PMI PMP Practice Exams
Last updated on Oct 22,2026- Exam Code: PMP
- Exam Name: Project Management Professional
- Certification Provider: PMI
- Latest update: Oct 22,2026
Question #231
A project manager at a plant with continuous operations needs to deliver a project urgently to meet a market opportunity.
What should the project manager do to meet the time-to-market need?
- A . Add resources to activities
- B . Conduct serial activities on tasks
- C . Increase the number of standup meetings
- D . Perform tasks in parallel
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
In project management, performing tasks in parallel, also known as fast-tracking, is a schedule
compression technique used to shorten the project schedule without changing the project scope. It involves performing more activities concurrently or overlapping activities that were originally planned to be done in sequence. This approach can help meet time-to-market needs by accelerating the project schedule. However, it may increase project risk and requires careful management.
Reference: PMBOK® Guide C Sixth Edition, Section 6.6.2, “Schedule Compression”
D
Explanation:
In project management, performing tasks in parallel, also known as fast-tracking, is a schedule
compression technique used to shorten the project schedule without changing the project scope. It involves performing more activities concurrently or overlapping activities that were originally planned to be done in sequence. This approach can help meet time-to-market needs by accelerating the project schedule. However, it may increase project risk and requires careful management.
Reference: PMBOK® Guide C Sixth Edition, Section 6.6.2, “Schedule Compression”
Question #232
A client wants to create an innovative software for the travel industry using an agile approach. A project manager from the company was assigned to work on the details and estimates as requested by the client.
What should the project manager do before sending the information to the client?
- A . Put the tasks with estimates in the backlog and clarify that the project will not need any reserves.
- B . Sequence the tasks with estimates and add standard risk reserves to use for software development.
- C . Analyze the tasks, provide estimates, include a prototype demo, and send to the client directly.
- D . Work with the team to understand their views and add the appropriate dependencies and risks.
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
In an agile project, collaboration and team input are crucial for success. Before sending details and estimates to the client, the project manager should engage with the team to gather their insights and expertise. This ensures that the project plan reflects a realistic approach, considering the team’s views on dependencies and potential risks. Agile methodologies emphasize the importance of team collaboration and iterative development, which includes regularly revisiting and adjusting plans as the project progresses1234.
Reference: Agile Communication: Techniques, Examples and Best Practices1.
How to Nail Your Agile Communication Plan2
How to Communicate and Collaborate with Stakeholders in Agile Projects3. The Agile Project Management Approach4 V
D
Explanation:
In an agile project, collaboration and team input are crucial for success. Before sending details and estimates to the client, the project manager should engage with the team to gather their insights and expertise. This ensures that the project plan reflects a realistic approach, considering the team’s views on dependencies and potential risks. Agile methodologies emphasize the importance of team collaboration and iterative development, which includes regularly revisiting and adjusting plans as the project progresses1234.
Reference: Agile Communication: Techniques, Examples and Best Practices1.
How to Nail Your Agile Communication Plan2
How to Communicate and Collaborate with Stakeholders in Agile Projects3. The Agile Project Management Approach4 V
Question #233
During the course of the project several obstacles are identified that are preventing the project from moving forward.
What should the project manager do to remove the obstacles?
- A . Have the project team work on other activities
- B . Implement plans to remove the obstacles
- C . Escalate to the project steering committee
- D . Prioritize the obstacles for resolution
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
This is because the project manager should take action to resolve the issues that are hindering the project progress, rather than avoiding them, escalating them, or delaying them. Implementing plans to remove the obstacles may involve using a variety of problem-solving strategies, such as root cause analysis, brainstorming, negotiation, conflict resolution, and risk management3. The other options are not the best choices because:
B
Explanation:
This is because the project manager should take action to resolve the issues that are hindering the project progress, rather than avoiding them, escalating them, or delaying them. Implementing plans to remove the obstacles may involve using a variety of problem-solving strategies, such as root cause analysis, brainstorming, negotiation, conflict resolution, and risk management3. The other options are not the best choices because:
Question #234
Early prototypes developed in a project show an unacceptably high detect rate. The quality management plan calls for a cause-and-effect analysis to address quality problems as they arise.
What is the protect manager’s first step in addressing the problem?
- A . Communicate the issue to the change control board (CCB) and relevant stakeholders identified in the stakeholder engagement plan
- B . Create a problem-solving team from quality assurance subject matter experts (SMEs) experienced in this type of analysis
- C . Form a brainstorming team from project team members selected for their relevant technical analytical and management knowledge
- D . Form a brainstorming team with stakeholders from all of the functional departments involved in the project
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
When a project encounters a quality issue, such as an unacceptably high defect rate in early prototypes, the first step for the project manager should be to assemble a problem-solving team. This team should consist of quality assurance subject matter experts (SMEs) who have experience in this type of analysis. The team will then perform a cause-and-effect analysis to identify the root cause of the quality problem. Once the root cause is identified, the team can develop and implement a solution to address the issue, thereby improving the quality of the project deliverables.
Reference: PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP)® Examination Content Outline1, PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Examination Content Outline2.
B
Explanation:
When a project encounters a quality issue, such as an unacceptably high defect rate in early prototypes, the first step for the project manager should be to assemble a problem-solving team. This team should consist of quality assurance subject matter experts (SMEs) who have experience in this type of analysis. The team will then perform a cause-and-effect analysis to identify the root cause of the quality problem. Once the root cause is identified, the team can develop and implement a solution to address the issue, thereby improving the quality of the project deliverables.
Reference: PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP)® Examination Content Outline1, PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® Examination Content Outline2.
Question #235
A key team member has recently gone through some personal issues that has affected their performance. The project manager noticed that the team member’s emotional situation has affected the rest of the team’s performance.
How should the project manager handle this situation?
- A . Help all team members learn to deal with their emotions by building a culture of empathy.
- B . Separate the key team member and replace them while they emotionally recover.
- C . Meet with the team to discuss how to handle the performance problem.
- D . Ask the human resources (HR) department for their support providing emotional help.
Correct Answer: A
A
Explanation:
The Project Management Professional (PMP) emphasizes the importance of supporting team performance by assessing team member performance, supporting team development, giving feedback, and verifying improvements. It highlights the significance of creating a cooperative and motivated team environment. Building a culture of empathy falls under these guidelines as it helps in dealing with emotions and supports team development. This approach not only aids the affected team member but also enhances the overall team’s performance by fostering a supportive and understanding work environment.
Reference: PMI’s “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)” and “Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide” provide insights into team dynamics and the importance of emotional intelligence in project management. These resources support the approach of building a culture of empathy to manage team performance effectively12.
A
Explanation:
The Project Management Professional (PMP) emphasizes the importance of supporting team performance by assessing team member performance, supporting team development, giving feedback, and verifying improvements. It highlights the significance of creating a cooperative and motivated team environment. Building a culture of empathy falls under these guidelines as it helps in dealing with emotions and supports team development. This approach not only aids the affected team member but also enhances the overall team’s performance by fostering a supportive and understanding work environment.
Reference: PMI’s “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)” and “Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide” provide insights into team dynamics and the importance of emotional intelligence in project management. These resources support the approach of building a culture of empathy to manage team performance effectively12.
Question #236
The project schedule is falling behind and the project manager observes that the project team seems to be spending the majority of their time writing documentation instead of performing project tasks.
What should the project manager do to help ensure that the team focuses on project tasks?
- A . Assign a team member to handle the documentation activities.
- B . Coach the project team to complete the project documentation activities
- C . Review and adapt the appropriate project artifacts.
- D . Save all documentation activities until tire end of the project
Correct Answer: C
C
Explanation:
Project documentation is the process of creating, organizing, and maintaining the written information that describes the processes, plans, and activities involved in a project. Project documentation includes documents such as the project charter, the project management plan, the work breakdown structure, the risk register, the issue log, and the status reports. Project documentation serves several purposes, such as project planning, communication, monitoring, control, and evaluation. According to the Professional in Business Analysis Reference Materials1, project documentation should be:
Accurate: The project documents should reflect the true and current state of the project, and avoid any errors, inconsistencies, or ambiguities.
Complete: The project documents should cover all the relevant and necessary aspects of the project, and avoid any gaps, omissions, or redundancies.
Consistent: The project documents should follow the same format, style, terminology, and standards, and avoid any conflicts, contradictions, or variations.
Up to date: The project documents should be updated regularly and timely, and avoid any outdated, obsolete, or irrelevant information.
In this scenario, the project schedule is falling behind and the project manager observes that the project team seems to be spending the majority of their time writing documentation instead of performing project tasks. This indicates that the project documentation process is not efficient, effective, or aligned with the project goals and priorities. The project team may be creating unnecessary, excessive, or irrelevant documents, or may be struggling to keep up with the changes and updates in the project. This could affect the project performance, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction.
Therefore, the best option for the project manager is to review and adapt the appropriate project artifacts. This means that the project manager should:
Review the existing project documents and assess their accuracy, completeness, consistency, and currency.
Identify and eliminate any project documents that are not required, useful, or valuable for the project.
Simplify and streamline the project documentation process and reduce the complexity and volume of the project documents.
Adapt the project documentation process and the project documents to the changing needs and expectations of the project and the stakeholders.
Communicate and collaborate with the project team and the stakeholders on the project documentation process and the project documents.
By reviewing and adapting the appropriate project artifacts, the project manager can ensure that the project documentation process and the project documents are fit for purpose, and that they support and facilitate the project tasks, rather than hinder or distract them.
The other options are not the best choices, because:
Assign a team member to handle the documentation activities: This option implies that the project manager is delegating the responsibility and accountability of the project documentation process and the project documents to a single team member, rather than involving and engaging the whole project team and the stakeholders. This could create a bottleneck, a dependency, or a risk in the project documentation process, and reduce the quality and reliability of the project documents. Coach the project team to complete the project documentation activities: This option implies that the project manager is providing guidance and support to the project team on how to perform the project documentation activities, rather than addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the inefficiency, ineffectiveness, or misalignment of the project documentation process and the project documents. This could create a false sense of security, a complacency, or a resistance in the project team, and prevent them from improving and adapting the project documentation process and the project documents.
Save all documentation activities until the end of the project: This option implies that the project manager is postponing or ignoring the project documentation activities, rather than recognizing and fulfilling their importance and value for the project. This could create a backlog, a chaos, or a disaster in the project documentation process, and compromise the project performance, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction.
Reference: Project Documentation: 15 Essential Documents.
C
Explanation:
Project documentation is the process of creating, organizing, and maintaining the written information that describes the processes, plans, and activities involved in a project. Project documentation includes documents such as the project charter, the project management plan, the work breakdown structure, the risk register, the issue log, and the status reports. Project documentation serves several purposes, such as project planning, communication, monitoring, control, and evaluation. According to the Professional in Business Analysis Reference Materials1, project documentation should be:
Accurate: The project documents should reflect the true and current state of the project, and avoid any errors, inconsistencies, or ambiguities.
Complete: The project documents should cover all the relevant and necessary aspects of the project, and avoid any gaps, omissions, or redundancies.
Consistent: The project documents should follow the same format, style, terminology, and standards, and avoid any conflicts, contradictions, or variations.
Up to date: The project documents should be updated regularly and timely, and avoid any outdated, obsolete, or irrelevant information.
In this scenario, the project schedule is falling behind and the project manager observes that the project team seems to be spending the majority of their time writing documentation instead of performing project tasks. This indicates that the project documentation process is not efficient, effective, or aligned with the project goals and priorities. The project team may be creating unnecessary, excessive, or irrelevant documents, or may be struggling to keep up with the changes and updates in the project. This could affect the project performance, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction.
Therefore, the best option for the project manager is to review and adapt the appropriate project artifacts. This means that the project manager should:
Review the existing project documents and assess their accuracy, completeness, consistency, and currency.
Identify and eliminate any project documents that are not required, useful, or valuable for the project.
Simplify and streamline the project documentation process and reduce the complexity and volume of the project documents.
Adapt the project documentation process and the project documents to the changing needs and expectations of the project and the stakeholders.
Communicate and collaborate with the project team and the stakeholders on the project documentation process and the project documents.
By reviewing and adapting the appropriate project artifacts, the project manager can ensure that the project documentation process and the project documents are fit for purpose, and that they support and facilitate the project tasks, rather than hinder or distract them.
The other options are not the best choices, because:
Assign a team member to handle the documentation activities: This option implies that the project manager is delegating the responsibility and accountability of the project documentation process and the project documents to a single team member, rather than involving and engaging the whole project team and the stakeholders. This could create a bottleneck, a dependency, or a risk in the project documentation process, and reduce the quality and reliability of the project documents. Coach the project team to complete the project documentation activities: This option implies that the project manager is providing guidance and support to the project team on how to perform the project documentation activities, rather than addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the inefficiency, ineffectiveness, or misalignment of the project documentation process and the project documents. This could create a false sense of security, a complacency, or a resistance in the project team, and prevent them from improving and adapting the project documentation process and the project documents.
Save all documentation activities until the end of the project: This option implies that the project manager is postponing or ignoring the project documentation activities, rather than recognizing and fulfilling their importance and value for the project. This could create a backlog, a chaos, or a disaster in the project documentation process, and compromise the project performance, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction.
Reference: Project Documentation: 15 Essential Documents.
Question #237
After reviewing the project management plan with key stakeholders, the project manager was told that an 18-month release plan was unacceptable and the product should launch in six months.
Based on the new timeline, what should the project manager do?
- A . Plan for overtime apply crashing and fast tracking and share the risk of failure with project stakeholders
- B . Review the project backlog looking for high-priority items and come up with a minimum viable product (MVP) that fits the expected timeline
- C . Seek approval with the sponsor to triple the project budget, hiring more people to compensate for the compressed schedule
- D . Go over the critical path with stakeholders, explaining why it is not possible to deliver all the scope in the expected timeline
Correct Answer: B
B
Explanation:
A minimum viable product (MVP) is a concept from Lean Startup that stresses the impact of learning in new product development. It is the simplest version of a product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort. An MVP can help a project manager to deliver value to the customer faster, test the market demand, and reduce the risk of failure. To create an MVP, the project manager needs to review the project backlog and prioritize the features that are essential to solve the customer’s problem or satisfy their need. The project manager can use agile methods such as user stories, story mapping, and MoSCoW prioritization to identify and rank the features. The project manager can then plan and execute the development of the MVP within the expected timeline and gather feedback from the customer and stakeholders to validate the product and make improvements.
Reference: MVP Definition and Examples | Project Management Glossary – Jexo.
What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? | Agile Alliance MVPs and MBIs – Project Management Institute
B
Explanation:
A minimum viable product (MVP) is a concept from Lean Startup that stresses the impact of learning in new product development. It is the simplest version of a product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort. An MVP can help a project manager to deliver value to the customer faster, test the market demand, and reduce the risk of failure. To create an MVP, the project manager needs to review the project backlog and prioritize the features that are essential to solve the customer’s problem or satisfy their need. The project manager can use agile methods such as user stories, story mapping, and MoSCoW prioritization to identify and rank the features. The project manager can then plan and execute the development of the MVP within the expected timeline and gather feedback from the customer and stakeholders to validate the product and make improvements.
Reference: MVP Definition and Examples | Project Management Glossary – Jexo.
What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? | Agile Alliance MVPs and MBIs – Project Management Institute
Question #238
Question #239
A project manager has noticed that the performance of a new team member has increased dramatically over the past few months. The project manager has been measuring this team member’s performance through the cost performance index (CPl) and schedule performance index (SPl) of work packages. The project manager has also assigned new. unrelated work packages to this team member. The project manager wants to formally record the team member’s success in the project documentation
What should the project manager do?
- A . Attach a note to the project management plan about the team member
- B . Hold a project team meeting about the team member’s contribution and take minutes
- C . Record the team member’s contribution in the responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
- D . Send a communication to management recognizing the team member’s contributions
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
The best way to formally record the team member’s success in the project documentation is to send a communication to management recognizing the team member’s contributions. This will ensure that the team member’s performance is acknowledged and appreciated by the relevant stakeholders, and that the project documentation reflects the team member’s achievements. The other options are not as effective or appropriate as sending a communication to management. Attaching a note to the project management plan is not a formal way of recording the team member’s success, and it may not be seen by anyone else. Holding a project team meeting may be a good way to celebrate the team member’s contribution, but it does not document it for future reference. Recording the team member’s contribution in the RAM is not relevant, as the RAM is a tool to assign roles and responsibilities, not to measure performance.
Reference: PMBOK Guide, 7th edition, page 215
PMI-PBA Exam Content Outline, 2018, page 12
D
Explanation:
The best way to formally record the team member’s success in the project documentation is to send a communication to management recognizing the team member’s contributions. This will ensure that the team member’s performance is acknowledged and appreciated by the relevant stakeholders, and that the project documentation reflects the team member’s achievements. The other options are not as effective or appropriate as sending a communication to management. Attaching a note to the project management plan is not a formal way of recording the team member’s success, and it may not be seen by anyone else. Holding a project team meeting may be a good way to celebrate the team member’s contribution, but it does not document it for future reference. Recording the team member’s contribution in the RAM is not relevant, as the RAM is a tool to assign roles and responsibilities, not to measure performance.
Reference: PMBOK Guide, 7th edition, page 215
PMI-PBA Exam Content Outline, 2018, page 12
Question #240
A project manager is managing a very important business transformation project. The goal of the project is to extend a desktop application with a mobile application module.
The marketing department believes that a main competitor is working on a similar product.
Which delivery approach should the project manager use for this project?
- A . Traditional delivery, to ensure high quality and that the product meets market demands
- B . Extreme Programming (XP) delivery, to mitigate the high risk related to a new product
- C . Iterative delivery, to ensure that user feedback is incorporated into the second iteration
- D . Incremental delivery, to ensure that mobile capability is released fast to the users
Correct Answer: D
D
Explanation:
In a scenario where a competitor is also working on a similar product, it is advantageous to use an incremental delivery approach. This approach allows the project team to release portions of the product to the users rapidly. By doing so, the project can gain a competitive edge by being first to market, and also receive early feedback that can be used to improve subsequent releases. This aligns with the PMBOK guide’s emphasis on tailoring the project approach to the objectives and market conditions1.
Reference: PMI-PMP:
Which delivery approach should the project manager use for business transformation1; PMBOK Guide2.
D
Explanation:
In a scenario where a competitor is also working on a similar product, it is advantageous to use an incremental delivery approach. This approach allows the project team to release portions of the product to the users rapidly. By doing so, the project can gain a competitive edge by being first to market, and also receive early feedback that can be used to improve subsequent releases. This aligns with the PMBOK guide’s emphasis on tailoring the project approach to the objectives and market conditions1.
Reference: PMI-PMP:
Which delivery approach should the project manager use for business transformation1; PMBOK Guide2.