Assessment Test

Question 1

Which of these terms describes a critical path task?

A. Hammock

B. Zero float

C. Critical task

D. Mandatory task

Answer 1

B. Zero float

Tasks with zero float are critical path tasks, and if delayed, they will cause the delay of the project completion date. For more information, please see Chapter 5.

Question 2

Resource management concepts include several categories of resources. All of the following are a type of resource except for which one?

A. Shared resource

B. Remote and in-house

C. Dedicated resources

D. Benched resources

Answer 2

B. Remote and in-house

Remote and in-house resources are categorized as personnel management activities in the CompTIA objectives. For more information, please see Chapter 6.

Question 3

This tool is often used in the vendor selection process to pick a winning bidder.

A. Weighted scoring model

B. Bidder conference

C. RFQ

D. SOW

Answer 3

A. Weighted scoring model

A weighted scoring model is a tool that weights evaluation criteria and provides a way to score vendor responses. Bidder conferences, IFB, and SOW are all used during vendor solicitation. For more information, please see Chapter 9.

Question 4

From the following list of options, select three of the five common stages of development that project teams progress through. Choose three.

A. Forming

B. Acquiring

C. Storming

D. Adjourning

E. Negotiating

F. Norming

G. Compromising

Answer 4

A. Forming

C. Storming

F. Norming

The five stages of team development are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. For more information, please see Chapter 6.

Question 5

In this organizational structure, you report to the director of project management, and your team members report to their areas of responsibility (accounting, human resources, and IT). You will have complete control of the project team members’ time and assignments once the project is underway. Which type of organization does this describe?

A. Projectized

B. Functional

C. Hierarchical

D. Matrix

Answer 5

A. Projectized

This describes a projectized organization because the project manager works in a division whose sole responsibility is project management, and once the team members are assigned to the project, the project manager has the authority to hold them accountable to their tasks and activities. For more information, please see Chapter 1.

Question 6

This describes how you will know the completed deliverables are satisfactory.

A. Acceptance criteria

B. KPIs

C. Metrics

D. EVM

Answer 6

A. Acceptance criteria

Acceptance criteria describe how to determine whether the deliverables are complete and meet the requirements of the project. For more information, please see Chapter 4.

Question 7

Which of the following describes the responsibilities of the project sponsor?

A. Provides or obtains financial resources

B. Monitors the delivery of major milestones

C. Runs interference and removes roadblocks

D. Provides the project manager with authority to manage the project

E. All of the above

Answer 7

E. All of the above

A project sponsor is responsible for obtaining financial resources for the project, monitoring the progress of the project, and handling escalations from the project manager. For more information, please see Chapter 2.

Question 8

Project managers may spend up to 90 percent of their time doing which of the following?

A. Interacting with the project stakeholders

B. Interacting with the project sponsor

C. Interacting with the project team members

D. Communicating

Answer 8

D. Communicating

Project managers may spend up to 90 percent of their time communicating. For more information, please see Chapter 1.

Question 9

This is a temporary way of resolving conflict and is considered a lose-lose technique. It emphasizes the areas of agreement over the areas of disagreement.

A. Smoothing

B. Forcing

C. Avoiding

D. Confronting

Answer 9

A. Smoothing

Smoothing is a lose-lose conflict-resolution technique. It is a temporary way to resolve conflict. Avoiding can also be a lose-lose conflict technique, but it isn’t temporary in nature and doesn’t emphasize anything because one of the parties leaves the discussions. For more information, please see Chapter 6.

Question 10

Which of these is not an example of a project selection method?

A. Cost-benefit analysis

B. Expert judgment

C. Top-down estimating

D. Scoring model

Answer 10

C. Top-down estimating

Cost-benefit analysis, expert judgment, and scoring model are all project selection techniques. Top-down estimating is a type of cost estimating. For more information, please see Chapter 1.

Question 11

You’re the project manager on a project where the scope has expanded. The change has been approved by the change control board (CCB). What steps must you take to acknowledge the new scope? Choose two.

A. Update the project management plan.

B. Update the SOW.

C. Communicate the change to stakeholders and team members.

D. Submit a change request.

E. Log the request on the change request log.

Answer 11

A. Update the project management plan.

C. Communicate the change to stakeholders and team members.

Any time there’s a significant change to the project, the project management plan must be updated and the stakeholders notified of the change. Options D and E would have been done before the approval by the CCB. Options A and C occur after an approval. For more information, please see Chapter 9.

Question 12

Some team members on your team are driving each other crazy. They have different ways of organizing the tasks they are both assigned to, and the disparity in styles is causing them to bicker. Which of the following describes this situation?

A. This is a constraint that’s bringing about conflict on the team.

B. This should be escalated to the project sponsor.

C. This is a common cause of conflict.

D. This is a team formation stage that will pass as they get to know each other better.

Answer 12

C. This is a common cause of conflict.

This situation describes varying work styles that are a common cause of conflict. Competing resource demands and constraints are also common causes of conflict. Conflicts are anything that restricts or dictates the actions of the project team. And issues like this should almost never have to be escalated to the project sponsor. For more information, please see Chapter 6.

Question 13

Fishbone diagrams, Pareto diagrams, process diagrams, Gantt charts, and run charts are examples of which of the following?

A. Examples of various project management tools used to plan the work of the project

B. Examples of various project management tools used to monitor and control project work

C. Examples of various scope management tools to control the quality of deliverables

D. Examples of various scope management tools used to manage and control scope creep

Answer 13

B. Examples of various project management tools used to monitor and control project work

The tools described in this question are used during the Monitoring and Controlling phase of the project to monitor project work and assure it meets expectations. It also helps in determining corrective actions needed to get the project back on track. For more information, please see Chapter 10.

Question 14

Which of the following project documents created in the project Closing process group describes what went well and what didn’t go well on the project?

A. Project close report

B. Postmortem

C. Lessons learned

D. Post-project review

Answer 14

C. Lessons learned

Lessons learned describe what went well and what didn’t go well on the project. Lessons learned are included in the project close report, the postmortem report, and the post-project review. For more information, please see Chapter 10.

Question 15

This document authorizes the project to begin.

A. Project request

B. Project concept document

C. Project charter

D. Project scope statement

Answer 15

C. Project charter

The project charter authorizes the project to begin. For more information, please see Chapter 3.

Question 16

Which of these can convey that you’ve achieved the completion of an interim key deliverable?

A. Completion criteria

B. Milestone

C. Gantt chart

D. Project sign-off document

Answer 16

B. Milestone

Milestones often signal that you’ve completed one of the key deliverables on the project. For more information, please see Chapter 5.

Question 17

All of the following are factors that influence communication methods except which one?

A. Language barriers

B. Technological barriers

C. Task completion

D. Cultural differences

E. Intraorganizational differences

F. A, B, D

G. All of the above

Answer 17

C. Task completion

Task completion is a communication trigger. The remaining options are examples of factors that influence communications. For more information, please see Chapter 8.

Question 18

This person is responsible for removing obstacles so the team can perform their work, assisting the product owner in defining backlog items, and educating the team on Agile processes.

A. Project manager

B. Scrum master

C. Functional manager

D. Subject-matter expert

Answer 18

B. Scrum master

The Scrum master is responsible for removing obstacles that are getting in the way of the team performing the work. They work with the product owner to help define backlog items, and they educate team members on the Agile process. For more information, please see Chapter 9.

Question 19

This project management methodology uses self-organized, self-directed teams; it uses an iterative approach; and it is highly interactive.

A. PRINCE2

B. PMI®

C. Agile

D. Waterfall

Answer 19

C. Agile

The Agile project management methodology uses self-organized and self-directed teams. The other options don’t use these types of teams. For more information, please see Chapter 9.

Question 20

This is often added to the project schedule to determine whether the work is correct.

A. Approval gate

B. Quality gate

C. Milestone gate

D. Governance gate

Answer 20

B. Quality gate

A quality gate is added to the schedule as a checkpoint to determine whether the work meets quality standards. For more information, please see Chapter 5.

Question 21

This is the final, approved version of the project schedule. All of the following are true regarding this term except for which of the following?

A. It will prevent future schedule risk.

B. It’s approved by the stakeholders, sponsor, and functional managers.

C. It’s used to monitor project progress throughout the remainder of the project.

D. This describes a schedule baseline.

Answer 21

A. It will prevent future schedule risk.

The schedule baseline is the final, approved version of the schedule and is signed by the stakeholders, sponsor, and functional managers. Having a schedule baseline will not prevent future schedule risk. For more information, please see Chapter 5.

Question 22

A well-written change control process should include which of the following components? Choose two.

A. A description of the type of change requested

B. The amount of time the change will take to implement

C. The cost of the change

D. How to update the affected project planning documents

E. The stages at which changes are accepted

Answer 22

A. A description of the type of change requested

D. How to update the affected project planning documents

The amount of time and money a change will require are outcomes of a change control process, not inputs to the process. For more information, please see Chapter 9.

Question 23

Which cost-estimating technique relies on estimating work packages and then rolling up these estimates to come up with a total cost estimate?

A. Top-down

B. Parametric

C. Bottom-up

D. Analogous

Answer 23

C. Bottom-up

The bottom-up cost-estimating method is the most precise because you begin your estimating at the activities in the work package and roll them up for a total estimate. For more information, please see Chapter 7.

Question 24

In project management, the process of taking high-level project requirements and breaking them down into the tasks that will generate the deliverables is called what?

A. Analyzing

B. Decomposing

C. Process flow diagram

D. Documenting

Answer 24

B. Decomposing

Decomposition is the process of analyzing the requirements of the project in such a way that you reduce the requirements down to the steps and tasks needed to produce them. For more information, please see Chapter 4.

Question 25

Who is responsible for assembling the project’s team members?

A. Project sponsor

B. Project stakeholders

C. Project customer

D. Project manager

Answer 25

D. Project manager

The project manager assembles the team members for the project. The project manager may get input from the sponsor, stakeholders, or customers, but it is the project manager who decides what the formation of the team should be. For more information, please see Chapter 1.

Question 26

All of the following represent a category of contract most commonly used in procurement except for which one?

A. Time-and-materials

B. Cost-reimbursable

C. Fixed-price

D. Requests for proposal

Answer 26

D. Requests for proposal

The three categories of contracts most often used to procure goods and services are time-and-materials, cost-reimbursable, and fixed-price. Requests for proposal are not contracts. For more information, please see Chapter 9.

Question 27

This is a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines the work of the project.

A. Scope document

B. Work breakdown structure

C. Scope management plan

D. Project plan

Answer 27

B. Work breakdown structure

The WBS is a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines all the project work and is completed after the scope management plan and scope statement are completed. For more information, please see Chapter 5.

Question 28

Your project sponsor has expressed their need to have real-time project information at their fingertips. Which of the following is the best way to meet this need?

A. By creating a project dashboard with scope, cost, and time elements

B. By updating the project status report on a daily basis

C. By sending an email every morning to the sponsor describing the current project status

D. By meeting face to face with the sponsor every day to update them on status

Answer 28

A. By creating a project dashboard with scope, cost, and time elements

The best way to provide this information is to create a dashboard that provides real-time, updated information in a succinct and easy-to-read format. For more information, please see Chapter 10.

Question 29

Your project sponsor told you that the due date for the project is a key to its success and there is no chance of the date changing. What is this known as?

A. A constraint

B. An influence

C. A deliverable

D. A management directive

Answer 29

A. A constraint

This describes a constraint. Constraints dictate or restrict the actions of the project team. For more information, please see Chapter 4.

Question 30

Risk analysis includes all of the following except for which one?

A. Identifying risk

B. Determining a risk response plan

C. Determining an order-of-magnitude estimate for responses

D. Determining probability and impact and assigning a risk score

Answer 30

C. Determining an order-of-magnitude estimate for responses

Determining an order-of-magnitude estimate is used for cost or duration estimating, not risk analysis. For more information, please see Chapter 7.

Question 31

Which of the following are project management phases? Choose three.

A. Scheduling

B. Planning

C. Executing

D. Communicating

E. Documenting

F. Budgeting

G. Closing

Answer 31

B. Planning

C. Executing

G. Closing

Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing are the five project management phases or process groups. For more information, please see Chapter 3.

Question 32

When taking over an incomplete project, what item should be of most interest to the new project manager?

A. Project concept statement

B. Project charter

C. Project scope statement

D. Project plan

Answer 32

C. Project scope statement

The project’s scope statement should be of most interest to the new project manager. The scope statement describes the product description, key deliverables, success and acceptance criteria, exclusions, assumptions, and constraints. For more information, please see Chapter 4.

Question 33

This chart or diagram is a type of histogram that rank-orders data by frequency over time.

A. Run chart

B. Scatter diagram

C. Fishbone diagram

D. Pareto chart

Answer 33

D. Pareto chart

A Pareto diagram rank-orders data by frequency over time. For more information, please see Chapter 10.

Question 34

These performance measurements are defined when you create the project management plan and are monitored and tracked during the Monitoring and Controlling phase to determine whether the project is meeting its goals.

A. SPI

B. Balanced score card

C. CPI

D. KPI

Answer 34

D. KPI

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are measurable elements of project success defined when you create the project management plan and measured and monitored throughout the Monitoring and Controlling process. For more information, please see Chapter 10.

Question 35

What key meeting is held after the project charter is signed and/or at the beginning of the Executing process?

A. Project kickoff

B. Project review

C. Project overview

D. Project status meeting

Answer 35

A. Project kickoff

The project kickoff meeting is held after the project charter is signed and at the beginning of the Executing process. It serves to introduce team members, review the goals and objectives of the project, review stakeholder expectations, and review roles and responsibilities for team members. For more information, please see Chapter 6.

Question 36

What is the best way to prevent scope creep?

A. Make sure the requirements are thoroughly defined and documented.

B. Put a statement in the charter that no additions to the project will be allowed once it’s underway.

C. Alert the sponsor that you will not be taking any change requests after the project starts.

D. Inform stakeholders when they sign the project scope statement that no changes will be accepted after the scope statement is published.

Answer 36

A. Make sure the requirements are thoroughly defined and documented.

The best way to avoid scope creep is to make sure the project’s requirements have been thoroughly defined and documented. For more information, please see Chapter 4.

Question 37

Which of these statements describes an assumption?

A. Our senior web developer will be available to work on this project.

B. The electrical capacity at the site of the project event may not be adequate.

C. The project’s due date is June 27.

D. There’s a potential for the server administrator to receive a promotion during the course of this project.

Answer 37

A. Our senior web developer will be available to work on this project.

Assumptions are those things we believe to be true for planning purposes. Options B and D describe risks, while option C describes a constraint. For more information, please see Chapter 3.

Question 38

Your subject-matter expert tells you that her most likely estimate to complete her task is 40 hours. The task starts on Thursday, January 20, at 8 a.m. The team works 8-hour days, and they do not work weekends. Which day will the task end?

A. January 24

B. January 25

C. January 27

D. January 26

Answer 38

D. January 26

The task begins on January 20, which is day 1. The team does not work weekends, so the completion date, based on an eight-hour workday, is January 26. For more information, please see Chapter 5.

Question 39

You are working for an organization and just learned that another organization with more power and influence is taking over your organization at the first of the year. What does this describe?

A. Business merger

B. Business demerger

C. Business venture

D. Business acquisition

Answer 39

D. Business acquisition

This question describes a business acquisition. Companies that are acquiring others have the power and influence to make decisions. A business merger is a mutually agreeable arrangement where power is shared among the entities. For more information, please see Chapter 9.

Question 40

What are the two types of charts that you might utilize to display the project schedule? Choose two.

A. Run chart

B. Gantt chart

C. Milestone chart

D. CPM

E. Histogram

Answer 40

B. Gantt chart

C. Milestone chart

Gantt charts and milestone charts are the most commonly used formats to display a project schedule. For more information, please see Chapter 5.

Question 41

All of the following describe types of project endings except for which one?

A. Integration

B. Starvation

C. Addition

D. Extinction

E. Attrition

Answer 41

E. Attrition

Integration occurs when resources are distributed to other areas of the organization, and addition occurs when projects evolve into ongoing operations. Starvation is a project ending caused by resources being cut off from the project. Extinction occurs when the project work is completed and is accepted by the stakeholders. For more information, please see Chapter 10.

Question 42

Demonstrating competency, respect, honesty, integrity, openness, and doing what you say you’ll do is an example of which of the following?

A. Team building

B. Managing team resources

C. Demonstrating leadership skills

D. Trust building

Answer 42

D. Trust building

This is an example of trust building. As a project manager, you must do what you say you’ll do and demonstrate the traits stated in the question. For more information, please see Chapter 6.

Question 43

This is the approved, expected cost of the project.

A. Expenditure budget

B. Expenditure baseline

C. Cost budget

D. Cost baseline

Answer 43

D. Cost baseline

The cost baseline is the approved, expected cost of the project. For more information, please see Chapter 7.

Question 44

“Install an Interactive Voice Response System that will increase customer response time by an average of 15 seconds and decrease the number of customer service interactions by 30 percent” is an example of which of the following elements of the project charter?

A. High-level requirements

B. Goals and objectives

C. Project description

D. Milestone

Answer 44

B. Goals and objectives

Goals and objectives are specific and measurable. Project descriptions describe the key characteristics of the product, service, or result of the project. These are characteristics, but the clue in this question is the quantifiable results you’re looking for at the conclusion of the project. The project description describes the project as a whole, and milestones describe major deliverables or accomplishments for the project. For more information, please see Chapter 3.

Question 45

The network communication model is a visual depiction of what?

A. Lines of communication

B. Participant model

C. Communication model

D. Participant communication model

Answer 45

A. Lines of communication

Lines of communication describe how many lines of communication exist between participants. The network communication model is a visual depiction of the lines of communication. For more information, please see Chapter 8.

Question 46

This estimating technique uses the most likely, optimistic, and pessimistic estimates to come up with an average cost or duration estimate.

A. Analogous estimate

B. Bottom-up estimate

C. Parametric estimate

D. Three-point estimate

Answer 46

D. Three-point estimate

The three-point estimating technique averages the most likely, optimistic, and pessimistic estimates to determine an overall cost or duration estimate. For more information, please see Chapter 7.

Question 47

In this type of organization, the project manager shares responsibility for team member assignments and performance evaluations with the functional manager.

A. Functional

B. Projectized

C. Hierarchical

D. Matrix

Answer 47

D. Matrix

Project managers share authority with functional managers in a matrix organization. For more information, please see Chapter 2.

Question 48

Which of the following is not true regarding cost estimating?

A. Cost estimates are provided by team members.

B. Cost estimate accuracy depends on the technique used to determine the estimate.

C. Cost estimates have a quality factor built into them.

D. Cost estimates are inputs to the project budget and used to determine the total project cost.

Answer 48

C. Cost estimates have a quality factor built into them.

Cost estimates do not have a quality factor built into them. They are provided by team members, and the accuracy of the estimate depends on the estimating technique used. All the estimates are used as inputs to the budget to come up with the total project cost. For more information, please see Chapter 7.

Question 49

You’re the project manager for a small project that is in the Closing phase. You prepare closure documents and take them to the project sponsor for sign-off. The project sponsor says that the documents are not needed because the project is so small. What should you tell the sponsor?

A. You’re sorry to have bothered them and will close the project without sign-off.

B. The sponsor is the one who needs to sign off on the documents, showing that the project is officially closed.

C. You offer to have a stakeholder sign off in the sponsor’s place.

D. You offer to sign off on the documents yourself.

Answer 49

B. The sponsor is the one who needs to sign off on the documents, showing that the project is officially closed.

The sponsor is the one who must sign off on the completion of the project, whether successful or unsuccessful. Just as the sponsor is authorized to expend resources to bring forth the project’s deliverables, the sponsor must also close the project and sign off. For more information, please see Chapter 10.

Question 50

This meeting is held so that team members can answer three questions: what work they completed yesterday, what work they will complete today, and what obstacles stand in their way.

A. This describes a sprint planning meeting, which is part of the Agile methodology.

B. This describes a Scrum meeting, which is part of the Agile methodology.

C. This describes a daily standup, which is part of the waterfall methodology.

D. This describes a retrospective meeting, which is part of the PMI® methodology.

Answer 50

B. This describes a Scrum meeting, which is part of the Agile methodology.

This describes a Scrum meeting, also known as a daily standup meeting, which is part of the Agile methodology. For more information, please see Chapter 9.