CAPM

EXAM QUESTI ONS

Becoming a Project Manager

1
1. You have assigned project task A to a resource who went on
an emergency leave after completing 95% of the work.
However, another resource is holding off completing project
task B because task B cannot be completed unless Task A is
finished. Which one of the following is true for this kind of
dependency?

Finish-to-finish internal dependency

Finish-to-finish mandatory dependency

Finish-to-start external dependency

Finish-to-start discretionary dependency

EXPLANATION :
Generally, finish-to-finish dependency requires two or more tasks to be executed
in a way that they are completed in tandem, else one of the tasks will get stuck
at an incomplete stage if the other task is not completed. Mandatory
dependencies are those that are legally or contractually required or inherent in
the nature of the work.
2. Under stakeholder management, a project manager should
__________ an interested stakeholder with little authority.

Keep Informed

Manage closely

Keep satisfied

Monitor

EXPLANATION :
According to the PMBOK Guide, a stakeholder is can be any individual or group or
entity perceiving that they will be affected by the work or outcomes of the
project. Stakeholders with high interest and low authority should be kept
informed.
3. A manager for the software team mentioned: The given
work package for the software team’s activities will
approximately take 8 weeks to complete. If all moves as
planned, it might take 6 weeks but there were instances in
the past where it took up to 14 weeks to be done. Centered
around these statistics, what would be the estimated
duration for the work package?

9.34

8.67

28

5.6

EXPLANATION :
Use the formula [optimistic + (4 x most likely) + pessimistic] / 6, i.e. [6 + (4 x 8) +
14] / 6 = 8.67
4. Charles is following an Agile methodology while working on
a software project. Post scope definition and during the
execution process, he receives a request from the customer
to modify a requirement. How will Charles likely to respond
to the request?

Initiate the change request

Take the request to change control board
Avoid the change request
Decline the customer’s request

EXPLANATION :
Since the new activity estimate has no significant impact, the best course of
action in this situation is to approve it and update the project schedule and
all relevant plans accordingly.
Missing the activity deadline here is not too critical that you have to transfer the
task to another team member.
During the planning phase, estimations happen to be inaccurate sometimes
for various reasons, thus updates and adjustments are necessary during
execution.
If the new estimations have a big impact on the project, a change request should
be issued. Under a predictive approach, the project manager is responsible for
managing and controlling the schedule. So, you cannot ask Megan to update the
schedule without referring back to you since the project manager should be
aware of all schedule updates.
5. Your current project phase has 8 activities, A to H. A and E
can start at the same time. A must finish before B starts. B
must finish before C and F start. C must finish before D starts.
E must finish before F and G start. F and G must finish before
H starts. C and H must finish before D starts. Duration of: A =
5, B = 8, C = 15, D = 10, E = 6, F = 9, G = 19, H = 5. What is the
critical path?

ABCD
ABFHD
EGHD
EFHD

EXPLANATION :
After drawing the network diagram with the , EGHD is the longest path with 40
days PMBOK 6, 6.5.2.2 CRITICAL PATH METHOD, Page 210
6. A project manager is conducting a review meeting with all
the key stakeholders to share the progress of the project and
also to address any queries or concerns that the
stakeholders might have. In order to document all the
relevant information from the meeting, the project manager
delegates a team member to take the Meeting Minutes. The
meeting proves to be a success as the stakeholders provide
unconditional support during the participation. What should
be done with the Meeting Minutes after the meeting is
concluded?

Recorded in the Organizational Process Assets

Added in the Lessons Learned register
Documented to the Meeting Minutes register
Appended to the Communications Management plan

EXPLANATION :
The Meeting Minutes are project documents that are considered to be an
Organizational Process Asset (OPA) and hence supposed to be archived for
reference in the future. Idealistically, the Meeting Minutes should be shared
with the meeting participants as well as all other stakeholders
 7. During execution, a new stakeholder with High Power and
High Interest joins your project. He has also ensured his
support for the project. You have promptly updated the
Stakeholder Register and marked him as Upward in the
Direction of Influence chart. What should the project
manager do next?
Submit a change request to update the stakeholder register
Submit a change request to update the Project Management Plan
Update the Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix
Introduce the new stakeholder to the Team

EXPLANATION :
Here the scenario states that Identify Stakeholder process is being carried out and a
new stakeholder with High Power and Interest has joined your project and
corresponding Stakeholder Register has been updated. So, option A is out of Question.
Option C is a good option, but best time to update the Matrix is when you have
updated Project Management Plan, and there is a clear vision of current level of
engagement of stakeholders. Further, Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix is an
example of Data Representation technique, that gets updated during planning
Stakeholder engagement. For a new stakeholder , desired level is set during planning,
then its current level gets modified any time during the life cycle of the project. And as
per the question the Stakeholder support is already ensured. Project Management Plan
components that may be updated as a result of the addition of the new Stakeholder
(Identify Stakeholder Process) described by the scenario may include the Requirements
Management Plan, Communications Management plan, Risk Management plan, and
Stakeholder Engagement Plan. With new stakeholders being introduced into the
project, it is likely that each of these components will need to be revised. For revision
of each of these control documents, a formal Change Request is required. So, among all
options provided B is the best answer. (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project
Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page(s)- 515, 13.1.3.3 PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN
UPDATES
8. Concerning the performance of a recently manufactured
deliverable that will go for customer inspection next week,
the control chart has determined two data points outside the
upper specification limit but within the upper control limit.
The rest of the data points are within control and
specification limits. What should the Project Manager do
next?

Present the Deliverable for Customer Inspection, as the process

is in control
Do not present the deliverable for customer inspection, as the
process is out of control
Do not present the deliverable for customer inspection, as the
process is outside limits specified by the customer
Present the deliverable for Customer inspection, let the
customer decide

EXPLANATION :
Control limits represent the performing organizations standards for quality, while
specification limits represent customer’s expectations or the contractual
requirements for the performance or the quality on the project. In general, most
of the projects keep Control limits lower than customer specified limits for
meeting customer need. As per the question, the process is stable as per quality
standard of the performing organization. But it’s not acceptable from customer
point of expectations. So among all options provided, C is the best answer.
(PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc., 2017, Page(s) –
304 , 8.3.2.5 DATA REPRESENTATION
9. As a project manager, you always schedule a review
meeting at the end of each phase with an objective of
obtaining the feedback about the current phase, and to get
the authorization to close the current phase and initiate
the next phase. Which of the following way is incorrect for
describing this review?

Kill point
Phase Review
Stage Gate
Phase Planning

EXPLANATION :
According to PMBOK, the phase gates can also be referred to as phase review,
stage gate, kill point, and phase entrance or phase exit. While all these five types
of gates are used right after the end of each phase in a project, the planning
phase is ALWAYS used before the initiation of the phase. <br> Reference:
PMBOK Sixth Edition, Page 21
10. You are managing a project within a predictive approach.
The members of your project team have been assigned to
your project with an availability level of 50%. However, you
recently discovered that the team members have been
spending less than 50% of their time working on your
project. Your project schedule is about to become heavily
delayed, and deadlines are in jeopardy. What should you
do?

Focus on internal charges to make sure that the project is not

getting charged for more than the actual work
Talk with functional managers to negotiate clear and written
assignments with reliable scheduling priorities
Adjust the schedule and negotiate new deadlines due to
unexpectedly slow work progress
Talk to the project sponsor to discuss getting additional
resources

EXPLANATION :
Since the project manager didn’t assign the project members themselves, then
the organization is a functional one. In this case, it is best to talk with functional
managers and negotiate clear and written assignments with reliable scheduling
priorities. It is the responsibility of functional managers to clearly define
resources’ calendar and staff assignments. Part of negotiations as a project
manager is to ensure that functional managers are aware of when resources are
required by providing resources’ calendar and staff assignments. Adjusting the
schedule without tackling the source of the problem is not an appropriate course
of action
11. You are the project manager for a highway construction project. The
project has suffered a lot of delays and challenges during its course
and it is currently running on a very tight schedule. Even a day of
delay will now move your final handover date by a week. The client is
monitoring the project very closely. Today you have received a
notification from the local legal authorities that your project has
violated one of the environmental laws and they have asked you to
meet immediately to sort this out. However, you can't leave the
project site now, since that will invariably delay the phase of
construction that's going on. You don't have anyone to supervise on
your behalf as well. What is your best course of action here?

Complete the phase of construction that's going on and then visit

the legal authorities
Visit the legal authorities first and inform the client of a potential
delay in the project
Ask one of the legal authority representatives to visit you at site

Inform the client about the situation and ask them to sort this
out

EXPLANATION :
As a good project manager you should always keep project compliance ahead of
project delivery. Things like safety, quality, internal controls, and stewardship comes
before the project deliverables. Hence, the best course of action here is to visit the
legal authorities first and arrange for the necessary missed approvals. The client
should understand this and support you as well. You should never break the law
during project execution. You can later find out crashing/fast tracking opportunities
to make up for the delay as much as possible.
12. Rudolf is a member of the delivery team for an app-based
cab/taxi management company like Uber. They are a major
competitor for Uber, and they use Agile practices to drive
their projects. They are now planning an extensive overhaul
of their mobile app experience, including a new backend, new
user interface and experience, new functionalities and bug
fixes for iOS and Android platforms. This is a major
undertaking and will involve several cross functional teams
working together. Which life cycle is the best fit for Rudolf’s
team here?

Exploratory life cycle

Program life cycle
Predictive life cycle
Waterfall life cycle

EXPLANATION :
Program life cycle is a good fit for the project since it focuses on organizing large
team of teams. They are best to handle fairly large scope projects in an agile based
environment. Exploratory life cycle focuses mainly on new product development.
Since the company is already having an app-based system, exploratory cycle is not
relevant here. There is no need for additional market validation or customer facing
experiments, which Exploratory cycles necessarily need.
13. For a decision tree analysis, the cost of executing a decision is
$50,000. For the benefit part, there is 40% chance that the
decision provides a return of $90,000 and 60% chance that the
decision provides a return of $30,000. What is the expected
monetary value for this decision?

$4000
$28000
$22000
$12000

EXPLANATION :
EMV = [0.4 x (90000-50000)] + [0.6 x (30000-50000)]= 4000. Since the EMV is
positive, the decision can be taken.
14. The average cost for a 5-year project is expected to be
$500,000/year and the estimated total profit is expected to be
$10,00,000. The project’s annual ROI would be:

35%
40%
45%
50%

EXPLANATION :
ROI = Average profit/average cost x 100 <br> The average profit = 10,00,000/5 =
200,000/per year. <br> ROI = 200,000/500,000 = 40%
15. The Customer requests the project manager to share the
latest work performance report in WhatsApp messenger as
he is out on vacation. What should the project manager do
next?

Immediately Share the report to the customer

Politely Deny to share the report in WhatsApp Messenger as its
unethical
Discuss the issue with the Team and Senior Management
Review Organization Process Assets to know Policies and
Procedures

EXPLANATION :
Here in this scenario, the project manager should first review the Organization
Process Assets(OPA) to know the corporate policies and procedures for social media,
ethics and security. (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute
Inc., 2017, Page(s) – 383.
16. Christian is the project manager of a complex AI automation
project who is currently engaged in a Risk review and analysis
meeting with his core technical team. The main agenda of the
meeting is to convert those risks that may arise due to market
conditions and the future developments in regulatory
frameworks into the Known-Unknown risks and develop
strategic response plans whenever applicable. What type of
risk is being discussed in the situation stated above?

Variability Risk
Ambiguity Risk
Stochastic Uncertainty
Emergent Risk

EXPLANATION :
Ambiguity risk are also known as “epistemic uncertainty,” the Greek word
episteme means knowledge, since they describe uncertainties arising from lack of
knowledge or understanding. Areas of the project where imperfect knowledge
might affect our ability to achieve project objectives include: Elements of the
requirement or technical solution, Use of new technology, Market conditions,
Competitor capability or intentions, etc .
Ambiguity risks are addressed through exploration and experimentation, seeking
first to define the scope and boundaries of those areas where we have a deficit of
knowledge or understanding. The aim is to transform ambiguity risks into “known-
Unknowns.” (PMBOK Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute Inc.,
2017, Page(s) 398 , Non-event risks
17. Samuel is working on an internal project for his company. His
manager has asked him to perform a cost-benefit analysis to
evaluate all the potential costs and revenues. The result of the
analysis will determine whether the company should pursue
the project or should drop the idea. After the analysis Samuel
find out that benefit-cost ratio is 1.5. What does that
indicate?

The project revenue is 1.5 times the cost

The project revenue is 1.5 times the profit
The profit made is 1.5 times the cost
The cost is 1.5 times the profit

EXPLANATION :
BCR = Discounted value of benefits/ discounted value of costs. In the above
question 1.5 means that the value of revenue is 1.5 times more than the value of
cost. Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) = Benefits (in terms of PV) / Costs (in terms of PV)
where benefits are the total value/revenue generated (without consideration for
costs).
18. Agile is a term that generates heated debates within the
project management and software development
communities. This is because not everyone really understands
what Agile is, and many people use the term very loosely and
mix it up with project management methodologies and
frameworks. Simply put, Agile project management can best
be described as:

A method to manage small, incremental portions of work that

can be easily assigned, easily managed, and completed within a
timeboxed cycle.
A method to manage a large portion of work that can be easily
planned and executed to produce the overall product, service, or
result of the project.
A concept that shows the integrative nature of the five process
groups.
A method that allows collecting the requirements of the project
early on in the project before moving into execution.

EXPLANATION :
Agile project management is an approach that manages projects through iterations; a
timeboxed cycle. It allows the team to work on small and easily assigned tasks, adjust
to new requirements, and perform a continual assessment of the processes and
deliverables of the project.
 19. During a bidder conference, a supplier brought your
attention to a missing requirement in the request for
quotation (RFQ). When checking the RFQ, you realized
that the supplier was right. However, you made sure to
talk about this requirement and its acceptance criteria
for 15 minutes and to ensure that all attending
suppliers are fully aware of it. When sellers’ responses
were received, only one prospective supplier
addressed the missing requirement. What should you
do next?

Retain the supplier who noticed the missing requirement

Retain the supplier who addressed the missing requirement in
their response

Extend the deadline to receive more proposals and have more

choices
Send an adjusted RFQ comprising the missing requirement to all
suppliers and give them the opportunity to resubmit their
proposals

EXPLANATION :
Sending the altered RFQ to all suppliers, highlighting the requirement
that was previously missing, and allowing them to send updated
responses to the RFQ would be fair to all suppliers. Moreover, in this
situation, formal written communication is highly recommended as
verbal communication might be misunderstood or forgotten. Extending
the deadline without re-issuing the RFQ will not address the issue.
20. You are working on a project to create and test a new piece
of software for your client. The project is following a
predictive approach and is currently behind schedule and
under budget. You estimated that it will take another 2
weeks to complete the testing activity. Your boss asked you
to only dedicate one week for the testing activity. What
should you do in this situation?

Crash the project to complete the testing activity in one week

Fast track the project to complete testing in one week
Submit a change request to complete testing in one week
Complete the testing activity in two weeks as planned and inform
your boss that you cannot compromise the testing phase

EXPLANATION :
Since the project is already behind schedule and under budget, you can consider
crashing the project by compressing the testing phase and adding more resources. If
this is not feasible due to any potentially arising complexity or lack of resources,
then you need to decline your boss’ request and complete the testing in two weeks
as you previously planned. You shouldn’t submit a change request to squeeze
testing activities in one week as it will result in lowering the product quality. Even if
it means completing the project behind its initial schedule, it is important to
perform all of the project aspects agreed upon by the customer. Fast tracking means
performing multiple activities concurrently, so it’s not intended to reduce a one
single activity’s duration.
21. Tommy is a project manager for a process improvement
project that aims at reducing the # of defects per million
(PPM) for a fountain pen manufacturing line. He is in the
monitor &amp; controlling phase and currently the project is
running some experiments to prove/disprove one of the
hypotheses (Design of Experiments). Tommy wants to gather
the data from those experiments to analyze them eventually.
Which of the following is not a data gathering tool that is
used in the process of Control Quality?

Questionnaire & surveys

Check sheets
Control charts
Statistical sampling

EXPLANATION :
Control charts. This tool that is use for data representation. Not data gathering. Rest
all tools are used for data gathering.
 #BecomingAProject
Manager

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