The 7 Deadly Types of PMP Questions and Answers

PMI Certifications, PMP Study Tips & Cheatlists

The PMP questions structure is what makes the PMP exam so difficult. You have double negatives everywhere. PMI has written the PMP to trick you. Do not be fooled. Practising questions and answers should be the core of your study plan to make sure you pass the PMP in the first try.

PMP Questions and Answers Types

They are multiple choice questions with four possible answers but you need to realize:

  • The questions can be quite drawn out too with superfluous information. 
  • The answers too can be misleading especially which are best type questions. 

My top tips are…

  • Reading the question is crucial – I was getting 20% of wrong questions due to rushing questions or not reading them properly
  • If you can get an answer before looking at answer options you will be more confident in your decision
  • Use the process of elimination if you are stuck
  • Always follow PMI guidelines and know their policies
  • Try to use common sense when you can 
  • Always choose the BEST answer. You’ll get options that are partially correct, or correct under certain conditions, but choose only the BEST answer for the given scenario in the question.

I have read a few techniques on approaching questions. My favourite was in Head First PMP who provided different types of questions and let you try to create one yourself such as…..

Just the Facts PMP Question

When you see these type questions you need to read them very carefully, if you don’t it’s very easy to get them wrong.

Which is Best PMP Question

The which-is-best questions may have more than one correct answer but only one best answer.

  • Usually start question with a particular situation
  • One of those questions where “customer” is used in place of “sponsor”
  • Okay this is the real question. What do you do when you find out that certain deliverables need to be changed?

Red Herring PMP Question

These are questions which will have a lot of extra information that you don’t need. It will have a long rambling story with extra details and irrelevant figures.

When you read these you want to identify what’s relevant and what’s not

Which One PMP Question

These are questions that describe a situation and ask you to identify the tool, technique, or process that’s being used or is most appropriate. When the question asks you to choose one item of four really similar or related things you know it’s a which-one question and you can start eliminating them.

Have a Meeting PMP Question

These are questions that give you a situation where there’s a workplace conflict, an issue, or even a crisis and ask you what to do first.

The trick in all of these questions is that one of the options is to have a meeting. Sounds odd but actually really important as the PM needs to gather information from everyone before they make a decision

PMP Calculation Question

These are some of the easiest questions to ask. When you sit down at the start of the exam you are given 15 minutes to go through a tutorial that shows you how to use the system. Before you finish the tutorial write down all the formulas.

(Review all PMP Earned Value Management Formulas here)

Which is Not Type PMP Question

These are questions which list inputs, outputs, tools or concepts and ask you which one is not part of the group.

When you see these types of questions you can use the process of elimination by going through answers. 

Take your time and think your way through it. All of them will have something in common. As long as you know the group they are involved in you won’t have any trouble

Other Types of PMP Exam Questions

PMStudyGuide defined six different kinds of questions:

  1. ITTO-based questions
  2. Definition-based questions
  3. Situation-based questions
  4. Formula-based questions
  5. Interpretational questions
  6. Questions on professional and social responsibility

Can you map these to our 7? The more prepared the less surprises you can expect.

Answering Hard PMP Types of Questions

Cornelius and the team over at https://www.project-management-prepcast.com/ dedicated a podcast to this topic. tTis recorded 1-hour webinar will help you answer the questions that you have in mind:

Have you tried out our 200 question PMP Exam Simulator?

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