10 PMP Practice Questions That Mirror the Real Exam
Here are 10 PMP-style multiple-choice questions designed to match the difficulty, phrasing, and situational logic of the current PMP exam (which emphasizes Agile, Hybrid, and predictive approaches, as well as leadership and business acumen).
Instructions: Each question presents a scenario typical of a project manager’s daily challenges. Select the best answer based on the PMBOK Guide (7th Edition) and the PMP Exam Content Outline. Pay attention to what the question is really asking—often it’s about what to do first or next, not the ultimate solution. You might also find 8 CSM Practice Questions That Mirror the Real Exam helpful.
If you're building a preparation schedule, a free PMP study plan can lay out your study time across the official topic areas.
Question 1
A project manager is leading a hybrid project with a fixed deadline. The development team is using Scrum, but the customer requires detailed documentation for regulatory compliance. Halfway through the sprint, the team realizes that the compliance documentation is consuming 30% of their capacity, threatening the sprint goal. What should the project manager do first?
A. Remove the documentation tasks from the sprint and assign them to a separate non-developmental team.
B. Ask the team to work overtime to complete both the features and the documentation.
C. Facilitate a discussion with the team and the customer to reprioritize the sprint backlog, balancing feature work and compliance needs.
D. Extend the sprint duration by two weeks to accommodate the extra work.
Answer: C
Explanation: The PM must act as a facilitator and servant leader. The correct first step is to bring stakeholders (customer/PO) and the team together to negotiate priorities, as the constraint is capacity, not time. Option A is risky without approval, B leads to burnout, and D changes the cadence without addressing the root conflict.
Question 2
A project manager is leading a large infrastructure project. A key supplier has informed the PM that a critical piece of equipment will be delayed by three weeks due to a port strike. The project has zero schedule float on the critical path. What is the most effective next step for the project manager?
A. Immediately issue a change request to update the project baseline and notify the sponsor.
B. Review the risk register to see if this was a identified risk and if a contingency plan exists.
C. Fast-track the remaining activities to compress the schedule.
D. Terminate the supplier contract and source a new vendor.
Answer: B
Explanation: The PM should first check the risk register and response plan, as port strikes are a common risk (often with a mitigation plan). If a plan exists, execute it; if not, then perform a schedule impact analysis and issue a change request. Option A is premature, C is a tool but not the first step, and D is drastic and likely to cause more delays.
Question 3
During a sprint retrospective, a team member raises a concern that the Product Owner is not available to answer questions, leading to rework and delays. The team is self-managing but frustrated. What should the project manager (who acts as Scrum Master) do?
A. Coach the team to batch their questions and wait for the next scheduled refinement meeting.
B. Escalate the issue to the Product Owner’s manager to demand better availability.
C. Facilitate a negotiation between the team and the Product Owner to establish a "daily office hours" slot for clarifications.
D. Take over the role of the Product Owner temporarily to unblock the team.
Answer: C
Explanation: The PM (as SM) is responsible for removing impediments and fostering collaboration. Facilitating a direct agreement on communication cadence is the most effective, sustainable solution. Option A delays work, B is confrontational and not servant-leadership, and D violates the separation of roles (SM vs. PO).
Question 4
A project is executing well, but a new regulation is announced that will affect the project’s deliverables in 6 months. The project is scheduled to finish in 4 months. The project manager has assessed the impact and found it is negligible. What should the project manager do?
A. Ignore the regulation since it does not affect the current timeline.
B. Update the risk register to reflect this as a low-probability, low-impact risk and continue monitoring. We cover this in depth in 10 PRINCE2 7 Foundation Practice Questions That Mirror the Real Exam.
C. Add a contingency buffer of 10% to the schedule to account for potential future changes.
D. Discuss the regulation with the team to see if they want to proactively change the scope.
Answer: B
Explanation: The regulation is a potential future event that could affect the project (even if negligible). It should be logged as a risk (or opportunity) and monitored. Option A is poor practice, C is adding unnecessary reserve without data, and D is scope creep without a trigger.
Question 5
A project manager is managing a global team across multiple time zones. The team is experiencing low engagement and missed deadlines. The PM suspects the daily stand-up meetings at 9:00 AM (PM’s local time) are inconvenient for the Asian team members. What is the best way to address this?
A. Cancel the daily stand-up and rely on asynchronous updates via a Kanban board.
B. Rotate the stand-up time so that it is fair for all team members, even if it is inconvenient for some.
C. Ask the Asian team members to record their updates in a shared document before the meeting.
D. Survey the team to determine a "core hours" window that overlaps all time zones, and hold the stand-up during that time.
Answer: D
Explanation: The PM should use collaborative decision-making and empathy. The best solution is to find a mutually agreeable time (core hours) that maximizes overlap. Option A removes the ceremony entirely (bad), B creates a rotating burden, and C excludes the Asian team from the live discussion.
Question 6
A project is using a predictive (Waterfall) approach. A key stakeholder requests a new feature that is not in the scope baseline. The project manager has analyzed the request and determined that it will require an additional $50,000 and 3 weeks of schedule time. The project has a management reserve. What should the project manager do first?
A. Approve the change and draw from the management reserve.
B. Ask the stakeholder to submit a formal change request to the Change Control Board (CCB).
C. Reject the request because it is out of scope.
D. Add the feature to the backlog and prioritize it for the next release.
Answer: B
Explanation: In a predictive project, any scope change must go through the formal change control process. The PM should document and submit the request for CCB approval. Option A is wrong because the PM does not have the authority to approve scope changes in a predictive environment. Option C is not collaborative, and D is an Agile practice not suited for Waterfall.
Question 7
During project execution, a project manager discovers that a critical team member is over-allocated and will be working 60 hours per week for the next month. This was caused by the team member’s manager assigning them additional operational tasks. What is the best course of action for the project manager?
A. Accept the situation and monitor the team member’s health for signs of burnout.
B. Consult with the functional manager to negotiate a re-prioritization of the team member’s work.
C. Replace the team member with a contractor immediately.
D. Adjust the project schedule to extend the timeline by one month to reduce the workload.
Answer: B If this interests you, PMP Passing Score: What AT/T Score Actually Means for Your Exam goes into more detail.
Explanation: Resource conflicts are common; the PM must use negotiation and influencing skills with the functional manager (resource owner). This is a classic "matrix organization" issue. Option A ignores the problem, C is drastic and costly, and D changes the baseline without exploring other options.
Question 8
A project manager is leading an Agile project. The customer’s acceptance criteria keep changing every iteration, causing the team to redo work and lose velocity. The team is becoming frustrated. What should the project manager do to address the root cause?
A. Enforce a strict scope freeze for the remaining iterations.
B. Hold a meeting with the customer to clarify the product vision and the definition of "done" (DoD).
C. Increase the number of sprints to accommodate the changes.
D. Ask the team to work faster to keep up with the changes.
Answer: B
Explanation: Agile welcomes change, but constant churn often indicates a misunderstanding of the product vision or a weak Definition of Done. The PM should facilitate alignment on the 'why' and the 'what' at a higher level. Option A violates Agile principles, C doesn't solve the root cause, and D increases technical debt and frustration.
Question 9
A project manager is closing a project. The final product was delivered, and the customer has signed off. However, the PM realizes that several lessons learned were not documented during execution. What is the best action to take?
A. Skip the lessons learned since the project is closing.
B. Conduct a final retrospective with the team to capture the key lessons learned from memory.
C. Ask the customer to write the lessons learned for the team.
D. Document only the successful aspects of the project to present a positive report to the sponsor.
Answer: B
Explanation: While it is best to collect lessons learned throughout the project, it is never too late to hold a final retrospective session. Capturing them at closure, even if imperfect, is better than losing them. Option A is poor practice, C is wrong (customer doesn't know internal team processes), and D is unethical (hiding failures).
Question 10
A project manager is managing a project with a budget of $500,000. At the end of month 3, the Earned Value (EV) is $150,000, the Planned Value (PV) is $200,000, and the Actual Cost (AC) is $180,000. What is the Cost Performance Index (CPI) and what does it indicate?
A. CPI = 1.2; the project is under budget.
B. CPI = 0.83; the project is over budget.
C. CPI = 0.75; the project is behind schedule.
D. CPI = 1.1; the project is ahead of schedule.
Answer: B
Explanation: CPI = EV / AC = $150,000 / $180,000 = 0.83. A CPI less than 1.0 indicates that the project is over budget (spending more than the value earned). Option C confuses CPI with SPI (EV/PV = 0.75). Options A and D have incorrect math.
These questions reflect the modern PMP exam's focus on situational leadership, Agile/Hybrid frameworks, and the ability to apply tools in context. The key is to read the scenario carefully and identify the primary action a PM should take, not just a technically valid one.
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