PMP

EXAM QUESTIONS
Becoming a Project Manager

1
1.Gabriel is a project manager working on a
construction project. Your agile team needs to
establish a product increment at the end of every
iteration. He wants to make sure that the team has
adequate time before the demonstration. He
suggests his team to follow; select the most
appropriate response.

To track different tasks with a project management plan

For conducting the demonstration, the team should create

a user story

Take some time and delay the demonstration to the next

iteration

Ask for help to handle the demonstration

EXPLANATION :
The creation of a user story to demonstrate the product increment
developed in the iteration allows the team to allocate dedicated
time to get prepared for the demonstration.
The sprint demo shouldn’t take up too much of a Scrum team’s time.
Time shouldn’t be spent putting long slide decks together – the
focus should be on the work and the demonstration should only
include stories that meet the team’s definition of Done.
Typically, a day or two before the end of the sprint, a project
manager holds a short demo run-through and makes notes on
anything they need to set up in order to make the demo flow well.
2.A project manager can accurately, but not
precisely, forecast project planning using
historical data of the team’s velocity. What is the
meaning of the term “velocity” in scrum?

The speed of project execution

The average capacity of project team members

Sprint by sprint progress rate of a team

All of the above

EXPLANATION :
Velocity is a method for measuring the amount of work a team can
handle in a single sprint.It is the average rate that a scrum team
takes to turn a product backlog into an increment.
3.During the maintenance of your banking platform
project, you are contractually engaged to present a
monthly report on what has been done during the
previous month and what preventive measures will
be taken during the upcoming month. You used to
deliver the status update presentation yourself, but
since you are on vacation, a team member
volunteered to replace you. After the meeting has
taken place, you receive feedback from key
stakeholders saying that the presentation was not
good. What should you do to address the situation
with your team member?
Reproach the team member to let them know how disappointed you are

Send an email to the team member to use their reply as a justification for
any ulterior decisions

Ask the team member what happened with the presentation that
resulted in the stakeholders’ dissatisfaction

Ignore the issue since it only occurred once and it won’t happen again
now that you’ll be back to delivering the upcoming status presentations

EXPLANATION :
The best way to address this issue is to have an informal discussion
with the team member to understand what happened and provide
them with the appropriate guidance. The issue is neither severe nor
recurrent, so it doesn’t need a formal way of communication. It’s not
appropriate to reproach the team member and express your
disappointment. Also, you should not ignore the situation because
it’s your role as the project manager to develop, coach, and mentor
your team.
4.You got assigned to lead the implementation of a
Learning Management System (LMS) using a predictive
approach. During execution, Megan, who was assigned
to handle a critical task, informed you that she won’t be
able to meet the deadline and that she will need more
time. Knowing that her updated estimate will have no
impact neither on the critical path nor on the project
duration, what should you do?
Transfer the task to another team member who
can complete it within the allocated time

Inform Megan that since the project schedule is already approved,

it won’t be possible to changes it

Ask Megan to take care of updating the project

schedule whenever any inaccuracy in activity
estimates is identified

Approve Megan’s new activity estimate and update the project schedule
and any other relevant plans according

EXPLANATION :
Since the new activity estimate has no significant impact, the best
course of action in this situation is to approve it and update the
project schedule and all relevant plans accordingly.
Missing the activity deadline here is not too critical that you have to
transfer the task to another team member.
During the planning phase, estimations happen to be inaccurate
sometimes for various reasons, thus updates and adjustments are
necessary during execution.
If the new estimations have a big impact on the project, a change
request should be issued.
Under a predictive approach, the project manager is responsible for
managing and controlling the schedule.So, you cannot ask Megan to
update the schedule without referring back to you since the project
manager should be aware of all schedule updates.
5.You are working in a financial institution where data
security is accorded the greatest importance. Recently,
you have been assigned to a project for investigating all
of the organization’s workstations to remove any illegally
installed software. To successfully implement your
project, you need to collaborate with all departments.
During the project execution, you got support from all
departments’ heads, except for John, the head of
investments, and Sujit, the head of customer relations.
John always claims that he didn’t receive your emails
thus he cannot help you with your requests. Sujit, on the
other hand, seems to be constantly busy and never
replies to your emails, but he does respond directly
whenever you run across him in the hallway. How should
you classify John and Sujit in the stakeholder
engagement assessment matrix?

John and Sujit are both resistant

John is unaware while Sujit is resistant

John is unaware while Sujit is neutral

John is resistant while Sujit is neutral

EXPLANATION :
John is clearly unwilling to help which means that John is a resistant stakeholder.
John can’t be considered unaware; he is just pretending to be unaware as an
excuse to not collaborate or support you. On the other hand, Sujit is responsive
whenever you meet him in the hallway, so can’t be considered as resistant.
However, this does not mean he is supportive since he never replies to your emails.
Thus, Sujit is showing a neutral behaviour he is too busy to collaborate and he
doesn’t seem to care a lot about your project. In addition to unaware, resistant, and
neutral, the stakeholder engagement assessment matrix also includes supportive
and leading classifications Reference PMBOK 6, Page 521
6.Paulo is an experienced data science project
manager who is used to implementing a hybrid
approach. His company owns two servers for
extracting, transforming, and loading big data, with
one server being more performant than the other.
Paulo and his manager, Natalie, are considering a
new data science project. After a meeting with the
potential client, Paulo informed Natalie that if this
project is approved, he would like to use the
company’s performant server and have Nina, who is
the best data scientist in the company, on board.
Does Paulo have the right to make such a request?
Yes, project managers can pre-assign resources if they need to

Yes, competition over resources is common so project managers

should be proactive in reserving them

No, project managers cannot pre-assign resources before

conducting the resource planning

No, in hybrid projects it’s the product owner’s

responsibility to acquire and develop resources

EXPLANATION :
It’s the project manager's responsibility to acquire resources in
predictive, hybrid, and adaptive project life cycles. Pre-assignment
is one of the techniques that project managers can use to ensure
project success when certain resources are considered as important
orJob
essential
Role for the project. Consequently, resources pre-assignment
Salary per annum (USD)
should be employed for a good reason, not just because there is
competition over these resources. Pre-assignment can take place
before the initial resource management planning is complete
Reference PMBOK 6, Page 333
7.You are a project manager working with an
IT firm. Your project team is new to the agile
methodology, which of the following are
important steps you must take to ensure
that they are able to successfully deliver the
project with this new methodology?
Determine training options, including onsite and offsite video training
for the team to understand the methodology

Measure training outcomes to ensure that the concepts are learned,

and the competencies are realized

Determine the required competencies the project team needs and

tailor the training accordingly

All of the above

Country Currency

EXPLANATION :

Training is an important element on agile projects. The project

manager or team facilitator should ensure that all of the steps
outlined in the options are fulfilled so that training is successful, and
the project team is able to successfully deliver
Salarythe
perproject.
annum
8.The project manager has determined that the
team velocity has been 30 story points for each of
the first five sprints with an SPI of 0.83 over the
same time period. How should the project manager
respond to the team performance?

Assign the Team 25 Story Points for each Sprint going Forward

Suggest that the team set more realistic goals during Sprint Planning

Submit a change request to revise the Project Schedule baseline

Section

Crash the schedule to get the Productivity back on track

EXPLANATION :
Since the SPI (Completed Features/Planned Features) is less than 1,
so it seems as if the team over-committed by planning 30 story
points per sprint at the time they can complete 25 only.Agile
Practice Guide, Page 69, Figure 5-6. Earned Value in an Agile Context
9.During a project, you are following the agile
methodology and conducting daily stand up and
status meetings. Which of the following is correct?

Stand up meetings are held to provide daily updates to the team members

It is held to ensure that the status updates are presented to the entire
team and to decide what stories are done and not done

It is just like the daily status review discussion where team members build
the bond among themselves

It is held to improve communication

EXPLANATION :
Stand up meetings are held to ensure that the entire team is
aware of the status of the project.The team members also
decide what stories in agile are complete and what stories are
pending. There are three important points discussed in stand-
up meeting – current progress of the team members, the
roadblocks to accomplish a task that the team members are
facing and short-term goals.
10.A kill board composed of 9 members is
discussing a project that has just concluded its
first phase. Three focal opinions emerged during
the meeting: 4 members suggested to carry on
with the project keeping the same scope, 3 other
members suggested to continue the project while
reducing the scope, whereas the 2 other
remaining members suggested to discontinue
the project. Knowing that the kill board follows a
“majority” decision-making technique, what will
be the final output of this meeting?

Continuing the project and keeping the same scope

Continuing the project and reducing the scope

Discontinuing the project

None of the above

EXPLANATION :
The majority was not reached in none of the three opinions since
only 4 out of the 9 members were proponents for continuing the
project with the same scope. If the kill board had followed
“plurality” as a decision-making technique instead, the four
members’ opinion would have been endorsed. Now, the kill
board should continue discussing the matter and maybe use
other decision-making techniques to reach a consensus.
11.You are managing a biodegradable fabrics
development project for a high-end luxury brand.
The product owner and your scrum team
members are conducting their first sprint
planning meeting. Team members have
completed the preparation of the selected user
stories and provided their estimates. As the team
proceeds to implement the user stories during the
sprint, what should the product owner do?
Add more work for the team so they can deliver more value

Extend the sprint's length if it appears the team cannot complete the
work on time

Shield the team from interruptions and facilitate discussions for the team
members

Let the teamwork and answer any questions that might arise during this
sprint

EXPLANATION :
Adding more work for the team to complete within the sprint violates
the implied agreement between the development team and the
product owner.Shielding the team from interruptions and facilitating
team discussions is among the responsibilities of the scrum master,
not the product owner.Also, sprint length is set at the beginning of
the project and typically does not change.Plus, any work items that
cannot be completed by the team during the sprint should be
returned to the product backlog and rescheduled for the upcoming
sprints.Therefore, the product owner should be letting the teamwork
and answering any questions that might arise during the sprint, thus
reflecting the commitment that both the product owner and the
developers have made.
12.You are managing a project within a predictive
approach. The members of your project team
have been assigned to your project with an
availability level of 50%. However, you recently
discovered that the team members have been
spending less than 50% of their time working on
your project. Your project schedule is about to
become heavily delayed, and deadlines are in
jeopardy. What should you do?
Focus on internal charges to make sure that the project is not getting
charged for more than the actual work

Talk with functional managers to negotiate clear and written

assignments with reliable scheduling priorities

Adjust the schedule and negotiate new deadlines due to unexpectedly

slow work progress

Talk to the project sponsor to discuss getting additional resources

EXPLANATION :
Since the project manager didn’t assign the project members
themselves, then the organization is a functional one. In this case, it
is best to talk with functional managers and negotiate clear and
written assignments with reliable scheduling priorities.It is the
responsibility of functional managers to clearly define resources’
calendar and staff assignments.Part of negotiations as a project
manager is to ensure that functional managers are aware of when
resources are required by providing resources’ calendar and staff
assignments.Adjusting the schedule without tackling the source of
the problem is not an appropriate course of action
13.Rachel is a project manager of Unique
Manufacturing, a company specialized in creative
manufacturing. As she sits down with her sponsor to
evaluate the project performance, she reviews
feedback from the most recent prototype, which was
produced successively to gain further insight. Rachel
explains to the sponsor how the use of timeboxing
helped reduce the uncertainty in the project. What
type of life cycle is she using?

Agile

Predictive

Iterative

Incremental

EXPLANATION :
Iterative life cycles use successive prototypes or Proofs of Concept
(PoC). Activities are repeated in cycles to produce more information
and ideas to improve the product.
14.You are in charge of a interior decoration project
for a movie theatre and you have nearly completed
60% of the work. The project stakeholders are really
impressed and requested to see a performance
report till date. For this, you have chosen to use
Earned Value Management methodology and
calculated the EV to be 100, AC to be 300, PV to be
150, and BAC to be 600. While preparing the
performance report, you elect to overlook the
past/current work performance due to encountering
numerous issues and decide to go with what was
originally planned. Using the information provided,
click on the EAC value for the project.

400

600

800

1000

EXPLANATION :
The question specifies that the past or current performance is not
ignored and the planned values are considered. Based on the
formula: EAC = AC + (BAC - EV) = 300 + (600 - 100) EAC = 800.
Reference PMBOK 6, Page 261-262 Chapter 7, Section 7.4.2.2
15.You are managing a software project using the
Agile approach.During the sprint planning session,
you came across a disputable story where
everyone has a different story point
estimation.The product owner, being the most
acquainted with the business case, weighed in
with a “2” story points estimation.However, you
think it should be “3” since you worked on several
similar stories in the past. Your team, which is
composed of two junior engineers, thinks it should
be “5”. What estimate should be applied?
5, because the team members are the ones who will be working on the
story

3, because you have a past experience that allows you to use the analogous
estimation technique

3, as an average of all estimates

2, because the product owner is the most aware of the business

EXPLANATION :
Individuals who are assigned with the work, such as the
development team, should provide the estimates. Not the product
owner nor the Scrum Master/the Project Manager.
16.Johanna owns a wholesale business. Two of her
sales representatives refuse to share with her the
contact information of some of the company’s
retailers.Since they own this sensitive data, they
use it to blackmail her on multiple occasions. For
this reason, Johanna asked you to set up a CRM
(Customer Relationship Management) and ensure
that all explicit information concerning retailers will
be recorded. Knowing that your project might face
resistance from these two sales representatives,
what should your first step be?
Use the why-why method to understand the root of the sales
representatives behaviour

Use the what-if scenario analysis to evaluate the sales& representatives

attitude and evaluate their potential impact on the project

Meet with the two sales representatives and try to win their support

Hire another trusted sales representative to secretly get the retailers

contact info

EXPLANATION :
Your initial step should be to include the two sales representatives in
question as project stakeholders. Meeting them and trying to win
their support should be a key priority.Using the why-why method or
the what-if scenario analysis could be a logical next step. If you fail
to win their support, you may think of other alternatives to get the
retailers’ contact info.
17.Florencia is dealing with a customer who is new
to agile methodology. While explaining the
meaning of a story point in the agile
methodology, she defined a story point as:

The equivalent of WBS in the predictive approach

An approximation of the project duration

A score that is used to measure the clarity of the task

An estimate of required efforts to complete a task

EXPLANATION :
A story point is a metric used in agile project management to
specify an estimate of the overall effort that would be required to
complete a backlog item or a task.
18.You and your team are executing an Agile
project for the first time. You are nearing the end
of the first iteration on the project and not all of the
assigned user stories are completed. Can the
team extend the iteration duration by a week in
order to complete all assigned stories in the
iteration plan?

Yes, But the extension cannot be more than 2 days

Yes, but requires approval from Scrum master

No, The Iterations are time boxed and cant be extended

Yes, but requires approval from Product owner

EXPLANATION :
Iteration durations are time-boxed and cannot be extended. All
incomplete stories need to be returned to the product backlog
where they will get re-prioritized along with the other stories in the
backlog. Agile Practice Guide, Page 25, 3.1.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF
AGILE LIFE CYCLES
19.Which of the following Agile principles helps to
promote elimination of wastes there by
minimizing scope creep and encouraging to do
only those category of work that generates
business value?
A working software is the measure of Progress

Continous to technical excellence and good design enhances Agility

Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done is

essential

Business people and developers must work together daily throughout

the Project

EXPLANATION :
Maximizing the amount of work not done means maximizing the
amount of unnecessary work not done. Agile methods stress the
importance of prioritizing all work, including changes, based on
business value. The expectation of the entire team is that unless
there is business value, the work will not get done. Therefore, work
that on many traditional projects was completed without question
will not be completed on an Agile project, because it doesn't make
business sense to do so. Maximizing the work not done helps
minimize scope creep. Agile Practice Guide - Project Management
Institute Inc., 2017, Page(s) – 9, 2.2 THE AGILE MANIFESTO AND
MINDSET Refer:- https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/determine-
organization-agile-scrum-ready-6129
20.Instead of using a Triangular
Distribution for Three Point Estimation,
you decide to utilize Beta Distribution.
Based on the analysis and
understanding, you are convinced that
the project would be completed with a
total cost of $10,800. Also, you estimate
that a best case would be $9,000 and a
worst-case scenario, due to costs
incurred shooting up, would be $13,800.
Click and select the value of the Three
Point Cost estimate when using Beta
Distribution on the graph.

12800

11000

12000

11600

EXPLANATION :
The formula for Tree Point Estimation using Beta Distribution is cE =
(cO + 4cM + cP) / 6. So, the Three Point Estimate using Beta
distribution is 9000 + (4 *10800) + 13800 / 6 = 66000/6 = $11,000.
<br> Reference PMBOK 6, Page 244-245 Chapter 7, Section 7.2.2.5
#BecomingAProject
Manager
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