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

Answer: B

1. Use channels = n(n − 1) ÷ 2.
2. Before: n = 8, so 8 × 7 ÷ 2 = 28 channels.
3. After: n = 8 + 4 = 12, so 12 × 11 ÷ 2 = 66 channels.
4. Increase = 66 − 28 = 38 channels.

66: 66 is the total number of channels for 12 people, not the increase.

38: 12 × 11 ÷ 2 = 66 channels after the change, minus 8 × 7 ÷ 2 = 28 before, gives an increase of 38.

40: 40 comes from (12² − 8²) ÷ 2, which uses n² instead of n(n − 1).

28: 28 is the number of channels before the change, not the increase.

Communication channels grow much faster than team size: n(n − 1) ÷ 2. Compute before and after and subtract to find the increase.

Answer: B

Forming: Forming teams are polite and uncertain, waiting for direction; open challenges and arguments are not typical yet.

Storming: Open disagreement about roles, ownership and priorities is the hallmark of storming. The project manager should coach the team through it, helping members set working agreements and resolve conflicts constructively.

Norming: Norming teams have settled their working agreements; the team here is still disputing roles and ownership.

Performing: Performing teams are self-organizing and productive with low friction, which does not match this team.

Adjourning: Adjourning happens when work ends and the team disbands; this team has just started.

Recognize the development stage from behavior, then adapt leadership: direct in forming, coach in storming, support in norming, delegate in performing.

Answer: A crew is working without required fall protection; work must stop at once and there is no time to discuss.: Force/direct; Two leads disagree on the test strategy; both views have merit, there is time, and lasting commitment is needed.: Collaborate/problem solve; Two departments each want the only test lab in the same week; neither can fully win and a temporary split is acceptable.: Compromise/reconcile; A minor disagreement over a report template is straining a strong working relationship during a critical week.: Smooth/accommodate; Vendor and in-house engineers disagree on an interface design, and a data-based consensus is needed before baselining.: Collaborate/problem solve

Collaborate when the issue matters and time allows; compromise when a partial outcome is acceptable; smooth minor issues to protect relationships; force only when there is an emergency or no time.

Answer: B

Ask the sponsor to decide which user group the product will serve: Escalating to the sponsor skips the product owner, who owns the product vision, and skips facilitating a shared understanding with the team first.

Revisit the product vision with the product owner and team: The argument is a symptom of an unclear or unshared vision. In Scrum the product owner owns the vision; the project manager, as a servant leader, facilitates a session so the team and product owner resolve the misunderstanding at its root.

Tell the team to follow the backlog order and set the debate aside: This suppresses the disagreement without fixing its cause, so the confusion will resurface in every story the team refines.

Split the backlog into two tracks so each group can pursue its view: Splitting the work fragments the vision instead of creating a common one, and it bypasses the product owner's prioritization role.

When a team disagrees about what the product is for, the root cause is an unclear vision. Facilitate a shared understanding with the product owner before escalating or redirecting work.

Answer: C

Sample 3: Sample 3 (about 503 g) is above the mean but well inside the control limits; it is normal common-cause variation.

Sample 5: Sample 5 (about 504.5 g) is close to the upper control limit but still inside it. A single point near a limit is not, on its own, a signal.

Sample 7: Correct. Sample 7 (about 507.5 g) is above the UCL of 506 g, so it signals a special (assignable) cause and the process is out of control. It is still below the USL of 510 g, so the bottle itself is within specification. The cause should be investigated.

Sample 10: Sample 10 (about 495 g) is near the lower control limit of 494 g but inside it, so it does not signal an out-of-control process.

Control limits describe what the process does (about ±3σ); specification limits describe what the customer requires. A point outside a control limit means investigate a special cause, even if the product is still in specification.

Answer: B

1. CPI = EV ÷ AC = $160,000 ÷ $200,000 = 0.8 (the project earns $0.80 of value for every $1 spent).
2. The variance is typical (the labor rate continues), so use EAC = BAC ÷ CPI.
3. EAC = $400,000 ÷ 0.8 = $500,000.
4. Check: VAC = BAC − EAC = $400,000 − $500,000 = −$100,000, so the project is forecast to overrun by $100,000.

$440,000: This is AC + (BAC − EV), the formula for an atypical variance that will not recur. Here the higher labor rate continues, so the current CPI must be applied to the remaining work.

$500,000: Correct. CPI = EV ÷ AC = 160,000 ÷ 200,000 = 0.8. Because the variance is expected to continue, EAC = BAC ÷ CPI = 400,000 ÷ 0.8 = $500,000.

$450,000: This divides BAC by SPI (160,000 ÷ 180,000 ≈ 0.889). SPI measures schedule efficiency; cost forecasts for a typical variance use CPI.

$320,000: This multiplies BAC by CPI (400,000 × 0.8). A CPI below 1 means the project will cost more than planned, so the EAC must be higher than the BAC, not lower.

Use EAC = BAC ÷ CPI when the current cost performance is expected to continue (typical variance) and EAC = AC + (BAC − EV) only when the variance is a one-off.

Answer: D

Week 1: Week 1 needs 3 engineers, below the 4 available, so it is underallocated.

Week 2: Week 2 needs 5, one more than the 4 available. It is overallocated, but by less than week 4.

Week 3: Week 3 needs exactly 4, which matches availability, so it is not overallocated.

Week 4: Correct. Week 4 needs 7 engineers against 4 available, an overallocation of 3, the largest on the chart.

Week 5: Week 5 needs only 2, well below availability.

A resource histogram compares demand with availability; bars above the availability line show overallocation that calls for leveling, smoothing or added resources.

Answer: B, C

Build offline sync, analytics and ERP integration before releasing anything: This builds the full product before learning whether technicians will use it, which defeats the purpose of an MVP.

Release a basic checklist to a pilot group of technicians and observe how they use it: Correct. An MVP is the smallest release that lets the team learn from real users.

Define the hypothesis and a success measure, such as weekly checklist completion, before building: Correct. An MVP tests a stated hypothesis, so the team decides in advance what result will confirm or reject it.

Hold the release until all stakeholders sign off on the complete requirements: Up-front sign-off of full requirements is the opposite of learning through early release.

Judge the MVP's success by the number of story points the team completes: Story points measure output, not the outcome being tested (whether technicians adopt the tool).

An MVP is the smallest release that tests a value hypothesis with real users, judged by an outcome measure set in advance.

Answer: C

1. 1. CPI = EV / AC = 3,600 / 3,750 = 0.96.
2. 2. EAC (current cost performance continues) = BAC / CPI = 6,000 / 0.96 = 6,250 thousand = $6,250,000.
3. 3. Work remaining = BAC − EV = 6,000 − 3,600 = 2,400; funds remaining = BAC − AC = 6,000 − 3,750 = 2,250.
4. 4. TCPI (to finish within BAC) = 2,400 / 2,250 = 1.0667 ≈ 1.07.
5. 5. Check: VAC = BAC − EAC = 6,000 − 6,250 = −250 thousand, consistent with a CPI below 1.

EAC = $6,150,000 and TCPI = 1.07: This EAC uses AC + (BAC − EV), which assumes the remaining work will be done at budgeted rates. The sponsor asked for the forecast if current cost performance continues.

EAC = $6,250,000 and TCPI = 0.94: The EAC is right, but the TCPI fraction is inverted: (BAC − AC) / (BAC − EV) = 2,250 / 2,400. TCPI is work remaining divided by funds remaining.

EAC = $6,250,000 and TCPI = 1.07: Correct. CPI = 3,600 / 3,750 = 0.96, so EAC = 6,000 / 0.96 = 6,250 thousand. TCPI = (6,000 − 3,600) / (6,000 − 3,750) = 2,400 / 2,250 ≈ 1.07.

EAC = $6,944,444 and TCPI = 1.07: This EAC divides BAC by CPI × SPI (0.96 × 0.90 = 0.864), which is used when both cost and schedule performance drive the forecast, not when current cost performance alone continues.

Use EAC = BAC / CPI when current cost performance is expected to continue; TCPI = (BAC − EV) / (BAC − AC), and a value above 1 means the remaining work must be done more efficiently.

Answer: Have the requester submit a formal change request and record it in the change log → Analyze the impact on scope, schedule, cost, risk and quality, including roof structural loads → Present the change request and impact analysis to the change control board for a decision → After approval, update the affected baselines and project management plan components → Notify affected stakeholders of the approved change and the revised baselines → Direct the team to implement the change to the updated plan, then verify it matches what the CCB approved

Have the requester submit a formal change request and record it in the change log: First: the request is captured formally and logged so it can be tracked; nothing is acted on from a verbal request.

Analyze the impact on scope, schedule, cost, risk and quality, including roof structural loads: Second: the project manager and team assess the effects and options so the decision is based on data.

Present the change request and impact analysis to the change control board for a decision: Third: the CCB, not the project manager or the requester, approves, rejects or defers changes to baselines.

After approval, update the affected baselines and project management plan components: Fourth: the approved change is first written into the baselines and plan, so there is an authorized version to communicate and work to.

Notify affected stakeholders of the approved change and the revised baselines: Fifth: stakeholders are told what was approved and what the updated baselines now say, before the work starts. This step depends on the baselines already being updated.

Direct the team to implement the change to the updated plan, then verify it matches what the CCB approved: Last: only once the plan is updated and communicated is the change carried out, and the result is then checked against the approved request.

Integrated change control: log the request, analyze impacts, get a CCB decision, then update the baselines and plan, communicate the approved change, and finally implement and verify it.

Answer: B

Move the migration to the top of the backlog without the PO: The product owner owns backlog order; overriding the PO undermines the role and team trust.

Share the impact and options with the product owner: Correct. The project manager makes the risk and its timing transparent; the product owner then makes an informed prioritization decision.

Log the change as a risk and look at it again in eight months: With four sprints of work needed, waiting eight months guarantees an outage.

Ask the sponsor to instruct the PO to change the roadmap: Escalating before helping the PO understand the impact skips collaboration.

For external technology changes, give the product owner clear impact and timing information; the PO reprioritizes, and escalation comes only if needed.

Answer: Redesign the app to drop an untested third-party library, removing the vulnerability entirely: Avoid; Buy cyber-liability insurance and contract a managed security provider with penalty clauses: Transfer; Add redundant cooling to lower the chance that test servers overheat: Mitigate; Refer a pending tariff that threatens the whole product portfolio to the portfolio board: Escalate; Audit suppliers' carbon data to reduce the chance one fails the sustainability standard: Mitigate; Remove night-time crane lifts from the plan so the noise-permit threat no longer applies: Avoid

Avoid removes the threat, transfer shifts it to a third party, mitigate reduces probability or impact, and escalate sends threats outside the project's authority to their owner.

Answer: C

Record the observation in the issue log for the weekly site meeting: Logging it for later leaves workers exposed now; an active safety hazard needs immediate action.

Accept the supervisor's judgment because he is accountable for the site: Deferring to the supervisor ignores a clear breach of the safety plan and your own duty of responsibility under the PMI Code of Ethics.

Stop the unsafe work and enforce the safety plan: Correct. Health and safety requirements are not traded for schedule. Stop the hazard immediately, enforce compliance, and then deal with the schedule through normal channels.

Ask procurement to apply the contract's penalty clause to the subcontractor: A penalty may follow later, but it does nothing to remove the immediate danger to the crew.

Safety compliance comes first: halt the hazard, enforce the plan, then recover the schedule. The Code of Ethics requires protecting people over convenience.