PRINCE2 Foundation Principles: 112 practice questions

12 of the 112 Principles questions in the Certsqill PRINCE2 Foundation bank, shown in full below. Each one carries an explanation for every option, not just the correct one — the wrong answers are where the marks go.

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1. Ensure continued business justification: Which PRINCE2 principle is most directly involved?

1. Focus on products

   Focusing on products clarifies deliverables and acceptance, rather than whether the investment remains worthwhile.
2. Manage by stages

   Managing by stages structures authorization and control periods, but does not specifically express continued business-value validity.
3. Tailor to suit the project context

   Tailoring adapts PRINCE2 application to the project context; it does not specifically test whether the investment remains worthwhile.
4. Ensure continued business justification ✓

   This principle requires the business justification to remain valid as circumstances and decisions change.

Continued business justification checks whether the project remains worthwhile as circumstances change.

2. It remains valid through project decisions: Which statement best describes continued business justification at

1. It is replaced by delivery iterations.

   Delivery iterations do not replace the need to maintain valid business justification.
2. It is confirmed only before initiation.

   The principle requires justification to remain valid beyond the initial confirmation.
3. It remains valid through project decisions. ✓

   Continued business justification means the business case remains valid as project decisions are made.
4. It concerns only product acceptance.

   Product acceptance addresses deliverable approval, whereas justification concerns the project's continuing value.

The business case must remain valid as the project progresses and decisions are taken.

3. Adapt its application to the commercial context: What does PRINCE2 tailoring allow the project to do?

1. Remove any principles that seem inconvenient

   Tailoring changes application but does not permit deleting the seven principles.
2. Convert the project into operations

   Commercial tailoring changes management application without changing the project's temporary nature.
3. Adapt its application to the commercial context ✓

   Tailoring adapts PRINCE2 application to project context, including organizational and commercial needs.
4. Use no governance controls

   Tailoring adjusts controls to context; it does not eliminate governance controls by default.

Tailoring adapts PRINCE2 application to commercial circumstances while retaining its principles.

4. Escalate the forecast exception to the authority above: What should happen?

1. Record the variance in the next routine highlight report

   Routine reporting alone is insufficient when a breach of stage tolerance is forecast; the exception must be escalated promptly.
2. Transfer the remaining work to the project board for delivery

   Escalation seeks an authority decision; it does not automatically transfer delivery work to the project board.
3. Escalate the forecast exception to the authority above the stage ✓

   A forecast that the stage will exceed its cost tolerance is escalated before the actual breach, so the appropriate authority can decide what to do.
4. Replan the remaining stage within its existing authority

   Replanning within existing authority is appropriate only when the forecast remains within tolerance; a predicted breach requires escalation.

A forecast tolerance breach is escalated before the actual breach.

5. Authorize and control work at decision points: What is the main reason for using management stages?

1. Replace the business case with schedules and technical plans.

   Stages do not replace the continuing business justification with scheduling or technical information.
2. Remove the need to delegate work using agreed tolerances.

   Staging does not remove delegation, tolerances, or escalation arrangements.
3. Authorize and control work at decision points. ✓

   Management stages provide points for authorization, control, and decision-making during the project.
4. Make each technical delivery phase a separate governance stage.

   Technical phases or iterations are not automatically management stages.

Management stages create points for authorization, control, and decisions.

6. 1 and 3: Select ONE pair of statements that is correct.

1. 1 and 3 ✓

   Initiation and delivery are management stages, while technical phases need not have that status.
2. 1 and 2

   Initiation and delivery can be management stages, but technical phases are not automatically management stages.
3. 3 and 4

   Technical phases need not be stages, but agile iterations do not replace management stages.
4. 2 and 4

   Neither automatic equivalence nor replacement by agile iterations describes PRINCE2 management stages.

Management stages may include initiation and delivery, while technical phases remain a separate concept.

7. Retain the principles while adapting application: What does tailoring require regarding the PRINCE2 principles

1. Skip controls because the project is small

   Small scale can influence application, but it does not automatically justify skipping controls.
2. Apply only the principles that fit

   The principles underpin every PRINCE2 project and are not selectively removed through tailoring.
3. Retain the principles while adapting application ✓

   Tailoring suits context, scale, and capability while keeping all seven PRINCE2 principles.
4. Replace principles with delivery methods

   Delivery methods may be tailored alongside governance, but they do not replace PRINCE2 principles.

Tailoring changes application for context and scale but does not make the principles optional.

8. Escalate the forecast to the project manager: What should the work-package authority do?

1. Change the tolerance independently

   The work-package authority cannot independently reset delegated tolerance to avoid escalation.
2. Continue until the limit is exceeded

   Forecast escalation occurs before the tolerance is actually exceeded, not after the breach.
3. Escalate the forecast to the project manager ✓

   A forecast beyond delegated tolerance is escalated to the authority holding the next decision level.
4. Close the work package automatically

   Forecast exception requires escalation and a decision, not automatic closure of the work package.

A work-package forecast beyond tolerance is escalated to the project manager before actual breach.

9. Begin with initiation: Which sequence reflects PRINCE2 guidance?

1. Begin with technical delivery, then add initiation when the first products are available.

   Initiation establishes the project basis before later delivery management, rather than following initial technical work.
2. Begin with initiation, then manage delivery through one or more later management stages. ✓

   PRINCE2 requires at least an initiation stage and delivery management stages, while technical phases remain separate.
3. Use one continuous management stage from project start through event closure, regardless of delivery structure.

   PRINCE2 uses stage boundaries for management control, so one uninterrupted stage is not the required sequence.
4. Treat every technical phase as a separate management stage with its own authorization.

   Technical phases or iterations do not automatically become PRINCE2 management stages requiring separate authorization.

PRINCE2 separates initiation from later delivery management stages; technical phases are not automatically management stages.

10. Define products and acceptance before planning detailed: For a billing system rollout, which action best demon

1. Authorize the rollout before identifying its acceptance requirements.

   Authorization should rest on sufficient product understanding, including how the delivered product will be accepted.
2. Define products and acceptance before planning detailed activities. ✓

   Product focus establishes what must be delivered and accepted before detailed work activities are planned.
3. Schedule activities before describing the products they will create.

   This reverses product focus by making activities precede agreement about required products and acceptance.
4. Measure progress mainly by completed activities rather than delivered products.

   Product focus emphasizes delivered and accepted products, not activity completion as the primary definition of progress.

Product focus defines required products and acceptance before detailed activities are planned.

11. Escalate the forecast exception to the authority above: What should happen?

1. Wait until the actual stage cost exceeds tolerance before escalating.

   PRINCE2 requires action on a forecast breach, not only after actual performance has exceeded the agreed tolerance.
2. Escalate the forecast exception to the authority above the stage. ✓

   A forecast breach triggers escalation before the tolerance is actually exceeded.
3. Continue within delegated authority because current expenditure remains compliant.

   Current compliance does not remove the need to escalate when the forecast indicates a tolerance breach.
4. Ask the delivery team to absorb the forecast variance without changing authority.

   A delivery team cannot resolve a forecast management exception merely by absorbing variance without proper escalation.

A forecast breach requires escalation before actual performance exceeds the agreed stage tolerance.

12. Tailoring the method to the project context while: What is this mainly demonstrating?

1. Replacing the standard management products with operational records selected by the project manager

   Tailoring may alter how management products and controls are applied, but it is not an unrestricted replacement decided solely by the project manager.
2. Applying the same reporting and control arrangements used on comparable projects

   Tailoring considers the specific project's context rather than requiring the same arrangements as other projects.
3. Tailoring the method to the project context while retaining the principles and necessary controls ✓

   Tailoring adapts PRINCE2 application proportionately to context, scale, risk, and capability while retaining its principles and necessary controls.
4. Delegating stage authority to the project manager because the project has limited scale and risk

   A smaller or lower-risk project may support proportionate controls, but tailoring does not automatically change agreed authority or delegation.

Recording proportionate adaptations and their rationale demonstrates tailoring to project context.

Other PRINCE2 Foundation domains

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