CAPM Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: C

Extend the meeting to 90 minutes: More time without structure tends to produce more drift, not decisions.

Invite the sponsor to every weekly meeting: The design lead who approves designs already attends, so the decision-maker is present.

Send an agenda with objectives beforehand: Correct. With no agenda or stated objectives, the meeting drifts across topics, overruns and fails to reach the approval decision. An agenda sent in advance, with the decision listed as an objective, gives focus and lets people prepare.

Assign owners to the action items: The record shows that every action item already has an owner and a due date.

To evaluate a meeting, check for an agenda with objectives, the right attendees, time control and clear outcomes; fix the element that is missing.

Answer: C

First activity row: The first row has one accountable person (PM) and a responsible doer (BA), which is valid.

Second activity row: The second row has one accountable person (sponsor) and a responsible PM, which is valid.

Third activity row: Correct. "Design solution" shows A for both the PM and the developer. A RACI chart should name exactly one accountable person per activity, so two A's create unclear ownership and possible conflict over who makes the final call.

Fourth activity row: The fourth row has one accountable person (PM) and a responsible developer, which is valid.

In a RACI chart each activity has exactly one accountable (A) person, and at least one responsible (R) person does the work.

Answer: D

Self-awareness: Self-awareness is recognizing one's own emotions and their effect; the PM is reading someone else's emotions.

Self-management: Self-management is controlling one's own emotions and reactions; nothing here is about the PM's own feelings.

Motivation: Motivation is the inner drive to pursue goals; it does not explain noticing another person's mood.

Social awareness: Correct. Social awareness (including empathy) is the ability to read and understand other people's emotions from cues such as body language and changes in behavior, which is what the PM did.

Self-awareness and self-management concern your own emotions; social awareness is reading other people's emotions; social skills use that awareness to manage relationships.

Answer: A

Upper-left quadrant: Correct. High power and low interest place the inspector in the upper-left quadrant. The usual strategy there is to keep the stakeholder satisfied: meet permit requirements and avoid surprises, without overloading them with detail.

Upper-right quadrant: Upper right is high power and high interest (manage closely); the inspector shows little interest in the project.

Lower-left quadrant: Lower left is low power and low interest (monitor); a stop order is real power over the project.

Lower-right quadrant: Lower right is low power and high interest (keep informed); the inspector has high power and low interest.

A power/interest grid turns stakeholder register data into engagement strategies: manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed or monitor.

Answer: A

Have the risk owner bring in the contractor: Correct. The risk has occurred, so the risk owner carries out the response already agreed in the risk register: bringing in the standby contractor. The PM then logs the event as an issue and updates the register with the outcome.

Hold a workshop to identify new responses: A response is already planned; redoing the analysis delays action that was prepared for exactly this event.

Add the resignation to the risk register as a new risk: The event is no longer uncertain, and the risk is already in the register; it is now an issue to act on.

Ask the sponsor to approve a new contingency budget: Escalation is not needed when the agreed response can be carried out within the plan.

When a registered risk occurs, carry out its planned response through its owner, record the issue, and update the risk register.

Answer: D

Product scope description: The description names the platforms and the three functions, which is specific enough at this level.

Project exclusions: The exclusions clearly state what is out of scope, which helps prevent scope creep.

Constraints: The constraints give a firm date and a firm budget, so they are already specific.

Acceptance criteria: Correct. Acceptance criteria must be specific and measurable so that deliverables can be formally accepted. "Patients are satisfied" gives no test, metric or threshold, so the customer and team could not agree on when the app is accepted.

When critiquing scope, check that every acceptance criterion is measurable; vague terms such as "satisfied" or "user-friendly" cannot be verified.

Answer: A

1. Formulas: SPI = EV ÷ PV; CPI = EV ÷ AC.
2. Substitute: SPI = 80,000 ÷ 100,000; CPI = 80,000 ÷ 64,000.
3. Result: SPI = 0.80; CPI = 1.25.
4. Interpretation: SPI below 1 means behind schedule; CPI above 1 means under budget for the work completed.

Behind schedule and under budget: Correct. SPI = EV ÷ PV = 80,000 ÷ 100,000 = 0.80, so the project is behind schedule. CPI = EV ÷ AC = 80,000 ÷ 64,000 = 1.25, so the work done has cost less than planned.

Ahead of schedule and over budget: This inverts both ratios (PV ÷ EV and AC ÷ EV); EV goes on top in SPI and CPI.

Behind schedule and over budget: SPI is below 1, but CPI is 1.25, above 1, which means under budget for the work performed.

On schedule and under budget: Spending less than PV does not mean on schedule; SPI of 0.80 shows only 80 percent of the planned work is done.

An index below 1 is unfavorable and above 1 is favorable; schedule and cost performance can move in opposite directions.

Answer: B

1. Forward pass: A 0–4; B 4–12; C 4–6; D 6–9; E starts at the later of 12 and 9, so E runs 12–17.
2. Backward pass: E LF 17, LS 12; D LF 12, LS 12 − 3 = 9; B LF 12, LS 4.
3. Formula and substitution: total float of D = LS − ES = 9 − 6.
4. Result: 3 days. Interpretation: D can slip 3 days without delaying the 17-day project finish.

0 days: Zero float applies to critical activities (A, B, E); D is on the shorter path A–C–D–E.

3 days: Correct. D has early start 6 and early finish 9. Working back from the 17-day finish, E must start by day 12, so D's late finish is 12 and its late start 9. Total float = LS − ES = 9 − 6 = 3 days.

6 days: 6 is D's early start, not its float.

9 days: 9 is D's early finish (and its late start); float is the difference between late and early start.

Total float = LS − ES (or LF − EF); activities on the critical path have zero float, while those on shorter paths have float.

Answer: B

1. List every path from Start to End: A–B–E, A–C–E and D–E.
2. Add durations: A–B–E = 4 + 6 + 3 = 13; A–C–E = 4 + 3 + 3 = 10; D–E = 7 + 3 = 10.
3. Result: the critical path is A–B–E (13 days); its activities are A (4), B (6) and E (3).
4. Interpretation: B is the longest critical activity; D is longer but sits on a path with 3 days of float.

Upper-left activity: Activity A (4 days) is on the critical path A–B–E, but it is shorter than activity B.

Top-center activity: Correct. The paths are A–B–E = 4 + 6 + 3 = 13 days, A–C–E = 4 + 3 + 3 = 10 days and D–E = 7 + 3 = 10 days. The longest path, A–B–E, is critical, and B (6 days) is its longest activity.

Middle-center activity: Activity C lies on path A–C–E (10 days), which has 3 days of float, so it is not critical.

Lower-left activity: Activity D is the longest activity in the network (7 days), but its path D–E totals only 10 days, so it has 3 days of float and is not critical.

Right-hand activity: Activity E (3 days) is on the critical path, but it is shorter than activity B.

The critical path is the longest path through the network; the single longest activity is not necessarily on it.

Answer: A

Help the team choose improvements to try: Correct. The retrospective exists so the team inspects its own process and commits to a small number of concrete improvements for the next iteration. The facilitator guides the team to decide; it does not decide for them (Agile Task 4).

Assign the build fix to the senior developer: Directing the solution undercuts self-organization; a servant leader helps the team choose its own actions.

Move the discussion to the iteration review: The iteration review is for inspecting the product with stakeholders, not the team's process.

Send a summary of complaints to the sponsor: Escalating turns a team-improvement event into reporting; the team owns and fixes its own process.

Retrospective = the team improves how it works and leaves with actionable improvements; review = stakeholders inspect the product.

Answer: B

Segment from 0 to 1: Remaining work fell from 100 to 80, so 20 points were burned, exactly the planned pace.

Segment from 1 to 2: Correct. Remaining work fell only from 80 to 76, so the team burned 4 points against a plan of 20, a shortfall of 16. A flattening burndown line shows an iteration where little work was finished (Agile Task 3).

Segment from 2 to 3: Remaining work fell from 76 to 54, so 22 points were burned, slightly ahead of the planned pace for that iteration.

Segment from 3 to 4: Remaining work fell from 54 to 34, so 20 points were burned, the planned pace (the team is still behind overall because of the earlier stall).

On a burndown, the drop between two points is the work finished in that iteration; a nearly flat segment is where the team fell behind.

Answer: C

1. Average velocity = (22 + 18 + 20) / 3 = 60 / 3 = 20 points per iteration.
2. Iterations needed = remaining points / average velocity = 120 / 20.
3. Result = 6 iterations.
4. Interpretation: using the average (not the best or worst iteration) gives a realistic forecast of 6 more iterations.

2: This divides 120 by the 60-point total of three iterations, which is not a per-iteration rate.

5: This uses only the best iteration (120 / 22 ≈ 5.5) and rounds down, which is optimistic.

6: Correct. Average velocity is (22 + 18 + 20) / 3 = 20 points; 120 / 20 = 6 iterations. Velocity-based forecasting uses the team's average pace (Agile Task 2).

7: This uses only the slowest iteration (120 / 18 ≈ 6.7) and rounds up, which is pessimistic.

Forecast iterations = remaining backlog ÷ average velocity; use the average of recent iterations, not a single high or low one.

Answer: D

A coding defect in the feature: A coding defect would show up as failed acceptance tests, but every criterion passed.

A team velocity that is too low: Velocity measures how much work a team completes per iteration; it says nothing about whether the result meets the business need.

Scope creep introduced by the team: Scope creep is unapproved added work; the problem here is that the intended outcome was not achieved.

Acceptance criteria that missed the real need: Correct. Validation confirms that requirements, and the solution built from them, meet the business need. A feature can pass every test and still fail the business objective if its acceptance criteria were never tied to that need, here, faster approvals (BA Task 6).

Passing acceptance criteria shows the product was built as specified; validation also asks whether it delivers the business value it was meant to.

Answer: C

Leftmost column: Release 1 (March) comes before the gift-card balance engine exists, so the feature could not work yet.

Second column from left: Release 2 (June) is still before the gift-card balance engine arrives in release 3, so the dependency is not met.

Third column from left: Correct. Release 3 (September) is the first release that contains the gift-card balance engine the feature depends on, and it ships before the October campaign. It is the only release that satisfies both the dependency and the deadline (BA Task 4).

Rightmost column: Release 4 (December) meets the dependency but arrives after the October campaign starts, so it misses the business deadline.

Place a component in the earliest release that both contains everything it depends on and meets the business date it must support.

Answer: B

Invite the supervisor's manager to the interview: Adding a manager may make the supervisor even less willing to speak freely; the problem is the question style.

Ask open-ended questions about the current process: Correct. The BA asked a leading question that assumed the solution, and the supervisor simply agreed. Open-ended questions about how returns work today would draw out the real problems and needs before any solution is chosen (ECO BA Task 3, interviews).

Replace the interview with a survey: A survey suits many respondents; the issue here is leading questions, which a survey would not fix.

Demonstrate a scanner app prototype first: Showing a prototype first would anchor the discussion on the same assumed solution.

In interviews, ask open-ended, neutral questions about current work and needs; leading questions put the BA's solution in the stakeholder's mouth.

Answer: C

Process manager: The process manager oversees day-to-day execution of the process; that describes the accounts payable supervisor, not the director.

Product owner: A product owner owns and orders an agile team's product backlog; it is not a role over a business process.

Process owner: Correct. The process owner is accountable for the design and performance of a business process and has the authority to approve changes to it, which is exactly the finance director's position here (ECO BA Task 1, stakeholder roles).

Project sponsor: The sponsor funds and champions a project; accountability for an ongoing business process belongs to its process owner.

The process owner is accountable for how a process is designed and performs and approves changes to it; the process manager runs it day to day.