Sample Questions

Following are sample questions for PMP examination.

1. Which of the following statements describes project management?
A.  It is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques used to manage projects for the purpose of meeting or exceeding stakeholder objectives and expectations.
B.  It is a temporary and unique endeavor undertaken to produce a unique product or service.
C.  It might be broadly defined and evolve over time as the business or organization develops, or it might be specifically defined to achieve an agreed set of goals.
D.  It is ongoing and repetitive.
E.  All of the above.


You are working on a project that will build 20,000 cash registers for Company A. You need to purchase the cash registers now with an up-front investment of $1000 per cash register.  Company A will pay you $1200 per cash register, but in a single payment after all the cash registers are delivered and working.  Because of system dependencies outside your project, this will take two years to complete.  Use the formulas in the previous page, "Profitability Measures," to answer the following questions. 

2. What is the ROS?
A. $600
B. 60%
C. 16.6%
D. 6%

3. What is the ROI for each cash register?  
A. 20%
B. 40%
C. 2%
D. 5%


4.What is the PV of the sponsor's payment?
A. $24 million
B. $20 million
C. $19.8 million
D. $16 million

5. Will the Company A's contract be profitable?
A. Yes
B. No
C. The answer cannot be determined given the information provided.

6. What is the purpose of portfolio analysis?
A. It compares new business opportunities with current offerings.
B. It identifies future and perceived opportunities.
C. It allows investment decisions to be based on a common assessment methodology of customer buying behavior patterns.
D. It is a technique used to determine which opportunities each development group should invest in.
E. All of the above.

7. What are the three major phases of market planning?
A. Customer focus group, management feedback, and competitive information
B. Market definition, capability assessment, and investment prioritization and management
C. Market segments, market analysis, and financial aspects
D. Environmental analysis, competitive information, and size of opportunity

8. What are the three most common measures used when determining the profitability of an opportunity?
A. Pretax income, gross profit, and present value
B. Return on assets, net present value, and profit margin
C. Return on sales, return on investment, and present value
D. Return on investment, profit margin, and gross profit
E. All of the above

9. As a project manager, you are requested to provide feedback about a new contract a colleague has written.  Review the following contract terms and decide which is the most appropriate wording.

A. We will strive to work and achieve mutual satisfaction between our companies.

B. We will ensure that a root cause analysis is provided to Chesney and Smith within a reasonable response time for all server errors.

C. We will create a computer-aided design that will be based on the Chesney and Smith 10 March 2002 version of the Requirement document.

D. We will create a user-friendly application that is based on a standard platform that has been awarded 4 stars in the most recent platform rankings.

10. Which of the following statements is true about an agreement?

A. An agreement documents a plan to exchange services, solutions, and resources between parties.

B. An agreement defines each party's commitment to a project by establishing the rights and obligation of a buyer and seller.

C. An agreement defines the completion criteria, pricing, and terms of settlement for any future disputes agreed to by both buyer and seller.

D. An agreement consists of two parts: terms and conditions and transaction documents.

E. All of the above.

11. What primary parties are involved in the contract management process?

A. Goods and suppliers, business partners, and customers

B. Procurement and the selling team

C. The project manager, the sponsor, the suppliers, and the procurement and contracts services team

D. Suppliers, consulting services, and delivery organization

E. All of the above

12. What are the three general contract categories?

A. Contract negotiation, presale activity, and contract closeout

B. Fixed-price, cost-reimbursement, and time-and-materials

C. Cost evaluation, management evaluation, and technical evaluation

D. Pricing, payment approaches, and terms and conditions

E. All of the above

13. Which of the following choices describes the project management system?

A. The collection of plans, procedures, records, resources, and tools that are used to manage the project

B. The index that specifies the location of the project plans and procedures

C. The tools used to create the project documentation

D. All of the above

14. Which of the following choices describes an important behavioral characteristic of a successful project manager?

A. Acts as a coach and facilitator to project team members

B. Spends much time focused on short-term and often unexpected problems

C. Is sensitive to people and situations, but delegates decision-making authority only as a last resort

D. Allows solutions to problems to evolve at their own pace so that all possible outcomes are considered and evaluated thoroughly

E. All of the above

15. Project managers most often manage within a matrix organization.  What is a major challenge to the project manager in the strong matrix organization?

A. The project manager might not have the authority to commit to project objectives.

B. None of the project members report to the project manager.

C. It might not be clear who should direct the activity of team members.

D. There is potential conflict between the authority and responsibilities of the project manager and the functional managers who allocate the resources.

E. All of these statements are true.

16. Which of the following statements best describes a project stakeholder?

A. A stakeholder is equivalent to the project's client because the client bears financial responsibility for the end result.

B. A stakeholder is any individual who has a strong interest in the project or will be affected by the project.

C. A stakeholder is assigned as a project team member.

D. A stakeholder has the authority to override a project manager's decision.

E. All of the above.

17. Which of the following choices is a formally documented description of the sponsor's needs that must be addressed by the project?

A.  OBS

B.  Project requirements

C.  WBS

D.  Business needs

E.  All of the above

18  Which of the following breakdown structures decomposes the project activities?

A.  PBS

B.  WBS

C.  OBS

D.  All of the above

19. Which of the following statements describes the OBS?

A.  It helps to identify organizational structure, reporting responsibilities, authority, and project relationships.

B.  It depicts the structure of work units and reflects the project manager's plan to track scope, cost, and schedule.

C.  It is a hierarchical decomposition of operational work products into components.

D.  All of the above.

20. Which of the following choices is a guideline for estimating?

A. Meet customer expectations about price.

B. Use the same method to validate an estimate that was used to create the estimate.

C. Determine whether the method matches the sponsor's expectation.

D. Do not include risk tasks in the estimate because they might not need to be performed.

E. All of the above.

21. What is estimating?

A. Allocating the cost estimates over the time period required to accomplish individual project components

B. Establishing a project schedule

C. Predicting the resources needed to successfully complete a project

D. Determining the price charged to the customer

E. All of the above

22. Which of the following factors should be considered when estimating the cost of resources?

A. The availability of resources

B. Number of hours in a workday

C. The percentage of the time that a resource is allocated to the project

D. Nationally mandated workweeks

E. All of the above

23. Which of the following statements are true about a schedule?

A.  A schedule is any plan structured on a time dimension.

B.  A schedule is a calendar of events.

C.  A project manager only needs to create a schedule so that the client can track the progress of the project.

D.  All of the above.

24. What is the purpose of a forward pass?

A.  To calculate the project's first activity by adding the activity's duration plus the float

B.  To use the formula ES + duration = LF

C.  To calculate the project's early start and early finish dates of all network activities

D.  To review all network activities to determine the LS and LF dates

E.  All of the above

25. In the example shown, what is the EF for Task B?

Precedence network diagram.

A. 4

B. 5

C. 6

D. 7

E. Cannot be calculated from the information provided

26. In the same example shown, what is the LF for Task F?

A.  13

B.  12

C.  14

D.  17

27. In the same example shown, what is the critical path?

A.  Tasks A, G, and F

B.  Tasks A, B, C, and F

C.  All the above

D.  No critical path here

A vendor's Product-A product was chosen to satisfy the critical security requirements for your project.   Product-A is a new product from an established company with a good reputation.  You and your team have researched  Product-A's performance ratings and have reviewed the competitive analysis of its performance.  However, the product has not been on the market very long and has not been used in the environment your project needs.

28. Which of the following choices would be the best risk response approach?

A. Contain the risk.

B. Use risk management reserves.

C. Accept the risk.

D. Transfer the risk to a supplier.

29. Which of the following choices summarizes an appropriate risk response plan?

A. The product's manufacturer will assume the risk.

B. The product will be used and the risk will be accepted.

C. Select an alternative product to be used if the product does not perform as expected.

D. Management reserves will be used to purchase the product.

30. There are important differences between quantitative and qualitative analysis of risk.

Which of the following choices represents one of these differences?

A. Quantitative analysis involves estimating numerical data, and qualitative analysis involves subjective data.

B. Quantitative analysis relies heavily on experiences from other projects, and qualitative analysis does not.

C. Quantitative analysis involves estimating probabilities but not estimating impacts, and qualitative analysis involves estimates of both.

D. In most cases, quantitative analysis can sort expected risks into high, medium, and low categories, and qualitative analysis cannot.

E. All of the above.

31. Which of the following choices describes the appropriate level of detail and frequency of risk identification for effective project control?

A. It should take place early in the life cycle and regularly throughout the project.

B. Project managers should review and identify project risks at the Plan milestone.

C. Risk identification should only focus on major project elements, because the most significant impacts will be felt at this level.

D. All risks should be clearly identified at the start of the project so that all prevention and mitigation techniques can be taken.

E. All of the above.

32. Risk analysis is used to:

A. Select the mitigation strategy

B. Identify project risks

C. Determine what the project team does when the unexpected happens

D. Determine if some risks have higher impact than others

E. All of the above

33. How should project managers approach risk response planning?

A. Make educated guesses at the highest risk item, and plan the rest of the project around those risks.

B. Use the Monte Carlo risk analysis and strategy tool, and then follow the logical steps dictated by the tool.

C. Start with a prioritized risk list, identify response alternatives, and select the best option.

D. Present all the risks to upper management, and let them plan the risk responses.

E. All of the above.

34. Which of the following items do you need to validate in an SOW with an external sponsor?

A. Key milestones

B. Names of all project team members

C. Details of commitments with other internal project teams

D. All of the above

35. Which of the following statements describes an agreement from a contracting perspective?

A. An agreement is a formal commitment between the project manager and the project team.

B. An agreement consists of two parts: base terms and conditions, and transaction documentation.

C. The management of the base agreement is one of the project manager's responsibilities.

D. The structure and content of agreements are the same for all projects.

E. All of the above.

As the project manager on a project, the customer requires you to report earned value calculations.  The project budget (BAC) is $10 million.  According to your project schedule, your planned value (PV) should be $3 million.  However, your Actual Cost (AC) is $4 million, and your completed tasks are only worth $2 million in Earned Value (EV).  Please answer the following.

36. What is the Schedule Variance (SV)?

A. $-1 million

B. $1 million

C. $-2 million

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

37. What is the Schedule Performance Index (SPI)?

A. 2

B. 0.66

C. 0

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

38. What is the Percent Complete (% complete)?

A. 20%

B. 30%

C. 60%

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

39. What is the Cost Variance (CV)?

A. $-1 million

B. $1 million

C. $-2 million

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

40. What is the Cost Performance Index (CPI)?

A. -1

B. 1

C. 0.5

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

41. What is the Percent Spent (% spent)?

A. 50%

B. 40%

C. 35%

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

42. What is the Estimate to Complete (ETC)?

A. $16 million

B. $19 million

C. $6 million

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

43. What is the To Complete Performance Index (TCPI)?

A. 1.33

B. 1.17

C. 0.75

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

44. What is the status of the project?

A. The project is behind schedule and under budget.

B. The project is ahead of schedule and under budget.

C. The project is behind schedule and over budget.

D. It cannot be calculated given the information provided.

45. Why is it important for the project manager to perform data analysis and to calculate project indexes?

A. These activities provide powerful tools for controlling and tracking the project.

B. These activities provide a means by which the project manager can prove competency.

C. These activities are the only means by which the project manager can assess the status of the project.

D. These activities must be done so that the project manager can gain approval to continue the project following established checkpoints.

E. All of the above.

46. Why is tracking the actual costs against a plan not sufficient when monitoring a project?

A. You will only be able to calculate the project's Earned Value.

B. You are missing the work actually accomplished against the schedule.

C. You will not be able to track the actual costs incurred against the project.

D. You will only know the work actually accomplished against the schedule.

E. All of the above.

47. What is the relationship between Earned Value (EV) and Planned Value (PV)?

A. It compares approved budgets for work to be performed against schedules approved for that work.

B. It compares the budgeted cost of work performed against the approved milestones for that work.

C. It compares the budgeted cost of work against the actual cost of work.

D. It compares actual work performed against the baseline.

E. All of the above.

48. Which of the following statements describes change management?

A. Only changes to the contract are managed by using a change management procedure.

B. Changes can only be introduced by the project sponsor.

C. Unmanaged changes are the most common cause of troubled projects.

D. Change management is unrelated to scope creep.

E. All of the above

49. Which of the following statements applies to baselines?

A. Baselines are not adjusted after they have been finalized.

B. Changes that impact one baseline rarely affect other baselines.

C. Scope is not affected by changes to baselines.

D. The key elements of the project baseline are cost, requirements, and schedule.

E. All of the above

50. Which of the following choices are steps in the change management procedure?

A. Assess a Change Request.

B. Issue Change Orders.

C. Submit a Change Request.

D. Analyze the impact.

E. All of the above.

51. Which of the following choices describes responsibilities of project managers in the change management process?

A. Approves all changes without a formal process

B. Always performs the impact analysis

C. Rejects excessive changes

D. Ensures that the project has a change management procedure

E. All of the above

52. When should project closeout be planned?

A. Whenever a deliverable is completed

B. During the final phase of the project

C. At the beginning of a project

D. When projects are closed because of default or breach of contract

E. All of the above

53. Which of the following activities are performed when releasing staff?

A. Performing end-of-project interviews

B. Deleting the access rights of departing team members

C. Tracking the progress of remaining work and releasing team members as they finish their last deliverable

D. Ensuring that reusable intellectual capital has been captured

E. All of the above

54. To simplify the closeout process, projects can be closed based on a verbal agreement with the sponsor.

True

False

55. Why are leadership and management skills needed for a project team leader to be effective?

A. Management skills are needed to manage things, and leadership skills are required to manage people.

B. Management skills are needed to provide vision, and leadership skills are important for promotion.

C. Leadership skills are required to monitor costs, and management skills are needed to negotiate for additional resources.

D. All of the above.

56. Steve has not succeeded in becoming the lead software developer and has ceased to actively participate in discussions.  Sam and Janet are arguing about the goals of the project and how tasks should be assigned.  The team is probably in which of the following stages in the Tuckman model of team development?

A. Performing

B. Norming

C. Adjourning

D. Storming

E. All of the above