PMI Sample Questions
PMI Sample Questions
ActivityDurationDependent on
A 3 none
C 2 none
B 2 A
D 4 C
E 3 none
F 5 E
G 3 D,F
H 1 D,F
I 2 B,G
R 0 H,I
16.
a. ABIR
b. CDHR
c. CDGIR
d. EFGIR
17. For the sequence diagram in question 15, what is the float of activity B
a. 2
b. 3
c. 5
d. 6
18. For the sequence diagram in question 15, what is the float of activity H
a. 2
b. 3
c. 4
d. 6
19. According to PMI, the PMO is not responsible for…?
a. Centralized and coordinated management of projects
b. Providing accurate reporting of project metrics
c. Helping to align projects with the strategic goals of the organization
d. Administrative support, project methodologies, and policies
20. You decide to conduct a quality audit of the cryogenic capable hardware being manufactured by
your company during project execution. The quality audit will identify all of the following,
except...?
a. Whether the planned quality process and standards were followed by the project team
b. Whether the product will be formally accepted by the sponsor
c. Whether the product is fit for use
d. The improvement opportunities for the existing product
21. Which of the following statements about risk is the most correct?
a. All risks should be avoided
b. Accept only the risks for which you can purchase insurance
c. If the project has no risk, it is not really a project
d. Only accept projects with upside risks
22. You have determined your project will optimistically take 24 weeks to complete, with a most likely
completion date of 36 weeks and a pessimistic completion date of 72 weeks. Based on this three
point estimate what is the likely completion timeline for the project?
a. 38.4 weeks
b. 39.6 weeks
c. 40 weeks
d. 42.4 weeks
23. The five elements of the sender-receiver model in communications are …?
a. Encode, filter, feedback, medium, noise
b. Encode, decode, feedback, filter, noise
c. Encode, message and feedback, medium, noise, decode
d. Encode, message, recode, medium and noise, feedback
24. The two basic standards that define the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct are:
a. Government and industry
b. Anticipated and required
c. Aspirational and mandatory
d. Intended and compulsory
25. A SIPOC diagram is a type of…?
a. Checklist
b. Run Chart
c. SPC chart
d. Flowchart
26. You identified the possibility of several high-impact risks on your current project at the last
stakeholder meeting. A senior VP was in attendance and immediately announced, “We’re looking
for ‘can-do’ people for this project. If you can’t handle it, I’ll find someone who can!” What would
be the best response to this statement?
a. Immediately resign from the project, stating that the VP himself constitutes the largest
risk on the project
b. Offer to discuss the VP’s concerns, offline
c. State that the risk assessment is necessary to help ensure the success of the project
d. Tell the VP that you are simply following what PMI recommends and that it is not
mandatory
27. If you add two more people to a team of five people, how many additional lines of communication
will be created?
a. 15
b. 10
c. 11
d. 4
28. The life cycle of a product or service begins with…?
a. An assessment of the business need and benefit to the organization
b. The manufacturing of a product or service
c. The identification of stakeholders
d. The development of the project scope statement and work breakdown structure
29. An approved change request just increased the scope of your project. This could result in all of
the following except?
a. A change to the scope baseline
b. A change to a new project manager
c. A change to the cost baseline
d. A change to the schedule baseline
30. The essential difference between cost and price is…?
a. Price includes cost-of-living adjustment and cost does not
b. Cost is the expenses incurred by the project; price is what the customer is charged for
the work
c. Price minus cost equals the benefit cost ratio (BCR) for the project
d. Cost is what the customer is charged for the project work; price is based on the retail
value of the project work
31. Which of the following would be least important on the risk register?
a. Risk owner
b. Who identified the risk
c. Triggers
d. Residual and secondary risks
32. A finish to finish relationship is defined as which of the following?
a. Both activities have to finish at the same time
b. The predecessor has to finish before the successor can finish
c. Both activities are on the critical path
d. The predecessor has a defined lead while the successor has a defined lag
33. Which of the following best describes a stakeholder?
a. Someone who is thinking about buying your product
b. A reviewer of your product in an industry trade journal
c. A project team member
d. The CFO in another division of your company
34. In the Influence/Impact grid, the best management technique for stakeholders who are high in
influence and high in impact is to…?
a. Keep satisfied
b. Monitor
c. Manage closely
d. Keep informed
35. Senior management brought you in to run a project as an 'execution' project manager. The
timeline and the budget were already established by senior management and you have been
asked to simply bring the project in on time and on budget. You do a thorough examination of the
project parameters and discover that there is no way the current project can be completed for the
budget and the time allotted. In fact, your calculation shows the project will cost 40% over the
authorized budget and will take six months longer to complete. What should you do?
a. Give management a reality check, offer some recommendations, and ask them how they
would like to proceed
b. Agree to the current project parameters and look for ways you can fast-track the project
c. Refuse to take on the project as the deliverable dates and dollars are not realistic
d. Negotiate for a reduced scope to bring in the project on time and on budget
36. The quality control team has raised concerns about the quality of the output of a specific
manufacturing process consisting of 3 steps. The quality control team leader reports that there is
a 99% probability step #1 will produce a defect free part, a 98% probability that step #2 will
produce a defect free part and a 96% probability step #3 will produce a defect free part. At the
end of the third step, what is the approximate probability that an article chosen at random will be
defect free?
a. 99%
b. 93%
c. 91%
d. 96%
37. The ability of the project manager to expend funds and allocate resources on a project is a
function of?
a. The charter
b. The organizational structure
c. Correct project management principles
d. The responsibilities of the PMO
38. Reward power means that the project manager can issue rewards. Examples of rewards can
include bonuses or comp time. PMI regards reward power as…?
a. One of the worst forms of authority
b. Unimportant
c. One of the best forms of authority
d. Subject to frequent misuse
39. Your customer is having difficulty verbalizing the requirements for the upcoming project. The key
stakeholder has stated to you "We want it to work sort of like this - I can't really describe it but I'll
know it when I see it..." In this instance, what would be the most effective project lifecycle to
implement?
a. Sequential
b. Overlapping
c. Waterfall
d. Iterative
40. What costs are the most important costs that need to be considered when making a purchase
decision for a product or service?
a. All development costs
b. The purchase price
c. The life-cycle costs
d. The purchase price + failure costs
41. Which of the following is not a leadership style in the Hersey/Blanchard situational leadership
model?
a. Telling
b. Facilitative
c. Dictatorial
d. Coaching
42. You are assessing two projects for risk. Project #1 has a most likely duration of 95 days with a
standard deviation of 10 days, and Project #2 has a most likely duration of 110 days with a
standard deviation of 5 days. All of the following statements are true except…?
a. Project #1 is riskier than Project #2 because its standard deviation is larger
b. Project #2 is riskier than Project #1 because its most likely duration is longer
c. The maximum possible duration of Project #1 estimated at a 99 percent probability is
longer than the most likely duration of Project #2
d. Both projects can potentially be completed within 105 days.
43. Rolling wave planning is__________________.
a. Planning near term work in detail
b. Critical chain project management
c. Critical Path method
d. Precedence diagramming
44. To understand the requirements for the product of your current project, you have conducted a
systems analysis, a requirements analysis, a product breakdown and a value analysis. These
activities define what is known as a…?
a. Product verification
b. Process analysis
c. Product analysis
d. Scope verification
45. The risk register usually includes all of the following, except…?
a. List of risks
b. Events and Impacts
c. List of potential risk responses
d. Risk breakdown structure (RBS)
46. The Monitoring and Controlling phase of project management involves measuring your
performance against the plan, looking for changes and variances, and how to bring future
performance in line with the project plan. Which term best describes this type of action?
a. Iterative actions
b. Defect repairs
c. Responsive actions
d. Corrective actions
47. The purpose of a change request resulting in a recommended preventive action is to…?
a. Improve SPI
b. Improve project flexibility
c. Increase the probability of a negative CPI
d. Reduce the probability of future negative performance
48. All of the following statements about change are true except…?
a. The project manager can approve or reject any or all change requests
b. A change in any one Knowledge Area can impact all the other Knowledge Areas
c. A delay in implementing a critical CR can negatively affect time, cost, or the feasibility of
a change
d. An impact assessment of a change request must be documented
49. What do confronting, compromising, and forcing all describe?
a. Team building activities
b. Temporary solutions to project issues
c. Negotiation tactics
d. Conflict resolution techniques
50. Project managers are frequently performing activities to control the budget, timeline, output and
deliverables on a project. What does PMI mean by ‘control’?
a. Predictable and repeatable processes
b. Meeting quality standards
c. Conforming to requirements and meeting stakeholder expectations
d. Comparing actual performance to planned performance and recommending corrective
action
51. You are thinking of purchasing a software product from a relatively young organization - they
have been in business less than two years. This is a cutting edge financial product that would put
you at least 18 months ahead of all competitors in your market space. However, your concern is
that if you purchase software from them, there is a possibility that they may go out of business
and you would lose the investment in the software. You ask the company to outright purchase the
software code, but the company has rejected this as an option. What is your best option moving
forward if the company‘s survivability is an issue?
a. Contract it as a work made for hire
b. Set up a code escrow arrangement
c. Offer to buy the company
d. Look for viable alternatives
52. You are the Project Manager of ABC project. There was a conflict between two key project
members. The three of you meet and decide to use compromise as the conflict resolution
technique. Compromise generally leads to
a. Win-win situation
b. Win-Lose situation
c. Lose-Lose situation
d. None of these
53. The Procurement Statement of Work is an output of which of these processes?
a. Plan Procurements
b. Conduct Procurements
c. Control Procurements
d. Close Procurements
54. Which of these is a tool for Develop Project Charter process?
a. Project selection methods
b. Project management methodology
c. Expert Judgment
d. Earned Value Technique
55. Which of the following best describes the purpose of a war room?
a. A war room is used for meetings between the Project Manager and the customer.
b. A war room is used for important meetings between the Project team and the senior
management.
c. A war room is used for collocation
d. Whenever there is a resource conflict between different Project Managers, they meet in a
war room.
56. You are the Project Manager of a project involving designing a computer system. Your team
members follow what you tell them because you have the authority to provide negative feedback
in their performance appraisal. This is an example of which type of power?
a. Coercive
b. Referent
c. Formal
d. Reward
57. Cost baseline is usually represented using which curve or line?
a. a Slanted line
b. an S-curve
c. a Z curve
d. a PQ curve
58. You are in the process of Source Selection for a contract for your project. You are planning to use
weighing process for source selection. There are four vendors being considered. There are two
deciding factors price (weightage 40), quality (weightage 60). The scores of four vendors that
your team has computed are displayed in the table below. Which vendor among these four
should be chosen?
Vendor scores
a. Vendor 1
b. Vendor 2
c. Vendor 3
d. Vendor 4
59. Which of the following indicate that the project is doing well? Select the best option.
a. A negative Cost Variance
b. An SPI of less than one
c. A negative Schedule Variance
d. A CPI of greater than one.
60. You are performing Earned Value Reporting for your project. The project's CPI is 0.9 and the
budget at completion is one thousand dollars. What is the estimated cost at completion?
a. Nine hundred dollars
b. One thousand one hundred and eleven dollars
c. One thousand dollars
d. One thousand and one hundred dollars
61. You are working on a project to build a bridge. You have reached the planned half way mark. The
total planned cost at this stage is five hundred dollars. The actual physical work that has been
completed at this stage is worth $400. You have already spent one thousand dollars on the
project. What is the CPI?
a. 0.8
b. 1.2
c. 0.5
d. 0.4
62. You are working on a project to build a bridge. You have reached the planned half way mark. The
total planned cost at this stage is five hundred dollars. The actual physical work that has been
completed at this stage is worth $400. You have already spent one thousand dollars on the
project. What is the Schedule Variance?
a. -100
b. 100
c. -600
d. 600
63. John needs to visit many countries as part of his job. He has learned that he needs to avoid being
ethno-centric. What does ethnocentrism mean?
a. Not being friendly to strangers
b. Unable to get adjusted to the food of a new place
c. Belief that ones culture is superior to others.
d. Initial shock of landing in a new country.
64. You are planning to use a screening system for source selection process to select a vendor for
supplying food for your company? Which of these is a good example of a screening system?
a. You interview all the vendors and decide based upon the interviews.
b. You negotiate with all the vendors and select the one that provides the best price.
c. You only consider those vendors who have revenue of ten million dollars in the last
financial year.
d. You select the vendor who responds first to your advertisement.
65. Which of the following is not an input to the Conduct Procurements process?
a. Source selection criteria
b. Make-or-buy decisions
c. Organizational process assets
d. WBS
66. You are using control charts to perform quality control. Which of these situations does not
indicate that the process is out of control and an assignable cause needs to be assigned. Assume
that the control limits have been set to three sigma.
a. One of the point is more than the mean + (3*sigma)
b. Two points together are more than mean +(2*sigma), but less than mean + (3*sigma)
c. Seven points together are on one side of the mean.
d. Six points together are on one side of the mean.
67. You are the Project Manager of a car manufacturing company. As part of Quality Control you
decide to check only 5% of the cars assembled for environmental check. Which technique are
you using?
a. Pareto Diagram
b. Control Charts
c. Statistical Sampling
d. Sample Selection
68. Which of the following is a true statement about risks?
a. If a risk is identified in a risk response plan, then that means that risk has already
happened.
b. Once a risk has happened, you refer to the risk management plan to determine what
action needs to be taken.
c. A risk that was not planned but has happened is called a trigger.
d. Risk identification happens in all the phases of the project.
69. Which of the following is not true about the Close Project or Phase process?
a. Contract closeout must be performed after the Administrative Closeout.
b. The risk is the lowest at this stage of the project.
c. The probability of completion is the highest at this stage of the project.
d. Stakeholders have least amount of influence at this stage.
70. Which of the following is an output of the Identify Risks process.
a. Lessons Learned
b. Checklists
c. Risk Register
d. SWOT Analysis
71. In which process of the Project Risk Management knowledge area are numeric values assigned
to probabilities and impact of risks
a. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
b. Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
c. Perform Numeric Risk Analysis
d. Plan Risk Response
72. Your project is well underway, and the project management plan as well as subsidiary plans have
been baselined and work is proceeding apace. A key project stakeholder has just approached
you with a problem: a requirement was missed by the business in the requirements gathering
process and they want it inserted into the project plan without having to go through the formal
change request process. They would consider it a huge favor if you did so and would be willing to
reciprocate at some later date. What should you do next?
a. Talk to the stakeholder's manager about the stakeholder's request for a breach in the
formal corporate change management process
b. Since the stakeholder has key resources on the project, it may pay off in the long run to
agree to the stakeholder's request
c. Perform an impact assessment on the requested change and submit to the CCB for
approval
d. Agree to the request only if the stakeholder is willing to remove a less important feature
of equal effort so as not to impact the costs or the timeline on the project
73. Expert judgment is a tool and technique of all of the following processes except...?
a. Identify stakeholders
b. Plan stakeholder management
c. Manage stakeholder engagement
d. Control stakeholder engagement
74. Which of these is not an example of a project?
a. Buying clothes from the store on a special sale.
b. Planning for your friends wedding.
c. Building a bridge across the Amazon river.
d. Cleaning the office building every day.
75. Describing stakeholders based on their power (ability to impose will), urgency (need for
immediate attention), and legitimacy (their involvement), describes what type of grid or model?
a. Power/Influence grid
b. Salience Model
c. Influence/Impact grid
d. Power model
76. Which of the following best describes Plan Stakeholder Management process?
a. Creating and maintaining relationships between the project team and stakeholders
b. Preventing negative stakeholders from derailing theproject
c. Striking a balance between stakeholder needs and project needs
d. Focusing on from the creation of the stakeholder management strategy
77. A series of stakeholder meetings were called to address the needs of stakeholders for the
upcoming project. A list of 150 requirements was drawn up. After reviewing the list and
developing a high level estimate, the PM reported back to the stakeholder group that due to the
budget limitations on the project, it would be possible to deliver only 75 of these requirements. A
new meeting was called to cull the list from 150 to 75. The stakeholders were going through the
list, when there was serious contention about a group of requirements. The disagreement
escalated to a shouting match, and several stakeholders left the meeting infuriated. What risk tool
would have best prevented this situation?
a. Brainstorming
b. SWOT analysis
c. Delphi Technique
d. Nominal Group technique
78. Project roles and responsibilities can be graphically represented in what is called a…?
a. RBS: Resource breakdown structure
b. RAM: Responsibility assignment matrix
c. RARG: Roles and responsibility grid
d. RAAM: Random access assignment matrix
79. On your current project, you have spent a week with the project team and the stakeholders
defining the activities that will be executed to complete the product of the project. What is the next
step you will perform in this process?
a. Deliver an estimate on how long each activity will take to complete
b. Work with your stakeholders to determine what skill sets are needed to complete each
activity and who should be selected for these jobs
c. Determine the costs for each of the activities
d. Create a network diagram
80. While executing the project it becomes obvious that you're not going to hit your end date. The
project may be delayed by at least two months. This may impact the start date of another project
that was due to start right after yours completed. What type of float best describes this situation?
a. Total float
b. Project float
c. Free float
d. Slack float
81. The lowest level of the WBS addresses__________________.
a. Deliverables
b. Control accounts
c. Activities
d. Level of effort
82. Project Scope Management defines the work required to complete the project
successfully_______________.
a. Along with the creation of a scope management plan
b. No more, no less
c. In the eyes of all key stakeholders
d. At least one time in each project
83. You are developing a project statement of work for your current project. To what level of detail is
the statement of work developed?
a. It is only as detailed as the WBS
b. Only a narrative description of products or services
c. It is tied in lockstep with the requirements traceability matrix
d. Is created only when the detailed scope statement has been completed
84. Cost overruns on a project are usually caused by some combination of the following with the
exception of?
a. Inadequate budget from management
b. Stakeholder disagreement
c. Poor technical performance
d. Scope creep
85. You are managing a project in which various stakeholders are for or against a specific change in
the project. The best tool to identify the reasons for or against the change is _______________.
a. Force field analysis
b. Design of experiments
c. Benchmarking
d. Statistical Sampling
86. Which of the following is not part of the Control Communications process?
a. Issue log
b. Communication models
c. Change requests
d. Work performance information
87. Project Communications Management involves the appropriate generation, election,
dissemination, storage, and occasional disposition of project information. The overall focus of
project communication is to…?
a. Ensuring that project stakeholders have been given an opportunity for input
b. Ensuring project stakeholder expectations are met
c. Deliver the requested information to the correct person or group of people at the correct
time
d. Deliver the requested information to senior management when needed
88. The manner in which individual resources, teams, and entire organizational units behave can be
described by…?
a. Chaos theory
b. Theory Y
c. Management by objectives
d. Organizational theory
89. Your company makes a product that a potential buyer is very interested in. After several
discussions, the potential buyer issues a letter of intent to purchase the product within the next
two months. Your company president takes this letter of intent (LOI) to the local commercial bank
in the hopes of obtaining a short-term loan to purchase the necessary equipment to deliver on
this potentially lucrative contract. The bank turns him down flat, even though the seller’s finances
are in good order. Why do you think this is the case?
a. Issues with the buyer’s reputation
b. The LOI is not a legal document
c. The LOI does not contain enough money to cover the loan
d. The seller has not reached the minimum funding limits for loans of this type
90. What does an SPC chart set the upper and lower control limits?
a. +/- 2 sigma
b. +/- 3 sigma
c. +/- 6 sigma
d. +/- 1 sigma
91. You are dealing with the stakeholder that views your project as a significant negative. What will
you use to help minimize negative stakeholder impact on the project?
a. Stakeholder register
b. Stakeholder management plan
c. Risk tolerance indicator
d. Stakeholder analysis
92. The wages of hourly workers on a time and materials project is considered
a/an_________________ cost.
a. Direct/variable
b. Direct/fixed
c. Indirect/variable
d. Indirect/fixed
93. Training needs, recognition and rewards, and regulation or contract compliance are all items that
are addressed as part of the…
a. The project charter
b. The staffing management plan
c. The project scope statement
d. The resource management plan
94. The hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory developed by: Category: Group HR
a. Herzberg
b. McGregor
c. Maslow
d. McClelland
95. You have been authorized by the contract administrator in your organization to handle specific
changes in the contract should the need arise. The vendor on this particular procurement has
indicated a need for a change in the current specification. You discuss the change with the
vendor, verbally agree to it, and implement the change via the standard change request process,
as specified in the contract. At an invoice audit several months later, the purchasing organization
refuses to pay for the work that was entered in the change system. What has the project manager
forgotten to do in this instance?
a. Consult the technical team prior to implementing the change
b. Implement a formal written change to the contract
c. Verify that the change was within the project manager’s responsibility from the contract
administrator
d. Update the configuration documents on the project
96. The communication plan is developed based on which of the following elements?
a. The communications model employed and risk factors
b. The project’s organizational structure and external stakeholder requirements
c. Standard communications heuristics and constraints
d. The project management structure and performing team requirements
97. Validate Scope is part of what process group?
a. Planning
b. Executing
c. Closing
d. Monitoring and Controlling
98. Since you had indicated that unavailability of resources was a risk on your project, you had a
contingency strategy in place that allowed for a temporary staff augmentation. Management
signed off on this approach. This risk was realized and you implemented the contingency plan,
however the new staff may take longer to get up to speed in the environment than originally
thought. What does this new situation describe?
a. Residual risk
b. Risk trigger
c. Secondary risk
d. Passive risk response
99. The feature set for your company’s newest jet-ski line contains fewer features than those
normally produced by the company. The QC manager is discussing this with the PM and is
complaining that the design does not meet standard company production guidelines. His
argument is that the limited feature set is inconsistent with the company’s established quality
policy. What is the best way for the PM to respond to the QC manager?
a. The PM states that the QC manager may have a point
b. The PM states that the QC manager is confusing quality with grade
c. The PM states that the issues will be addressed with the engineering department
d. The PM states that the QC manager is missing the ‘voice of the customer’
100. Management from the customer side wants to bring in a project one month earlier than
they had originally planned. Based on the current project timeline, product testing will have to be
cut short. You have reviewed several options with the customer; they have decided that crashing
the schedule would be the best approach to bringing in the project earlier. As a result of
customer’s decision, what is your biggest concern using this approach?
a. Additional expense
b. Availability of additional resources to perform testing in a shorter time frame
c. Customer buy-in
d. Developing an adequate reward system to address the overtime that will be needed to
bring in this project one month early
101. Assessing how a stakeholder is likely to react in a given situation is described in
______________?
a. Stakeholder management strategy
b. Stakeholder register
c. Stakeholder analysis
d. Stakeholder power/interest grid
Answers