PMP Practice Test 4: PMP Practice Test Four Part Two

Question 1

Consider a project to create a new house for a customer. The customer describes the home as a three-bedroom house. They go on to define the square footage, how the home will be used, the look and feel of the home, the type of flooring, the appliances, and more and more detail as you work with the customer to capture all of the requirements. What is this process called?

1. Choice generation
2. Painful
3. Progressive elaboration
4. Decomposition

Answer 1

Answer: Progressive elaboration

Explanation
Hopefully you didn’t choose painful, though that can describe some projects. The best choice is progressive elaboration – a process of starting with a broad concept and through questions and conversation you’ll get more and more detail about the project scope. Decomposition is a tempting choice, but it’s more appropriate for the breaking down of the project scope statement into the work breakdown structure and the activity list. Choice generation is not a valid term.

Question 2

You are the project manager of SDF project. While working with your team, you decide to direct using positional power. To ensure that the project runs smoothly, you focus on near-term goals, bottom line, systems, and structure. Which of the following statements best describes the way in which you are handling the project?

1. You are employing both leadership and management
2. Your way of working can best be described as management
3. You are employing the servant leadership model for the project team
4. Your way of working can best described as leadership

Answer 2

Answer: Your way of working can best be described as management

Explanation
All the points mentioned about your approach are attributes of management. Leadership is more about aligning and motivating people while management is about getting things done.

Question 3

You are the project manager of the GHU Project for your organization. You’re working with a vendor that will be doing a portion of the project work. A stakeholder in the project has requested several changes that will affect your contracted work with the vendor. What project management process will you select to manage the changes to the contract caused by the additions to the project scope?

1. Stakeholder management
2. Control procurements
3. Control scope
4. Vendor negotiation

Answer 3

Answer: Control procurements

Explanation
Approved change requests can include modifications to the terms and conditions of the contract, including the procurement statement of work (SOW), pricing, and descriptions of the products, services, or results to be provided. All procurement-related changes are formally documented in writing and approved before being implemented through the Control Procurements process.

Question 4

Kelly and Chris are in a heated debate over which software to use in the project. Both Kelly and Chris have good points to the solution, but Kelly, the senior engineer, finally says that since she has seniority, the decision will be hers to make. What type of conflict resolution is happening in this scenario?

1. Collaboration
2. Forcing
3. Power
4. Compromising

Answer 4

Answer: Forcing

Explanation
This is an example of forcing, where the person with the authority makes the decision. It is sometimes called directing. Note that power is not a valid conflict resolution approach.

Question 5

You are a project manager for the GBF Organization. Throughout the life cycle of a project, a significant amount of data is collected, analyzed, and transformed. Team members of your project have reported a percentage of the work physically completed. You use this as input to arrive at the status of deliverables. Which of the following is the output of your work in this scenario?

1. Status report
2. Work performance report
3. Work performance information
4. Work performance data

Answer 5

Answer: Work performance information

Explanation
When the performance data is analyzed in context and integrated based on relationships across areas, you arrive at work performance information. Work performance data is the input to your work. Work performance reports refer to the physical or electronic representation of work performance information compiled in project documents. A status report is an example of a work performance report.

Question 6

Consider two tasks that could happen in any order in your project but will be completed by the same team resource. You refer to the project team to choose the ordering of the tasks. What type of logic is this?

1. Soft logic
2. Management logic
3. Team logic
4. Hard logic

Answer 6

Answer: Soft logic

Explanation
This is an example of soft logic, which means the tasks can happen in any particular order and it won’t affect the schedule or other variables in the project. Hard logic is the opposite and means the tasks must occur in a specific order in the project.

Question 7

Beth is the project manager of the GHV Project for her organization. Her project is to install new software at 450 sites around the world over the next year. Management has asked Beth to create a cost estimate for the project, but Beth says it will be difficult to provide an accurate cost estimate because of the travel costs fluctuating in the project. What type of costs are the travel costs in this project?

1. Indirect costs
2. Variable costs
3. Fluctuating costs
4. Direct costs

Answer 7

Answer: Variable costs

Explanation
Travel costs are variable costs as these costs will vary based on the marketplace. Unless Beth can purchase all of the travel immediately, which is not likely, the estimate for the travel may change throughout the project. Direct costs do describe costs specific to the project, but variable costs is a more precise answer. Indirect costs are costs that are shared with the organization, such as leases for office space or electricity. Note that fluctuating costs isn’t a valid cost type.

Question 8

Tom is a software developer on your project team and it’s come to your attention that some of the stakeholders have been approaching Tom and asking for additional items in the software. These additions have caused Tom’s scheduled work to be late and they’ve also driven the overall cost of the project up. What term best describes these additions to the project even though the stakeholders claim they are small changes?

1. Scope creep
2. Integrated change control
3. Scope control
4. Gold plating

Answer 8

Answer: Scope creep

Explanation
Scope creep are small, undocumented items that are added to the project scope without first passing through the project’s integrated change control. Scope creep takes time and money away from approved items and can cause the project duration and overall costs to increase. Gold plating happens when changes are added to the project scope only for the sake of consuming the entire project budget.

Question 9

Jen is a project manager for the NQQ Project for her organization. She is working with the project team to create the project schedule. Tom, a project team member, reports that he’s adding ten percent duration to all activities involved with a vendor because vendors are always late. What is the ten percent duration increase in this scenario?

1. Constraint
2. Padding
3. Risk
4. Assumption

Answer 9

Answer: Assumption

Explanation
Tom is making an assumption that the vendors will be ten percent late on each activity. This is an assumption with little proof of the duration. Assumptions can become risks, but this isn’t the best choice in this scenario. Assumptions can be made, but need to be added to the assumption log.

Question 10

Politics involves influence, negotiation, autonomy, and power. Power and its use can be complex given its nature and the various factors at play in a project. Which of the following statements is correct about power in the context of a project?

1. Top project managers are reactive and unintentional when it comes to power
2. Power is often independent of other peoples perception of the leader
3. Power can originate from traits exhibited by the individual or the organization
4. Project managers charm or attraction is not a form of power that he has at his disposal

Answer 10

Answer: Power can originate from traits exhibited by the individual or the organization

Explanation
Power can originate from traits exhibited by the individual or the organization.

Question 11

You know that there are five phases of team development. Which one of the following statements is the correct ordering of the five phases of team development?

Answer 11

Answer: Explanation
The correct order is Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning and this is called Tuckman’s Ladder of Team Development. Each stage describes the likely actions of the project team in that phase.

Question 12

You are the project manager for the GFG Project and you’re working with the project team to categorize the defects found in the project work. You have created a histogram for the project showing the largest categories of failure and ranked them from largest to smallest in your chart. What type of histogram have you created?

1. Ishikawa chart
2. Cause-and-effect chart
3. Pareto chart
4. Bubble chart

Answer 12

Answer: Pareto chart

Explanation
You have created a Pareto chart. A Pareto chart shows the categories of failure from largest to smallest in a histogram, a bar chart, that help the team attack the most significant problems in the project first. As problems are resolved the sequence of the items will be reordered to consistently reflect the largest categories of defect in the chart.

Question 13

Sarah is a project team member for your project and she’s working with the project customer to gather requirements for your project. Your project is to create a more streamlined workflow for a manufacturing process. Sarah is completing all of the tasks in the manufacturing process to get a deep understanding of what needs to be improved and how the processes in the workflow operate. Tim, a manufacturing employee, is following and coaching Sarah through the processes. What type of knowledge management is happening with Sarah and Tim?

1. Tacit hands-on learning
2. Senior coaching
3. Direct supervision
4. Reverse shadowing

Answer 13

Answer: Reverse shadowing

Explanation
This is an example of reverse shadowing, where Tim, the manufacturing employee is shadowing Sarah through the process and offering coaching to help Sarah learn the processes to be improved. The other options aren’t valid terms for this scenario.

Question 14

Tom and Nancy are project team members and they are in a heated argument about achieving quality in the project. Nancy insists that quality is made by delivering exactly what the customer has requested in the project scope. Tom insists that quality for the customer is actually achieved by providing slightly more than what the customer has asked for but at minimal costs. They look to you, the project manager, to resolve this scenario. What should you do next?

1. Tell Tom and Nancy that quality is achieved by delivering exactly
2. Tell Tom and Nancy that you’ll decide what quality is based on the Quality Management Plan
3. Tell Tom and Nancy that quality is achieved by delivering more than what was expected
4. Tell Tom and Nancy that the customer will decide quality during scope validation and acceptance

Answer 14

Answer: Tell Tom and Nancy that quality is achieved by delivering exactly

Explanation
Quality is achieved by delivering exactly what was requested by the customer – nothing more. This is sometimes a difficult concept for project team members and even stakeholders to accept, but quality is a conformance to requirements, not going above or outside the requirements in the project.

Question 15

Your project team is inspecting all of the work that has been completed in the project so far. The team is testing, measuring, and sampling the completed deliverables before the customer will inspect the work next week. They are also applying corrective actions to any mistakes to ensure the deliverables are defect-free before the customer examines the work and allows the project to move forward. What is happening in this scenario?

1. Refactoring and scope validation
2. Quality control and scope control
3. Scope control and quality assurance
4. Quality control and scope validation

Answer 15

Answer: Quality control and scope validation

Explanation
The project team is inspecting and correcting the work before the customers examine the work for acceptability. The project team inspection is quality control, which aims to mistakes out of the customers’ hands. The customers will inspect the work for acceptability, which aims for the work to be accepted.

Question 16

Nancy is the project manager of a project to install new software throughout the organization. To date, the project has spent $125,000 of the $200,000 budget. Today, Nancy learns, that the software the project is to install has been replaced by a newer, less expensive software. Effectively, her project is ruined because of the new software released that the stakeholders want in lieu of the software Nancy’s project is to install. What term best describes the $125,000 that Nancy has already spent on the project?

1. Opportunity costs
2. Sunk costs
3. Variable cost
4. Operating loss

Answer 16

Answer: Sunk costs

Explanation
Sunk costs describe the monies that are already spent on the project. Sunk costs should not be considered when determining if a project should move forward or not. For example, Nancy shouldn’t advocate for the project to continue because she’s already spent $125,000. The $125,000 is already spent and is considered “sunk” into the project.

Question 17

You are the project manager of the NKQ Project and you’re working with your project team to define some reasons why several defects have slipped past your testing into production. There are lots of potential reasons why the defects have passed through. What term is given to these defects?

1. Found defects
2. Passed defects
3. Poor inspections
4. Escaped defects

Answer 17

Answer: Escaped defects

Explanation
Defects that slip through the testing and quality control activities are called escaped defects. These are the cost of nonconformance to quality.

Question 18

You are the project manager of the NJK Project and your budget for this project is $575,000. You are 20 percent complete with this project, though you are supposed to be 30 percent complete. So far you have spent 10 percent more than what was expected for the work completed. What is your cost performance index for this project?

1. 115000
2. 0.83
3. 138000
4. 0.91

Answer 18

Answer: 0.91

Explanation
To find the CPI, you’ll need to find the earned value and the actual costs as the formula for the CPI is EV/AC. The EV in this formula is 20 percent of the BAC of $575,000. The actual costs are 10 percent more than the earned value. So, the earned value is $115,000, and the actual costs are $126,500. The CPI formula is $115,000/126,500 for a result of .91 as the CPI.

Question 19

You are the project manager for your organization and you’re working with the project team. You’ve been tasked with finding a good solution for a remodeling project that keeps the project budget under $125,000 for materials. You’ve already identified the appliances and fixtures with the project team, but now you’re working to make the best choices for the floors, cabinets, and countertops the project will require. Ned, a project team member, has identified that if you choose wood floors instead of tile floors you’ll have $5,000 less for the cabinet portion of the project. Mary, another team member, feels strongly about the tile floors as these are more durable considering the traffic through the room to be remodeled. The team works together, and they find a tile flooring that looks like wood that everyone can agree upon. What is the best description of what’s happening in this scenario?

1. Storming
2. Alternatives identification
3. Product description
4. Product scope creation

Answer 19

Answer: Alternatives identification

Explanation
This is an example of alternatives identification, also known as alternative generation. It means the project team is finding alternatives, often with materials, to fit the project requirements.

Question 20

You are the project manager of the JKQ Project. This project includes the installation of 750 fixtures and your costs for this is $110,250. Management has asked how you created this estimate of the costs since you also included the labor per fixture in the pricing. You report that you used a parametric estimate. What’s the cost of each fixture?

1. $83
2. $150
3. $147
4. $102

Answer 20

Answer: $147

Explanation
You can find this answer by dividing the total cost of $110,250 by the number of fixtures, 750 for an individual fixture cost of $147.

Question 21

You are the project manager of the QQQ Project, and you’re working with the project sponsor to review the project performance. Currently, the project has a CPI of 0.9 and SPI of 0.67. Who is accountable for the development and maintenance of the project business case document based on project performance?

1. Project manager
2. Project team
3. Project sponsor
4. Project stakeholders

Answer 21

Answer: Project sponsor

Explanation
The project sponsor is accountable for the development and maintenance of the project business case document.

Question 22

Joan is the project manager of a healthcare project, and she has strict quality requirements in the project. She insists that the team complete intense training, have all worked checked by a quality auditor and that all worked is tested before it goes into production. These quality requirements will add costs to the project and management has agreed to the costs. What term best describes these costs?

1. Cost of conformance
2. Cost of compliance
3. Liability costs
4. Risk mitigation

Answer 22

Answer: Cost of conformance

Explanation
These costs are the costs of conformance to quality, sometimes just called the costs of quality. It is the money that the project and organization must pay to ensure quality in the deliverables of the project.

Question 23

You are the project manager of the NKK Project for your organization. The project team has created the project ground rules for the project team, which includes that all project team members must attend all project status meetings each Thursday unless they are excused from the meeting. Sandy, a project team member, has skipped the last few meetings because she hasn’t any work due in the project at this time. The team approaches you to resolve this situation. What should you do next?

1. you should enforce the ground rules and speak with Sandy
2. The project team should enforce the ground rules and speak with Sandy
3. Sandy doesn’t need to attend the meeting as she has nothing contribute at this time
4. You and the project team should review the ground rules as a whole

Answer 23

Answer: The project team should enforce the ground rules and speak with Sandy

Explanation
When the project team has defined and agreed upon the project ground rules, it is up to everyone, not just the project manager, to enforce the ground rules. The best response is that the entire team should enforce the ground rules, which includes everyone coming to the status meetings.

Question 24

You are the project manager of Project BNM. The project management office in your organization has been supporting you by supplying specific templates, forms, and tools, and requiring that you comply with the expectations of their usage. Which of the following types best describes your PMO?

1. Directive
2. Supportive
3. Collaborative
4. Controlling

Answer 24

Answer: Controlling

Explanation
Controlling PMOs provide support and require compliance through various means.

Question 25

You are the project manager for your organization, and you’re working with the project team to sequence the project network diagram. You have identified the critical path, but your team is uncertain what the critical path means. What’s the best definition of the critical path?

1. its the path with the most important activities in the project network diagram
2. Its the path that cannot be crashed in the project network diagram
3. Its the longest path of activities in the project network diagram
4. Its the longest path of duration in the project network diagram

Answer 25

Answer: Its the longest path of duration in the project network diagram

Explanation
The critical path is the path that has the longest duration in the project network diagram. This path cannot be delayed, or the project will be late. Note that the critical path is not the longest path of activities as you can have many small activities in a path that would not take the same amount of duration as another path.