10 free PMI PgMP practice questions with the correct answer and a full explanation for each, taken from the CertStash pack of 713 questions. Work through them, then open each answer to check your reasoning.
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Question 1
Your program has 121 stakeholders that you'll need to communicate with. Your communications management plan defines how the communication should happen, what should be communicated, and the expected modality of the communications. You'll also need which one of the following as an input to the information distribution process in your program?
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Correct answer: D. Performance reports
Information distribution takes the communications management plan, performance reports, and organizational process assets as its inputs. Performance reports are what carry status, progress, and forecast information to the 121 stakeholders, so they must be available before information can be distributed. Without them the plan describes how to communicate but there is nothing of substance to send.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Change requests flow through integrated change control and are not an input to distributing information.
- B. Earned value results are an analytical output of performance measurement that may feed a report, but they are not themselves a defined input to information distribution.
- C. There is no stakeholder analysis plan artifact in the communications framework; stakeholder analysis informs the communications management plan, which is already in place here.
Question 2
What is the formula to determine earned value (EV) for a program?
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Correct answer: C. Percent complete times the program budget at completion
Earned Value (EV) is calculated by multiplying the percent of work completed by the total program budget at completion (BAC). This gives the monetary value of the work actually accomplished to date. The formula is: EV = Percent Complete × Budget at Completion.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Percent complete times percent remaining produces a meaningless metric unrelated to earned value.
- B. This formula is incomplete and does not represent the standard earned value calculation.
- D. While labor and materials are part of the budget, the correct formula uses the total program budget at completion, not just labor and materials costs.
Question 3
Olive is the program manager for her organization. She has created a request for proposal for a large portion of her program. In this work to be procured she has set several requirements for the vendors to participate. The chief among these requirements is a vendor must have at least four licensed electricians in his team.
This requirement for four licensed electricians is an example of which one of the following terms?
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Correct answer: A. Screening system
A screening system establishes minimum, pass or fail requirements that a seller must satisfy just to remain in consideration. Requiring at least four licensed electricians is exactly that kind of threshold: a vendor either meets it or is removed from the competition before any comparative rating occurs. Olive is filtering the field, not ranking proposals.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. A scoring model is the weighted rating method used to compare proposals that have already cleared the minimum requirements.
- C. Vendor analysis requirements is not recognized procurement terminology.
- D. Evaluation criteria are the broader set of factors used to assess and rank competing proposals, while this single mandatory threshold is applied to screen sellers out.
Question 4
You are the program manager for your organization. Management has asked you to create a document that will capture the stakeholders concerns, perceived threats, and specific objectives about the program and its projects.
What document is management asking you to create in this instance?
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Correct answer: C. Business case
The business case is the document that records why the program is being undertaken, including the objectives it must achieve, the benefits expected, and the concerns and threats raised by stakeholders. It links the program to organizational strategy and supports the decision to fund and authorize the work. Management is asking for this justification document, not a delivery level artifact.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. A requirements document states what the solution must do and deliver, not stakeholder concerns, perceived threats, and program level objectives.
- B. A project charter authorizes a single project and its manager, which is narrower than the program and its component projects.
- D. A scope statement defines deliverables, boundaries, and acceptance criteria for work already approved.
Question 5
You are the program manager of the NHQ Program. You are working with your program team to ensure that the work in the program is done accurately and according to scope. You are also reviewing the team inspection process that will need to be done to ensure that the work is being done according to the scope. If the work is found to be defective it will need to be corrected before the program customers can inspect the work.
What process are you completing to ensure that the work is done accordingly to scope?
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Correct answer: A. Quality control
Quality control is the process of inspecting work to ensure it conforms to quality standards and specifications. It involves examining deliverables, identifying defects, and ensuring corrections are made before customer acceptance. This is an inspection-based activity that occurs during execution to maintain conformance to scope and quality standards.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Scope verification confirms that completed deliverables meet acceptance criteria, but the emphasis here is on inspection and defect correction during execution.
- C. Quality assurance is a broader management process focused on process improvement and prevention; it does not involve detailed inspection of individual work products.
- D. Planning is the process of defining what will be done; this scenario describes executing and monitoring quality control activities.
Question 6
Your company and a competing company have created a teaming agreement for an opportunity. Through this team agreement you and your competitor can complete a major program for a client. This is, technically, a risk response for both organizations.
What type of risk response are you dealing with in this instance?
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Correct answer: D. Sharing
Sharing is a risk response strategy where organizations share responsibility, cost, and benefit of addressing a risk with another party. A teaming agreement between your company and a competitor to jointly pursue and complete a major program exemplifies sharing, both organizations share the opportunity, resources, risks, and rewards associated with the program.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Teaming is not a standard risk response category in risk management frameworks.
- B. Exploiting is a risk response that seeks to maximize the impact of positive risks, not applicable to a partnership arrangement.
- C. Accepting is a risk response where you acknowledge the risk and prepare contingency plans; it does not involve partnering with another organization.
Question 7
A project manager in your program has estimated the cost of a program to be $145,000. As the project manager's project comes close to completion, the project manager realizes that he has still $27,876 left in his project budget. He decides to add some additional features to the project's deliverables in an effort to use the remaining budget.
These additions will add value to the project and the project customer is likely to enjoy these new features. This is an example of what term?
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Correct answer: A. Gold plating
Gold plating is the practice of adding extra features, enhancements, or work beyond the original scope to use remaining budget or satisfy perceived desires. Although the additions may add value to the customer, gold plating is considered a quality problem because it adds unplanned scope without formal change control and can set poor precedents for future projects.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Errors and omissions refer to mistakes or gaps in work, not intentional additions of extra features.
- C. While the project manager exercised judgment, the term does not capture the problematic nature of adding unplanned scope.
- D. A value-added change typically refers to scope changes approved through formal change control processes, whereas this example is uncontrolled scope addition.
Question 8
Andy is the program manager of the HQN Program. This program is nearing its completion and there is still $25,000 left in the program budget.
Andy has asked the program team to identify some extra deliverables that can be included in the program scope to improve the program deliverable but also to use all of the funds in the budget.
What term is assigned to the actions that Andy is trying to do in this instance?
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Correct answer: D. Gold plating
Gold plating occurs when additional deliverables or features are added to project or program scope beyond what was originally planned, often to consume remaining budget or enhance perceived value. Andy's attempt to identify extra deliverables to use the remaining $25,000 budget is a textbook example of gold plating, adding unplanned scope items to utilize funds that remain.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. While the additions might be considered valuable, the scenario describes uncontrolled scope expansion rather than formally approved value-added changes.
- B. Zero-based budgeting is a budgeting technique where all expenses must be justified; it is not relevant to adding extra deliverables.
- C. Integrated change control is the process of reviewing and approving or rejecting changes; Andy is circumventing this formal process by directly adding scope.
Question 9
What analysis type could you use in a program to compare the positive stakeholders and their position, power, and influence over your program to the same variable components of the negative stakeholders in your program?
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Correct answer: D. Force field analysis
Force field analysis is a technique used to map and compare opposing forces or groups by examining their position, power, and influence. In stakeholder management, it specifically compares positive (supporting) stakeholders against negative (opposing) stakeholders across these dimensions to understand the dynamics affecting program success. This visual representation helps identify where intervention is needed to manage resistance or reinforce support.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Sensitivity analysis examines how variations in project variables affect outcomes, not stakeholder positions and influence.
- B. Stakeholder analysis is a broader process of identifying and assessing all stakeholders, not specifically comparing opposing groups on power and position.
- C. Monte Carlo simulation is a statistical technique for modeling risk and uncertainty through probability distributions, unrelated to stakeholder comparison.
Question 10
You are the program manager of the BHG Program. One of the projects in your program will be using new materials that are somewhat untested.
You are worried that there may be delays and waste because the project team is unaware of how to accurately use these materials. You elect to send the people that will be using the new materials through training on how to complete their project work. You also allow them to purchase some of the materials to experiment on their use before the actual project work is to be done. You want to ensure that mistakes do not enter into the project.
What type of action have you provided in this scenario?
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Correct answer: A. This is an example of a preventive action.
A preventive action is taken to reduce the probability that a negative event will occur. By providing training on the new materials and allowing hands-on experimentation before actual project work, you are proactively preventing mistakes, delays, and waste before they happen. This is distinctly preventive in nature because it stops problems from occurring rather than correcting problems that have already occurred.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Team development involves building competencies and interpersonal skills for overall team effectiveness, though training is involved here, the primary focus is preventing material-related errors.
- C. Quality assurance focuses on ensuring processes are adequate to meet requirements, whereas this scenario is specifically preventing future defects.
- D. Corrective action addresses problems that have already occurred, whereas the training and experimentation prevent problems from happening in the first place.
That was 10 of 713.
The full PMI PgMP pack has all 713 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.