PMP Practice test 2: PMP Practice Test Three Part Two

Question 1

Ken, the sponsor of the JDH Project, has completed the project charter. It designates Roger as the project manager of this project. If Roger is now working on eliciting and documenting stakeholder requirements, which process group does his work fall under?

1. project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Planning
4. Monitoring and Controlling

Answer 1

Answer: Planning

Explanation
Roger is working in the planning process group. Note that project scope management and project integration management are not process groups, but are project management knowledge areas.

Question 2

You are the project manager of AGD Project, and your team comprises of a variety of specialists such as cost analysts, risk management experts, scheduling specialists, and other skilled workers. You are working with the project team to define project integration management processes for your project. Which of the following is an incorrect statement about the Project Integration Management knowledge area of your project?

1. The process of finalizing all activities for the project, phase or contract is a part of Project Integration Management
2. You can delegate or transfer the accountability of Project integration Management to one or more experts in your team.
3. You develop the project management plan as part of Project Integration management
4. manage project knowledge is one of the processes under Project integration Management

Answer 2

Answer: You can delegate or transfer the accountability of Project integration Management to one or more experts in your team.

Explanation
Whereas other Knowledge Areas may be managed by specialists, the accountability of Project Integration Management cannot be delegated or transferred. Project Integration Management is the responsibility of project managers.

Question 3

Kelly is a new project manager for her organization. She has been informed that she’ll be working with the company’s PMO for her projects. Kelly isn’t familiar with the concept of project management offices. If you were consulting Kelly, which one of the following statements best describes the primary function of a PMO?

1. A primary function of a PMO is to oversee all project management decisions
2. A primary function of a PMO is to control the actions of the project manager
3. A primary function of a PMO is to provide direction and leadership
4. A primary function of a PMO is to support project managers

Answer 3

Answer: A primary function of a PMO is to support project managers

Explanation
Of all the choices, the best answer is that the primary function of a PMO is to support project managers.

Question 4

Alice is the project manager for her organization and she is considering building a solution for her company. If she builds the solution it will cost the organization $650,000 to create and $17,300 per month to support. A vendor promises that they can build the solution for $120,000, but the monthly fee will be $21,400. What should Alice do?

1. Build the solution if the organization will use the solution for longer than 13 months, but less than 24 months
2. Buy the solution
3. Build the solution if the organization will use the solution for less than 18 months, but longer than 12 months
4. Buy the solution if the organization will use the solution for less than 13 months, but more than 11 months

Answer 4

Answer; Buy the solution

Explanation
Alice should buy the solution as it is incredibly more cost-effective than her in-house solution. It will take 129 months, nearly 11 years, for her solution to be more cost-effective than the vendor’s solution. You can find this answer by subtracting the buy costs from the build costs, which is $650,000 - $120,000 for a difference of $530,000. Then you find the difference of the monthly support costs, which is 21,400-17,300 and equals $4,100. Then you’ll divide the monthly difference into the out-of-pocket costs: 530,000/4,100 for a solution of 129 months. This means in 129 months the in-house solution is more cost-effective than the vendor’s solution.

Question 5

You are a project manager for your organization. Your current project has a budget of $1,250,650 and is currently 65 percent done. Due to some errors by the project team, however, you were supposed to 75 percent as of today. In your project, you have spent $847,500 – slightly more than what was planned. Management has asked for to report your cost variance for this project. What’s the best answer?

1. 10%
2. ($125,065)
3. ($34,578)
4. ($53,196)

Answer 5

Answer: ($34,578)

Explanation
Your cost variance is found by using the formula of Earned Value – Actual Costs. In this scenario, the earned value is $812,923 and the actual costs are $847,500. The other answers are incorrect calculations of the cost variance for this project.

Question 6

You are the project manager of the NLK Project for your organization. Your project is scheduled to last for 37 days, starts on a Wednesday, and you’ll not work any weekends on the project. Valerie, your project sponsor, needs to know on what day of the week the project will complete as it may affect some business processes they do. Based on this information, what day of the week will your project complete?

1. Tuesday
2. Friday
3. Wednesday
4. Thursday

Answer 6

Answer; Thursday

Explanation
Your project will end on a Thursday. To find this solution you count from Wednesday to Friday, which is day three, then you’ll add five to each Friday until you reach 38. Knowing that the project is only to last 37 days, the day prior to the 38th day is a Thursday.

Question 7

Barry is a project manager of the GJL Project for his organization. He’s working with the project team to define the communications management plan. In his planning meeting, Barry wants to the team to think of the 5C’s of Communication. You should know these too. Which one of the following is not one of the 5C’s of communication?

1. Consistent messaging
2. Correct grammar and spelling
3. Clear purpose of the message
4. Concise message

Answer 7

Answer: Consistent messaging

Explanation
Consistent messaging is not one of the Five C’s of Communication. The Five C’s are correct grammar and spelling, concise message, the clear purpose of the message, coherent flow, and controlling the flow of the message.

Question 8

Chris is working to develop the project charter for Project RTY. The project, sponsored by the county project officer, deals with the construction of a new community hall for the county government at a BAC of $400,000. Which of the following statements is not true concerning the project charter?

1. It provides a direct link between the project and the strategic objectives of the organization
2. It must always be developed by the project sponsor
3. it shows the organizational commitment to the project
4. It creates a formal record of the project

Answer 8

Answer: It must always be developed by the project sponsor

Explanation
The project charter can be developed by the sponsor or the project manager in collaboration with the initiating entity. The project sponsor signs charters as this is the person with the authority to authorize the project and the project manager.

Question 9

You have created the project network diagram with your team. Your team is concerned about one of the activities that may be delayed due to some risk on the project. What term is assigned to the total amount of time an activity may be delayed without affecting the early start of a successor activity?

1. Total Float
2. Float
3. Free Float
4. Slack

Answer 9

Answer: Free Float

Explanation
Free float is the amount of float that can be delayed without affecting the early start of a successor activity. Total float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the project completion date. Note that slack is a dated term that also means float.

Question 10

As a project manager, you should be familiar with the project management processes and what the different processes create for a project. Consider the develop project charter process. This process creates the project charter, but also creates what other project item?

1. Organizational process assets
2. Project manager designation
3. Assumption log
4. Project team charter

Answer 10

Answer: Assumption log

Explanation
The project management process of creating the project charter also establishes the assumption log. This is from the PMBOK Guide, Section 4.1.3.2.

Question 11

You are the project manager of the NJL Project. This project is replacing several servers, workstations, routers, and other equipment in your IT configuration. As part of this project, you and the team have created a WBS Dictionary. All of the following items are part of the WBS Dictionary except for which one?

1. Technical reference
2. Quality requirements
3. Code of account identifier
4. Stakeholder requestor

Answer 11

Answer: Stakeholder requestor

Explanation
The stakeholder requestor is not included in the WBS Dictionary. The dictionary includes information about the components of the WBS and the project scope and is used to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what each component of the project scope and the WBS is and how it’s utilized and implemented in the project.

Question 12

You are a project manager for the KHAA Organization and you’re working with the project team to define the project scope management plan. You’re using historical information to adopt a similar project to the current project to define the scope management plan. In your plan, however, you know that you will need to define four key processes. All of the following are processes you should define in the project except for which one?

1. A process that enables the creation of the WBS from the detailed project scope statement
2. A process for preparing a project scope statement
3. A process that establishes how the project manager can modify the scope requirements
4. A process that specifies how formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables will be obtained

Answer 12

Answer: A process that establishes how the project manager can modify the scope requirements

Explanation
The scope management plan does not define how the scope requirements can be modified by the project manager. The plan defines the process for preparing a project scope statement, the creation of the WBS, how the scope baseline will be approved and maintained, and how formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables will be obtained.

Question 13

Management has just approached you about some defects that were found by the customer during an inspection. Management is unhappy about these defects and needs these addressed immediately by you and the project team. These defects are specifically known as what term?

1. Internal defects
2. External defects
3. poor defects
4. Sensitive defects

Answer 13

Answer; External defects

Explanation
These are external defects. Failure costs are often categorized into internal (found by the project team) and external (found by the customer). Failure costs are also called the cost of poor quality.

Question 14

Rajesh is the project manager of the KJU Project and is about to decide a data representation technique to be used in his project. He has asked Steve, his team member, to research on affinity diagrams. Which of the following statements best describes the purpose of an affinity diagram?

1. They allow large numbers of ideas to be classified for review and analysis
2. they visually depict the product scope by showing a business system and how people and other systems interact with it
3. they help consolidate ideas created through individual brainstorming sessions into a single map to reflect commonality and differences in understanding and to generate new ideas
4. they provide short, textual descriptions of required functionality and are often developed during a requirements workshop

Answer 14

Answer; They allow large numbers of ideas to be classified for review and analysis

Explanation
Affinity diagrams allow large numbers of ideas to be classified for review and analysis.

Question 15

Maria is a project manager and she is nearing the end of the GHY Project. Joseph, a project team member, reports that he’ll be done with the final project tasks in the next two days. Maria is reviewing the project budget and she realizes that there is $28,000 still left in the project budget. She decides that she will add several features to the project that the customer isn’t expecting as a surprise. These features will make the product more attractive and will definitely add value to the finished product. She confers with the project team and they agree they can complete these features by the project deadline. What best describes this scenario?

1. Scope validation
2. Gold plating
3. Scope creep
4. Value-added change

Answer 15

Answer: Gold plating

Explanation
When the project manager adds features to the project that were not asked for or approved only because there are funds available for the project, as in this case, it is called gold plating. It is wasteful as the customer didn’t request the additions. The changes have also bypassed integrated change control, so this is poor project management.

Question 16

Gary is the project manager of the NKQ Project and he’s in a heated discussion with his team lead. The team lead has instructed the project team members to delay the start of an activity until all of the materials needed arrive on the job site. This action has caused a ripple effect of delays in the project that were not approved by Gary. The team leader’s logic was that all of the materials were not yet on the job site so that the team couldn’t complete all of the work. Gary, however, believes that the team could begin the work and the new materials would be delivered as the team consumed the materials. What type of solution was Gary working with in this scenario?

1. Hard logic
2. Mandatory dependencies
3. JIT Scheduling
4. Float

Answer 16

Answer; JIT Scheduling

Explanation
Gary was using JIT Scheduling, which is Just-in-Time scheduling. This approach provides new materials to the job site as the team consumes the current materials. It saves on space on the job site, limits cash outlays, and prevents theft of materials as the materials are only delivered as they are needed and don’t need to be stored and managed at the job site. This is not an example of float or mandatory dependencies. Note that mandatory dependencies are also known as hard logic.

Question 17

Thomas is the project manager of the NHLK Project for his organization. He is working with the project team to identify the project stakeholders. Which one of the following business documents will best help Thomas identify the stakeholders in the project?

1. Scope management plan
2. Communicaitons management plan
3. Benefits management plan
4. Risk management plan

Answer 17

Answer: Benefits management plan

Explanation
This is a very tricky question as the question asks which business document will help. The only business document referenced is the benefits management plan. The benefits management plan describes the expected plan for realizing the benefits claimed in the business case. It may identify the individuals and groups that will benefit from the delivery of the outcomes of the project and are thus considered as stakeholders. This is from the PMBOK Guide, 13.1.1.2.

Question 18

A project manager has determined that some of the phases of the project can overlap to save time on the schedule duration. What is this approach called?

1. This is duration compression and it increases the cost of the project
2. This is fast-tracking and it increases the cost of the project
3. This is fast-tracking and it increases the risk of the project
4. this is fast-tracking and it increase the duration of the project

Answer 18

Answer; This is fast-tracking and it increases the risk of the project

Explanation
Fast-tracking allows activities, but usually, phases, to overlap to decrease the overall project duration. This approach, however, does introduce project risk. Fast tracking usually applies to phases, but can be implemented for project activities too.

Question 19

Henry is the project manager of a construction project for his organization. He is examining the project schedule and he has several activities that are scheduled as finish-to-start, but there’s no real reason that the entire activities need to be completed before the successor activity can begin. Henry elects to allow some of the activities to overlap by a few days to compress the overall schedule duration. What technique has Henry likely used in this scenario?

1. Schedule compression
2. Negative float
3. Duration compression
4. Lead time

Answer 19

Answer; Lead time

Explanation
Lead time is negative time as it brings activities closer to the project start date. Henry has added lead time to move the start date of the successor activities to overlap with the predecessor activities in the project.

Question 20

Rick is working on the Plan Scope Management process and has decided to use alternatives analysis as the data analysis technique in his project. Which of the following is not evaluated in this technique?

1. Various ways of controlling change
2. Various ways of validating the scope
3. Various ways of creating the product
4. Various ways of controlling the scope

Answer 20

Answer: Various ways of controlling change

Explanation
Rick would not use alternatives analysis to define how to control change in the project. The other options are examples of things that can be evaluated during alternatives analysis.

Question 21

A PMO may have the authority to act as an integral stakeholder and a key decision maker throughout the life of each project. Which of the following is not a function of a PMO?

1. Managing shared resources across all projects administered by the PMO
2. Coordinating communication
3. Creating the charter for a project that is administered by the PMO
4. Identifying and developing project management methodology, best practices, and standards

Answer 21

Answer; Creating the charter for a project that is administered by the PMO

Explanation
The project charter can be developed by the sponsor or the project manager in collaboration with the initiating entity, but not by the PMO. All the other options are valid functions of a PMO, so they are not correct answers for this question.

Question 22

You are a project manager for your organization. Your project will need 1,200 fixtures for the project and you know that each fixture will cost your organization $345. Based on simple math you know that the cost of fixtures will be $414,000. This is what type of estimating for this portion of your project?

1. Analogous
2. Quantitative
3. Parametric
4. Unit-based

Answer 22

Answer: Parametric

Explanation
This is a parametric estimate, where the parameter of the model is $345 per unit and your project will need 1,200 units. Analogous estimating compares one project to another to predict costs. Unit-based and quantitative are not valid cost estimating types.

Question 23

Complete this statement: Research reveals that the top two percent of project managers as designated by their bosses and team members distinguish themselves by demonstrating ________________.

1. Superior analytical skills while displaying a positive attitude
2. Superior relationship and analytical skills while displaying a positive attitude
3. Superior analytical and communication skills while displaying a positive attitude
4. Superior relationship and communication skills while displaying a positive attitude

Answer 23

Answer: Superior relationship and communication skills while displaying a positive attitude

Explanation
Research reveals that the top two percent of project managers as designated by their bosses and team members distinguish themselves by demonstrating superior relationship and communication skills while displaying a positive attitude.

Question 24

Consider a project manager in a startup technology company. This project manager has very little authority, works closely with the people in the organization, has other responsibilities in the company other than project management, and everyone in the organization chips in together to complete project work – including the company owner. What type of organizational structure is this?

1. PMO
2. Organic
3. Strong matrix
4. Virtual

Answer 24

Answer; Organic

Explanation
This is an organic structure where the project manager has other responsibilities than project management, works closely with the people of the organization, and has no authority or little authority over the project team and resources.

Question 25

Holly is the project sponsor of your project in your organization. Your project will cost the organization $500,000, and Holly explains that the organization is utilizing a commercial loan to fund your project. While you should be prudent with all monies in a project, the commercial loan will cost the organization additional funds in interest. What term best describes the commercial loan for your project to exist in the organization?

1. Opportunity cost
2. Self-Funding
3. Funding with debt
4. Funding with equity

Answer 25

Answer; Funding with debt

Explanation
This is an example of funding with debt as the organization has taken on debt to finance your project. A commercial loan has interest, which the organization will have to pay back to the finance company, so this is a debt to fund your project.