Head First PMP 4th Edition - Introduction Exam Questions

5. Which of the following is NOT an interpersonal skill? A. Motivation B. Brainstorming C. Team building D. Coaching

5. Answer: B Brainstorming is an activity that you do with other people, but it's not an interpersonal skill that you need to hone to help manage all of the stakeholders on your project.

3. An energy company is investing in a series of initiatives to look for alternative energy sources so that the company can be competitive in 10 years. The initiatives are tracked and managed together because this goal is vital to the success of the company. This is an example of: A. A portfolio B. A program C. A project D. A enterprise environmental factor

3. Answer: A Since the initiatives are being managed together because of a strategic business goal, you can tell that this is a portfolio.

2. Which of the following is NOT a distinguishing characteristic of a project? A. Temporary B. Strategic C. Specific result D. Progressively elaborated

2. Answer: B A project doesn't have to be strategic or critical. It only needs to be temporary, have a specific result, and be progressively elaborated

4. Which of the following is NOT a responsibility of a project manager? A. Managing stakeholder expectations B. Managing project constraints C. Gathering product requirements D. Sponsoring the project

4. Answer: D The sponsor is the person who pays for the project. The project manager doesn't usually play that role.

1. Which of the following is NOT a type of project management office? A. Directive B. Value-driven C. Supportive D. Controlling

1. Answer: B Although PMOs are usually value-driven, that's not a valid type of PMO. The three types of PMOs are supportive, controlling, and directive. Supportive PMOs provide templates and guidelines for running projects, controlling PMOs audit projects to ensure adherence to processes and standards, and directive PMOs provide project managers to manage projects.

10. A project manager is having trouble with his project because one of his team members is not performing, which is causing him to miss an important date he promised to a stakeholder. He discovers that the team member knew about the project problem, but didn't tell him because the team members are all afraid of his bad temper. Which BEST describes how the project manager can avoid this situation in the future? A. Increasing his knowledge of the PMBOK® Guide B. Measuring personal performance C. Improving his personal skills D. Managing stakeholder expectations

10. Answer: C The way that the project manager interacts with the people on his team interfered with his work getting done. This is a good example of how a lack of personal skills can lead directly to major project problems down the line, and it's why this particular project manager needs to work on his personal skills.

6. Which of the following is NOT true about interpersonal and team skills? A. Coaching means helping your team to get more exercise. B. Motivation means helping team members get what they want out of the project. C. Influencing means sharing power with people to get something done. D. Conflict management means finding positive solutions to conflicts during the project.

6. Answer: A Coaching is really about helping your team members to get better at what they do. Anything you do to challenge them to develop their skills is coaching.

7. Which of the following is NOT true about portfolio management? A. The portfolio manager judges the success of the portfolio by combining data from all of its programs and projects. B. A portfolio can contain projects and programs. C. A portfolio is organized around a business goal. D. A portfolio is always a group of programs.

7. Answer: D Since a portfolio can be a group of programs and projects, option D is the one that's not true. It can be a group of programs, but it doesn't have to be.

8. You're managing a project to remodel a kitchen. You use earned value calculations to figure out thatyou're going to run $500 over budget if your project continues at the current rate. Which of the followingcore characteristics of a project manager are you using to find the problem? A. Knowledge B. Performance C. Personal skills D. None of the above

8. Answer: A Your knowledge of earned value management techniques is how you can predict that the project will be over budget. Knowing that could help you plan ahead to avoid further cost overruns. Minimally, it can help you to reset expectations with your stakeholders so they have a better idea of what's coming.

9. At the beginning of a project, a software team project manager is given a schedule with everyone's vacations on it. She realizes that because the software will be delivered to the QA team exactly when they have overlapping vacations, there is a serious risk of quality problems, because there won't be anyone to test the software before it goes into production. What BEST describes the constraint this places on the project? A. Quality constraint B. Time constraint C. Resource constraint D. Risk constraint

9. Answer: C This is a resource constraint, because the project manager's resources—in this case, the people who will be testing the software—are not going to be available to her when she needs them. Yes, this will cause problems with the quality, introduce risks, and cause schedule problems. But they're not schedule, time, or risk constraints, because there's no outside limitation placed on the project quality, schedule, or risks. The only outside limitation is the resource availability. If they were available, there wouldn't be a problem!