Free PMI-SP Practice Test Questions and Answers (2026) | Cert Empire Practice Questions

The last duty of a project manager is to archive the project records as part of the organizational

process assets.

Answer option B is incorrect. The cost summary is included in the final project report.

Answer option C is incorrect. The project variance is included in the final project report as it shows

cost performance.

Answer option D is incorrect. A project office is an organization within the company that oversees

and supports project. Marty would not close

the project office.

There is positive variance of $122,845 on Fred's project. Variances can be either positive or negative.

Schedule variance (SV) is a measure of schedule performance on a project. The variance notifies that

the schedule is ahead or behind what was planned for this period in time. The schedule variance is

calculated based on the following formula:

SV = Earned Value (EV) - Planned Value (PV)

If the resulting schedule is negative, it indicates that the project is behind schedule. A value greater

than 0 shows that the project is ahead of the planned schedule. A value of 0 indicates that the

project is right on target.

Answer option C is incorrect. This is the project's variance at completion.

Answer option D is incorrect. This is the cost variance for the project.

Answer option A is incorrect. This is not a valid answer for the project.

According to the question, the SPI of your project is 1.325. This figure is greater than 1. Hence, it

shows that the schedule performance is better than expected.

What is SPI?

Schedule performance index (SPI) is the measure of schedule efficiency on a project. It is used in

trend analysis to predict future performance. SPI is the ratio of earned value to planned value. The

SPI is calculated based on the following formula:

SPI = Earned Value (EV) / Planned Value (PV)

If the SPI value is greater than 1, it indicates better than expected performance, whereas if the value

is less than 1, it shows poor performance. The SPI value of 1 indicates that the project is right on

target. Answer option C is incorrect. SPI has nothing to do with cost performance.

Answer options B and D are incorrect. An SPI value less than 1 or 0 indicates that the schedule

performance is either below expectation or is right on target.

The project management team defines which activities are external to the project.

An external dependency is any nonproject activity that is external to the project but has a direct

impact on the project activities. An external

dependency may be an inspector or any agency that may have to give prior approval before the

project can move forward. These

dependencies are external to the organization and are determined by the project management team

to find which dependencies are external

all through the process of sequencing the activities.

Answer option C is incorrect. The project manager may be part of the project management team,

but this is not the best choice.

Answer option A is incorrect. The project team does not define this relationship.

Answer option B is incorrect. The project sponsor would not define the external dependencies.

The Identify Stakeholders process identifies all people or organizations that are impacted by the

project. It also documents relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, and impact

on project success. Stakeholder register and stakeholder management strategy are outputs of this

process. Answer option C is incorrect. Project charter is one of the inputs of the Identify

Stakeholders process. Answer option A is incorrect. Scope baseline is one of the outputs of the

Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) process. Answer option B is incorrect. Project scope

statement is one of the outputs of the Define Scope process.

Templates are used to identify the typical schedule milestones in the Define Activity process. The

tools and techniques used in defining the activity process are as follows: Decomposition: It is used to

further divide the project work package into a more smaller and convenient form called activities.

Rolling Wave Planning: It is a form of progressive elaboration planning where the work to be

accomplished in the near term is planned in detail and future work is planned at a higher level of

WBS. Templates: It is an activity list or a part of the activity list taken from the previous project and

used in a new project. Expert Judgement: The skilled members in a project team or other experts

who develop project scope statements can help provide knowledge in defining activities.

Crashing is the addition of project resources to complete effort-driven activities in faster time. By

adding more labor the activity can be completed faster.

Crashing is a schedule compression technique to obtain the greatest amount of compression for the

least incremental cost. Crashing works

for activities where additional resources will shorten the duration. Approving overtime, bringing in

additional resources, paying to expedite

delivery to activities on the critical path are examples of crashing.

Answer option A is incorrect. An activity of fixed duration, such as printing 100,000 brochures in a

printing press, won't be completed faster by

adding more effort.

Answer option D is incorrect. Activities need not be risk-free to use project crashing.

Answer option C is incorrect. All effort-driven activities are susceptible to the Law of Diminishing

Returns. By adding more labor the value of

the yield of the work decreases because of the cost of the labor added to the project work.

Of all six processes, the control schedule process will take the majority of the time in the project

time management knowledge area.

Control schedule process is a method of monitoring the status of the project to update project

progress and deal with the changes to the

schedule baseline. It is concerned with:

Determining the current status of the project

Influencing the factors that create schedule changes

Determining that the project schedule has changed

Managing the actual changes as they occur

Control schedule is a component of the Perform Integration Change Control process.

Answer options B, A, and D are incorrect. These processes will not take the longest to complete.

The Critical Chain method examines the availability of project resources to determine when the

resource may be utilized without conflicting

with other activities.

The Critical Chain method is a project management technique in which schedule network analysis is

used for the purpose of modifying and

determining a set of project schedules to account for more inadequate than estimated project

financial resources. This method tends to keep

the resources levelly loaded, but requires the resources to be flexible in their start times and to

quickly switch between tasks and task chains

to keep the whole project on schedule. In the Critical Chain method, projects are completed more

rapidly and with better scheduling

consistency.

Answer option C is incorrect. The Critical Path method examines the duration of the critical path to

determine the finish date for the project. It

does not consider when project activities are available.

Answer option B is incorrect. Resource utilization simply means that the resource is scheduled for

work.

Answer option D is incorrect. A resource leveling heuristic is a guideline, such as a maximum of 35

hours per week, per resource. It is a rule

that usually signals the maximum amount of hours a resource may be utilized on the project.

Parametric estimates are created for repetitive tasks, such as four hours per unit installed; 1,000

units to install would equate to 4,000 hours.

A template does not address this type of time estimating directly. A template for time estimating is

an analogous estimate type.

A template for any project is an activity list or a part of the activity list from a previous project. The

template contains the activity attributes

information and other vivid information that are helpful to define activities. It is also used to classify

schedule milestones.

Answer option D is incorrect. Templates can include activity attribute information.

Answer option A is incorrect. Templates do indicate milestones.

Answer option C is incorrect. Templates can save time for the project manager and the project team.

The planned value is forty-five percent of the project's BAC, or $1,055,543.

Planned value (PV) is the authorized budget assigned to the schedule work to be accomplished for a

schedule activity or work breakdown structure component. It serves as a baseline against which

actual performance is measured. The theory of planned value is of vital importance to the project

management team and it is important to keep careful track of this. The term planned value can also

be in some situations referred to by the project management team and the project management

team leader as the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS).

Answer option D is incorrect. $938,260 is the project's earned value.

Answer option A is incorrect. $950,000 is the project's actual costs.

Answer option B is incorrect. $2,375,000 is the project's estimate at completion.

The to-complete performance index can be found by using the formula (BAC-EV)/(BAC-AC) for a

value of 1.07. The higher the value is from 1, the less likely the project will meet the BAC. To-

complete Performance Index (TCPI) is the measured projection of the anticipated performance

required to achieve either the BAC or the EAC. TCPI indicates the future required cost efficiency

needed to achieve a target EAC (Estimate At Complete).Once approved, the EAC supersedes the

BAC as the cost performance goal. Any significant difference between TCPI and the CPI needed to

meet the EAC should be accounted for by management in their forecast of the final cost. The

formula for TCPI is as follows: TCPI = {(BAC-EV)/(BAC-AC)} Answer option A is incorrect. 0.98 is the

project's cost performance index.

Answer option D is incorrect. This is the project's schedule

performance index. Answer option B is incorrect. -$16,667 is the project's variance at completion.

This is an example of a resource requirement. The project needs four electrical engineers even

though the resources are not within your department. Your organization could be a matrix structure,

or it could hire resources from outside the organization.

Answer option D is incorrect. A resource constraint is evident when the project requires the

electrical engineer and she is not available. A

requirement, as in this scenario, is simply the identification of the needed resource even if the

resource is not available in your department.

Answer option B is incorrect. This is not an example of a risk, unless the resource is constrained by

other projects, schedules, or work and may

not be available at all when needed.

Answer option A is incorrect. An assumption would be believing the resource is available for the

project without confirming the availability of

the resource.

The resource calendar is needed because it will help Wendy and the project team to determine

when the project team resources will be available. The availability of the project resources can affect

the overall duration of the project.

A resource calendar is used to make sure that work resources (people and equipment) are scheduled

only when they are available for work.

They affect a specific resource or category of resources. By default, the working time settings in the

resource calendar are the same as in the

project calendar. However, a user can customize the resource calendar to show individual schedule

information, such as vacations, leaves of

absence, or equipment maintenance time.

Answer option B is incorrect. The project scope statement is an input to the estimate activity

duration estimate, but it is not the best choice for this question.

Answer option C is incorrect. The project communications management plan is not an input to the

estimate activity duration process.

Answer option A is incorrect. The project charter is not an input to the estimate activity duration

process.

Performance reports should be created regularly or on an exception basis.

A performance report tracks the performance of the program/project team members. A template

can be created that tracks performance, such as work results, schedule, costs, and other factors. The

performance report must include both the positive and negative performance for the staff.

Answer option A is incorrect. Weekly may be appropriate for many projects, but it does not include

the opportunity to create a report by exception.

Answer option D is incorrect. Regular reporting is also needed or at least, an option for the project

manager. Answer option B is incorrect. This is not a valid answer as milestones will vary per project

and does not offer an opportunity for exceptions reporting.

The various group creativity techniques are as follows:

Brainstorming: It is a technique used to generate and collect multiple ideas related to the project

and product requirements.

Nominal group technique: It is a technique used to enhance brainstorming with a voting process

used to rank the most useful ideas for

further brainstorming or prioritization.

Delphi technique: It is a techniques used to identify potential risk. In this technique, the responses

are gathered via a questionnaire

from different experts and their inputs are organized according to their contents.

Idea/mind mapping: It is a technique used to map the ideas generated by brainstorming to reflect

the commonality and differences in

understanding and generating new ideas.

Affinity diagram: It is a technique used to allow a large number of ideas to be sorted into groups for

review and analysis.

Project document updates are not an output of the Define Activities process. Project document

updates are the outputs for estimate activity resources. Project document updates include the

following: Activity list Activity attributes Resource calendars Answer option A is incorrect. The

activity list is an output of the define activities process. Answer option C is incorrect. The activity

attributes is an output of the define activities process. Answer option B is incorrect. The milestone

list is an output of the define activities process.

PERT uses the formula of (O+4M+P)/6 to predict the duration of the project activities and the overall

project schedule.

Three-point estimate is a way to enhance the accuracy of activity duration estimates. This concept is

originated with the Program Evaluation

and Review Technique (PERT). PERT charts the following three estimates:

Most likely (TM): The duration of activity based on realistic factors such as resources assigned,

interruptions, etc.

Optimistic (TO): The activity duration based on the best-case scenario

Pessimistic (TP): The activity duration based on the worst-case scenario

The expected (TE) activity duration is a weighted average of these three estimates:

TE = (TO + 4TM + TP) / 6

Duration estimates based on the above equations (sometimes simple average of the three estimates

is also used) provide more accuracy.

Answer option A is incorrect. This is not a valid formula.

Answer option D is incorrect. This almost describes the three-point estimate, but does not answer

the question about PERT.

Answer option B is incorrect. This is the formula for the three-point estimate. Note the PERT, while

similar, uses 4M and divides the result by

six factors.

Fast tracking allows phases of the project to overlap and increases risk for the project. When new risks are introduced into the project they should be recorded in the risk register. Risk register is a document that contains the results of the qualitative risk analysis, quantitative risk analysis, and risk response planning. Description, category, cause, probability of occurring, impact on objectives, proposed responses, owner, and the current status of all identified risks are put in the risk register. Answer option B is incorrect. The costs do not change because of the new fast tracking requirement. Answer option C is incorrect. Resource calendars show the availability of project resources. Answer option A is incorrect. Organizational process assets are updated as a result of updating the risk register when you consider that the risk register will become part of the organizational process assets. However, this is not the best answer for this question.

The application area is defined as a type of project tha comprises common components important in such projects, but are not required or present in all projects. The application area is defined in terms of either the product or the type of customer or industry sector.