Sean Whitaker
PMP
®
Examination Practice Questions
400 Practice Questions and Answers to help you Pass3rd ed. 2016
Sean Whitaker
ChristChurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
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ISBN 978-1-4842-1882-2e-ISBN 978-1-4842-1883-9
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4842-1883-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016940412
© Sean Whitaker 2016
PMP
®
Examination Practice Questions: 400 Practice Questions and Answers to help you Pass, Third Edition
Managing Director: Welmoed Spahr
Lead Editor: Steve Anglin
Technical Reviewer: Mike Roberts
Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Pramila Balan, Louise Corrigan, Jonathan Gennick, Robert Hutchinson, Celestin Suresh John, Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Susan McDermott, Matthew Moodie, Jeffrey Pepper, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Gwenan Spearing
Coordinating Editor: Mark Powers
Copy Editor: Mary Behr
Compositor: SPi Global
Indexer: SPi Global
Artist: SPi Global
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Foreword
Sean Whitaker has a real passion for project management, like no one I have met before.
Sean is not only a recognized Fellow and a former President of the New Zealand Chapter of the Project Management Institute, but he is also a passionate practitioner, consultant, speaker, teacher, and mentor in the global project management community. He has dedicated a great deal of time to the profession of project management and to anyone who shows an interest in it.
This book offers a fantastic aid for those preparing to sit their PMP examination, the world’s leading project management certification. The PMP exam is hard; there is no doubt about it. The theory is extensive, and the examination questions are challenging.
Having the opportunity to apply your knowledge of the theory to 400+ practice questions, well in advance of the exam, is incredibly valuable. It’s a good way to indicate your readiness for the real thing.
I operate a New Zealand-based project management training company called Falcon Training. We offer both public and tailored training services throughout the country and across Asia-Pacific. We use a number of Sean’s materials in our PMP Examination Preparation courses because I see the value they add to our students’ learning. Sean has the unique ability of being able to rephrase complex theory into meaningful words, drastically improving the rate at which our students learn.
Speaking from personal experience, by incorporating Sean’s work into your study program, I know you’ll appreciate the value gained just as much as I did.
I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming exam and your ongoing career as a professional project manager.
Mike Roberts
Introduction
Welcome, and congratulations!
You have either committed to taking the globe’s leading project management credential or are seriously considering it. The Project Management Institute (PMI
®
) Certification Program is recognized worldwide, and PMI is the world’s leading association relating to the profession of project management. Gaining the Project Management Professional (PMP
®
) certification is a great way to prove your existing experience, gain insight into best practices, and advance your career prospects.
This book contains over 400 practice questions for the PMP
®
examination, based on the contents of the PMBOK
®
Guide, 5th edition. They are created to provide revision and preparation for when you decide to sit the exam. It is a difficult exam, and you will need to make a significant investment in study time to ensure that you will pass.
You can use this book in a way that suits your study style. You can work through each of the questions in sequence, randomly pick ones from different sections, or assign yourself a time limit to answer a particular set of questions.
No collection of practice questions can fully replicate the questions found in the real exam, although I have aimed to get them as close as possible. Examination preparation questions, like these, are focused on a single knowledge area, while many of the exam questions draw scenarios from several different process groups and knowledge areas. Be prepared for this: study the inputs into each process and identify where they originate as outputs. Additionally, study the outputs from each process and where they are used as inputs. You will find that outputs from processes in one knowledge area become inputs in an entirely separate knowledge area.
Here are some other study tips to increase your chance of passing the exam:
1.
Start by finding out how you best learn. Some people can only learn by taking notes, or by reading and rereading. You may learn better by drawing diagrams or by teaching to others. Visit a web site like
www.vark-learn.com
to figure out how you learn best.
2.
Use mnemonics to help you remember things. Mnemonics are phrases or acronyms that can jog your memory, like “In Summer The Cruel Queen Has Cold Runny Porridge Snacks.” The first letter of each word represents the ten knowledge areas in the PMBOK
®
Guide: Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Human Resource, Communications, Risk, Procurement, and Stakeholder Management. You can use this one if it helps, but they are usually more memorable if you make up your own.
3.
Plan your study well in advance and set aside time just for study. Stick to it. Life and work can get in the way of your best-laid plans, so if you miss a scheduled study time, be sure to make it up.
4.
Teach the topic to someone, anyone! Teach it to your wife, husband, children, work colleagues, family pet, or stuffed toy. Simply verbalizing and trying to explain things in your own words to someone (or something else) will expose holes in your knowledge pretty fast.
5.
Make games and puzzles of information that you have to learn. Write out processes on pieces of card and throw them on the floor and try to reassemble them in the correct order. There is a great game waiting for you as a free download on my web site.
6.
Draw mind maps that link important concepts in a logical fashion. There is a set of blank ones as a free download on my web site.
7.
Put together a study group with others aiming to sit the exam as well. Share ideas, experience, and knowledge.
8.
Use a commercial training provider that offers courses specifically designed to help you pass the exam. I strongly recommend that you look for a PMI Registered Education Provider
®
(R.E.P.) to ensure you are getting a quality trainer.
9.
Remember that although the PMBOK
®
Guide contains a lot of the theory found in the exam, the exam itself is not based on the PMBOK
®
Guide but on the PMP Examination Content Outline. A study guide that covers all the material is much better than relying solely on the PMBOK
®
Guide. I suggest that you look for a study guide to help you with your self-study. I recommend the
PMP Training Kit
and the
PMP Rapid Review
, both books I’ve written and both available from all good book retailers.
10.
Schedule an exam date. Nothing focusses your study like having a confirmed exam date. If you don’t lock it in, you may be a perpetual student.
Here are my six steps to help you answer the questions:
1.
Read the question fully!
2.
Reread the question!
3.
Eliminate any obviously wrong answers.
4.
Place the answers on a spectrum of most right to most wrong, and choose the most right one.
5.
Organize the answers in order of which would be done first to last, and choose the one you would do first.
6.
Guess! Leave no question unanswered.
For up-to-date PMP
®
examination eligibility, pricing, and scheduling information, please visit the Project Management Institute web site,
www.pmi.org
.
Finally, it is important that if you get a question wrong, you understand why. Use the following sheet to record the reason you marked an incorrect answer. See if you can spot patterns or issues that need adjusting in your test-taking technique.
With the benefit of hindsight I could have got more questions correct if I had… | No. of Questions |
Carefully read the entire question and made sure I understood what was being asked. | |
Carefully read all of the alternative answers provided and understood what each meant before answering the question. | |
Eliminated the obviously wrong answers. | |
Had a thorough knowledge of the appropriate definitions from the PMBOK
®
Guide.
| |
Had a working knowledge and understanding of the appropriate and relevant formula from the PMBOK
®
Guide.
| |
Double-checked my mathematical results before selecting an answer. | |
Answered the questions as per the PMBOK
®
Guide perspective instead of my own perspective.
| |
Reviewed how I answered tough questions after completing other related questions to see if my memory was any better. | |
Had more time to complete the examination questions and didn’t rush to answer each question. |
Please visit my web site for free games, tools, and study aids you can download to help with your study. Here is the list of what you can download for free:
- How to Pass the PMP ® Exam Guide
- The PMBOK ® Guide Process Mapping Game
- PMP ® Examination Domain Tasks Puzzle Game
- PMBOK ® Guide Blank Mind Maps
- Key Terms and Definitions
- Formulae to Remember
Good luck!
Contents
Index281
Contents at a Glance
About the Authorvii
About the Technical Reviewerix
Forewordxi
Introductionxiii
Index281
About the Author and About the Technical Reviewer
About the Author
Sean WhitakerBA, MSc, MBA, PMP
has a diverse project management background, having successfully managed complex projects in the construction, telecommunications, and IT industries. He brings this diversity of experience into sharp focus with his emphasis on professional project management.
In addition to this book, Sean is the author of many books on project management including
PMP
®
Training Kit
(Microsoft Press/O’Reilly Publishing, 2013),
PMP
®
Rapid Review
(Microsoft Press/O’Reilly Publishing, 2013),
The Professional Project Manager
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014), and
The Practically Perfect Project Manager
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012).
Sean regularly trains, coaches, teaches, and speaks about professional project management around the globe. He has been a volunteer with the Project Management Institute since 2005. When not teaching, speaking, or writing about project management, Sean is a keen and accomplished musician.
Please visit his web site at
www.seanwhitaker.com
.
About the Technical Reviewer
Mike Roberts
is a New Zealand-based project management professional and trainer. Mike offers project management services across the IT sector and has experience delivering projects through both traditional and Agile techniques.
Mike is the Principal Trainer and Partner of Falcon Training. He has been facilitating project management training for a number of years. He has a reputation for his ability to connect with his students and for his commitment to learning. He is always happy to discuss the application of the wide variety of approaches available across all industries—IT, construction, health, retail, government, and more!
Mike is also an active volunteer with the New Zealand Chapter of the Project Management Institute. He was recently awarded the PMINZ Volunteer of the Year award to recognize and honor his significant contribution to the Project Management Institute and the project management profession.
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