Quite often you will see a question with at least two right answers. With one valuable point towards your PMP® certification on the line, you must select the best one. Let me repeat that: you must select the BEST one. Sometimes none of the answers may be 100% correct but one of them will be BETTER than the others if you’re analyzing them correctly.
1. How to find the BEST answer
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2. 2
Quite often, project management is not totally
black and white. A project manager can respond in
various ways to events and situations as they arise
over the course of a project. This means that when
you have a personality conflict between two
members on your team you have to decide how to
handle that with the individuals and with the team.
Sample PMP® Exams mirror this situation. Quite
often you will see a question with at least two right
answers. With one valuable point towards your
PMP® certification on the line, you must select the
best one. Let me repeat that: you must select the
BEST one. Sometimes none of the answers may be
100% correct but one of them will be BETTER than
the others if you’re analyzing them correctly.
3. 3
Correct approach to analyzing the
questions
There are several concepts and techniques that you should know.
Concept: The PMBOK® Guide is
always right — The PMI® strives to
improve project management
environments in such a way that in
the future all projects will always be
executed in the most ideal
circumstances. Answer them from
the perspective of the PMBOK®
Guide, not from your own
experiences. When in doubt, the
PMBOK® Guide wins.
4. 4
Concept: A Project Manager is
proactive — As a project manager
you should never let a small problem
linger to ensure it doesn’t become a
larger issue. When a problem is
presented you should analyze it,
define the various options that are
available to you, and then select the
response that best addresses the
root cause.
5. 5
Technique: Read the question completely
first — As obvious as this sounds, some
people don’t do it and end up missing
important parts of the question. Start out
by reading the question completely, make
sure that you understand it, and that you
can distinguish between the important
facts and the extraneous information.
Then read all four possible answers;
usually two of the four will be very
obviously incorrect and can be eliminated.
Finally, weigh the two remaining questions
against each other and make your choice.
6. 6
Technique: Use your brain — Start
out by reading the question but not
the answers. Now close your eyes
and think...what should the answer
be? When you are ready, open your
eyes again and read the answers.
More often than not "your" answer
will be there.
7. 7
Technique: Start bottom up — Read the answers first and
then read the question. This upside down approach can be
helpful in the case of very long questions.
Technique: Last sentence first — Another useful technique
for approaching long questions is to read the last sentence
first. The last sentence usually contains the actual question.
Now that you know what they really want to know, read the
remaining text in this light. Also remember, you will have a
checkbox that allows you to mark any questions you are
uncertain of and want to come back and review later.