Practice Questions #2
1. 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
b. EAC = (BAC/CPI).
1. You are using straight line depreciation to compute the value of your computer after three years. If the current cost is $1000, what will be the value after three years assuming that the computer's life is five years. a. $0 b. $400 c. $500 d. $600
b. Each year $200 gets removed from the value of computer. After three years the value becomes $400.
Which of these is correct with respect to a product developed or a service performed. a. Bad quality is acceptable, but bad grade is not. b. Bad grade is acceptable, but bad quality is not. c. Neither bad grade nor quality is acceptable. d. Grade and quality is the same thing.
b. Grade refers to category or rank given to entities having same functional use but different technical characteristics.
You are the Project Manager of ABC project. The project is being executed in an earthquake-prone area. To take care of this you buy insurance for earthquakes. This is an example of a. Risk mitigation b. Transfer of risk c. Risk contingency planning d. Accepting the consequences passively.
b. Insurance is an example of transferring risk.
1. You are required to estimate the time to paint a large wall. You know it takes two hours to paint one square foot of wall. The wall has an area of 30 square foot. So you estimate that it will take 60 hours to paint the wall. Which estimation model are you using? a. Bottom-up b. Parametric modeling c. Analogous d. Expert judgment
b. Parametric modeling is the best option.
1. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which is the lowest level which must be met before other levels can be met. a. Esteem b. Physiological c. Social d. Safety
b. Physiological factors appear at the lowest level of Maslow's hierarchy triangle.
The most long-lasting conflict resolution is caused by which of these techniques? a. Smoothing b. Confrontation c. Compromising d. Forcing
b. Problem-solving or Confrontation is the best solution for resolving conflicts and leads to long-lasting conflict resolution.
1. Which process identifies the project manager? a. Develop Project Management Plan b. Develop Project Charter c. Define Scope d. Select Project Process
b. Project Manager is identified as part of the Develop Project Charter process.
1. 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. Three points are on one side of the mean
b. The other two are conditions that indicate the process is out of control.
1. Which of the following best describes Plan Stakeholder Management process? a. Creation and maintenance of relationships between the project team and stakeholders b. Preventing negative stakeholders from derailing the project c. Striking a balance between stakeholder needs and project needs d. Focuses on from the creation of the stakeholder management strategy
A - stakeholder management is about the creation and maintenance of relationships between the project team and stakeholders. Under specific circumstances, answers B and C may be partially or. Answer D is incorrect: what is created as the stakeholder m
AOA activity diagrams are only represented using which representation? a. start-to-start b. start-to-finish c. finish-to-start d. finish-to-finish
c. AOA activity diagrams are represented using finish-to-start representation.
1. 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
c. According to PMI, compromise is an example of a lose-lose situation.
1. What is the difference between precision and accuracy? a. You cannot be both precise and accurate b. Accuracy is a measure of exactness; precision measures correctness of the deliverable c. Accuracy measures correctness; precision measures exactness d. The two terms are basically synonymous
c. Accuracy is a measure of correctness; conformance to target values. Precision is measured by exactness; standard deviation. PMBOK Guide®, 6th edition, p. 238
1. Which of these is an example of processes in the closing process group? a. Project Closure b. Scope Closure c. Close Project or phase d. Scope Validation
c. Close Procurements and Close Project or phase are the two closure processes.
1. Which of these is a process in the Scope Management knowledge area a. Identify Scope b. Clarify Scope c. Control Scope d. Close Scope
c. Control Scope process is part of scope management knowledge area.
1. You are the project manager responsible for building a new web site. The project is running late. To bring the project on schedule, you decide to add additional resources to the critical path. This is an example of a. Fast-tracking b. Resource planning c. Crashing d. Schedule Management
c. Crashing involves adding extra resources to reduce the project duration.
1. 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.
c. Ethnocentrism refers to belief that ones culture is superior to other cultures.
1. 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
c. Expert judgment is a tool for the Develop Project Charter process.
1. 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
B - This exactly describes the Salience model.
1. 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
C - This is an ethics question dressed up as a stakeholder management question. What happens next is an impact assessment. Under the mandatory Responsibility section: "We inform ourselves and uphold the policies, rules, regulations and laws that govern
An important trend in the Project Stakeholder Engagement process is ...? a. Identifying all stakeholders b. Stakeholder diversity c. Complexity of stakeholder relationships d. Communication technology
a - Answers b, c and d are tailoring considerations. PMBOK Guide®, 6th edition, p. 505
1. 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.
a. Contract Closeout is performed before administrative Closeout
Which of the following is not true about the Delphi technique? a. Individuals participating must know each other for Delphi technique to be successful. b. Delphi technique is most commonly used to obtain expert opinion. c. In Delphi technique participants are generally anonymous. d. Participants can be remote from one another
a. Experts participating in the Delphi technique are anonymous.
1. Bids, tenders and quotes are other names for what? a. Proposals b. Make-or-buy decisions c. Buyer responses d. Pre-bid conferences
a. PMBOK Guide®, 6th edition, p. 477
1. You are the Project Manager for ABC project. You need to find out which issue has maximum impact on the project. Which tool should you use? a. Pareto diagram b. Control chart c. Trend analysis d. Fishbone diagram
a. Pareto chart is built on the 80:20 theory. 80% of the defects are caused due to 20% of the issues. A Project Manager needs to focus on these 20% issues.
1. 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
a. SV=EV-PV. 400 minus 500 is -100.
Most common cause of conflicts in a project is a. Schedules b. Technical opinions c. Personal Issues d. Project priorities
a. Schedules are most common cause of conflicts.
1. John is an excellent engineer. The management assumes that since he is a good technical performer, he will be a good project manager too. Based upon this, John was promoted to Project Manager. This is an example of a. Halo Effect b. Expectancy Theory c. McGregory Theory of X and Y d. Herzberg Theory
a. The behavior described is an illustration of Halo's effect.
1. The level of accuracy for order of magnitude estimation is a. -25% to +75% b. -25% to +50% c. -25% to +25% d. -25% to +10%
a. The order of magnitude is preferred during initiation phase, and it has an accuracy range of -25% to 75%
1. Which of these is not a benefit measurement project selection method? a. Integer Algorithm b. Internal Rate of Return c. Scoring model d. Discounted cash flow
a. The other three options are examples of benefit measurement method.
1. You are managing the project of planning a party for your company employees. There is a risk that the employees will not come to the party. You decide to not take any action against this as the likely-hood of this is low. Which risk response strategy are you following? a. Acceptance b. Avoidance c. Mitigation d. Transference
a. This is an example of Acceptance risk response strategy.
1. You are the Project Manager assigned to build a next generation vehicle. You identify a dependency that before the vehicle can be sold, it must be approved by the Government regulatory authority. This is an example of which type of dependency? a. External b. Discretionary c. Soft Logic d. Mandatory
a. This is an example of dependency to an external (outside) body.
1. You are working on the project of painting of your house. You identify a dependency that the painting of roof should begin only after two days of completion of painting of walls. This is an example of a. Lag b. Lead c. Slack d. Float
a. This is an example of lag. Lag is the amount of time after the completion of the predecessor activity, when the successor activity can start.
Typically signing of project charter is the responsibility of a. Project Sponsor b. Senior Management c. Project Manager d. Project stakeholders
a. Unless the Project Sponsor is subsumed within Senior Management
1. You have just been made the Project Manager of the ABC project. You are trying to read the WBS and are unable to understand some of the WBS components. Which should be your first step to understand this? a. Refer to the WBS dictionary b. Refer to the scope statement c. Refer to the Project charter d. Contact the previous Project Manager
a. WBS dictionary is the best option. WBS Dictionary identifies all the components used in the WBS
1. Which of the following is not true about the WBS report? a. WBS should focus in on the activities that must be performed in the project and should not focus on the deliverables. b. The project team must be involved in developing the WBS. c. As a rule of thumb, each activity of WBS should take less than 80 hours. d. WBS is usually represented in a hierarchical fashion.
a. WBS should focus on deliverables.
1. You are the Project Manager of a project involving building a computer. 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
a. When the team is afraid of the Project Manager, the power yielded is of type Coercive.
1. In which process of 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
b. A numeric value is assigned to risks impact and probability during the Quantitative Risk Analysis process.
1. You are the project manager of ABC project. One of the risks that has been identifies is attrition of team members. Mid-way through the project you notice that the morale and motivation of the team members is going down. You think that this is a precursor to people leaving the organization. For this risk, low motivation is an example of a. work-around b. trigger c. risk monitoring d. risk planning
b. A risk trigger is an indication that the risk is about to occur or has occurred.
1. 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
b. An S-curve is typically used to represent a cost baseline. The cost is low in the beginning and end, and high during the middle of the project.
Project Quality Management .... a. Must meet management objectives b. Applies to all projects, regardless of deliverables c. Applies only to specific areas of the project d. Is necessary only when stakeholders agree on quality characteristics
b. Applies to all projects. PMBOK Guide®, 6th edition, p. 280
1. The process of Conduct Procurements is part of which phase? a. Planning b. Execution c. Control d. Closure
b. Conduct Procurements is part of execution phase.
1. You are the Project Manager of the XYZ project. You want to find the planned expenses for next month. Which document do you need to refer to? a. Cost Management Plan b. Cost Baseline c. Cost Control Plan d. Cost Variance report
b. Cost baseline includes the project budget for each month.
1. Oligopoly refers to which of these a. There is only one qualified seller in the market. b. There are no sellers in the market, so you have to build the product in-house. c. There are few sellers and action of one seller will have impact on other sellers prizes. d. Your company prefers to contract with only one seller.
c. In oligopoly, the action of one seller has an impact on other sellers, as there are very few sellers.
1. You are part of an expert committee deciding which project should be implemented by your company. Your committee asks tough questions from the project teams and helps decide which project your company should select. Which project selection technique are you using. a. Scoring Model b. Committee Selection c. Murder Board d. Defined Benefit
c. Murder board is a process where a committee asks questions from project representatives as part of the project selection process.
1. Which of the following is an output of the Identify Risks process. a. Lessons Learned b. Checklists c. Risk Register d. SWOT Analysis
c. Risk Register is the only output of the Risk identification process.
1. You are planning to use screening system for source selection process to select a vendor for supplying food for your company? Which of these is a good example of 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.
c. Screening system are predefined criteria that are used to short-list vendors for source selection
1. You are the Project Manager of a car manufacturing company. As part of Quality Control you decide to check only 5% of the cars generated for environmental check. Which technique are you using? a. Pareto Diagram b. Control Charts c. Statistical Sampling d. Sample Selection
c. Statistical Sampling is the standard technique that is used to test only a small sample of products instead of all the products manufactured.
1. Which of the following is not true about analogous estimating. a. Estimate is based on past projects. b. It is not very accurate. c. It uses bottom-up approach d. It is a form of an expert judgment
c. The others are true statements about analogous estimating.
You are the project manager of ABC project. Mid-way through the project a key component was found defective. This was not planned for. The team met after the event and managed to make the product work without the defective component. This is an example of - a. Risk mitigation b. Transfer of risk c. Work-around d. Accepting the consequences passively.
c. This was an unplanned event that happened. Work around refers to handling of risk that has occurred but was not planned for.
1. 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.
c. War room is used for collocation to facilitate communication within the team.
Which relationship model is most commonly used in the Precedence diagrams? a. start-to-start b. start-to-finish c. finish-to-start d. finish-to-finish
c. finish-to-start is the most commonly used relationship.
1. A key output of the Identify Stakeholders process is a. A Change log b. An agreement c. A risk management plan d. A stakeholder register
d - PMBOK Guide®, 6th edition, p. 507
1. 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.
d. A CPI of greater than one indicates you are taking less money than planed to do the project.
1. What percentage of Project Manager's time is spent on communicating? a. 30 b. 50 c. 70 d. 90
d. According to PMBOK 90% of Project Managers time is spent in communicating.
1. You are the Project Manager for XYZ project. The scope of the project has been completed. You receive a request for a new module to be developed as part of this project. What should you do next? a. You should approach the Project sponsor and ask her for a new module to be developed as part of this project. b. You should approach the Senior Management and ask them for a new module to be developed as part of this project. c. You should send the request to Change Control Board for approval. d. Since the project scope is completed you should inform the customer that this change cannot be done as part of the project.
d. As the scope is completed, the project is complete. Additional work should be done as part of a new project.
1. 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
d. CPI = EV/AV. EV=400, AC = 1000, PV=500.
1. Which of these is not an example of a project? a. Buying clothes from the market 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.
d. Cleaning the building is a repetitive task that is done everyday. Hence it is not an example of a project.
Which of the following theory was suggested by Deming? a. Apply continuous small improvements to reduce costs and ensure consistency. b. Marginal Analysis c. Expectancy theory - people expect to be rewarded for their efforts. d. Plan-do-check-act to improve quality.
d. Continuous small improvements is part of Kaizen theory. Hence a is incorrect. The Plan-do-Check-Act doctrine was proposed by Deming.
1. Which of these is a constrained optimization project selection method? a. Parallel algorithm b. Number programming c. Murder board d. Dynamic Programming
d. Dynamic Programming is an example of Constrained Optimization method. Murder board is an example of benefit measurement method.
1. When analyzing quality for a project a Project Manager decides to use a tool. This tool provides a creative way to look at the causes or potential causes of a problem. Which tool is the Project Manager planning to use? a. Pareto diagram b. Control chart c. Statistical sampling d. Ishikawa diagram
d. Ishikawa or Fish bone diagram is the tool that the Project Manager is planning to use.
1. According to Herzberg which of these is not an example of hygiene factors? a. job security b. salary c. safe working conditions d. appreciation of work
d. Job security, salary, clean and safe working conditions are examples of hygiene factors. Appreciation at work is not a hygiene factor, but instead a motivating factor.
1. You have been asked to make an estimate for a project. The project involves manufacturing 1000 toys. You expect that as the team manufactures some toys, the time to make them will reduce. Which estimation technique are you trying to use? a. Analogous Estimation b. Regression Analysis c. Bottom up Estimating d. Learning Curve
d. Learning curve estimation uses the principal that the cost per unit will decrease as more units of work are manufactured.
1. You are the Project Manager assigned to build a next generation vehicle. You identify a dependency that the wheels must be designed and developed before the assembly of the vehicle can be performed. This is an example of which type of dependency? a. External b. Discretionary c. Soft Logic d. Mandatory
d. Mandatory dependency represents dependencies due to nature of work.
1. You are planning to use PERT for planning of your project. A task has pessimistic estimate of 24 days, most likely estimate of 15 days and optimistic estimate of 12 days. What is the mean using the PERT technique? a. 18 days b. 25.5 days c. 15 days d. 16 days
d. Mean for PERT is defined as (P+4M+O)/6 which comes out to be 16 days.
1. Before committing to a larger portion of the project scope, the buyer of a product or service will frequently implement a ...? a. Logistics approach b. Long lead time c. Managed supply chain d. Trial engagement
d. PMBOK Guide®, 6th edition, p. 464
1. Who among the following is responsible for performing the scope validation a. Project Manager b. Senior Management c. The quality team d. The customer
d. Scope Validation is the process of the customer accepting the project deliverables.
1. The authority to approve or deny change request lies with a. Project Manager b. Customer c. Project Sponsor d. Configuration Control Board
d. The Configuration (or Change) Control Board has the authority to approve or deny change requests.
1. Which of the following is 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.
d. This is the only correct statement.
1. Which of the following processes produces WBS as an output? a. Plan Scope b. Initiate Project c. Define Activities d. Create WBS
d. WBS is an output of the Create WBS.
1. 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
d. WBS is not an input to the Conduct Procurements process.