Free CAPM® Practice Questions

On PMI’s website, they only provide two CAPM® practice questions. Here are a few that
we created. (PMP® questions will be coming soon. Sorry!)

1. Which of the following represents the lowest level in the WBS?

 Requirement
 Work Package
 Summary Task
 Scope Item

Answer: Work Package. The way I remember is that both “WBS” and “work package” start
with “W”. Work packages will be decomposed later into activities in the “Define Activities”
process.

2. ____specify the working days that each project team member is available.

 Project Team Assignments

 Activity Lists
 Resource Breakdown Structures
 Resource Calendars

Answer: Resource Calendars. “Project Team Assignments” tell us who is assigned to the
project and the “Resource Breakdown Structure” is a hierarchy of resource types. Neither
tells us what working days team members are available.

3. Deliverables are an output of which of the following processes?

 Close Project or Phase

 Monitor and Control Project Work
 Direct and Manage Project Work
 Perform Integrated Change Control

Answer: Direct and Manage Project Work. During the “Direct and Manage Project Work”
process, we actually get the work done, which means producing the project deliverables.
4. Which of the following is a contract that is most commonly used when the
work spans several years?

 Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF)

 Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment (FP-EPA)
 Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF)
 Firm Fixed Price (FFP)

Answer: Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment (FP-EPA). With this contract,
payments may change over time to align with some reliable financial index. This makes it a
useful contract when the work spans several years.

5. All of the following are enterprise environmental factors, except:

 Change Control Procedures

 Organizational Culture
 Political Climate
 Industry Standards

Answer: Change Control Procedures. These procedures are an organizational process asset,
which are often policies, procedures, or knowledge bases that are organization-specific.
Enterprise environmental factors are conditions outside of the control of the project team
(such as culture or political climate) that can affect a project.

6. Which of the following processes involves aggregating estimated costs to create an

authorized cost baseline?

 Estimate Activity Resources

 Determine Budget
 Estimate Costs
 Sequence Activities

Answer: Determine Budget. The “Estimate Costs” process is when we approximate activity
costs. We then aggregate those costs and create an authorized cost baseline in the “Determine
Budget” process.

7. All of the following are tools and techniques used in the “Collect Requirements”
process except:

 Interviews
 Observations
 Prototypes
 Alternatives Identification
Answer: Alternatives Analysis. This technique is used in the “Define Scope” process, which
occurs after requirements are collected.

8. The scope baseline includes all of the following, except:

 Requirements Documentation
 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
 WBS Dictionary
 Project Scope Statement

Answer: Requirements Documentation. Requirements documents are created before the

scope baseline, which includes the project scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary.

9. Which of the following is an input to the “Monitor Communications” process?

 Work Performance Information

 Issue Log
 Change Requests
 Stakeholder Register

Answer: Issue Log. Two of the other options to this question (“Change Requests” and “Work
Performance Information”) are outputs of the “Monitor Communications” process (not
inputs).

10. A project has 13 stakeholders. How many communications channels exist?

 13
 156
 78
 12

Answer: 78. The calculation for communication channels is n(n-1)/2. In this case, that would
mean 13(13-1)/2, which equals 78.

11. “Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis” is performed in which process group:

 Executing
 Initiating
 Monitoring and Controlling
 Planning
Answer: Planning. We identify risks, analyze risks, and plans risk responses in the
“Planning” process group.

12. Raw observations identified during project activities, such as actual cost and
duration, are considered ______.

 Work Performance Reports

 Work Performance Data
 Deliverable Statuses
 Work Performance Information

Answer: Work Performance Data. Raw project observations, such as actual costs, are always
“Work Performance Data”. We then turn that data into useful “Work Performance
Information”. An example would be: “based on our actual costs (data), we know that we are
overspending and at risk of running out of funding (information).”

13. On a project to construct a new warehouse, two weeks before painting is complete,
the activity to lay carpet can begin. This is an example of:

 Task
 Lead
 Activity
 Lag

Answer: Lead. Because the successor activity (“laying the carpet”) can start before the
predecessor (“painting”) is complete, it is a lead. The successor can start sooner. There is no
need to wait. If it could not start until two weeks after completing painting, it would be a
lag. There would be a gap after the predecessor is complete.

14. When using EVM, ______ is a measure of schedule efficiency on a project.

 EAC
 SV
 CPI
 SPI

Answer: SPI. The “Schedule Performance Index (SPI)” is a measure of schedule efficiency.
It is a ratio. The “Schedule Variance (SV)” measures schedule performance. It is the
difference between earned value and planned value.

15. Which of the following techniques uses algorithms to generate cost or schedule
estimates based on historical data?
  Analogous Estimating
 Bottom-Up Estimating
 Parametric Estimating
 Three-Point Estimating

Answer: Parametric Estimation. The way to remember this is by thinking about the “metric”
portion of the word “parametric”. Metrics are mathematical, just like algorithms… so with
“Parametric Estimating,” we use algorithms to generate cost and schedule estimates.

16. All of the following are outputs of the “Monitor and Control Project Work”
process, except:

 Change Log
 Work Performance Reports
 Project Documents Updates
 Change Requests

Answer: Change Log. It is an output of “Perform Integrated Change Control.”

17. Using the ______, we classify stakeholders based on the ability to impose their will,
their need for immediate attention, and their involvement.

 Power/Interest Grid
 Salience Model
 Power/Influence Grid
 Influence/Impact Grid

Answer: Salience Model. This model looks at three factors. The other stakeholder
classification methods look at only two factors. This question ask about three.

18. Which of the following quality management tools are used to describe the central
tendency, dispersion, and shape of a statistical distribution?

 Cause and Effect Diagram

 Control Charts
 Pareto Diagrams
 Histograms

Answer: Histograms. A histogram tells us about the distribution of numerical data. It

sometimes looks like the “bell curve” often discussed in statistics. The distribution tells us
about the statistical characteristics of the data.
19. The “Project Management Plan” does not include which of the following
documents:

 Risk Register
 Work Breakdown Structure
 Stakeholder Management Plan
 Schedule Baseline

Answer: Risk Register. A trick for remembering the contents of the Project Management
Plan is to look for anything that has “plan” or “baseline” at the end of it. We also know that
the WBS is in the scope baseline so it would be included.

20. Which of the following is not a possible activity or outcome of the “Initiating”
process group?

 The stakeholder register is created.

 The project risks are identified.
 The project is authorized.
 Finances are committed.

Answer: The project risks are identified. That occurs during the “Planning” process group.