PM/586 Version 4 / 1
PM/586 Final Examination Study Guide
This study guide prepares you for the Final Examination you complete in the last week of the course. It contains practice questions, which are related to each week’s objectives. Highlight the correct response, and then refer to the answer key at the end of this Study Guide to check your answers.
Use each week’s questions as a self-test at the start of a new week to reflect on the previous week’s concepts. When you come across concepts that you are unfamiliar with, refer to the Student Guide for that particular week. The Student Guide provides a breakdown of the readings that align to the Final Examination questions.
Week One: Introduction to Project Planning
Objective: Develop the scope of projects.
1. If the customer’s Statement of Work contains words such as nearly or approximately, then
a. the project manager uses his discretion in determining the meaning.
b. the sponsor uses his discretion in determining the meaning.
c. the customer uses his discretion in determining the meaning.
d. scope creep is unlikely.
2. The person most qualified to assess the overall risk in a work package activity in a project is the
a. PM
b. sponsor.
c. team member.
d. team member and/or line manager.
Objective: Develop project schedules.
3. Which of the following scheduling techniques is most appropriate today for managing a project?
a. BAR charts
b. Milestone charts
c. PERT charts
d. Precedence charts
4. Which of the following scheduling techniques is most appropriate today for reporting project status to a customer during an interchange meeting?
a. BAR charts
b. Milestone charts
c. PERT charts
d. Precedence charts
Week Two: Project Budgets and Risk Management
Objective: Develop project budgets.
5. When a functional manager tells you that your project is 10% more difficult than the standard project, the functional manager is providing you with _____ estimate.
a. a parametric
b. an analogy
c. an engineering
d. a grassroots
6. Which of the following projects would most likely have reasonably good estimating techniques?
a. Construction
b. R & D
c. Software development
d. New product development
Objective: Develop project risk management plans.
7. If there’s a 40% chance of making $1 million and a 60% chance of losing $600,000, then the expected monetary outcome is
a. $400,000.
b. $40,000.
c. $360,000.
d. $360,000.
8. The process that identifies, evaluates, selects and implements one or more strategies to set risk at an acceptable level is
a. risk planning.
b. risk assessment.
c. risk handling.
d. risk monitoring and control.
Objective: Develop project plans.
9. During an interface meeting with your customer, both of you have different interpretations of the raw data. If the customer’s interpretation is correct, then the direction of the project should change. However, the customer states that they need more time to determine if their interpretation is correct. As the PM, what should you do?
a. Continue on with your existing baseline until the customer confirms that the direction must change.
b. Change the direction of the project according to the customer’s interpretation of the results and continue on.
c. Stop working on the project until you both agree on the direction
d. Cancel the project and then, after an agreement is reached, submit a new proposal and price to restart the project.
10. Which of the following is a potential benefit of using project management?
a. Maximization of continuous reporting
b. No need for identification of functional responsibilities
c. Identification of time limits for scheduling
d. No need for a project management methodology
Week Three: Executing and Monitoring Projects
Objective: Determine strategies to execute the project.
11. The primary difference between formal versus informal execution of a project is the
a. time constraint.
b. budgetary considerations.
c. need for a breakthrough in technology.
d. amount of paperwork.
12. During the execution of a project, the customer asks you to perform additional tests that the customer will pay for. Unfortunately, there are no resources available to perform the additional tests. The project manager should
a. refuse to perform the tests.
b. determine when the tests can be done and then inform the customer.
c. tell the customer that company policy is that the additional tests must be treated as an enhancement project and funded separately after this project is over.
d. let the sponsor make the decision on what to do.
Objective: Determine strategies to monitor the project.
13. Which of the following terms is used to determine the trend on cost?
a. CV
b. EAC
c. CPI
d. AC
14. The form that is used to establish charge numbers is the
a. responsibility assignment matrix.
b. work authorization form.
c. work package.
d. cost account change notice.
Week Four: Influencing and Controlling Projects
Objective: Determine informal strategies to influence projects.
15. Laissez-faire leadership most likely represents
a. telling.
b. selling.
c. participating.
d. delegating.
16. The person or group with greatest ability to influence cost at project initiation is
a. the customer owner.
b. the project manager.
c. the project team.
d. the users.
Objective: Determine strategies to control projects.
17. The establishment of all of the charge numbers for a project is called
a. work package codes.
b. code of accounts.
c. summation of charge numbers.
d. cost accounts.
18. Work that does not lend itself to subdivision into discrete scheduled increments of work, such as project support, is called
a. measurable effort.
b. level of effort.
c. discrete estimates.
d. work package effort.
Week Five: Introduction to Quality Improvement
Objective: Define goals of quality-management plans.
19. The collective term for the activities and techniques within the overall process is
a. quality control.
b. quality assurance.
c. quality policies.
d. quality visions.
20. If the upper and lower control limits of a process are set at plus or minus three sigma, then what percent of the units produced are expected to satisfy the customer’s requirements?
a. 68%
b. 95%
c. 99.73%
d. Impossible to determine
21. The person ultimately responsible for the quality of the deliverable is the
a. project manager.
b. project team.
c. project sponsor.
d. customer.
22. The person ultimately responsible for the quality of the deliverable is the
a. project manager.
b. project team.
c. project sponsor.
d. customer.
Objective: Define organizational responsibilities and interfaces for projects.
23. Accountability can be defined as
a. authority plus responsibility.
b. authority without responsibility.
c. responsibility without authority.
d. pure responsibility.
24. In which of the following structures is budgeting and cost control easier to perform?
a. Classical
b. Strong matrix
c. Balanced matrix
d. Weak matrix
25. In departmental project management, the person that ultimately ends up managing the project, assuming several departments are involved, is the
a. project manager.
b. project leader.
c. department manager(s).
d. division manager.
Objective: Determine project management tools.
26. The document that is prepared at the beginning of a project in order to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the team members is called a
a. responsibility clarification table.
b. responsibility identification table.
c. responsibility assignment matrix.
d. work package assignment sheet.
27. Which of the following is often overlooked when planning and budgeting a project?
a. Customer’s milestones
b. Cost and size of contractual documentation
c. Number of meetings with the customer
d. Timing of the deliverables
Objective: Evaluate the impact of environmental risks on projects.
28. Project management restructuring allowed companies to manage projects that
a. could not be handled by the traditional organization.
b. had undefined objectives.
c. did not require effective cost control.
d. require little functional integration.
29. Historically, which functional organization provided the greatest resistance to project management implementation?
a. Sales
b. Procurement
c. Information systems technology
d. Engineering
Week Six: Quality-Improvement Planning
Objective: Create quality-improvement plans for projects within an organization.
30. During the past few years, which project management skill seems to have outpaced all other skills?
a. Technical skills
b. Business conceptual skills
c. Behavioral skills
d. Problem-solving skills
Answer Key
1. c
2. d
3. d
4. a
5. b
6. a
7. b
8. c
9. a
10. c
11. d
12. d
13. c
14. b
15. d
16. a
17. b
18. b
19. a
20. c
21. a
22. a
23. a
24. a
25. d
26. c
27. b
28. a
29. a
30. b