PMP Practice Questions

Try these free questions from the Project Management Professional exam.

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The Project Management Institute is a global project management organization. The group offers Project Management Professional certification that shows competency in a variety of project management and other business-related areas. The PMP certification process includes an exam based on the group's  Project Management Body of Knowledge guide. Below are sample questions and answers that you might find on the PMP exam.


The following 20 questions are from Whiz Labs, which provides information and sample tests -- for a fee -- for the PMP and other examinations.

Question 1

Which of the following is a tool used to secure expert judgment?

B.. Delphi technique
C. Expected value technique
D.  Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Question 2

Based on the information provided below, which project would you recommend pursuing?

Project I, with BCR (Benefit Cost ratio) of 1:1.6;
Project II, with NPV of US $ 500,000;
Project III, with IRR (Internal rate of return) of 15%
Project IV, with opportunity cost of US $ 500,000.

A. Project I
B. Project III
C. Either project II or IV
D. Can not say from the data provided

Question 3

What should be done by the project manager to ensure that all work in the project is included?

A. Create a contingency plan
B. Create a risk management plan
C. Create a WBS
D. Create a scope statement

Question 4

What kind of a relationship is implied when completion of a successor is dependent on initiation of its predecessor?


Question 5

What should a project manager do or follow to ensure clear boundaries for project completion?

A. Scope verification
B. Complete a scope statement
C. Scope definition
D. Risk management plan

Question 6

An organization is certified to a stringent environmental standard and uses that as the key differentiator with its competitors.

Alternative identification during scope planning for a particular project has thrown up an expeditious approach to achieve a project need, but this involves a risk of environmental contamination. The team evaluates that the likelihood of the risk is very low. What should the project team do?

A. Drop the alternative approach
B. Work out a mitigation plan
C. Procure an insurance against the risk
D. Plan all precautions to avoid the risk

Question 7

The following three tasks form the entire critical path of the project network. The three estimates of each of these tasks are tabulated below. How long would the project take to complete expressed with an accuracy of one standard deviation?

Task    Optimistic     Most likely     Pessimistic
A                15                      25                 47
B                12                      22                 35
C                16                      27                 32

A. 75.5
B. 75.5 +/- 7.09
C. 75.5 +/- 8.5
D. 75.5 +/- 2.83

Question 8

After a study of the work processes on a project, a quality audit team reports to the project manager that irrelevant quality standards were being used by the project, which might lead to rework. What was the objective of the project manager in initiating this study?

A. Quality control
B. Quality planning
C. Checking adherence to processes
D. Quality assurance

Question 9

Which of the following provides the foundation for team development?

A. Motivation
B. Organizational development
C. Conflict Management
D. Individual Development

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT an input to project plan execution?

A. Work authorization system
B. Project plan
C. Corrective action
D. Preventive action

Question 11

A project manager would find team development the most difficult in which form of organization?

A. Weak Matrix organization
B. Balanced Matrix organization
C. Projectized organization
D. Tight Matrix organization

Question 12

The project manager of a large multi-location software project team has 24 members, out of which 5 are assigned to testing. Due to recent recommendations by an organizational quality audit team, the project manager is convinced to add a quality professional to lead the test team at additional cost, to the project.

The project manager is aware of the importance of communication, for the success of the project and takes this step of introducing additional communication channels, making it more complex, in order to assure quality levels of the project. How many additional communication channels are introduced as a result of this organizational change in the project?

A. 25
B. 24
C. 1
D. 5

Question 13

Once the project is complete, the complete set of project records should be put in which of the following?

A. Project Archives
B. Database
C. Storage room
D. Project Report

Question 14

Which of the following is a common format for performance reporting?

A. Pareto Diagrams
B. Bar charts
C. Responsibility Assignment Matrices
D. Control Charts

Question 15

If the cost variance is positive and the schedule variance is also positive, this indicates the:

A. Project is under budget and behind schedule
B. Project is over budget and behind schedule
C. Project is under budget and ahead of schedule
D. Project is over budget and ahead of schedule

Question 16

During execution of a project, an identified risk event occurs that results in additional cost and time. The project had provisions for contingency and management reserves. How should these be accounted for?

A. Contingency reserves
B. Residual risks
C. Management reserves
D. Secondary risks

Question 17

Which one of the following is the last step of project closing?

A. Client has accepted the product
B. Archives are complete
C. Client appreciates your product
D. Lessons learned are documented

Question 18

Who should be involved in the creation of lessons learned, at the closure of a project?

A. Stakeholders
B. Project team
C. Management of the performing organization
D. Project office

Question 19

An organization has recently started outsourcing work to a low cost, high value, engineering center located in a different country. Which of the following should the project manager provide for the team as a proactive measure?

A. A training course on the laws of the country
B. A course on linguistic differences
C.An exposure to the cultural differences
D.A communication management plan

Question 20

While reviewing the progress, the project manager assesses that an activity has been missed out from the implementation plan. A milestone, scheduled to be achieved within another week, would be missed with the current implementation plan. Which of the following is the next best action for the project manager in this situation?

A. Report the error and the expected delay
B. Omit the status update on the milestone
C. Report the error and the planned recovery actions
D. Assess alternatives to meet the milestone


The answers to the PMP sample questions are from Scribd, a fee-based information website.

Answer 1

B - Explanation: The Delphi technique is a commonly used tool to secure expert judgment while initiating a project.

Answer 2

B - Explanation: Project III has an IRR of 15 percent, which means the revenues from the project equal the cost expended at an interest rate of 15 percent. This is a definitive and a favorable parameter, and hence can be recommended for selection.

Answer 3

C - Explanation: A WBS is a deliverable-oriented grouping of project components that organizes and defines the total scope of the project.

Answer 4

D - Explanation: A start-to-finish (SF) relationship between two activities implies that the completion of a successor is dependent on the initiation of its predecessor.

Answer 5

B - Explanation: The project team must complete a scope statement for developing a common understanding of the project scope among stakeholders. This lists project deliverables -- summary level sub-products, whose full and satisfactory delivery marks the completion of the project.

Answer 6

A - Explanation: The organization’s reputation being at stake, the threshold for such a risk would be very low

Answer 7

B - Explanation: The critical path is the longest duration path through a network and determines the shortest time to complete the project. The PERT estimates of the tasks listed are 27, 22.5 & 26. Therefore, the length of the critical path of the project is 27+22.5+26 = 75.5.

Answer 8

D - Explanation: Determining the validity of quality standards, followed by the project is a quality assurance activity.

Answer 9

D - Explanation: Individual development (managerial and technical) is the foundation of a team.

Answer 10

A - Explanation: A Project plan is the basis of project plan execution and is a primary input.

Answer 11

A - Explanation: In a functional organization, the project team members have dual reporting to two bosses -- the project manager and the functional manager.In a weak matrix organization, the power rests with the functional manager.

Answer 12

A - Explanation: Number of communication channels with “n” members = n*(n-1)/2. Originally the project has 25 members (including the project manager), which makes the total communication channels as 25*24/2 = 300. With the addition of the quality professional as a member of the project team, the communication channels increase to 26*25/2 = 325. Therefore, the additional channels as a result of the change, that is, 325-300 = 25.

Answer 13

A - Explanation: Project records should be prepared for archiving by the appropriate parties.

Answer 14

B - Explanation: Common formats for Performance Reports are, bar charts (also called Gantt Charts), S-curves, histograms, and tables.

Answer 15

C -  Explanation: Positive Schedule Variance means the project is ahead of schedule; Negative Cost Variance means the project is over-budget.

Answer 16

A - Explanation: The question is about correct accounting for risk events that occur and updating the reserves. Reserves are meant for making provisions in cost and schedule, to accommodate for consequences of risk events. Risk events are classified as unknown unknowns or known unknown, where “unknown unknowns” are risks that were are not identified and accounted for, while known unknowns are risks that were identified and provisions were made for them.

Answer 17

B - Explanation: Archiving is the last step in the project closing.

Answer 18

A - Explanation: Stakeholders include everyone who are actively involved in the project or whose interests may be affected as a result of the project execution or completion. The project team creates the lessons learned on the project. 

Answer 19

C - Explanation: Understanding cultural differences is the first step towards an effective communication amongst the project team involving outsourced work from a different country. So, what is needed in this case is an exposure to the cultural differences, which is being mentioned as choice C.

Answer 20

D - Explanation: Choice D, that is, "assess alternatives to meet the milestone" indicates confronting the issue with an attempt to resolve the issue. Hence this would be the best approach.