PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL (PMP) CERTIFICATION EXAM
PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS (VERIFIED ANSWERS)
PLUS RATIONALE .
Question 1
A senior stakeholder emails the technical lead directly, requesting a
minor design change that they claim will not affect the schedule. The
technical lead begins implementing the change. What should the
project manager do FIRST?
A. Escalate the stakeholder's behavior to the project sponsor
B. Ask the technical lead to stop and submit the request through the
change control process
C. Update the schedule to reflect the additional work
D. Approve the change since the impact is minor
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Any modification to an approved deliverable must go
through the integrated change control process, regardless of size or
requester . Escalating first bypasses the process the project manager is
responsible for enforcing. Updating the schedule would be accepting an
,unapproved change. The project manager cannot unilaterally approve
changes without proper analysis.
Question 2
An agile team's velocity drops sharply in Sprint 3. The product owner
asks the project manager to add two developers to recover the release
date. What is the BEST response?
A. Add the developers immediately to protect the release date
B. Raise a risk and inform the sponsor
C. Facilitate a retrospective to understand the cause before changing
the team
D. Extend the sprint length to fit the remaining work
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The retrospective is the built-in agile mechanism for
inspecting and adapting team performance . Adding people mid-sprint
often slows the team further (Brooks's Law). Sprint length should
remain fixed in Scrum. Raising a risk without diagnosis does not address
the root cause.
,Question 3
A vendor delivering equipment for a plant upgrade misses a contractual
milestone and offers no explanation. Which document should the
project manager review FIRST?
A. Risk register
B. Procurement management plan and the agreement
C. Stakeholder engagement plan
D. Issue log
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The agreement defines remedies, notice periods, and
escalation procedures, while the procurement management plan
explains how to administer the contract . The issue log records the
problem but does not tell you what you are entitled to do about it.
Question 4
A project manager takes over a program where design runs predictively
and software development runs in sprints. Team members are
confused about which process to follow. What should the project
manager do?
, A. Move the entire program to a predictive approach for consistency
B. Agree and document how the two approaches connect, including
handoffs and decision points
C. Ask each team to continue with its own method and report
separately
D. Hire an agile coach
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Hybrid delivery fails at the seams, not inside either method.
Defining the interfaces, handoffs, and decision gates removes
confusion . Forcing one approach discards the reason for the hybrid.
Separate reporting hides dependency risks.
Question 5
A capable engineer has stopped contributing in daily stand-ups and
delivers tasks late without explanation. What should the project
manager do FIRST?
A. Escalate the performance issue to the engineer's functional manager
PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS (VERIFIED ANSWERS)
PLUS RATIONALE .
Question 1
A senior stakeholder emails the technical lead directly, requesting a
minor design change that they claim will not affect the schedule. The
technical lead begins implementing the change. What should the
project manager do FIRST?
A. Escalate the stakeholder's behavior to the project sponsor
B. Ask the technical lead to stop and submit the request through the
change control process
C. Update the schedule to reflect the additional work
D. Approve the change since the impact is minor
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Any modification to an approved deliverable must go
through the integrated change control process, regardless of size or
requester . Escalating first bypasses the process the project manager is
responsible for enforcing. Updating the schedule would be accepting an
,unapproved change. The project manager cannot unilaterally approve
changes without proper analysis.
Question 2
An agile team's velocity drops sharply in Sprint 3. The product owner
asks the project manager to add two developers to recover the release
date. What is the BEST response?
A. Add the developers immediately to protect the release date
B. Raise a risk and inform the sponsor
C. Facilitate a retrospective to understand the cause before changing
the team
D. Extend the sprint length to fit the remaining work
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The retrospective is the built-in agile mechanism for
inspecting and adapting team performance . Adding people mid-sprint
often slows the team further (Brooks's Law). Sprint length should
remain fixed in Scrum. Raising a risk without diagnosis does not address
the root cause.
,Question 3
A vendor delivering equipment for a plant upgrade misses a contractual
milestone and offers no explanation. Which document should the
project manager review FIRST?
A. Risk register
B. Procurement management plan and the agreement
C. Stakeholder engagement plan
D. Issue log
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The agreement defines remedies, notice periods, and
escalation procedures, while the procurement management plan
explains how to administer the contract . The issue log records the
problem but does not tell you what you are entitled to do about it.
Question 4
A project manager takes over a program where design runs predictively
and software development runs in sprints. Team members are
confused about which process to follow. What should the project
manager do?
, A. Move the entire program to a predictive approach for consistency
B. Agree and document how the two approaches connect, including
handoffs and decision points
C. Ask each team to continue with its own method and report
separately
D. Hire an agile coach
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Hybrid delivery fails at the seams, not inside either method.
Defining the interfaces, handoffs, and decision gates removes
confusion . Forcing one approach discards the reason for the hybrid.
Separate reporting hides dependency risks.
Question 5
A capable engineer has stopped contributing in daily stand-ups and
delivers tasks late without explanation. What should the project
manager do FIRST?
A. Escalate the performance issue to the engineer's functional manager
