CAPM mock exam: 60 questions against a 72-minute clock

Card 01 of 60Life cycles & portfolios

A medical device program must satisfy fixed regulatory submission requirements and pass scheduled audits, yet the product’s user interface requirements are highly uncertain and will evolve through customer trials. The sponsor asks how the delivery approach should be structured and documented. What is the best response?

Best answer: D.

1. APredictive delivery throughout, since submissions need fixed baselines and formal change control
   Note on A

   A fully predictive plan fits the audit trail but forces fixed requirements onto an interface that the team expects to discover through customer trials.

2. BFull agile delivery with regulatory compliance reviews performed at each sprint review
   Note on B

   Running everything as agile with reviews at sprint end does not guarantee the fixed submission baselines and gate evidence that regulators expect.

3. CAdaptive delivery for all phases, adding regulatory checkpoints if the auditor requests them
   Note on C

   Adding checkpoints only on request leaves compliance to chance; regulatory gates need to be planned from the start, not bolted on later.

4. DA hybrid plan with predictive compliance gates and agile product deliveryBest answer
   Note on D

   Correct: A hybrid approach lets stable compliance work follow predictive gates while the uncertain interface evolves iteratively, and the plan states which parts use which approach.

Card 02 of 60Plans & registers

A project’s final deliverable was formally accepted by the customer yesterday. Which activity should the project manager perform NEXT as part of closing the project?

Best answer: D.

1. AUpdate the scope baseline to match what was built
   Note on A

   The scope baseline is not rewritten after acceptance to match the result; changes should have gone through change control earlier.

2. BPerform Validate Scope on the final deliverable
   Note on B

   Validating scope is the step that produces formal acceptance, and the customer has already accepted the deliverable.

3. CInspect the deliverable through Control Quality
   Note on C

   Quality inspection happens before the deliverable is presented for acceptance, so it is already behind the project at this point.

4. DArchive project records and final lessons learnedBest answer
   Note on D

   Correct: Once the deliverable is accepted, closing work turns to finalizing lessons learned and archiving project records for the organization.

Card 03 of 60Risks & issues

A project manager discovers that a key supplier will miss a delivery date, putting a milestone at risk. Without collecting the delivery records, cost impact, or alternative sourcing options, the project manager forwards a short message to the sponsor demanding immediate intervention. What is the primary problem with this action?

Best answer: D.

1. AIt bypasses the escalation thresholds set in the communication plan
   Note on A

   Thresholds matter, but going to the sponsor about a milestone risk may well be within them; the real gap is the missing evidence.

2. BIt requires the sponsor to update the risk register personally
   Note on B

   Nothing in the action asks the sponsor to update the risk register, and register upkeep stays with the project team.

3. CIt delays the project because sponsors typically respond slowly
   Note on C

   How fast a sponsor responds is speculation and is not what makes this escalation weak.

4. DIt provides no substantiation or mitigation optionsBest answer
   Note on D

   Correct: An escalation should carry the facts, the impact, and possible responses so the sponsor can decide; a bare demand gives them nothing to act on.

Card 04 of 60Roles & leadership

A supportive and influential stakeholder who is not authorized to view contract pricing requests the confidential cost breakdown for a deliverable. What should the project manager do?

Best answer: C.

1. AProvide the full information and ask the stakeholder to keep it confidential
   Note on A

   Asking for discretion does not change the fact that the stakeholder is not authorized to see the pricing.

2. BDelay the response until the stakeholder withdraws the information request
   Note on B

   Stalling avoids the question without being honest about why, which damages trust and leaves the request unresolved.

3. CDecline and explain the confidentiality obligation to the stakeholderBest answer
   Note on C

   Correct: The project manager respects the confidentiality obligation and is transparent about the reason, which protects both the contract and the relationship.

4. DShare a sanitized summary to preserve the relationship and avoid conflict
   Note on D

   Even a trimmed version of restricted data can breach the agreement, and the motive here is avoiding conflict rather than honoring the obligation.

Card 05 of 60Meetings & problem solving

At the end of a planning meeting, the facilitator asks each team member to show zero to five fingers to indicate their level of support for the plan. Which technique is this?

Best answer: D.

1. APlanning poker
   Note on A

   Planning poker is an estimation technique in which team members reveal cards with relative size values, not a measure of support for a plan.

2. BDot voting
   Note on B

   Dot voting distributes a limited number of dots across options to prioritize them, rather than signaling agreement levels.

3. CRoman voting
   Note on C

   Roman voting uses a simple thumbs up, sideways, or down, so it offers three positions instead of a zero-to-five scale.

4. DFist of fiveBest answer
   Note on D

   Correct: Fist of five asks each person to show zero to five fingers, giving a quick read of how strongly the group supports a decision.

Card 06 of 60Predictive processes

During testing, a software team finds recurring coding defects. The sponsor asks for a document that summarizes the quality issues, recommends corrective actions, and suggests process improvements. Which document should the project manager provide?

Best answer: B.

1. AIssue log
   Note on A

   An issue log tracks individual problems, owners, and due dates; it does not summarize quality findings or recommend process improvements.

2. BQuality reportBest answer
   Note on B

   Correct: A quality report summarizes quality issues and findings and recommends corrective actions and process improvements.

3. CProject status report
   Note on C

   A status report covers overall progress on scope, schedule, and cost, so quality analysis would be only a small part of it at most.

4. DRisk report
   Note on D

   A risk report describes overall risk exposure and individual risks, not defects that have already been found.

Card 07 of 60WBS & critical path

A project manager decides to fast-track two sequential activities that have a mandatory finish-to-start dependency, overlapping the last three days of the first activity with the first three days of the second. The second activity depends on design output produced by the first. What is the primary risk introduced by this decision?

Best answer: C.

1. AReduced team morale resulting from a compressed delivery timeline
   Note on A

   Morale can suffer under pressure, but this overlap does not add hours or workload by itself, so morale is not the primary risk.

2. BLoss of the approved schedule baseline because the sequence has changed
   Note on B

   Fast-tracking changes the working schedule, but the baseline only changes through approved change control, not because two activities overlap.

3. CRework caused by overlapping dependent workBest answer
   Note on C

   Correct: Starting the dependent activity before the design it needs is complete risks rework when that design changes or turns out different than assumed.

4. DIncreased direct labor cost from adding resources to both activities
   Note on D

   Adding resources to activities is crashing; fast-tracking overlaps work in parallel and does not by definition add labor cost.

Card 08 of 60Cost & schedule variance

A work package is 40 percent complete, and its baseline budget (Budget at Completion) is $750,000. Using EV = percent complete × BAC, what is the earned value?

Best answer: A.

1. A$300,000Best answer
   Note on A

   Correct: Earned value is 0.40 × $750,000 = $300,000, the budgeted value of the work actually completed.

2. B$1,875,000
   Note on B

   This divides the budget by the percent complete instead of multiplying by it, which gives a figure larger than the whole budget.

3. C$187,500
   Note on C

   This value comes from multiplying by 25 percent rather than by the stated 40 percent complete.

4. D$450,000
   Note on D

   This is the budgeted value of the remaining 60 percent of the work, not the earned value of what is done.

Card 09 of 60Agile fit & frameworks

A product is delivered by six Scrum teams located across three continents in different time zones. Leadership notices that scaling has introduced new difficulties compared with a single co-located team. Which challenge is most characteristic of this distributed scaling situation?

Best answer: C.

1. AEliminating synchronization events between the distributed teams
   Note on A

   Distributed teams need more synchronization, not less, so removing shared events would make integration problems worse.

2. BPreventing individual teams from holding their own daily meetings
   Note on B

   Each team keeps its own daily meeting at scale; preventing it is neither a goal nor a typical difficulty.

3. CAligned cadence and coordination across time zonesBest answer
   Note on C

   Correct: Teams spread across time zones struggle to keep a common cadence and coordinate dependencies, which is the defining challenge of distributed scaling.

4. DEnsuring every team uses exactly the same velocity metric
   Note on D

   Velocity is a team-specific planning measure, and forcing one uniform metric across teams is a misuse rather than an inherent scaling challenge.

Card 10 of 60Iterations & backlog

A business analyst on an agile team notices significant technical debt accumulating. Believing this poses a critical risk to future scalability, the BA moves several refactoring tasks to the top of the upcoming sprint backlog. During the sprint review, the product owner is frustrated that requested market-facing features were not delivered. What should the business analyst have done differently to prevent this dispute?

Best answer: C.

1. AInstructed the scrum master to halt the iteration until the technical debt was fully resolved by the architecture committee.
   Note on A

   Stopping the iteration until the debt is gone is an overreaction, and a committee does not own the team’s backlog.

2. BRequested formal approval from the technical lead to ensure the refactoring tasks were adequately sized for the iteration.
   Note on B

   Sizing input from the technical lead does not address the real conflict, which is who decides the order of the backlog.

3. CRaised the technical debt risk with the product owner and negotiated its priority in the backlog.Best answer
   Note on C

   Correct: The product owner orders the backlog, so the business analyst should raise the technical debt risk with them and agree on its priority against market features.

4. DSubmitted a formal change request to the Change Control Board to modify the baseline scope of the upcoming agile iteration.
   Note on D

   Agile iterations are not controlled through a change control board; priority changes are negotiated with the product owner in the backlog.