2021 PMP Mock Practice Tests

attempting to deliver with limited resources and no

well-defined requirements. It is usually the project

manager's responsibility to address these problems on

behalf of and with the project team. A project manager who

uses an Agile approach is likely to do the following to

improve communication through ambiguous projects:

A.Communicate informally

B.Communicate formally

C.Communicate frequently

D.Communicate daily

Question 12

Angela works for a pharmaceutical & medical devices firm

as a senior project manager. Due to significant

organizational changes, one of her projects recently

witnessed a shift in team member assignments. Adam, one

of the remaining key team members, approaches Angela to

share his worries about one of the new team members,

whom he believes lacks the technical proficiency to

accomplish the work assigned to him in this iteration.

Since Angela has confidence in Adam’s judgment, what

should she do about the new member of the team?

A.Release the new team member

B.Nothing should be done since the team member is

already assigned

C.Provide the new member with training and mentoring

D.Keep the team member, then reassign his tasks to

someone else

Question 13

The Expectancy Theory makes the assumption that:

A.Behavior is based on unconscious choices

B.Risk should be always expected

C.Expected quality is not always guaranteed

D.Behavior is based on conscious choices

Question 14

After one month of project initiation, you notice that the

sponsor is always late for your weekly meetings. Yet, you

choose to not address this. Instead, you document his

delays in the meeting agenda. Which conflict-resolution

technique did you use?

A. Problem-solving

B.Smoothing

C. Compromising

D. Withdrawal

Question 15

You are in charge of an educational project. After analyzing

the power of each of its four stakeholders, you find out that

Monica and Markus have a high power, while Ravi and

Sergio have a low power. For a deeper insight, you created

the stakeholder engagement assessment matrix below.

Based on your analysis, which stakeholder should be

prioritized engagement-wise?

A.Monica

B.Markus

C.Ravi

D.Sergio

Question 16

Abigail is leading a project with team members spread over

different geographical areas. During a virtual fortnightly

retrospective meeting, she noticed that there is a

communication gap among some of her team members.

What should Abigail do to close this communication gap?

A.Create a meeting agenda and stick to it

B.Get consensus on time before scheduling any meeting

C.Record sessions and send the recording to all

concerned team members

D.Bring one team member from each team to a war room

Question 17

Nora is an experienced PMP-certified project manager. She

has a wide knowledge of project management tools &

techniques and for that, her team respects her experience.

Which of the following powers does Nora possess?

A.Referral power

B.Expert power

C.Formal power

D.Penalty power

Question 18

Since Jackson is using an agile methodology to manage his

project, he empowers his team to choose how work needs

to get executed. He is a source of help when they want it

and he generally stays out of the way until then. This

approach worked out great for the whole project in terms of

productivity and efficiency. Which are the main aspects of

self-organizing teams? (Select two)

A.It gives more freedom to the project manager

B.It gives more freedom to the Agile team

C.It increases the sense of responsibility of team

members

D.It gives team members higher visibility of the product

Question 19

Zach works as a project manager for an organization that

uses extrinsic motivators to improve team morale and

productivity. This means that the used motivators:

A.Are tailored to the needs of each team member

B.Include rewards, gifts, or money as incentives

C.Offered by the client, rather than the company

D.Devoted to the improvement of hygiene factors of the

work environment

Question 20

The project Caitlyn is managing is almost completed. She is

totally sure that the customer will be satisfied based on:

A.The attractive price of the project and its low running

costs.

B.How good the relationship with the customer is.

C.How effective the after-project service will be.

D.The conformance to project requirements and the

fitness of the deliverables for use.

Question 21

After 4 months of project work execution, Kaegan noticed

that some of her team members' performance was

declining, while others continued to perform well. Since

this is endangering the overall project progress, what

should Kaegan do to bring the whole team back on track?

A.Discuss the poor performance of certain team

members openly with the rest of the team in order to

come up with a joint solution.

B.Motivate underperforming team members by

incorporating a competitive reward system that offers

a bonus for top performers.

C.Avoid interfering in order to give team members a

chance to improve their performance.

D.Identify causes of bad performance, solicit systematic

feedback and implement adequate solutions based on

findings.

Question 22

Aicha presented a stadium construction project that she is

certain will create many benefits to the community. Despite

the mayor's agreement to carry out the project, Aicha

sensed strong resistance from various stakeholders from

the beginning. What is the best course of action to resolve

this problem?

A.Aicha should create a Responsibility Assignment

Matrix (RAM) to indicate which stakeholder is

responsible for what aspects of the project and who

needs to be consulted or informed.

B.Aicha should develop an organization diagram that

places each stakeholder in the proper role within the

project, and thus allow or disallow certain lines of

communication.

C.Aicha should schedule a meeting with the concerned

stakeholders to thoroughly explain the project, discuss

and establish ground rules, ensure their involvement,

and identify any personal or organizational issues that

might surface later on.

D.Aicha should avoid contacting these stakeholders at

the start of the project and should instead create a

“faits accomplis” to pressure them to support the

project due to a lack of alternatives.

Question 23

As part of his job as a project manager, and through his

multiple visits to many countries, Adolf learned that he

needs to avoid being ethnocentric. What does

ethnocentrism mean?

A.Being unfriendly to strangers

B.Inability to get adjusted to the culture of a new place

C.The belief that your own culture is superior to others

D.The initial shock of arriving in a foreign country

Question 24

Stephany is a new member of your latest project team.

Thanks to her exceptional technical skills and ability to

complete all her tasks in a timely manner, your company’s

CEO decided to promote Stephany to a project manager

role. The CEO’s behavior is an example of:

A.Herzberg Theory

B.Expectancy Theory

C.McGregor Theory of X and Y

D.Halo Effect

Question 25

As a CEO, Li provides suitable conditions for work in his

company, focusing on a healthy work environment with

safe working conditions for his employees, job security,

rewarding salaries, and an emphasis on work appreciation.

According to Herzberg, which of the mentioned above

factors are examples of hygiene factors? (Select three)

A.Job security

B.Salary

C.Safe working conditions

D.Appreciation of work

Question 26

Management and leadership have different focuses on Agile

projects. Which focuses on doing the right things?

A.Management

B.Leadership

C.Neither

D.Both

Question 27

______________ communication is considered to be the most

effective communication method on an Agile project.

A.Written

B.Asynchronous

C.Face-to-face

D.Virtual

Question 28

Oliver is a project manager in a pharmaceuticals

manufacturing Project. He's meeting with key stakeholders

to identify requirements and go through the project's goals.

He understands that he'll have to consult with

stakeholders at various points during the project and that

their influence may either benefit or harm the project's

progress. In a predictive life cycle approach, at which stage

stakeholders have the most influence over a project’s

product?

A.Initiating stages

B.Planning stages

C.Executing stages

D.Closing stages

Question 29

Daniel is the project manager of an e-commerce website

development project. Upon request from the client, Daniel

accepted to add other elements to the scope with

committing to the same delivery date. In order to be able to

execute more tasks and to maximize the time, Daniel

decides to take advantage of teams that work in different

time zones and different days. Daniel will be using:

A.Colocation

B.Virtual teams

C. Pre Assignment

D. Source selection criteria

Question 30

Which role is often known as the voice of the customer as

they represent stakeholders’ interests to the Scrum Team?

A.Scrum Master

B.Development Team Lead

C.Product Owner

D.Project Manager

Question 31

In self-organized Agile teams, the practice of continuous

feedback can put individuals on the path of continuous

improvement. It also fosters a healthy environment of

openness and honest feedback among team members

which is critical for an Agile team to learn and adapt

quickly to perform at their best potential. Which of the

following are considered methods of receiving feedback

from Agile project team members? (Select three)

A.Team Evaluation

B.Prototyping

C.Individual Evaluation

D.Process Tailoring

Question 32

The PMI Talent Triangle is a combination of expertise and

skills that any aspiring Project manager should focus on

developing to meet the evolving demands of his profession

and to elevate his value as a strategic partner in business

success. The following elements make up the PMI Talent

Triangle™ except:

A.Communication skills

B.Technical project management skills

C.Business management and strategic skills

D.Leadership skills

Question 33

Emma got assigned to manage a new project. Prior to the

project kick-off, the project sponsor introduces her to the

organization’s C-level executives and reassures the

executives that the project is bound to be a success. Who

assumes responsibility for the success of the project?

A.Project sponsor

B.C-level executives

C.Project manager

D.All the above

Question 34

Sebastian is dealing with a resistant key stakeholder with

high authority. What stakeholder management strategy

should he use?

A. Manage closely

B. Keep satisfied

C.Keep informed

D. Monitor

Question 35

Sponsor involvement is critical to ensure the best

performance and results of an Agile project. Even though

the sponsor must participate in key decisions, their

participation must be framed. Initially, the sponsor

should:

A.Determine project priorities and product features

B.Be in charge of recruiting and interviewing new team

members

C.Set priorities of the sprint backlog items

D.Approve development plans and tasks

Question 36

A project manager knows the importance of building

positive stakeholder relationships for their project to reach

positive outcomes. Thus, they maintain and improve

relationships with the stakeholders using:

A. Interactive communication

B.Active listening communication

C. Pull communication

D. Push communication

Question 37

Despite being an experienced Project manager, this is the

first time that Jakob manages remote geographically

distant resources. He noticed that during meetings, he has

to repeat what he’s saying sometimes due to a bad internet

connection or meeting software dysfunctioning. In a typical

communication context, elements interfering with the

transmission and understanding of Jakob’s message are

called:

A.Medium

B.Noise

C. Decode

D. Constraint

Question 38

You’re in charge of New York's new bridge construction

project. You were informed by one of the subject matter

experts that during next July, all construction work of the

bridge will need to stop taking into consideration past

history of river flooding due to hurricane season. Thus, you

agree with the expert and arrange to stop the work during

that month. This decision is:

A. Accept

B.Transfer

C. Mitigate

D. Avoid

Question 39

Leadership is crucial to ensuring project success.

Leadership can be defined as:

A.The knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to guide,

motivate and direct a team to help an organization

achieve its business goals.

B.The knowledge and expertise in the industry and the

organization enhanced performance and better

delivers business outcomes.

C.The skills and behaviors related to specific domains of

project, program, and portfolio management.

D.The expertise and certifications required to lead a team

to achieve project objectives.

Question 40

Advik manages a project with remote team members

located all around the world for your high-tech project. The

project will introduce a cutting-edge technology that was

never used before. In this scenario, what is the key benefit

of having a virtual team?

A.Widens the potential resource pool

B.Reduces the cost of setting up a workplace

C.Allows more inclusion of different cultures

D.The work continues around the clock

Question 41

Chris, who is a project manager, uses different power forms

as methods of interpersonal influence employed to gain

support from project personnel. Which of the following are

forms of power? (Select three)

A.Relational

B.Situational

C.Coercive

D.Seeking consensus

Question 42

Olivia learned through her professional experience that she

should take into consideration the individual differences of

each member of her team when interacting with them. The

individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking,

feeling, and behaving are referred to as:

A.Interpersonal skills

B.Personality

C.Seeking consensus

D.Integration

Domain 1 - Answers

Question 1 = C

Explanation: Negotiation techniques such as arbitration

and mediation involve the process of reaching an

agreement with others. When direct negotiation fails to

produce a satisfactory result, indirect negotiation methods

like mediation or arbitration can be considered. An

arbitrator examines the legal aspect of a dispute to make a

verdict in an arbitration. A mediator assists the two sides

in resolving their disagreements by the method of dialogue

to narrow discrepancies in a mediation. When everything

fails, going to court may be the last resort.

Question 2 = C

Explanation: One of the key advantages of properly

planned team-building activities is greater collaboration

between teams and team members. Team-building

activities can also foster a cooperative working environment

when continuously implemented throughout the project

lifecycle and especially in its early stages when barely any

relationships among team members are developed.

Question 3 = C

Explanation: Transformational leadership is when the

project manager empowers their team by encouraging their

ideas and creating an atmosphere of innovation and

creativity. A transactional leader, however, is in favor of

rules, processes, and procedures, so they rely on their

reward and punishment powers to run the team.

Interactional leadership is however a hybrid of

transformational and transactional leadership.

Question 4 = A

Explanation: Legitimate power, aka formal power, is

derived from someone’s position or formal title. In this

case, Zad’s superiors’ decision carries a heavy influence

due to their position.

Question 5 = B

Explanation: Complexities faced by organizational projects

and programs result from one or more of these three types

of complexity: Complexity based on human behavior

results from the interplay of conducts, demeanors, and

attitudes of people, complexity based on system behavior

results from the need for projects and programs, or their

components, to interact dynamically with “systems”

existing within their environment, and complexity based on

ambiguity results from not knowing what to expect or how

to comprehend a situation (PMI, 2014, p. 11, 20).

Question 6 = B

Explanation: Flexibility is one of the most important

aspects of Agile: the scope of work can change in response

to new requirements. The agile life cycle aims to maintain

close cooperation between people working on the product

while collecting input/feedback from stakeholders on a

regular basis.

Question 7 = D

Explanation: Storming is the most difficult and critical

stage to pass through. Individual identities emerge during

this phase, which is mainly characterized by conflict and

rivalry. At this point, team output will hugely suffer as

energy is diverted to ineffective activities. As members

disagree on team goals, subgroups and cliques can shape

around strong personalities or common areas of agreement.

Members must resolve challenges, embrace individual

differences, and work through contradictory opinions on

team tasks and priorities to get through the storming

phase.

Question 8 = A

Explanation: Servant leaders are concerned with the

development and well-being of the people and communities

they belong to. The Agile Practice Guide distinguishes

servant leadership with the following characteristics:

promoting self-awareness; listening; serving teammates;

assisting people in their development and growth; coaching

rather than controlling; and promoting security, respect,

and trust. Servant leaders prioritize the needs of others,

helping them reach their best performance and potential.

Authentic leaders focus on the self-development of

themselves and their followers. Transactional leaders focus

on supervision, organization, or performance, using

incentives and penalties as motivation tools.

Transformational leaders focus on motivation and creating

an atmosphere of innovation and creativity.

Question 9 = C

Explanation: Stakeholders with high interest and low

authority should be kept informed. The project manager

should proactively plan how to announce and explain the

project status to this group at the appropriate time.

Question 10 = B

Explanation: When you meet with the team to discuss

then you decide, this is problem-solving or collaborating.

Within a project, collaboration involves working together to

achieve a common goal.

Question 11 = C

Explanation: It is commonly recognized that up to 90% of

a project manager's work requires communication in

circumstances of high complexity and uncertainty, and

that inadequate communication raises the likelihood of

project failure. Agile methodologies are known for their

frequent and straightforward communication where a

project manager is clear on what is happening, on what he

does know, what’s not changing, and what his team can

count on.

Question 12 = C

Explanation: When a team member lacks the required

competencies or skills, one approach to this issue is to use

mentorship and training to improve their competencies.

Employees will benefit from mentorship and training by

becoming more qualified and competent in their current

roles.

Question 13 = D

Explanation: The Expectancy Theory states that employees

who believe that when they make more effort, their

performance will be improved, which will lead to rewards

that they value, and then they will continue to be

productive. This is a conscious choice. However, if they

don’t value the rewards, their incentive to be productive is

lost.

Question 14 = D

Explanation: The unwillingness to deal with a conflict is

referred to as withdrawing. It involves avoiding

confrontation as much as possible. This style is acceptable

when some time to cool off is needed in order to achieve a

better understanding of the dispute situation, or when the

other party is both unassailable and uncooperative.

Withdrawal is a passive response to conflicts that hardly

ever resolves the problem. As a result, if the dispute

involves a problem that is of an urgent concern or is critical

to the project's progress, this style should be avoided.

Question 15 = B

Explanation: The priority in engagement should be given

to stakeholders with high power. Monica and Markus have

high power, but Monica is Neutral, while Markus is

unaware. Having a high powered unaware stakeholder is

more dangerous than a neutral high powered stakeholder

since they can cause a lot of trouble when they become

aware at a late stage of the project. As the project manager,

you should prioritize engaging Markus by sharing the

project details with him. Then, you should try to win his

support and bring him to the leading level if possible.

Monica and Sergio should be your second priority. It’s

desired to have either supportive or leading high power

stakeholders. So, you need to make more effort to bring

Monica to one of these two levels. On the other hand, even

though Sergio’s power is low, you need to work on moving

him out from the resistant level since his power can change

any time throughout the project.

Question 16 = C

Explanation: A communication gap here means some of

the members did not understand the discussion in the

previous meeting or missed it. Therefore, to solve this issue

you can send all team members the recorded sessions of

the meetings.

Question 17 = B

Explanation: Having the PMP certification, experience,

knowledge, and proficiency in project management skills

show that Nora has expert power. The ability to obtain

support because project personnel considers the project

manager to have unique experience or skills is known as

expert power.

Question 18 = B, C

Explanation: Self-organizing teams, unlike conventional

teams, do not wait for supervisors to assign them tasks.

Instead, they determine which tasks must be

accomplished, prioritize those tasks, and handle their

schedules and deadlines on their own. Self-organizing

teams tend to have a greater sense of ownership,

engagement, and responsibility.

Question 19 = B

Explanation: Extrinsic motivation is described as actions

motivated by external factors such as grades, popularity,

money, and praise. This form of motivation comes from

outside of the person, as opposed to intrinsic motivation,

which comes from inside of the person. Extrinsic

motivation is commonly described as the desire to

participate in activities in order to obtain a known, external

reward. It's important to remember that these incentives

can be physical or psychological. Two common forms of

tangible rewards are money and trophies. Praise and public

acclaim are examples of psychological forms of extrinsic

motivation.

Question 20 = D

Explanation: It’s not enough to make sure you get a

project done on time and under budget. You need to be

sure you make the right product to suit your stakeholders’

needs. Customer satisfaction is about making sure that the

people who are paying for the end product are happy with

what they get. “Fitness to use” is about making sure that

the product you build has the best design possible to fit the

customer’s needs. Conformance to requirements and

usability of deliverables are the basis for customer

satisfaction as they allow you to measure how well your

product meets expectations.

Question 21 = D

Explanation: Kaegan's objective should be to understand

why a once competent team player is now struggling. The

project manager should first recognize the symptoms,

reach out to the underperforming team members, talk to

them to try to find out the cause, offer whatever help they

can, monitor and measure progress, and be sure to share

feedback.

Question 22 = C

Explanation: Aicha should schedule a meeting with the

concerned stakeholders to present the project, discuss and

establish ground rules, ensure their involvement and

identify initial personal and organizational issues is what

Aicha should do. She can overcome stakeholder resistance

by simply listening to their concerns and suspending her

own judgment of resisting stakeholders. The purpose is to

see the project from the perspective of the stakeholders.

The project manager should understand what drives and

motivates the stakeholder.

Question 23 = C

Explanation: Ethnocentrism plays a significant role in the

tension and division that exist among members of various

ethnicities, races, and religious groups. It is the

presumption that one's racial group is superior to another.

Ethnocentric people feel they are superior to others merely

because of their ethnic heritage. Clearly, this practice

relates to problems of both racism and prejudice.

Question 24 = D

Explanation: The CEO behavior is an illustration of the

Halo effect. The Halo Effect implies making a decision

based on a person’s attribute or performance in one

specific area. Stephany has great technical skills which

gave the CEO the impression that she can be a great

project manager. Apart from her technical skills, there is no

tangible evidence proving that Stephany is able to lead a

project. Herzberg’s Theory recognizes two categories of

workers’ satisfaction factors: hygiene agents and motivating

agents. Expectancy Theory states that people will behave

based on what they expect as a result of their behavior.

McGregor’s theory states that management believes there

are two types of workers: Y represents those who are

self-motivated and enjoy their work and X represents those

who dislike their work.

Question 25 = A, B, C

Explanation: According to Herzberg's Motivation Theory

model (aka Two Factor Theory), there are two variables that

an organization should change to enhance workplace

motivation. These two factors are Motivators that can

entice employees to make more effort and Hygiene factors

that won’t encourage employees to work harder but they

will cause them to become unmotivated if they are not

present. Herzberg ranks the following hygiene factors in

descending order of importance: company policy,

supervision, employee's relationship with their boss, work

conditions, salary, and relationships with peers.

Appreciation at work is not a hygiene factor, it’s considered

a motivating factor.

Question 26 = B

Explanation: On Agile projects, management is entirely

focused on doing things the right way, while leadership is

concerned with doing the right things. This is Peter

Drucker’s leadership definition, which suggests that

leaders are in charge of deciding what to do, while

managers decide how to do things.

Question 27 = C

Explanation: Face-to-face communication is the verbal

exchange of information by senders and receivers in

real-time and is considered to be the most effective form of

communication in both predictive and agile project

management methods. Collocation helps make face-to-face

communication a reality for an Agile project team.

Question 28 = A

Explanation: In the early stages of a project's life cycle,

stakeholders have the most influence and impact. The

possibilities of influencing project success are seen to be

best during the early project stages because decisions

made early reduce unnecessary changes during later

development stages and even the total life-cycle costs.

Question 29 = B

Explanation: Teams that work in different time zones and

different days of the week are virtual teams. Virtual teams

are not location-limited, you can hire them across the

world. That means you can hire virtual resources across

different time zones. Thus, hiring resources from different

geographical zones means that your project can operate

24×7. This way, you can provide a 24×7 service without

overworking.

Question 30 = C

Explanation: The Product Owner, also known as the "voice

of the customer," is in charge of bridging the gap between

the customer, stakeholders, and the development team. A

Product Owner represents the stakeholder community's

interests to the Scrum Team. They are in charge of

ensuring that the product/service functionality

specifications are communicated clearly to the Scrum

Team, determining Acceptance Criteria, and ensuring that

those criteria are met and satisfied. To put it simply, the

Product Owner is in charge of ensuring that the Scrum

Team creates value.

Question 31 = A, C, D

Explanation: Team Evaluation, Individual Evaluation, and

Process Tailoring are all methods of soliciting f...