Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM): study guide and free practice questions The ideas the CAPM exam tests, one page each: what free primary sources say (the UK government's project guidance, GAO's schedule guide, the Scrum and Kanban guides, Extreme Programming and SAFe), the traps the questions set, and real practice questions to try. Every page links to its sources.
Topics Project management fundamentals Predictive, plan-based methods 10 free practice questions Drawn from every domain. Pick an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.
Before authorizing a major launch, a program manager wants to reduce the effect of cognitive bias, such as confirmation bias, on the decision.
Which two of the following can be used? (Choose two) Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts building.
Not that one: D,E is right. In the game your Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Decision treeDecision trees structure choices and outcomes. SEBoK's bias mitigations are independent review, crew resource management and the premortem, not analysis diagrams. Your answer B. Monte Carlo simulationMonte Carlo simulation shows how uncertainties affect an alternative's value. It improves the analysis but does nothing about the bias of the person deciding. Your answer C. Sensitivity analysisSensitivity analysis checks how much results change when inputs vary. It is not one of the bias mitigations SEBoK names. Your answer D. Independent reviewYour answer E. Premortem
Show the full explanation and doc quotes The premortem has trusted experts present the negative argument against a major decision before it is made.
Written from sebokwiki.org/wiki/Decision_Management
As a programme closes, its team must show whether the agreed outputs were delivered and assess its outcomes, impact and value for money against strategic objectives. Which artifact will be produced? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts building.
Not that one: D is right. In the game your Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Business caseThe business case is written to justify the investment before the work starts. The closure stage produces completion reports. Your answer B. Project charterA project charter starts and authorises the work. The closure stage produces completion reports. Your answer C. Benefits realisation planA benefits realisation plan sets out future activities to achieve benefits; it is not produced to close the programme. The answer D. Completion reportThe FCDO Programme Operating Framework's closure stage ensures agreed outputs were delivered and outcomes achieved, and includes producing completion reports that review performance and assess outcomes, impact and value for money against strategic objectives.
A public body is deciding whether to fund a risk mitigation for a new IT system that would lower the likelihood of an outage. Which two of the following will the mitigation reduce? (Choose two) Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts building.
Not that one: B,E is right. In the game your Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Opportunity costsOpportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative use of goods or services. A mitigation is weighed on its prevention cost against impact and correction costs, not on this. Your answer B. Impact costsYour answer C. Prevention costsPaying for the mitigation is itself a prevention cost. The Green Book weighs that cost against the lower impact and correction costs it buys. Your answer D. Sunk costsSunk costs have already been incurred and cannot be changed, so no mitigation can reduce them, and the Green Book leaves them out of appraisal. Your answer E. Correction costs
A scheduler maintains a multiyear program's integrated master schedule and must keep its critical path valid as work progresses.
Which two of the following are points at which that path will be evaluated? (Choose two) Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building.
Not that one: B,E is right. In the game your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. At program closeoutBy closeout the work is complete. GAO wants the critical path checked while it can still focus management on activities that would delay the finish. Your answer B. Before the baseline is setYour answer C. Once, at contract awardGAO says the critical path is not constant: activities that were critical may become noncritical and the reverse. A single check at award would soon be out of date. Your answer D. At each fiscal year endA yearly review leaves many status periods unchecked. GAO asks for the path to be compared with the previous period's after each status update. Your answer E. After every status update
Management has just approved a program's updated current schedule. Every status update must stay traceable, and all stakeholders must work from the same one.
Which two of the following should be done? (Choose two) Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building.
Not that one: D,E is right. In the game your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Remove completed activitiesCompleted activities carry the actual dates that status updates record. Removing them does not help anyone trace the updates or agree on a version. Your answer B. Delete superseded versionsTraceability depends on keeping earlier approved versions. Deleting them breaks the trail of status updates. Your answer C. Overwrite the baseline scheduleGAO's change control guidance preserves a baseline schedule so progress can be measured against it. Overwriting the baseline with the current schedule removes that reference. Your answer D. Assign a version numberYour answer E. Archive that copy
Following the three steps for making an agile plan, a government service team has written its vision with its stakeholders and is moving to the following step. Which artifact will be developed in that step? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Agile Frameworks/Methodologies building.
Not that one: C is right. In the game your Agile Frameworks/Methodologies building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Sprint backlogSprint planning is the detailed planning of the coming iteration's work, done after the plan's vision, objectives and roadmap. Your answer B. Product backlogThe product backlog holds user stories used in iteration planning; the guidance does not make it a step of building the plan. The answer C. ObjectivesGOV.UK sets out three steps for an agile plan: write a vision, define objectives, then make a roadmap. The roadmap lists the main features needed to achieve the objectives, so the objectives must exist before it. Your answer D. Product roadmapThe roadmap comes third. It holds the main features the team must build to achieve its objectives, so it cannot be made before them.
A sponsor new to agile hears that an agile team will keep a plan for its release. The team lead explains how the Manifesto for Agile Software Development treats this. What is an agile team's stance on following a plan? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Agile Frameworks/Methodologies building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your Agile Frameworks/Methodologies building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. Valued less than responding to changeThe Manifesto values responding to change over following a plan, and closes by saying that while there is value in the items on the right, the items on the left are valued more. Following a plan keeps its value; it ranks below responding to change. Your answer B. Dropped in favour of responding to changeA common misreading: the Manifesto keeps value in the items on the right, including following a plan. Your answer C. Valued equally with responding to changeThe Manifesto places the items on the left above those on the right, so the two are not equal. Your answer D. Valued more than responding to changeThe ranking runs the other way: responding to change is valued over following a plan.
An Agile Team in SAFe is writing stories for its team backlog. Which two of the following describe a story? (Choose two) Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Business Analysis Frameworks building.
Not that one: C,E is right. In the game your Business Analysis Frameworks building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Delivered by one ART within a PIDelivery by one ART within a PI is the size of a feature. Stories are smaller: a team finishes one in a few days or less. Your answer B. Estimated by the Product Owner aloneStories are not estimated by one person. SAFe says Agile Teams write and estimate stories together. Your answer C. Finished in a few days or lessYour answer D. Implemented across multiple ARTsSpanning multiple ARTs is the size of a capability. Each story is finished by one team in a few days or less. Your answer E. Told from the user's perspective
During discovery, a government service team wants to learn who its likely users are, how they do things now and what problems they face. Which two of the following activities fit this phase? (Choose two) Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Business Analysis Frameworks building.
Not that one: A,E is right. In the game your Business Analysis Frameworks building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Examining existing dataYour answer B. A/B testing new featuresA/B testing compares two versions of a feature, which GOV.UK places in the live phase. In discovery there is nothing built yet to compare. Your answer C. Testing prototype solutionsGOV.UK says alpha is where teams build prototypes to try out different solutions. Discovery happens before any designing or building. Your answer D. Usability testing changed featuresTesting added or changed features is a live-phase activity. Discovery learns about users before any features exist. Your answer E. Reviewing previous research
On a predictive project, a business analyst tracks how many 'shall' statements still contain TBDs or TBRs and how many are not traced to a source, and shares these figures with the team. Which tool can be used? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Business Analysis Frameworks building.
Not that one: D is right. In the game your Business Analysis Frameworks building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Kanban boardThe Kanban board visualises workflow. SEBoK names requirements management tools for capturing traceability and communicating requirement metrics. Your answer B. Gantt chartThe Gantt chart schedules activities over time. Counts of TBDs and untraced statements come from requirements management software. Your answer C. Earned value management systemEarned value tracks cost and schedule performance. Requirement metrics such as untraced statements are communicated through requirements management software. The answer D. Requirements management softwareSEBoK lists metrics for monitoring and controlling needs and requirements, including the number with TBDs or TBRs and the number not traced to a source.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes It says a requirements management tool (RMT) can capture requirements, their traceability and attributes, and communicate metrics and status.
Written from sebokwiki.org/wiki/Requirements_Management
Certopolis is an independent study game. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by PMI, and its questions are not the exams' questions. Exam names are trademarks of their owners.