Just Get PMP

Here, you will find a list of mock PMP exam questions that are designed to represent the actual PMP exam questions as closely as possible. These free mock PMP exam questions are framed based on my personal experience in appearing for the PMP exam and the PMI-RMP exam.

The real PMP exam questions are not easier; but the more you practice, it would be better for you to face the actual PMP exam questions with ease at the exam.

Mock PMP Exam Questions

1. You are the project manager for a software project. You are in the process of establishing the policies, procedures and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing and controlling the project schedule. You may use all of the following Tools & Techniques EXCEPT: (A) Expert judgment (B) Meetings (C) Decomposition (D) Analytical techniques

2. The following are all examples of Organizational Process Assets EXCEPT: (A) Historical information (B) Organizational structure (C) Templates (D) Change control procedures

3. You are the project manager of a $400 million construction project. You, along with your team, have identified and documented the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables. What would be your immediate next action be?: (A) Develop Schedule (B) Collect Requirements (C) Sequence Activities (D) Select Sellers

4. Your project involves the construction of a temporary concrete road. The road is expected to be in use for 6 months before it gets demolished. You have completed the laying of the temporary concrete road. But, the customer specification states that you have to wait for 28 days before using the road. Which of the following relationships most likely represents the relationship of the start of the use of the road to the completion of the construction of the road? (A) Finish-to-start with a 28 days lead (B) Finish-to-finish with a 6 months lag (C) Finish-to-start with a 28 days lag (D) Start-to-finish with a 28 days lag

5. You are in the planning process of a $1b project. You realize that your schedule requires more resources in certain months of the project than that are available to you. Your senior management has clearly instructed that you will not be able to obtain any additional resources for the project. So, you instruct your planner to adjust the schedule to accommodate these constraints. What are you instructing the planner to do? (A) Crashing (B) Resource leveling (C) Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (D) Fast tracking

You may also be interested in: 3500+ Free PMP Exam Practice Questions

6. Projects are a means of achieving objectives within an organization's strategic plan. Which of the following statements is NOT true about projects? (A) Every project creates a unique product, service or result (B) The duration of the project is short (C) Repetitive elements may be present in some project deliverables and activities (D) A project can involve a single individual

7. The project charter contains high level information. Which of the following elements is NOT typically found in a project charter? (A) Project purpose or justification (B) Summary milestone schedule (C) Work packages (D) Stakeholder list

8. The key benefit of performing quantitative risk analysis is that it produces quantitative risk information to support decision making in order to reduce project uncertainty. Which of the following is NOT a commonly used quantitative risk anlaysis and modeling technique? (A) Tornado diagram (B) Decision tree diagram (C) Monte Carlo Technique (D) Delphi Technique

9. An organization invests certain amount of money into a project and makes $48,400 after 2 years. If the rate of return is 10%, how much money did the organization invest in the project? (A) $44,000 (B) $40,000 (C) $47921 (D) $47446

10. An organization is trying to choose between two projects. Project A has an estimated cost of $400,000 and an estimated NPV of $90,000. Another project B has an estimated cost of $360,000 and an estimated NPV of $110,000. If the senior management decides to go ahead with project B, what would be the opportunity cost? (A) $40,000 (B) $20,000 (C) $90,000 (D) $110,000

Conclusion

I am confident that you would find the above questions helpful in your PMP exam Prep. The answers and detailed explanations with references for the above PMP exam questions would be uploaded soon. I would also update this list with more questions. IF you have any comment/ suggestions/ feedback on the above PMP exam questions, you may leave your comment below.

Oliver F. Lehmann is one of the well known project management trainers. Being a trainer since 1995, he primarily focusses on PMP certification preparation. His 75 free sample questions (PMP® Exam Self-Assessment Test) is very popular. If you have not tried the test yet, please STOP reading this article.

He has given the answers and relevant references for all the 75 questions. He has not given any answer explanations, probably to encourage candidates to research themselves. I do encourage you to think and do a research before reading further on.

Question No. 2 from Oliver Lehmann PMP Exam Self Assessment Test

I took question #2 from the sample test to solve here. Read further only if you have failed to solve yourself and really need a guidance.

Source: http://www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm

Answer Key for Oliver Lehmann PMP Exam Question No. 2

There are two projects in the question. We need to choose the project with a better returns based on the Net Present Value (NPV). The below table shows the given data.

Project #	Duration	Cost	Returns
1	9 months	$250,000	$120,000/ year
2	9 months	$250,000	1st year: $15,000 2nd year: $125,000 3rd year: $220,000

Since the cost and duration are the same for both projects, let us ignore those data; we will look into the returns/ benefits of the project only to compare.

Net Present Value (NPV) = FV/(1+r)^t, where
FV = Future Value
r = rate of interest
t = time period

So, the NPV of project 1 considering first three years
= 120000 / 1.05 + 120000 / 1.05² + 120000 / 1.05³
= $326790

NPV of project 2 considering first three years
= 15000 / 1.05 + 125000 / 1.05² + 220000 / 1.05³
= $317709

Comparing the two values, project #1 is better. By, what percentage?
= (326790-317709) / 317709
= 0.029
= 2.90% (approximately 3%)

So, the first project is more attractive by approximately 3%.

Conclusion

Hope the above explanation helps. If you need any further information/ help regarding this question, please leave a comment below.

We will understand, in this article, the flow of project deliverables. The entire flow of deliverables are explained step-by-step, outlining how the deliverables are produced, verified and accepted.

PMBOK® Guide Fifth Edition defines deliverable as

any unique and verifiable product, result or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase or project.

Direct and Manage Project Work

We create Project Deliverables in Direct and Manage Project Work process to meet the project work as planned and scheduled in the project management plan.

Control Quality

The deliverables, created in the Direct and Manage Project Work process, are verified in the Control Quality process to determine the correctness of deliverables. In this process, we are concerned with the correctness of the deliverables and meeting the quality requirements specified for the deliverables. Such verified deliverables from the Control Quality process becomes an input to Validate Scope process for formalized acceptance.

Validate Scope

In the Validate Scope process, we are interested in the acceptance of the verified deliverables. Deliverables that meet the acceptance criteria are formally approved and signed by customer or sponsor. Formal documentation acknowledging the acceptance of the project deliverables is forwarded to the Close Project or Phase.

The completed deliverables that have not been formally accepted are documented along with the reasons for non-acceptance. These deliverables may require a change request (defect repair) that will be reviewed in the Perform Integrated Change Control process. Once the change requests are approved, the approved change requests become an input to the Direct and Manage Project Work process and the above cycle continues.

Please note that Control Quality is generally performed ahead of the Validate Scope, but you may also perform the two processes in parallel.

I have done a video presentation on the topic "Projects vs Operations | PMP Exam Perspective". This is my first serious attempt to use YouTube for my presentations/ blog. Please watch the YouTube video embedded below in this article.


Please leave your valuable comments/ feedback/ suggestions on the video. If you have any particular topic that you want me to cover in the next video, your suggestions are most welcome. If you liked this video, please give a thumbs-up and also don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube Channel.

Thought of sharing some photos taken during one of my PMP training programmes. The photos displayed below were taken during the PMP training programme conducted in Chennai, India. I conducted the PMP training programme for 4 days between 31 January and 3 February 2013.

Note: This article is based on PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition

This is my first post based on the latest edition of the PMBOK Guide. I managed to get a soft copy of the Fifth Edition as part of the PMI member benefits. If you are still preparing for the PMP exam based on PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition, then this article may not be applicable to you; there are only 9 knowledge areas in PMBOK Guide Fourth Edition.

The 47 project management processes identified in PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition are grouped into 10 knowledge areas. A knowledge area basically refers to an area of specialization like Time management or Cost management. The knowledge area includes a set of concepts, key words and activities specific to that particular field of project management.

10 Knowledge Areas

The 10 knowledge areas that are used on most projects most of the time are listed below:

1. Project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Project Time Management
4. Project Cost Management
5. Project Quality Management
6. Project Human Resource Management
7. Project Communications Management
8. Project Risk Management
9. Project Procurement Management
10. Project Stakeholder Management

We have completed 50 articles on project management in Just Get PMP blog, in particular topics related to PMP (Project Management Professional) certification exam preparation. I would be glad if some of those articles help you in a little way to your PMP exam preparation. I started this blog sometime in 2010 with an intention to share my experience with PMP certification exam; and also wanted to use this blog as a platform to share information to those candidates who attend my PMP training programmes.

Slowly and steadily, this blog has grown up over the last two years. You can see the traffic growth to this blog in the following graph:


Thanks for your support so far. I will continue to update further information on PMP exams in this blog. Stay tuned...

Singapore Training Academy is conducting PMP Exam Preparation Course in Chennai. The details are as follows:

Course Schedule: 23, 24, 27 & 28 Oct 2012
Location: Chennai

Special Offer: Rs. 7500 + taxes
Discounts available for group bookings


The price is attractive and probably the lowest available currently in Chennai. The academy is also providing further discounts for group bookings (two or more PMP aspirants). Please avail the offer if you are interested in pursuing the prestigious PMP certification exam, as this introductory special offer could be withdrawn after the initial bookings.

If you are intersted in the PMP Exam Preparation Course conducted by Singapore Training Academy in Chennai, the contact details are provided below:

PMP Credential Scheme is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) against International Standards Organization (ISO) 17024. ISO 17024 specifies requirements for a body certifying persons against specific requirements, including the development and maintenance of a certification scheme for personnel. The PMP Credential Scheme is also registered against the ISO 9001:2008 standard for quality management systems.

A candidate for PMP Credential is assessed in the following three ways:

1. By reviewing his/ her education and professional experience
2. By testing his/ her competence in project management
3. Ongoing development through Continuing Certification Requirement (CCR) Program

PMP (Project Management Professional) is one exam which you cannot pass just by reading the books or having great experience as a project manager or as a project team member. It requires hard work, dedicated effort, good understanding of the project management concepts and thorough knowledge to apply the learnt concepts to practical project scenarios.

Take As Many Tests As You Can

The most important thing I would recommend for passing the PMP examination is to try and answer as many questions as possible. You cannot pass this exam without getting your hands dirty. Let us not get negative here. You will PASS the PMP exam if you prepare well, take as many tests as possible, find your shortfalls/ knowledge gaps, update your knowledge where you are weak, continue with more mock tests.

Number of Questions in Each Attempt

It is not necessary that you need to always take a full-length mock test. Keep yourself a simple target; everyday, I will try to answer 10 to 15 PMP questions. After completing the set target of PMP questions, go through your answers. Review why you could not answer a particular question or why you have answered wrongly or even how you got it right. This review exercise is very important to reinforce your understanding and further learning. Several candidates are merely interested in how much they scored; rather than having deep insight into their answers. Don't commit this mistake.

Time Factor for PMP Preparation

Another excuse candidates generally throw at me is "I don't have time; I am busy in my project. I have my family". Yes, I understand. Please understand that you are not the only person who is busy in this world. You wanted this PMP certification under your belt. So, no point giving excuses. When I was preparing the PMP exam few years ago, I used to be in a similar situation. I sat in a corner for a moment and told myself that I need to cross this hurdle whatever happens.

Plan Your Time

Once I committed myself, I allocated about 15 minutes of my lunch break to answer about 5 to 10 questions everyday. I normally used to relax myself during this time browsing the internet, having a chat with my colleagues or take a nap. I sacrificed this for PMP. As the exam date got nearer, I spent about half an hour at home answering another 15 questions. This way, I was in constant touch with the topics.

Monitor & Control Your Preparation

Appearing for your PMP examination is in itself a project. So, don't forget to apply the PMP concepts. It is not sufficient for you to just plan and execute. It is also necessary for you to monitor and control your progress. I monitored my progress with an Excel spreadsheet. I used to note down date wise, the number of questions attempted, time taken and the score. This helped me to understand whether I am really progressing well.

As some people put it, PMP does not only stand for Project Management Professional; it also stands for Practice Makes Perfect. So, go ahead plan your studies, execute them well, monitor and control; you will successfully pass the PMP examination in your first attempt.

Do you agree with my approach? What have you done for your PMP exams? Or what are you planning for your exam? Please feel free to share your experience.

Risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if occurs, has an effect on at least one project objective. 

Examples

From the above examples, it should be clear what a risk means. How does it affect a project? Risk exists the moment a project is conceived. If you have the idea that risks only appear during execution, please change your mind. You have to start looking for the risks from the commencement of the project.

Please take note that project risk is always in the future. If a project risk has occurred, then it will be called as an ISSUE.

Most of us look at risks as negative and feel that they are always dangerous to the project. It is not true. Risks that have an adverse impact on the project are known as THREATS. And not all risks are negative; some events or conditions can help the project; we call them OPPORTUNITIES. 

In the last article, we had seen the assumptions of McGregor's Theory X . In this article, I am going to discuss McGregor's Theory Y, the other extreme set of assumptions about employees.

McGregor promoted Theory Y as the basis of good management practice. Theory Y represents the democratic approach and gives the employees scope for creativity and responsibility.

You may also be interested in:

It should be an essential task of the management to unleash the potential in individuals. In supervising human resources, Theory Y offers a better description of people than Theory X.

Of course, we cannot deny that there may be some lazy individuals who may have to be threatened, controlled and prodded strictly. But, it is obvious that far more people respond better to a project manager who applies a management style based on Theory Y.

In projects managed by managers who believe in Theory Y, team members at lower levels of the organization are involved in decision making and have more responsibility.

Final Note

Authoritarian management style is adopted in Theory X organizations with centralized control while in Theory Y, the management style is participative and inclusive. Although Theory X management style is widely accepted as inferior to Theory Y, it has its place in large scale production and operations that involve largely unskilled workers.

Prof. Douglas McGregor has proposed two opposite sets of theories about individuals at work. They are known as McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y.

McGregor's ideas suggest that there are two fundamental approaches to managing people. In this post, we are going to see what are the assumptions made in McGregor's Theory X.

You may also be interested in:

As you can see, Theory X generally represents standard bureaucratic and authoritarian attitudes towards employees. Managers who accept the assumptions of Theory X attempt to structure, control and closely monitor and supervise their project team members.

Many managers tend towards Theory X, which leads to poor results. On the contrary, managers using Theory Y produces better performance and results, and allow people to grow and develop.

We will see what are the assumptions made in Theory Y in our next article.

Note : This article is old. PMI has increased the knowledge areas to ten with the release of PMBOK Fifth Edition. Please refer to the latest article on 10 Knowledge Areas.

Knowledge areas bring together processes with common characteristics. The 9 knowledge areas in project management are as follows:

1. Project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Project Time Management
4. Project Cost Management
5. Project Quality Management
6. Project Human Resources Management
7. Project Communications Management
8. Project Risk Management and
9. Project Procurement Management

While knowledge areas group processes based on common characteristics, process groups group processes based on the various stages they appear in the project management life cycle.

Updated on 18 Oct 2015: Project Management Institute (PMI)'s Certification Program includes five eight credentials, as follows:

1. Project Management Professional (PMP^®)
   Credential for Project Managers who have demonstrated experience and competence in leading project teams.
2. Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM^®)
   Entry-level certification for those who are new to project management
3. Program Management Professional (PgMP^®)
   Designed for those who manage multiple, complex projects to achieve strategic and organizational results
4. PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP^®)
   Credential for professionals who want to focus on developing and maintaining project schedules.
5. PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP^®)
   Credential that demonstrates competence in assessing project risks, mitigating threats and capitalizing on opportunities
6. Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP^®)
   Credential that recognizes the advanced experience and skill of portfolio managers. PfMP Credential demonstrates your proven ability in the coordinated management of one or more portfolios to achieve organizational objectives.
7. PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA^®)
   PMI-PBA Credential demonstrates your ability to work effectively with stakeholders to define their business requirements, shape the output of projects and drive successful business outcomes.
8. PMI Agile Certified Practitioner(PMI-ACP^®)
   Credential for professionals who apply agile principles and practices on projects.

Interestingly, PMI does not enforce any one credential as a prerequisite for another. For example, to apply for the Program Management Professional (PgMP), you need not necessarily be a Project Management Professional (PMP). You also do not have to be a PMI member to apply to become a credential holder.