asks the project manager to assess whether the current project should continue, be modified, or be cancelled in light of the merger. What is the most appropriate first step?

May 29, 2026

A retail company is executing a hybrid project to implement a new inventory management system. The database and integration layer follow a waterfall approach, while the user interface is developed using Kanban. After the first phase delivery, sales performance metrics show that stores using the new system have 15% lower productivity than projected, despite the system meeting all technical requirements. Store managers report the interface is too complex for their workflow. The project is currently 60% complete with both budget and schedule. What should the project manager do?

May 29, 2026

A healthcare organization is three months into a hybrid digital transformation project that includes both infrastructure upgrades (predictive) and patient portal features (agile). Market research reveals that a competing hospital system has just launched a mobile app with telemedicine capabilities that is gaining significant patient adoption. The executive sponsor suggests pivoting the project to prioritize mobile and telemedicine features, even though this wasn't in the original scope. The infrastructure work is 40% complete and on schedule. What should the project manager recommend?

May 29, 2026

A manufacturing company is running a hybrid project to upgrade its production planning system. The core ERP integration follows a waterfall approach with fixed milestones, while the reporting and analytics module uses Scrum with two-week sprints. The product owner for the analytics module wants to incorporate machine learning capabilities after seeing a competitor's demo, but this would require significant changes to the data architecture being developed by the waterfall team. The business case did not include advanced analytics. How should the project manager address this situation?

May 29, 2026

A financial services company is implementing a new customer portal using a hybrid approach, with infrastructure components delivered predictively and user interface features delivered iteratively. During the third sprint, a new regulatory requirement is announced that affects data retention policies. The compliance team states this must be implemented immediately to avoid penalties. The infrastructure team indicates they need 8 weeks to modify the database architecture, which would disrupt the current release plan. What should the project manager do first?

May 29, 2026