PMP practice exam: 499 questions with full explanations

Questions on the exam

180

Time allowed

240 minutes format →

Exam fee

$655 ($405 members) — vendor, checked September 5, 2026 detail →

499 practice exam questions for PMP Project Management Professional, grouped by exam domain. Every question below shows all four options, which one is correct, and why each of the other three is not — the wrong answers are where most candidates lose marks.

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Questions by domain

• Process — 263 questions →
• People — 181 questions →
• Business Environment — 55 questions →

Sample questions

Mitigate — an action that reduces the probability: Which risk response strategy is this?

1. Transfer — shifting the financial impact of the threat to a third party

   Transfer moves financial risk to another party (e.g., insurance or penalty clauses) — the escrow doesn't shift financial exposure, it reduces impact by preserving access to the code.
2. Avoid — eliminating the threat entirely by removing the underlying cause

   Avoiding the threat would mean switching vendors or removing the dependency altogether — the escrow keeps the same vendor relationship in place.
3. Mitigate — an action that reduces the probability or impact of the threat ✓

   A software escrow reduces the impact of vendor bankruptcy by ensuring the team can still access the source code. Mitigation reduces probability or impact without eliminating the risk.
4. Accept — acknowledging the threat but taking no proactive action against it

   Acceptance takes no action to reduce the threat — arranging a software escrow is a proactive mitigation action, so this is not acceptance.

All 263 Process questions →

Collaborating: Which conflict resolution approach should the project manager use?

1. Collaborating (joint problem-solving) ✓

   Collaborating addresses the root cause by engaging both parties to find a mutually acceptable, win-win solution — the preferred approach when time permits and both perspectives have merit.
2. Compromising (splitting the difference)

   Compromising has each party give up something to meet in the middle — it is acceptable, but it yields a lose-lose result rather than the win-win outcome that collaborating achieves.
3. Smoothing (emphasizing agreement)

   Smoothing plays up areas of agreement and plays down the differences — it soothes tension only temporarily and leaves the underlying architectural disagreement unresolved.
4. Forcing (exerting positional power)

   Forcing imposes one party's view by authority — it settles the dispute quickly but breeds resentment and ignores root causes, making it a last resort rather than the best choice here.

All 181 People questions →

Project success is not business success: What does this indicate about the project's relationship to organizat

1. Project success is not business success; realizing benefits requires management after close ✓

   Projects deliver outputs such as features and systems, but business benefits like cost savings and revenue depend on adoption, usage, and operational change after close — so benefits management extends beyond project completion.
2. The project failed outright, since on-time, on-budget delivery means nothing without benefits

   The project succeeded against its constraints of time, cost, and scope — the failure to realize benefits is primarily an organizational and operations challenge, even though the PM should have planned benefits tracking.
3. The sponsor's expectations were unrealistic, as real benefits take several years to appear

   Six months is a reasonable window for initial benefits to begin appearing, so dismissing the sponsor's concern is inappropriate — benefits realization should have been planned and tracked rather than assumed to be years away.
4. The project management plan was flawed because it excluded delivery of the business benefits

   Benefits realization is an organizational responsibility that extends beyond the project — the PM plan governs project deliverables, not post-project business outcomes, though a benefits realization plan should accompany the business case.

All 55 Business Environment questions →

Share — bring in a third party better positioned to help: Which opportunity response strategy is this?

1. Exploit — take direct action to remove uncertainty and ensure the opportunity is realized

   Exploit acts to guarantee the opportunity happens (e.g., assigning the best internal resources). Partnering with a vendor because the team lacks the skills is sharing, not exploiting.
2. Enhance — increase the probability or the positive impact of the opportunity

   Enhance raises an opportunity's likelihood or benefit without partnering, by adding focus or resources. Here the vendor is brought in to fill a skill gap, which is sharing.
3. Mitigate — reduce the negative impact of adopting the unfamiliar new technology

   Mitigate is a threat response that reduces negative impact. The team is responding to a positive opportunity, not a threat, so mitigate does not apply.
4. Share — bring in a third party better positioned to help capture the opportunity ✓

   Share involves partnering with a third party (the vendor) who has the capability to capture an opportunity the team cannot fully exploit alone — the benefit is shared between the project and the vendor.

All 263 Process questions →

Forcing: Which approach is most appropriate in this situation?

1. Collaborating (joint problem-solving for a win-win)

   Collaborating needs time for all parties to explore options together and reach a win-win — with the deadline tomorrow, there is simply no time for this approach.
2. Forcing (deciding by one's positional authority) ✓

   When time is critical and a decision must be made now, forcing — using positional authority to decide — is appropriate; long-term relationship impact is secondary to meeting the deadline.
3. Withdrawing (postponing or avoiding the decision)

   Withdrawing avoids the conflict by deferring it — unacceptable here because a decision is required immediately to protect tomorrow's deadline.
4. Smoothing (emphasizing areas of common ground)

   Smoothing eases tension by stressing agreement without actually deciding the design — the disagreement would resurface and the deadline would remain at risk.

All 181 People questions →

EEF: government regulations and market conditions; OPA: Which of these are Enterprise Environmental Factors (E

1. EEF: templates and historical databases; OPA: government regulations and market conditions

   This reverses the two categories — templates and historical databases are internal assets (OPAs), while government regulations and market conditions are external factors outside organizational control (EEFs).
2. EEF: government regulations and market conditions; OPA: templates, databases, lessons learned ✓

   EEFs are inputs outside the organization's control that affect performance — laws, market conditions, industry standards. OPAs are the organization's accumulated internal knowledge and tools — templates, databases, lessons learned, and policies.
3. Both are EEFs, since every external and internal input to planning is environmental in nature

   EEFs and OPAs are distinct input categories — OPAs are organization-owned assets accumulated over time, so templates, databases, and lessons learned are not EEFs even though some EEFs are internal (culture, infrastructure).
4. Both are OPAs, since the organization draws on all available information as its process assets

   External factors such as government regulations and market conditions lie outside the organization's control and are EEFs, not OPAs — an organization cannot own or modify external laws or market forces.

All 55 Business Environment questions →

-$30,000 — Risk A -$60K plus Risk B -$10K plus Opportunity: What is the total Expected Monetary Value (EMV) of

1. -$30,000 — Risk A -$60K plus Risk B -$10K plus Opportunity C +$40K ✓

   EMV = Probability × Impact. Risk A: 0.30 × -$200K = -$60K. Risk B: 0.20 × -$50K = -$10K. Opportunity C: 0.40 × +$100K = +$40K. Total EMV = -$60K + (-$10K) + $40K = -$30K.
2. -$70,000 — summing only the two threats and ignoring the opportunity

   EMV must include all events, threats and opportunities alike. Opportunity C contributes +$40K, giving a net EMV of -$30K, not -$70K.
3. +$40,000 — counting only Opportunity C and ignoring both threats

   EMV must include every risk and opportunity. Both threats must be added to the total, so the correct net EMV is -$30K, not +$40K.
4. -$350,000 — summing the raw impacts without weighting by probability

   EMV requires multiplying each impact by its probability — you cannot sum the full impact values without applying the probability weighting.

All 263 Process questions →

Explain that in agile the team self-organizes: What is the most appropriate response reflecting the agile PM's

1. Create a detailed daily task schedule for each developer, since a clear plan issued by the PM keeps the sprint predictable and the delivery on track

   Command-and-control task assignment contradicts agile principles; self-organizing teams choose their own tasks during sprint planning and the daily scrum, so a PM-issued schedule is inappropriate.
2. Escalate the question to the product owner, since as backlog owner she is best positioned to assign each developer's daily tasks

   The product owner orders and prioritizes the backlog but does not assign daily tasks to developers — the team self-assigns, so escalating this way misplaces the responsibility.
3. Explain that in agile the team self-organizes, so the PM's role is to remove impediments and create the conditions for the team to succeed ✓

   Servant leadership in agile means the PM empowers and serves the team rather than directing task assignments. The team decides how to accomplish sprint goals.
4. Assign tasks to each developer based on their skill set in the resource management plan, matching the best person to each activity

   PM skill-based task assignment is a predictive/waterfall practice and is inconsistent with agile self-organization, where the team pulls and distributes its own work.

All 181 People questions →

PMP exam: the facts

How many questions are on the PMP exam?

180, as published by the exam vendor.

How long is the PMP exam?

240 minutes. Across 180 questions that is about 80 seconds per question.

What topics does the PMP exam cover?

3 domains: Process, People, Business Environment. Weights: Process 0.5%, People 0.42%, Business Environment 0.08%.

How many PMP practice exam questions does Certsqill have?

499, spread across 3 exam domains. Every one shows all options, which is correct, and why each of the others is not.