PMP Exam Domains and Formulas
115 flashcards by MentisLibrary
The three PMP Exam Content Outline domains, PMBOK principles and process groups, earned value, PERT, float, contract and EMV calculations, risk responses, quality tools and agile-hybrid practice, with worked numbers and trap answers for PMP candidates.
- What are the three domains of the PMP Exam Content Outline, and how is the exam weighted across them?
- People (42 percent), Process (50 percent) and Business Environment (8 percent). The ECO, not the PMBOK Guide, is the blueprint the exam is written from.
- How many questions are on the PMP exam, and how long do you have?
- 180 questions in 230 minutes, with two optional 10-minute breaks. Five of the questions are unscored pretest items.
- What share of PMP exam questions cover predictive versus agile or hybrid approaches?
- About half of the questions are predictive and about half are agile or hybrid, spread across all three domains.
- What are the eligibility requirements to sit the PMP exam?
- With a four-year degree: 36 months of experience leading projects plus 35 hours of project management education or the CAPM. With a high school diploma or associate degree: 60 months of experience plus the same 35 hours or CAPM.
- How is PMP certification maintained after passing?
- By earning 60 PDUs every three years under the Continuing Certification Requirements program, with at least 35 in Education and at most 25 in Giving Back.
- How many tasks does each domain of the PMP Exam Content Outline contain?
- People has 14 tasks, Process has 17 tasks and Business Environment has 4 tasks, for 35 in total.
- List the twelve principles of the PMBOK Guide seventh edition.
- Stewardship, team, stakeholders, value, systems thinking, leadership, tailoring, quality, complexity, risk, adaptability and resiliency, and change.
- Name the eight performance domains of the PMBOK Guide seventh edition.
- Stakeholders, team, development approach and life cycle, planning, project work, delivery, measurement, and uncertainty.
- What are the five process groups and ten knowledge areas of the PMBOK Guide sixth edition?
- Process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, closing. Knowledge areas: integration, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resource, communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder. Together they hold 49 processes.
- What are the four values of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct?
- Responsibility, respect, fairness and honesty. Each has mandatory standards (enforceable) and aspirational standards.
- What is servant leadership?
- A leadership approach in which the leader puts the team's needs first: removing impediments, shielding the team from interruptions, coaching and providing what members need to deliver.
- What are Tuckman's five stages of team development?
- Forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Teams may stall in a stage or regress when membership changes.
- Name the five conflict resolution techniques recognised by PMI and the one generally considered most effective.
- Withdraw or avoid, smooth or accommodate, compromise or reconcile, force or direct, and collaborate or problem solve. Collaborating produces the most durable result because both parties' concerns are addressed.
- What is Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and why does it matter to a PM?
- A five-level ladder of motivation: physiological, safety, social or belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. Lower needs must be reasonably met before higher ones motivate.
- What is Herzberg's two-factor theory?
- Hygiene factors (pay, working conditions, policies, job security) prevent dissatisfaction but do not motivate; motivators (achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth) create satisfaction.
- Contrast McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y.
- Theory X managers assume people dislike work and need close control; Theory Y managers assume people are self-motivated and seek responsibility. Theory Y is the assumption behind empowered, self-organising teams.
- What are McClelland's three acquired needs?
- Achievement (challenging but attainable goals), affiliation (belonging and harmony) and power (influence over others). People are motivated by the need that dominates in them.
- Which forms of power are most and least effective for a project manager, according to the exam view?
- Expert power and reward power are the most effective; punitive or coercive power is the least. Legitimate (positional) power should be used sparingly.
- Name the leadership styles listed in the PMBOK Guide sixth edition.
- Laissez-faire, transactional, servant leader, transformational, charismatic and interactional (a blend of the others).
- What four styles does Situational Leadership prescribe as a team member's competence grows?
- Directing (telling), coaching (selling), supporting (participating) and delegating. The leader adapts to the follower's competence and commitment.
- What are the five components of emotional intelligence in Goleman's model?
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. PMI's ECO asks the PM to promote team performance through emotional intelligence.
- What is a team charter?
- A document the team writes together stating its values, ground rules, communication norms, decision-making process and conflict-resolution approach.
- In a RACI chart, what rule applies to the A column?
- Exactly one person is Accountable for each activity; several may be Responsible, Consulted or Informed. Accountable means the buck stops there.
- What is the work breakdown structure (WBS)?
- A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work into deliverables, down to work packages. It is deliverable-oriented, not activity-oriented.
- What is the 100 percent rule of the WBS?
- The WBS includes all the work defined by the scope and nothing outside it; each level of decomposition sums to 100 percent of the level above.
- Work package vs control account vs planning package: how do they differ?
- A work package is the lowest WBS level, estimated and scheduled. A control account is a management point where scope, budget and schedule are integrated and compared to earned value. A planning package is a WBS component below a control account whose work is known but not yet detailed.
- What three documents make up the scope baseline?
- The approved project scope statement, the WBS and the WBS dictionary. The baseline changes only through formal change control.
- Validate Scope vs Control Quality: which comes first and what does each produce?
- Control Quality checks deliverables for correctness against quality requirements and produces verified deliverables; Validate Scope then obtains the customer's formal acceptance and produces accepted deliverables.
- What is gold plating?
- Adding features or extras the customer did not ask for. It is discouraged because it consumes resources, adds risk and can change acceptance.
- Name the four logical relationship types in the precedence diagramming method.
- Finish-to-start (most common), start-to-start, finish-to-finish and start-to-finish (rare). PDM draws activities on nodes and dependencies as arrows.