Top 40+ PMP® Exam Questions and Answers for 2024

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is a standard for potential employers in the project management industry that is globally recognised. We are providing you with the top PMP exam questions and answers that will help you in PMP exam preparation. With the help of these PMP exam sample questions, you will be able to understand the format of other mock tests and answer other PMP sample questions from mocks.

According to Glassdoor, the annual PMP Salary of project management certification holders is around £48,582. Every PMP professional has taken up many mock or practice tests before appearing for the PMP certification exam.

The passing score for the PMP exam is almost 61 per cent, i.e. to answer 106 PMP questions correctly out of the total 175 PMP questions.

Ace your PMP interview on the first attempt by preparing these 45 PMP Exam Sample Questions, which contain objective & subjective type questions. Read below!

Table of Contents

1) Overview of PMP Exam Sample Questions

2) PMP Exam Questions – Objective

3) PMP Exam Questions - Subjective

4) Conclusion

 

Overview of PMP Exam Sample Questions

To successfully clear a PMP exam, you must answer several questions, which can be divided into subjective and objective categories. You need to understand these terms to be able to answer the questions and pass the exam. In answering objective questions, the candidate has to select an alternative from a list. On the other hand, subjective questions allow candidates to give original answers that they think are relevant to the question. For your easy understanding, we have divided the PMP exam sample questions into objective and subjective categories below.

PMP Exam Questions - Objective

1) A Program is:

A) a very complex project

B) a part of a big project

C) a collection of related projects

D) A set of sub-projects having a common goal

A Program is a collection of related projects that share common resources for the requirements of the projects. A sponsor is a person who provides resources and support for a program. 

2) If you are a Project Manager, in which type of organisation will you have the maximum control?

A) An organisation that is weak in their management

B) An organisation with a strong matrix 

C) An organisation that has a balanced matrix

D) An organisation that is Projectised

Projectised organisations are the firms where projects take up the maximum resources of the organisation. Here, project managers have the ultimate control, as they are the ones who make all the critical decisions of the organisation. All the departments of the organisation report directly to the project manager. 

3) Which statement is true about Project Scope?

A) It is a set of sub-projects having a common goal

B) It is part of project planning that describes the requirement of the project

C) It is a group of projects that have common objectives

D) None of the above

Project Scope describes the required work to deliver the completed project. It includes determining and documenting project-specific goals, deliverables, tasks, timelines, costs and deadlines. 

4) What best describes RACI?

A) Recommended, Accountable, Consulted, Inform

B) Responsible, Accountable, Confirm, Inform

C) Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Inform

D) Responsible, Accountant, Consulted, Inform

RACI is an example of the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM). It displays the connection between the project activities and the team members working on the project. 

5) Which of the following is not an input to the risk management process?

A) Historical data

B) Report on project status

C) Work breakdown structure

D) Lessons learned

Reports on project status in one of the inputs required for the risk management process. However, this may not be a requirement for the first time you perform risk management, as a report on project status will not be available. 

6) When creating the timeline and deciding on the deadline, a project manager should:

A) Use his best judgement and estimate all activities on his own

B) Estimate based on the budget and include buffers

C) Involve team members who will be performing the task of the project to get the estimates

D) Both a and b

A project manager needs to involve all those working on the project's deliverables when making important decisions on a project like timelines, budget and deadlines. 

7) What should you evaluate when you find it challenging to evaluate the exact cost impact of a risk?

A) Economic basis

B) Financial basis

C) Qualitative basis

D) Quantitative basis

When you find it challenging to determine the exact cost impact of a risk in a project, you should use qualitative estimates such as Low, Medium and High. 

8) During which stage of the risk management process will you decide to transfer a risk?

A) Identify Risks

B) Monitor and control risks

C) Plan risk response

D) Perform quantitative risk analysis

Transference is considered during the risk response strategy. 

9) After the deliverables are produced, the process of scope verification begins. What is the main purpose of validating scope?

A) Deliverables are produced

B) The client accepts deliverables

C) Deliverables are tested and checked against the scope

D) The project scope is prepared

After the deliverables are matched with the project scope, the clients formally accept the project scope and deliverables. Therefore, this is the primary purpose behind validating the project scope. 

10) Determining risk tolerance will assist the project team in:

A) Ranking the project risks

B) Preparing the project schedule

C) Estimating the project cost

D) None of the above

Knowing stakeholders' tolerance to various risk events helps the team assign levels of risk for each project activity. 

11) What is not an input to the controlling process:

A) Project work

B) Project Management Plan

C) Project schedule

D) Project Timeline

The project management plan is a vital input to the controlling process. Also, Check here to know more about PMP Audit process in detail!

12) What is an exception to the process group?

A) Planning

B) Initiation

C) Closing

D) Execution

Closing is not a process group in project management.

13) The output of the monitoring and controlling process is:

A) The project management plan

B) The project charter

C) The project work

D) The project schedule

The project management plan is the output of the monitoring and controlling processes. 

14) Project Management Plan, authorised change requests, enterprise environmental factors, and organisational process assets are input to:

A) Develop a schedule

B) Monitor and control project work

C) Verifying project scope

D) Direct and manage project execution

Developing a schedule involves analysing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and constraints to create the project schedule model. 

15) What factors should you consider when identifying the responsibilities of a portfolio manager?

A) A portfolio manager provides the finances required by the project lead until it is formally authorised

B) A portfolio manager Provides the finances required by the project to communicate with all stakeholders and Selects projects for the organisation

C) A portfolio manager governs a group of projects, selects projects and identifies a project's return on investment for the organisation

D) A portfolio manager governs a group of projects, advises the project managers on particular projects and selects projects for the organisation

Portfolio managers are responsible for complete governance of their project, selecting projects for the organisation, identifying the project's business value, and determining the return on investment. They are also responsible for identifying risks associated with taking on the project for the organisation. 

16) Which of the below does not represent the inputs, tools, techniques, or outputs of direct and manage while executing a project?

A) The project Management plan, PMIS and deliverables

B) Change control meetings, change requests, and PMIS

C) Project scope updates, expert judgement, and enterprise environmental factors

D) PMIS, approved change requests and deliverables

Activities are carried out during the Direct and Manage Project Execution process to deliver the planned results in the Project Management Plan. This procedure takes various inputs and employs two tools and strategies to generate several outputs. 

17) Of these five processes, which spans these processes from beginning to end?

A) Controlling

B) Initiating

C) Planning

D) Executing

Of the above five project management processes, ‘Controlling’ spans the majority of these processes from beginning to end. 

Learn more about the Waterfall Project Management methodology! Check out our Waterfall Project Management Course!

PMP Exam Questions - Subjective

1) Calculate the Expected Monetary Value (EMV) for a project when it has a 70% chance of a £90,000 profit and a loss of 40 percent of £90,000. 

A) £27,000 profit

B) £90,000 profit

C) £90,000 loss

D) £37,000 loss

The formula to calculate Expected Monetary Value (EMV) is = Probability X Impact

You have to calculate both the positive and negative values and add the values to find the EMV. I.e.

0.7 X £90,000 = £63,000

0.4 X £90,000 = £36,000

EMV = £63,000 - £36,000 = £27,000 profit

2) Harry has just finished selecting his project team. But, in a report, he has indicated that several members of the team need specialised training.  What should Harry refer to for selecting the appropriate training for his project team members?

A) Responsibility Assignment Matrix

B) Project Management Body of Knowledge

C) Work Breakdown Structure

D) Staffing Management Plan

The Staffing Management Plan specifies the time and strategies for meeting human resource requirements for the project. It comprises staffing acquisition, timeline, release criteria, training requirements, recognition and rewards, compliance, and safety.

3) In what activity is a team involved when they meet to review lessons learned from previous projects?

A) Contingency planning

B) Risk identification

C) Project team status meeting

D) Identification of project scope

For risk identification, the project manager meets the project team to review lessons learned from previous projects. 

4) What does the £8,000 represent, when a risk event has an 80 per cent chance of occurring, and the consequences will be £10,000?

A) Risk value

B) Contingency budget

C) Project value

D) Expected Monetary Value

Compute EVM by 0.8 X £10,000 = £80,000

5) Consider the following situation and choose the relevant statement.

Jacob is responsible for delivering a project that involves completing six components. Completing each component will take £60,000, and the deadline to complete the entire project is six weeks. Jacob delivered three components four weeks into the project and spent £290,000.

A) The project is over budget and ahead of the schedule

B) The project is under budget and behind the schedule

C) The project is over budget and behind schedule.

D) None of the above

In the above scenario, the project is under budget and behind schedule.

6) Sophia is a project manager, and she is currently trying to control a project's costs. Which of these defines the value of completed work based on the approved budget assigned to a particular work for a scheduled project?

A) EV

B) SV

C) BF

D) CV

Earned Value or EV is the value of completed work based on the assigned budget for a scheduled project or work breakdown structure. 

Schedule Variance or SV is the difference between earned and planned value SV is a measure of schedule performance. 

Cost Variance (CV): The amount of budget shortfall or surplus at a given moment, expressed as the difference between earned value and actual cost.

7) Consider that a project manager is preparing the lessons learned document. Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A) Lessons learned to involve updates to the risk management planning

B) Lessons learned in meetings concentrate only on the technical development process

C) Lessons learned to provide information that could improve the effectiveness of future projects

D) None of the above

Lessons learned is the information gathered throughout a project that demonstrates how project events were addressed and aids in addressing future events to improve the future performance of projects. Lessons Learned Knowledge Base is a repository of historical knowledge and lessons learned from past project selection decisions and project performance. The subject matter of a lessons learned meeting may vary depending on the project scope. It can concentrate on various topics, such as technological development, design plans, future enhancements, or discovered process problems. 

8) Suppose the project expenses are higher than the expected cost while computing the project's baseline cost. What is the reason for this?

A) Overestimated material costs

B) Excess inventory

C) Lack of stakeholder support

D) Both a and b

Excess inventory occurs when the team fails to manage and control resources efficiently. Excess inventory is the reason behind increased costs in a project. 

9) The project and team are undertaking the process of evaluating and controlling project work as part of a process improvement project for a manufacturing operation. During this process, which of the following is done?

A) Obtaining acceptance of the deliverables by the customer or sponsor 

B) Drawing a comparison of project performance against the project management plan

C) Approving or rejecting after analysing the change requests

D) Applying change requests to achieve the project’s objectives

During the above-mentioned process, drawing an actual comparison of project performance is done against the project management plan. 

10) A project manager is currently working on a project that involves developing several apartments and procuring the required materials for the project. The project manager is not responsible for this document:

A) Proposals

B) Source selection criteria

C) Procurement statements of work

D) Procurement documents

Proposals include all the required information requested in the procurement documents issued by the buyer. The seller and not the buyer creates the proposals. 

11) A large IT corporation is establishing a change control board to assess all assigned change requests for a project. What is the best composition of members of the change control board?

A) The projects initiator or project sponsor

B) The customer, project manager and project team members

C) The customer

D) The project manager

The change control board reviews change requests and decides whether they should be approved. In this case, the change control board's customer, project manager, and project team members are the best option (COB). 

12) How will you achieve your objective when considering the following scenario?

You have to lead a product development project using an agile framework. You must bring stakeholders and SMEs together to determine risks, project scope and other topics.

A) Conducting interviews with team members

B) Scheduling a focus group

C) Inviting the stakeholders to the daily scrum meeting

D) None of the above

You have to schedule a focus group, to achieve the above-mentioned objective.

13) What should you do, when one of the bidders is your friend during the bidding conference?

A) Disclose the relationship to the manager

B) Resign immediately from the bidding conference

C) Pass confidential information to him

D) Do Not give the contract to him, in order to prove your integrity

You must inform your manager about this relationship since there is a conflict of interest. 

14) Which document contains these :

A) Description

B) Owner

C) Source

D) Priority

And the status of the product requirements

Select the correct answer

A) Scope management plan

B) Work breakdown structure

C) Requirements plan

D) Requirements traceability matrix

The Requirements traceability matrix contains the product requirements' description, owner, source, and status. 

15) Due to specific changes, the project is running slower than expected. A project manager is using Microsoft Project 2016 to see the effects this has on the schedule. Which tool will be used to control the project schedule?

A) Scheduling tool

B) Resource tool

C) Resource levelling

D) Fast-tracking

To regulate the project timeline, a scheduling tool such as Microsoft Project 2016 is utilised, which has a function that allows you to undertake a what-if scenario analysis.

16) What are outliers when control charts are used?

A) Outliers are singular measurements outside the bandwidth between upper and lower control limits.

B) Outliers are measurements inconsistent with a run of 7 results over or under a mean value.

C) Outliers result from a rare random cause, usually difficult to replicate and verify.

D) Outliers are insignificant results, often measurement errors, and the causes are not required to be further investigated.

When control charts are used, Outliers are singular measurements outside the bandwidth that is in between upper and lower control limits.

Also, check out this blog to learn the PMP Process Chart in detail.

17) Consider that you are a project manager and forming a virtual team comprising members from overseas. What is not an obstacle in building an effective team?

A) People who want to work remotely

B) Different time zones

C) Cultural differences

D) Both a and c

When making a virtual team, differences in time zones and cultural differences must be considered. Having a virtual team is enabled by electronic communication, and the advantage is that members may work from home or remotely.

18) Anna is measuring the risk for her project. How can she include a few experts who are offsite in this activity?

A) By Performing Monte Carlo analysis using the web as a tool

B) By Applying the Delphi technique

C) By Applying the critical path method

D) By determining options for recommended corrective action

The Delphi technique is popularly applied for obtaining expert opinions on technical issues, the project and product scope. 

Check out our course to develop program and project management standards. Register in Program Management Professional (PgMP)®! 

19) Consider a project that is divided into four phases. What should you do as a project manager when the second phase is completed, and the third is beginning?

A) Performing the process of identifying the project stakeholders

B) Begin directing and managing the project

C) Start monitoring and controlling the project activities

D) Begin the process of determining the project stakeholders

In the above case, you should identify the project stakeholders when beginning a new phase of the project. 

20) If a project consists of 5 phases after the first phase is completed, what process group will follow for the second phase to begin?

A) Planning

B) Closing

C) Executing

D) Initiating

Initiating - is the beginning of a new phase of an existing project, of which few phases have already been completed. 

21) Consider that your project is behind schedule, and the boss is asking you to skip the last part of the testing phase to meet the deadline. And he tells you to say to the clients, if asked that the testing phase is completed. What should you do in this situation?

A) Refuse the boss to skip or lie about the last part of the testing phase

B) Lie to the stakeholders that the testing phase is completed

C) Skip the testing phase, as your boss asked

D) Ask for a second opinion from the project team

A project manager must ensure that all the project phases are completed as agreed upon while taking up the project. 

22) Considering that you are involved in the communication management plan, which of these is incorrect about the “Distribute information process”?

A) It takes place throughout the completion period of the project

B) It refers to the execution of the communications management plan

C) It refers to information gathering

D) It doesn't include responding to random requests from clients

The execution of the communication management plan is known as the distributing information process. The main aim is to spread project-related information to all project stakeholders throughout the project life cycle. This process should also be flexible to take up any unexpected stakeholder requests. 

23) You are a project manager for a construction project. Which agile ceremony will you use in the following case?

Many team members work at the site every day. For timely cross-functional communication, it is necessary to ensure frequent and seamless communication between these members and the team leads. 

Select the right option.

A) Retrospective

B) Risk-based spikes

C) Daily stand-ups

D) Iteration reviews

Daily stand-ups are brief, time-boxed meetings attended by the project team and key stakeholders.

24) Susan is a Project Manager. She is developing a stakeholder register. She has already listed down the potential stakeholders using the data gathering method known as brain writing. What is the first thing she starts with when using the brain writing method?

A) She will schedule a data gathering meeting with all the stakeholders

B) She will share the list of questions with participating members before the start of the creativity sessions

C) She will refer to the stakeholder engagement plan to identify potential stakeholders

D) None of the above

When Susan develops a stakeholder register using the brainwriting method, she will start with sharing a set of questions with the participating members before beginning the creativity session.

Check out our PMP interview questions blog to prepare for your interview!

25) Which of the following range estimations has the LEAST risk if the extremes of the range are +/- 3 sigma from the mean?

A)  21-30 days

B) 30 days with a plus/minus 5 days

C) Optimistic time = 26 days, Pessimistic time = 33 days, Most likely time = 30 days

D) Mean of 28 days in a month.

The least risk is observed when the range of the estimate is the smallest.

26) An organisation's project management office (PMO) should ensure that all project management processes and relevant project documents follow established best practices. What should the project manager look at first to find the stakeholders for a new project?

A) The engagement plan to recognise what management strategies and actions are needed that work best to engage the stakeholders effectively.

B) Referring to the requirements documentation to recognise potential stakeholders

C) Use the business documents to obtain information about stakeholders

D) Setup a communications management plan to find out about the project’s stakeholders and use the business documents to obtain information about stakeholders

27) Which of the following is not obtained from the closing process?

A) Closure documents of the organisation

B) Project Management Plan

C) Final product, service or the project’s result

D) Lessons learned knowledge base

Project Management Plan is the outcome of the closing process.

Conclusion

We hope you find these PMP exam questions and answers helpful in your preparation. We hope after reading this blog, you can understand the type of questions in a PMP exam and prepare better.

Kickstart your PMP exam preparation from here – sign up for the Introduction to Project Management course!