10 free PMI PMP practice questions with the correct answer and a full explanation for each, taken from the CertStash pack of 1,417 questions. Work through them, then open each answer to check your reasoning.
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Question 1
A project manager leads a software development project in a hybrid environment. During project planning, the project manager identified a risk where a technical resource for a critical path item may not be available when needed. One week before the resource is needed, the technical engineer had a personal emergency and had to take a leave.
What should the project manager do next?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Consult the risk register for an appropriate planned risk response and implement.
This risk was identified during planning, so the risk register and the risk report already hold an agreed response, such as a backup engineer, a contingency plan, or reserve time. When a known risk occurs, the project manager and risk owner execute that planned response first. This keeps the critical path protected without renegotiating scope or schedule. Updating records and reporting the outcome comes after the response is carried out.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Revising the plan and delaying the task ignores the response already agreed for this risk and slips the critical path.
- C. Excluding a required task changes approved scope and does not deliver the business requirement.
- D. Documentation of the risk event and lessons learned follows execution of the planned response, not before it.
Question 2
A team has just adopted an agile approach. During daily standup meetings, the team expressed concerns about task delays. The project leader worked with the product owner to get clarity on the features. The project leader asked the team to fast-track all product features to ensure delivery. Sprints are being completed but with either fewer features or low quality.
What should the project leader have done to ensure success?
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Correct answer: D. Empowered the team to improve their processes, tools, and interactions to be more effective in delivery and removing impediments
In agile environments, the project leader should empower the team to identify and resolve their own impediments rather than directing solutions from above. By enabling the team to improve their processes, tools, and interactions, they become self-organizing and can find sustainable solutions. Fast-tracking without addressing root causes leads to quality issues and burnout, as evidenced in the scenario. Empowered teams drive continuous improvement and better delivery outcomes.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Creating an impediment log alone documents problems but doesn't solve them or empower the team to improve their processes.
- B. Directing solutions from leadership undermines team self-organization and agile principles, treating symptoms rather than root causes.
- C. Adding impediments as backlog items defers resolution and doesn't address the immediate need to unblock the team's ability to deliver quality work.
Question 3
A team is delivering features to a customer at every iteration. After completing each iteration, the customer is invited for a review. However, the customer is frequently not available and the review is often delayed, which results in increased rework for the team.
What should the project manager do?
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Correct answer: B. Plan ahead and define the best way to review the deliverables with the customer
The project manager should proactively plan and establish a structured review process that accommodates the customer's availability rather than waiting for delays to occur. This involves defining the best timing, format, and cadence for reviews upfront, potentially offering multiple review windows, asynchronous review options, or scheduling reviews when the customer has committed availability. Proactive planning prevents rework cycles and keeps iterations on track.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Including the customer in daily activities is excessive and not a practical solution for the availability problem.
- C. Clarifying all requirements at iteration start doesn't solve the review availability issue and may not be feasible in iterative development.
- D. Asking the customer to review based on their availability perpetuates the current problem rather than solving it through better planning.
Question 4
A project manager is part of a team that is launching a series of features to comply with a new regulation. The team has only 6 weeks to release the features to the legacy applications. During the standup meeting, a software engineer indicated that the development of an important feature is on hold until the assigned designer completes a specific task. This delay is a serious road block to meeting the release date.
What should the project manager do?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Meet with the designer to share the current status and develop a solution to complete the task
The project manager should meet directly with the designer who is causing the bottleneck to understand the situation, share the critical deadline context, and collaboratively develop a solution. This approach respects the designer's expertise, demonstrates the business impact, and fosters problem-solving partnership. Solutions might include task restructuring, additional support, or process adjustments. Direct engagement is more effective than going through managers or asking engineers to work around the issue.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Involving the design team manager adds hierarchy and delays without directly addressing the blocking issue or understanding the designer's constraints.
- B. Asking the engineer to proceed without the important feature defeats the purpose and doesn't solve the underlying dependency problem.
- C. Asking the design manager to reprioritize without understanding the specific constraint is premature and may not address the real bottleneck.
Question 5
A project manager is working with a customer's team on a new project. Some product definitions and requirements are still not clear, but the customer wants to start activities as soon as possible. The organization is also expecting product delivery for a specific date due to a regulatory requirement. Due to the nature of the project, the project manager has decided to use a hybrid approach.
Why did the project manager choose a hybrid approach?
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Correct answer: C. A hybrid approach will allow for management of the requirement uncertainties as well as the date restriction
A hybrid approach is ideal for this scenario because it combines predictive elements (handling the fixed regulatory delivery date) with adaptive elements (managing unclear requirements). The hybrid model allows some activities to begin immediately using predictive planning while concurrently using iterative methods to refine and clarify requirements as they emerge. This addresses both constraints: time certainty and requirement uncertainty.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. While hybrid does enable starting activities, it's incomplete, this option doesn't acknowledge that the hybrid approach specifically addresses the regulatory deadline constraint.
- B. A hybrid approach doesn't necessarily revise specifications; it manages them through iterative clarification.
- D. No approach can eliminate uncertainties; hybrid manages them through adaptive planning while maintaining date commitments.
Question 6
A project team has expressed concern that certain remote team members are not able to collaborate with the larger project team due to their work schedule. The project manager is confused since the entire team is located in the same time zone and believes there are other factors at play.
What should the project manager do next?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Examine the team's virtual needs
When team members report collaboration difficulties despite being in the same time zone, the project manager should investigate the underlying virtual collaboration needs rather than assuming the problem. This could include examining communication tools, virtual meeting practices, documentation systems, asynchronous collaboration methods, or other factors affecting remote teamwork. Understanding these needs is the first diagnostic step before implementing solutions.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Implementing new options without first understanding the actual problem risks addressing the wrong issue.
- C. Rectifying ground rule violations assumes the problem is discipline-related rather than capability-related.
- D. Formal performance review is premature without first understanding what the actual virtual collaboration barriers are.
Question 7
A company is implementing a project with team members located in different countries and time zones. Individual performance is satisfactory, but the team's performance as a whole is low, especially in terms of group activities.
What should the project manager do?
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Correct answer: B. Facilitate communication and team building
When individual performance is satisfactory but team performance is low, especially in group activities, the issue is team cohesion and collaboration rather than individual capability. Facilitating communication and team building directly addresses the ability to work effectively across time zones and geographies. This improves group dynamics, shared understanding, and collective problem-solving.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Reassigning individuals won't solve a team cohesion problem and loses institutional knowledge.
- C. Negotiating for new team members is unnecessary when the current team's individual capability is satisfactory; the problem is integration.
- D. While updating the communications plan may be part of the solution, it's a tactical tool rather than the root intervention of building team effectiveness.
Question 8
During the third iteration of a project, the product owner requests another mandatory feature. This also happened in the previous two sprints, which resulted in failure and caused frustration within the team.
What should the project manager do next?
Show answer and explanation
Question 9
Five agile teams working together on a product recently performed release planning. Midway through the project, each team showed that their progress was on track.
When all of the teams integrated at the product level, many integration issues were observed. The overall product release progress declined with predictions showing the committed content will not be able to be accomplished.
What should the project manager have done differently?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Ensured frequent and continuous integration of work to obtain early feedback and continuous learning
In a multi-team agile environment, integration issues arise when teams work in silos and only integrate late in the cycle. Frequent and continuous integration of work across teams provides early feedback on compatibility, dependencies, and conflicts, enabling teams to detect and resolve integration problems immediately rather than discovering them at release time. This approach supports the agile principle of continuous learning and adaptation.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. While Scrum of Scrums helps with impediment removal, it doesn't directly address the root cause of late-stage integration failures.
- B. A separate QA team testing at the end of each sprint still represents late integration rather than continuous integration of work.
- C. Training on tools alone doesn't solve the fundamental problem of lack of integration frequency and feedback loops.
Question 10
A project team member is having difficulty delivering assigned tasks for a project that is at risk of being delayed. The main issue is that the team member does not understand a new system that was recently implemented.
What should the project manager do?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Assign an experienced resource to support the team member.
When a team member lacks knowledge to perform assigned tasks, the project manager should provide support through mentoring or pairing with an experienced resource. This addresses the root cause (skill gap), keeps the project on track, develops the team member's capabilities, and avoids unnecessary schedule extensions. Supporting the struggling team member is preferable to punitive or avoidant measures.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. On-the-job training alone without experienced support may not be sufficient to meet tight deadlines and could worsen the delay.
- B. Extending the schedule treats the symptom rather than solving the underlying capability issue.
- C. Escalating performance issues prematurely bypasses the project manager's responsibility to develop and support team members.
That was 10 of 1,417.
The full PMI PMP pack has all 1,417 questions, each with the answer, the explanation and why the other options are wrong, plus a questions-only copy for timed runs. US$39, paid once, with free monthly updates and a pass-or-your-money-back guarantee.