CAPM Exam 1

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Question 1 of 25

1 Which log is MOST appropriate for the project coordinator at Acacia Cocoa Group to update when, on a predictive warehouse-expansion project in Kumasi with an approved baseline, the supplier confirms that the cold-room panels arrived damaged and installation has stopped?

Risk register Issue log Change log Assumption log

✅ Correct answer: Issue log

📌 Explanation: The damaged panels are a problem that has already happened and is stopping work, so it is an issue, not a risk. It belongs in the issue log with an owner and a target date so the team can track it to resolution against the baseline.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: The risk register holds uncertain future events, and this event has already occurred; the assumption log records beliefs that have not yet been verified; the change log tracks change requests and decisions, and no change to the baseline has been raised yet.

📋 Objective: 1.1 (Demonstrate an understanding of the various project life cycles and processes)

2 The project team at Acacia Health Group in Accra is planning a clinic refurbishment against a fixed baseline. In a workshop the project manager gives no opinions of her own; she keeps time, makes sure both nurses and builders speak, and records the agreed points. Which label is MOST appropriate for the role she is playing?

Individual performance coach Hands-on working member Neutral meeting facilitator Supplier contract negotiator

✅ Correct answer: Neutral meeting facilitator

📌 Explanation: Keeping time, drawing out every group and capturing agreements without steering the content is the facilitator role, one of the roles the outline lists for a project manager alongside initiator, negotiator, listener, coach and working member.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: A negotiator bargains toward terms with another party, which is not happening in the workshop; a coach develops an individual's skills over time rather than running a group session; a working member does part of the technical work, whereas she contributes no content of her own.

📋 Objective: 1.3 (Demonstrate an understanding of project roles and responsibilities)

3 Which TWO activities are MOST appropriate for the coordinator at Acacia Construction to complete as the predictive office-tower project in Casablanca reaches formal closure against its scope and cost baselines? Select TWO.

Archive records and lessons learned Reset the cost baseline Obtain formal acceptance of deliverables Add the tenant's new requests to scope Re-estimate the remaining work packages

✅ Correct answer: Obtain formal acceptance of deliverables; Archive records and lessons learned

📌 Explanation: Closing a predictive project means confirming that the customer formally accepts the deliverables and then archiving the project records and lessons learned so the organisation can reuse them. Both are standard closure and transition steps.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Re-estimating work packages is a planning activity that makes no sense once the work is complete; adding new tenant requests reopens scope and would need a change request or a new project; resetting the cost baseline is a control action during execution, not a closure task.

📋 Objective: 1.2 (Demonstrate an understanding of project management planning)

4 After the scope statement for Acacia Solar Energy's predictive solar-farm build near Ouarzazate is baselined, the coordinator decomposes the WBS. The lowest level she reaches is 'inverter station 3 installed', which can be estimated, scheduled and assigned to one crew. Which WBS term is MOST appropriate for this element?

A planning package A control account A schedule activity A work package

✅ Correct answer: A work package

📌 Explanation: A work package is the lowest level of the WBS, the point at which a deliverable can be reliably estimated for cost and duration, scheduled and assigned to an owner. 'Inverter station 3 installed' is a deliverable at exactly that level.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: A control account is a higher management point where scope, cost and schedule are integrated over several work packages; a planning package holds work that is known but not yet detailed; a schedule activity is a unit of work in the activity list, which comes from decomposing a work package, not from the WBS itself.

📋 Objective: 2.2 (Demonstrate an understanding of a project management plan schedule)

5 Which delivery approach is MOST appropriate for Acacia EdTech in Accra, which must build a revision app for senior high school students when the features are still unclear, teachers want to see working screens every two weeks and the whole team sits together in one office?

An adaptive, iterative approach A sequential phase-gate approach A fixed-scope waterfall approach A predictive, plan-based approach

✅ Correct answer: An adaptive, iterative approach

📌 Explanation: Unclear features, a need for frequent feedback on working screens and a small co-located team are the classic signals for an adaptive approach. Short iterations let the team learn from teachers every two weeks and adjust the backlog as requirements emerge.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: A predictive, plan-based approach needs stable scope that can be baselined up front, which this app lacks; a sequential phase-gate approach delays working screens until late phases; a fixed-scope waterfall approach locks requirements that the teachers have not yet defined.

📋 Objective: 3.1 (Explain when it is appropriate to use an adaptive approach)

6 Acacia Logistics is upgrading its Mombasa warehouse under a predictive plan with a cost baseline. The communications management plan says a status report goes to the sponsor every Friday, but the sponsor now asks the coordinator for a daily phone update. Which action is MOST appropriate for the coordinator?

Send the sponsor the full plan Keep to the Friday report only Raise the request with the project manager Begin daily calls from tomorrow

✅ Correct answer: Raise the request with the project manager

📌 Explanation: The coordinator follows the planned communication strategy, and a change to it should go to the project manager, who can agree the sponsor's need and update the communications management plan so that every stakeholder works from the same plan.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Starting daily calls straight away bypasses the plan and the project manager; keeping to the Friday report ignores a legitimate stakeholder need without discussion; sending the whole plan does not answer the sponsor's request for more frequent updates.

📋 Objective: 1.4 (Determine how to follow and execute planned strategies or frameworks)

7 A project manager has been asked to choose the approach for Acacia Pharma's new packaging line in Tangier. The line must pass regulatory validation, the equipment is bought on fixed-price contracts and the staff come from several functional departments in a matrix. Which approach is MOST appropriate?

A plan-driven approach with baselines A Kanban approach with WIP limits An XP approach with pair programming A Scrum approach with sprints

✅ Correct answer: A plan-driven approach with baselines

📌 Explanation: Regulated, validated scope, fixed-price procurement and a matrix of functional staff all point to a predictive, plan-driven approach, where scope, schedule and cost are baselined up front and changes pass through formal change control.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Scrum suits evolving requirements and frequent customer feedback, which a validated line does not need; Kanban suits a continuous flow of service work rather than a one-off installation; XP is a software engineering method and its practices do not fit equipment installation.

📋 Objective: 2.1 (Explain when it is appropriate to use a predictive, plan-based approach)

8 Which TWO practices are MOST appropriate for Acacia Retail's agile team in Rabat to adopt, when its loyalty-app backlog is delivered in one-week iterations and the team has chosen Extreme Programming to cut the defects found after each release? Select TWO.

Kanban WIP limits Test-driven development PI Planning (Planning Interval) A change control board Pair programming

✅ Correct answer: Test-driven development; Pair programming

📌 Explanation: Test-driven development and pair programming are core XP engineering practices. Writing tests before code and having two developers review every line as it is written both catch defects early, which is exactly the team's aim.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: PI Planning is the SAFe event held at the start of each Planning Interval to align several teams; WIP limits belong to Kanban and manage flow rather than code quality; a change control board is a predictive governance body and does nothing to reduce coding defects.

📋 Objective: 3.4 (Explain the components of an adaptive plan)

9 While reviewing the meeting log for Acacia Health Group's agile patient-portal sprints, the coordinator sees that the daily stand-up now lasts 40 minutes because two developers debate database design in it. Which change is MOST appropriate to restore the meeting's purpose?

Cancel stand-ups this sprint Extend the stand-up to an hour Ask the sponsor to decide the design Move the debate to a follow-up

✅ Correct answer: Move the debate to a follow-up

📌 Explanation: The daily stand-up is a short coordination meeting for sharing progress, plans and impediments, not for solving problems. Moving the design debate to a follow-up session with only the people involved keeps the stand-up to about 15 minutes.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Extending the stand-up rewards the problem and wastes everyone's time; cancelling stand-ups removes the team's daily coordination; asking the sponsor to decide a technical design question takes the decision away from the developers who own it.

📋 Objective: 1.5 (Demonstrate an understanding of common problem-solving tools and techniques)

10 Which TWO elicitation techniques are MOST appropriate for the business analyst at Acacia Cocoa Group, on a hybrid bean-traceability project, when she must capture the undocumented steps that warehouse clerks in Kumasi follow when weighing cocoa bags? Select TWO.

Reviewing the old procedure manual Interviews with long-serving clerks Observing clerks at the weighing scales A team retrospective session A national survey of cocoa farmers

✅ Correct answer: Observing clerks at the weighing scales; Interviews with long-serving clerks

📌 Explanation: Undocumented, tacit steps are best captured by watching the work as it happens and by talking in depth to the people who do it. Observation at the scales and interviews with experienced clerks both draw directly on the clerks' real practice.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: The procedure manual is document analysis, and the steps are by definition not written in it; a national survey of farmers reaches the wrong people and gives shallow answers; a retrospective reviews the project team's own way of working and does not elicit requirements.

📋 Objective: 4.3 (Determine how to gather requirements)

11 The project team at Acacia Construction is evaluating bids for its predictive hotel build in Marrakech under a fixed baseline. A coordinator learns that her brother owns one of the bidding firms, and another bidder then offers her an expensive phone. Which TWO actions are MOST appropriate under the PMI Code of Ethics? Select TWO.

Wait until the contract is awarded Score her brother's bid fairly Decline the offered phone Accept the phone and declare it Disclose the conflict of interest

✅ Correct answer: Disclose the conflict of interest; Decline the offered phone

📌 Explanation: The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct requires practitioners to disclose any real or potential conflict of interest and to refuse gifts that could influence, or appear to influence, their decisions. Both actions protect the fairness of the bid evaluation.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Scoring her brother's bid herself, however fairly, leaves the conflict undisclosed; accepting the phone, even when declared, still creates the appearance of influence during an evaluation; waiting until the award hides the conflict at the very time it matters.

📋 Objective: 1.1 (Demonstrate an understanding of the various project life cycles and processes)

12 Acacia EdTech is moving its teacher-training portal from a predictive plan to two-week sprints. The coordinator holds a WBS with deliverables such as 'course catalogue', 'quiz engine' and 'progress reports'. Which step is MOST appropriate for turning this WBS into the first iterations?

Baseline the WBS before sprint one Put the sprints on a Gantt chart Plan each sprint as one deliverable Break deliverables into ranked user stories

✅ Correct answer: Break deliverables into ranked user stories

📌 Explanation: In adaptive planning the WBS deliverables are decomposed into small user stories, which the product owner ranks in the product backlog. The team then pulls the highest-value stories that fit into each sprint, so every iteration delivers a usable slice.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Treating each sprint as one whole deliverable ignores value order and usually overloads the sprint; baselining the WBS freezes scope, which defeats the purpose of moving to sprints; a Gantt chart is a predictive scheduling tool and does not create the backlog the sprints need.

📋 Objective: 3.2 (Determine how to plan project iterations)

13 Which communication method is MOST appropriate for the business analyst at Acacia Solar Energy, on a hybrid solar-monitoring project, when the sponsor and the finance director must choose this week between two dashboard designs and both say they want to ask questions before deciding?

A team information radiator A detailed status report A short decision presentation A shared backlog link

✅ Correct answer: A short decision presentation

📌 Explanation: A presentation is an interactive channel: the analyst can show both designs, set out the trade-offs and answer questions on the spot, which is what two senior decision-makers need to reach a choice within the week.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: A detailed status report is a one-way push of progress and does not allow questions; a backlog link gives raw items without the comparison the executives need; an information radiator shows team progress to passers-by and is not designed for an executive decision.

📋 Objective: 4.2 (Determine how to conduct stakeholder communication)

14 After the change control board at Acacia Pharma approves a two-week extension to the predictive packaging-line project in Tangier, the coordinator must record the board's decision. Which project artifact is MOST appropriate for recording it?

The lessons learned register The project change log The project risk register The project team charter

✅ Correct answer: The project change log

📌 Explanation: The change log records every change request with its status, including approvals and rejections by the change control board. It is the predictive control artifact that shows how and when the baseline was changed.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: The risk register records uncertain events, and this is an approved decision rather than a risk; the lessons learned register captures knowledge for future use, not change decisions; the team charter sets out team values and ground rules and is not a control record.

📋 Objective: 2.3 (Determine how to document project controls of predictive, plan-based projects)

15 Acacia Retail's agile team in Rabat keeps a product roadmap for its loyalty app: Release 1 is digital cards, Release 2 is rewards and Release 3 is reporting. The business analyst finds that a store-staff login feature must exist before any of these can work. Which placement on the roadmap is MOST appropriate?

Release 2 alongside rewards Release 1 as a prerequisite Release 3 after reporting A separate later release

✅ Correct answer: Release 1 as a prerequisite

📌 Explanation: Allocating components to releases follows dependencies as well as value. Because every later feature needs staff login, it must ship in Release 1; otherwise the digital cards in that release could not be used.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Putting login in Release 2 would leave the Release 1 cards unusable; placing it in Release 3 blocks the first two releases entirely; a separate later release has the same dependency problem and delays every feature that needs it.

📋 Objective: 4.4 (Demonstrate an understanding of product roadmaps)

16 The project team at Acacia District Council in Tema is building a predictive schedule for a market rehabilitation. The coordinator enters 'Council approves design' as a task lasting five days, because the council meeting takes that long. Which correction is MOST appropriate?

Lengthen the task to ten days Remove it from the schedule Show it as a zero-duration milestone Split it into two linked tasks

✅ Correct answer: Show it as a zero-duration milestone

📌 Explanation: A milestone is a significant point or event in the schedule and has zero duration. The approval itself is the milestone; any work leading up to it, such as preparing the council paper, is a separate activity with its own duration.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Lengthening the task treats a point in time as work and makes the error larger; splitting it into two tasks still gives a decision event a duration; removing it hides a key decision point that other activities depend on.

📋 Objective: 1.2 (Demonstrate an understanding of project management planning)

17 When a developer at Acacia EdTech says during sprint review preparation that a story is done because the code works on her laptop, the coordinator checks the team's definition of done, which requires peer review and passing automated tests. Which status is MOST appropriate for the story?

Done, pending sponsor sign-off Not done until reviewed and tested Half done, earning half points Done, since the code runs

✅ Correct answer: Not done until reviewed and tested

📌 Explanation: The definition of done is the team's shared quality checklist, and a story meets it only when every item on the list is satisfied. Without peer review and passing automated tests the story is not done and cannot be shown as complete in the sprint review.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Working code on one laptop does not meet the agreed checklist; sponsor sign-off is not part of this team's definition of done and does not replace it; agile teams do not award partial story points, so a half-finished story earns nothing until it is done.

📋 Objective: 3.5 (Determine how to prepare and execute task management steps)

18 Which person is MOST appropriate to approve and sign the project charter for Acacia Cocoa Group's hybrid bean-traceability project, given that the coordinator has drafted it with the project manager and it sets out high-level risks, milestones and the budget?

The lead business analyst The assigned project manager The agile product owner The executive project sponsor

✅ Correct answer: The executive project sponsor

📌 Explanation: The sponsor initiates and authorises the project, provides the funding and signs the charter, which formally gives the project manager authority to use organisational resources. The coordinator and project manager draft it, but the sponsor approves it.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: The project manager is named and given authority by the charter, so cannot authorise it; the lead business analyst manages requirements, not project authorisation; the product owner orders the backlog for the agile part of the work and does not fund or approve the project.

📋 Objective: 1.3 (Demonstrate an understanding of project roles and responsibilities)

19 A business analyst is joining Acacia Pharma's adaptive team, which builds a lab-sample tracking app in sprints, after years on predictive projects where she wrote a full requirements specification up front. Which way of working is MOST appropriate for her now?

Refine backlog items just in time Decide the backlog order herself Sign off a full specification first Freeze requirements after sprint one

✅ Correct answer: Refine backlog items just in time

📌 Explanation: In an adaptive approach the business analyst works with the product owner to elaborate backlog items progressively, refining stories and acceptance criteria shortly before the sprint that will build them, rather than writing everything up front.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: A full specification signed off first is the predictive pattern she is leaving behind; ordering the backlog is the product owner's accountability, not the analyst's; freezing requirements after one sprint removes the flexibility the adaptive approach is meant to give.

📋 Objective: 4.5 (Determine how project methodologies influence business analysis processes)

20 Which requirements artifact is MOST appropriate for the business analyst at Acacia Logistics to use, on a predictive yard-system upgrade in Mombasa under change control, to show that each approved requirement links to a design element and a passed test case?

A prioritised product backlog A stakeholder engagement matrix A requirements traceability matrix A use case diagram

✅ Correct answer: A requirements traceability matrix

📌 Explanation: A requirements traceability matrix links each requirement to its business objective, design elements and test cases, so the analyst can prove that every approved requirement has been designed, built and tested under the predictive baseline.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: A product backlog orders work for adaptive teams but does not trace requirements to tests; a use case diagram shows actors and system interactions without linking them to tests; a stakeholder engagement matrix tracks stakeholder attitudes, not requirements.

📋 Objective: 4.3 (Determine how to gather requirements)

Case 1: Acacia Pay Ltd agent onboarding (hybrid project)

Acacia Pay Ltd, a mobile-money company in Nairobi, Kenya, is running a hybrid project to onboard 300 new agents in rural counties. The agent rollout (tablets, training and launch) is managed predictively against a schedule baseline. The agent onboarding app is built by its technology partner, Acacia Systems, in two-week sprints. A project coordinator supports both the project manager and the product owner.

Agent rollout network (durations in days)

A Procure tablets: 10 (start)
B Configure tablets: 6 (after A)
C Train the trainers: 8 (start)
D Train agents: 12 (after B and C)
E Print launch materials: 5 (start)
F Launch event: 2 (after D and E)

Risk register extract: R4, a rural network outage stops agent registrations; planned response: switch to SMS fallback registration; owner: field lead.

Roles: Wanjiru Kamau, head of agent operations, is accountable for the agent onboarding process, including the KYC identity checks. Kiprono Cheruiyot supervises the onboarding desk day to day. Achieng Otieno is the product owner at Acacia Systems and orders the app backlog.

App status after sprint 4: Release 1 was planned at 120 story points; 64 points are done at an average velocity of 16. The product owner has just added a 16-point story: 'As an agent, I want to capture the customer's ID photo, so that KYC checks can be completed on the spot.'

21 The project team at Acacia Pay Ltd hears from the field lead that a two-day network outage has just started in one rural county, exactly as risk R4 in the case describes. Which action is MOST appropriate for the coordinator to support?

Draft a new response plan Raise a change request first Trigger the planned SMS fallback Wait for the outage report

✅ Correct answer: Trigger the planned SMS fallback

📌 Explanation: R4 has occurred and the register already holds an agreed response with an owner. Following the planned strategy means the field lead triggers the SMS fallback now; the event is then logged as an issue and the register is updated.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: Drafting a new response wastes the planning already done while registrations stop; a change request is not needed because the response is already approved and does not alter the baseline; waiting for a report lets the outage halt onboarding when a ready response exists.

📋 Objective: 1.4 (Determine how to follow and execute planned strategies or frameworks)

22 Which schedule report is MOST appropriate for the coordinator at Acacia Pay Ltd to give the project manager after activity C, training the trainers, slips by 5 days on the predictive agent rollout in the case?

27 days, with no float left 35 days, as C joins the critical path 30 days, with 3 days float left 30 days, with 8 days float left

✅ Correct answer: 30 days, with 3 days float left

📌 Explanation: Paths: A-B-D-F = 10 + 6 + 12 + 2 = 30 days (critical); C-D-F = 8 + 12 + 2 = 22 days; E-F = 5 + 2 = 7 days. C's total float is 30 - 22 = 8 days, so a 5-day slip uses 5 of it, leaves 8 - 5 = 3 days and the rollout still takes 30 days.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: 35 days adds the slip to the critical path even though C is not on it; 8 days of float ignores the 5 days the slip has consumed; 27 days is the new length of the C-D-F path (22 + 5), not the project duration, which is set by the longest path.

📋 Objective: 2.2 (Demonstrate an understanding of a project management plan schedule)

23 After sprint 4, Acacia Systems' product owner wants one chart that shows the Release 1 points completed and the 16 points of scope just added for ID photo capture. Which chart is MOST appropriate for the coordinator to prepare?

A cumulative cost S-curve A sprint burndown chart A release burnup chart A baseline Gantt chart

✅ Correct answer: A release burnup chart

📌 Explanation: A burnup chart plots completed work and total scope as two separate lines, so the 64 points done and the scope line rising from 120 to 136 points are both visible. That makes the effect of the new story on the release clear to stakeholders.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: A sprint burndown shows only the work remaining in the current sprint and hides scope growth; a baseline Gantt chart is a predictive schedule tool, not an adaptive progress chart; a cost S-curve tracks spending against budget rather than story points.

📋 Objective: 3.3 (Determine how to document project controls for an adaptive project)

24 Which person is MOST appropriate to approve a change to the KYC identity-check steps in Acacia Pay Ltd's agent onboarding process, given the roles set out in the case for this hybrid project?

The head of agent operations The app's development team lead The supervisor running daily onboarding The Acacia Systems product owner

✅ Correct answer: The head of agent operations

📌 Explanation: Wanjiru Kamau is the process owner: she is accountable for the agent onboarding process and its KYC checks, so a change to how the process works needs her approval. The app may later change to match, but the process decision is hers.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: The product owner orders the app backlog but does not own the business process; the onboarding supervisor is the process manager who runs the desk day to day without authority to redesign it; the development team lead builds the app and does not decide business rules.

📋 Objective: 4.1 (Demonstrate an understanding of business analysis (BA) roles and responsibilities)

25 The business analyst at Acacia Systems is writing acceptance criteria for the new ID photo story in the case before the sprint starts. Which criterion is MOST appropriate to add to the story?

Photo uploads within 10 seconds on 3G Code passes peer review and tests Story is sized at 16 points Screen feels user-friendly to agents

✅ Correct answer: Photo uploads within 10 seconds on 3G

📌 Explanation: Acceptance criteria are specific, testable conditions that one story must meet for the product owner to accept it. An upload time measured on a 3G connection is objective and can be checked in a test, so it is a well-formed criterion.

❌ Why the other options are wrong: 'User-friendly' is vague and cannot be tested objectively; peer review and passing tests are team-wide definition-of-done items that apply to every story; the story's size is an estimate for planning, not a condition of acceptance.

CAPM Exam 1

Case 1: Acacia Pay Ltd agent onboarding (hybrid project)

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