PMP Certification Practice Test sample questions

These starter questions help you launch a general studies mock test quickly. Swap them with your own worksheet, notebook, or textbook questions any time.

1. A project manager discovers a team member has been padding activity estimates to create schedule buffer. What should the PM do first?
A) Report it to the PMO  B) Have a private conversation with the team member to understand their reasoning  C) Remove the buffer from all estimates  D) Escalate to the sponsor
2. During a sprint review, the product owner is dissatisfied with a delivered feature. What is the best next step?
A) Redo the sprint  B) Add the feature to the backlog for refinement in the next sprint  C) Escalate to the project sponsor  D) Close the project
3. A project is 20% over budget at the halfway point. The project sponsor asks for a revised completion forecast. Which formula does the PM use?
A) EAC = AC + (BAC - EV)  B) EAC = BAC / CPI  C) EAC = EV - AC  D) EAC = BAC - EV
4. A key stakeholder is consistently absent from project meetings. What is the best approach?
A) Continue without them  B) Escalate to senior management  C) Understand their constraints and find alternative engagement methods  D) Remove them from the stakeholder register
5. In a Scrum project, who is responsible for prioritising the product backlog?
A) Scrum Master  B) Project Manager  C) Product Owner  D) Development Team
6. A change request is submitted after the project baseline is set. What should the PM do?
A) Reject it immediately  B) Implement it if it seems minor  C) Evaluate its impact and submit it through the integrated change control process  D) Ask the sponsor to approve it verbally
7. What is the purpose of a risk register?
A) To list all project costs  B) To document identified risks, their probability, impact, and planned responses  C) To track defects  D) To record stakeholder complaints
8. A project team in an agile environment is struggling with unclear requirements. What tool would help most?
A) Gantt chart  B) Work breakdown structure  C) User stories with acceptance criteria  D) Network diagram
9. What does a negative Schedule Variance (SV) indicate?
A) The project is under budget  B) The project is ahead of schedule  C) The project is behind schedule  D) The project is over budget
10. A project manager is leading a cross-functional team with members from different departments. Two members have a conflict over task ownership. What should the PM do?
A) Decide for them  B) Ignore it and let it resolve naturally  C) Facilitate a discussion to reach mutual agreement  D) Escalate to their respective managers
11. What is the primary purpose of a lessons learned register?
A) To document team performance  B) To capture knowledge gained during the project for use in future projects  C) To track risks  D) To log change requests
12. In an agile project, velocity is used to:
A) Measure team morale  B) Track defects  C) Forecast how much work the team can complete in future sprints  D) Calculate the budget
13. What does RACI stand for?
A) Resources, Activities, Costs, Issues  B) Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed  C) Risk, Assumptions, Constraints, Issues  D) Reviewed, Approved, Communicated, Implemented
14. A project manager notices the team is consistently missing sprint goals due to scope added mid-sprint. What is the best response?
A) Extend the sprint length  B) Allow interruptions as business needs change  C) Protect the sprint and add scope to the next sprint backlog  D) Reduce the sprint goal each time
15. What is the critical path in a project schedule?
A) The most expensive sequence of tasks  B) The longest sequence of dependent tasks determining the earliest project completion  C) The path with the most resources  D) The path with the highest risk
16. A new government regulation will affect the project deliverable. What should the PM do first?
A) Proceed with the original plan  B) Assess the impact and raise a change request  C) Escalate to the legal team only  D) Inform the sponsor and close the project
17. What does a Kanban board primarily visualise?
A) Project costs  B) The flow of work and WIP limits across workflow stages  C) Team velocity  D) Risk exposure
18. During project execution, a team member reports a quality defect in a deliverable. What should the PM do?
A) Ignore it if the deliverable is otherwise acceptable  B) Document it, investigate root cause, and implement corrective action  C) Assign blame to the responsible team member  D) Inform the customer immediately without investigating
19. What is the purpose of an issue log?
A) To document risks  B) To track and manage problems that have already occurred and need resolution  C) To log stakeholder communications  D) To record change requests
20. A project sponsor wants to add a major new feature three weeks before the planned delivery date. What is the PM's best response?
A) Implement it immediately to satisfy the sponsor  B) Decline without discussion  C) Analyse the impact on scope, schedule and cost and present options to the sponsor  D) Ask the team to work overtime
21. What does the term "servant leadership" mean in an agile context?
A) The leader does all the work  B) The leader focuses on removing obstacles and enabling the team rather than directing them  C) The leader defers all decisions to stakeholders  D) The leader manages the team through strict process control
22. Which agile ceremony is specifically designed for the team to inspect its process and identify improvements?
A) Sprint Planning  B) Daily Scrum  C) Sprint Review  D) Sprint Retrospective
23. A project is delivering on time and budget but the customer is dissatisfied. What should the PM investigate first?
A) Team performance  B) Whether requirements were properly captured and validated with the customer  C) The cost baseline  D) The risk register
24. What is configuration management used for?
A) Managing team communication  B) Tracking and controlling changes to project documents and deliverables  C) Managing vendor contracts  D) Assigning team roles
25. In earned value management, what does CPI < 1 indicate?
A) The project is ahead of schedule  B) The project is spending more than planned for the work completed  C) The project is under budget  D) The project has a positive schedule variance
26. What is the primary benefit of co-location in a project team?
A) Reduced travel costs  B) Improved communication and collaboration through physical proximity  C) Easier performance reviews  D) Simpler procurement
27. A project manager receives a request to violate procurement regulations to expedite a delivery. What should the PM do?
A) Comply if the sponsor approves  B) Refuse and escalate through appropriate channels, following the PMI Code of Ethics  C) Comply if no one will find out  D) Delay the decision until after delivery
28. What is the purpose of a stakeholder engagement assessment matrix?
A) To list stakeholder contact details  B) To compare current versus desired stakeholder engagement levels and plan actions to close the gap  C) To assign stakeholders to project tasks  D) To document stakeholder complaints
29. Which estimating technique uses analogy with similar past projects?
A) Parametric estimating  B) Three-point estimating  C) Analogous estimating  D) Bottom-up estimating
30. What does definition of done (DoD) mean in Scrum?
A) The criteria the product owner sets for acceptance  B) A shared agreement of what it means for a backlog item to be considered complete by the team  C) The project close-out checklist  D) The sprint goal