Project Management Professional (PMP): study guide and free practice questions The ideas the PMP exam (July 2026 content outline) tests, one page each: what the free primary sources say, the traps the questions set, and real practice questions to try. Every page is written from PMI's own outline and Code of Ethics, the Scrum and Kanban guides, the Agile Manifesto, GAO's cost and schedule guides and HM Treasury's Green Book, and links to them.
10 free practice questions Drawn from every domain. Pick an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.
Three adaptive teams deliver parts of one program. Each reflects on its own work at the end of every iteration, yet teams keep repeating mistakes that one of the others has already solved. Which of the following should the project manager introduce? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your People building.
Not that one: B is right. In the game your People building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. One standard process for everyoneA single imposed process does not pass on what each team has learned, and teams work best when they control how they work. The answer B. A cross-team retrospectiveGovernment agile governance guidance says every team holds a retrospective at the end of each iteration on what went well and what did not, plans the resulting actions into future iterations, and uses retrospectives across programmes of work. Your answer C. A lessons-learned report at closureA closing report arrives after the program ends, so the teams keep repeating mistakes until then. Your answer D. A quality gate for each releaseCatches the results of mistakes after the fact rather than sharing how teams solved them.
A team member raised a good-faith concern with the sponsor about the project manager's vendor choice; the sponsor found nothing wrong. The project manager now writes the member's annual appraisal. Which of the following should the project manager do? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your People building.
Not that one: D is right. In the game your People building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Reassign the member to other workReassigning the member because of the concern is retaliation, which the Code prohibits. Your answer B. Ask HR to review the memberAn HR referral for raising a good-faith concern is a form of retaliation. Your answer C. Note the concern in the appraisalPutting a good-faith concern into the appraisal turns it into a mark against the member. The answer D. Assess the member on usual criteriaThe PMI Code of Ethics makes it a mandatory Responsibility standard not to retaliate against people who raise good-faith ethical concerns, and makes such retaliation subject to disciplinary action.
On an adaptive project, users in early testing sessions keep criticizing an unfinished feature, and the Developers propose pausing user sessions until the feature is complete. Which of the following should the project manager recommend? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your People building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your People building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. Collect feedback often and listenGOV.UK's core principles of agile say teams should ask users for feedback early and often and listen to them, even when users say things the team disagrees with or does not want to hear. Criticism of unfinished work is exactly that feedback. Your answer B. Test only with internal staffThe guidance asks for data from real people using the service, not internal stand-ins. Your answer C. Pause sessions until feature completionWaiting for a finished feature delays the feedback that could change it while change is still cheap. Your answer D. Survey users after launch insteadFeedback after launch arrives too late to shape what was built.
A Scrum Team has no shared statement of the quality measures its product must meet, and stakeholders disagree about whether finished work can be released. Which of the following should the project manager help the team create? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Process building.
Not that one: C is right. In the game your Process building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. A new Product GoalThe Product Goal describes a future state of the product. It does not settle whether a piece of work meets the quality bar. Your answer B. A revised Sprint GoalA Sprint Goal is the single objective for one Sprint. It does not say what quality finished work must have. The answer C. A Definition of DoneThe Scrum Guide defines the Definition of Done as a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. Your answer D. A release burn-down chartBurn-downs forecast progress. They cannot settle whether finished work meets the quality measures.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes It gives everyone a shared understanding of what was completed, and work that does not meet it cannot be released.
Written from scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html
On a predictive project, the project manager levels the schedule against the specialists actually available, and the forecast finish moves past the committed completion date. Which of the following should the project manager do? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Process building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your Process building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. Find another approach to the planGAO's Schedule Assessment Guide says resource leveling should not delay a completion date if possible. If leveling does push the completion date out, resources are an inevitable constraint, and an alternative approach to the project plan is needed. Your answer B. Level the summary schedule insteadLeveling at summary level hides the problem rather than solving it. GAO says leveling should never be applied to summary schedules, because availability cannot be judged at that level. Your answer C. Accept the leveled finish dateAccepting the later date looks honest, since it reflects real availability. But GAO treats a leveling-driven slip as a signal: resources are an inevitable constraint, and the plan needs a different approach. Your answer D. Baseline the unleveled scheduleThe unleveled schedule only meets the date by overloading the specialists. GAO's goal for leveling is to finish on time with the resources realistically expected to be available.
On a predictive project, a satellite's vacuum-chamber test is a fixed-duration activity. The scheduler assigns two more engineers to monitor the test. Which of the following should the project manager expect to change? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Process building.
Not that one: C is right. In the game your Process building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Neither its duration nor its costThe test's length does not change, but GAO notes the number of people still drives the work and so the cost. Your answer B. Its duration onlyA fixed-duration activity's length is not affected by how many people are assigned. The answer C. Its cost onlyGAO says a fixed-duration activity, such as testing a satellite in a vacuum chamber, takes the same number of days however many engineers are assigned. The number of people still sets the work in person-days, and therefore the cost, so only the cost changes. Your answer D. Both its duration and its costAdding engineers cannot shorten a fixed-duration test, though it does raise its cost.
In the alpha phase of an agile public service, the team must decide where its online licence-renewal transaction starts and ends. Each internal department wants its own steps included. Which of the following should the project manager do? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Process building.
Not that one: C is right. In the game your Process building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Agree a scope baseline with departmentsAgreeing scope with stakeholders is a real duty, but in alpha the guidance says scope is explored from the user's point of view, not fixed by what each department wants. Your answer B. Leave scope decisions until betaThe alpha guidance says to use alpha to explore what scope makes sense, and to show at the alpha assessment how the team knows it has the scope right. The answer C. Test scope options with usersThe GOV.UK alpha guidance calls getting the scope of a transaction right probably the most important part of making it simple to use, and says to use alpha to explore what scope makes sense from the user's point of view. Your answer D. Include every department's stepsAdding every department's steps scopes the transaction around the organization, not around what makes sense to users.
An organization adopting Scrum requires two levels of management sign-off before any Scrum Team may change its plan or process. The project manager is assessing how this culture will affect the teams. Which of the following should the project manager expect? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Business Environment building.
Not that one: B is right. In the game your Business Environment building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. More predictable Sprint outcomesThe Scrum Guide says adjustments must be made as soon as possible to minimize further deviation. Delaying them through sign-off works against predictable outcomes. The answer B. Slower adaptation after inspectionThe Scrum Guide says adaptation becomes more difficult when the people involved are not empowered or self-managing, and that a Scrum Team is expected to adapt the moment it learns anything new through inspection. Your answer C. Fewer impediments for the DevelopersWaiting for management approval is a new obstacle to progress, not a removal of one. Your answer D. Stronger self-managementSelf-managing teams decide internally who does what, when and how. Outside sign-off for every change moves those decisions away from the team.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes A culture that makes teams wait for two levels of sign-off will slow that adaptation.
Written from scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html
A critical activity on a predictive construction project has slipped. Local rules ban site noise at weekends, no extra crews are available, and the following activity does not depend on it. Which of the following should the project manager do? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Business Environment building.
Not that one: D is right. In the game your Business Environment building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Add workers to the activityGAO notes adding resources assumes they are available on short notice; here no extra crews exist. Your answer B. Schedule work over the weekendGAO notes weekend work assumes no breach of local rules on construction noise, and this site has such a ban. Your answer C. Rebaseline to the forecast dateBaseline changes are limited to scope changes or formal replanning; a slip is recovered, not written into the baseline. The answer D. Overlap the two activitiesGAO's Schedule Assessment Guide lists recovery options for a slipped activity, each resting on assumptions: weekend or overtime work assumes no breach of local law such as noise restrictions; adding resources assumes they are available.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes Performing activities concurrently is an option where the work does not have to happen in sequence.
Written from www.gao.gov/assets/d1689G.pdf
A sponsor expects one new transport project to permanently change how the whole regional network behaves, and wants the appraisal to count that effect. Which of the following should the project manager do? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Business Environment building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your Business Environment building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. Explain its assumptions with evidenceThe Green Book says a proposal claiming transformational change, a radical and permanent change in how a system behaves, must transparently explain those assumptions and support them with evidence and analysis. Your answer B. Count it as a stated benefitThe Green Book says transformational change is rarely achieved by a single project, so the claim cannot simply be counted; its assumptions must be explained and evidenced. Your answer C. Split the effect across related projectsWhen transformational value comes from a portfolio, the Green Book says dividing it among the constituent projects is not meaningful. Your answer D. Treat it as a routine improvementDowngrading the claim without examining it is no more transparent than accepting it. The appraisal must explain and evidence it.
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