Free PMP Exam Sample Question of the Week!

1. PMP EXAM
SAMPLE Q & A

2. Recently, you promoted your star programmer, Sam, to lead the agile development team. Sam was a fantastic
software coder, and you thought the promotion would mean that he could now share his expertise with the
other development team members. However, you are surprised to learn that the performance of Sam in his new
role is not meeting your expectations.
Which empirical rule did you forget while considering the promotion of Sam?
A. Expectancy theory
B. Halo effect
C. Pareto concept
D. Murphy's law
HINT: This management theory is also known as the 'Peter principle.'
Question

3. The correct answer is B.
The halo effect (also known as the Peter principle) states "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to
his/her level of incompetence." Most project team members are motivated by an opportunity to grow,
accomplish, and apply their professional skills to meet new challenges.
Their achievements continuously promote them within an organization to a certain level until they are
unable to perform. Sam might have risen to his incompetency level, which is what you have likely
forgotten to consider while promoting him to lead the development team.
The topic of this question is only briefly mentioned in the PMBOK® Guide. However, the Project
Management Professional (PMP)® Examination Content Outline (ECO) indicates that while there are some
commonalities between the PMBOK® Guide and the ECO, the exam is not bound by the PMBOK® Guide.
Answer

4. The list of enablers specified in the tasks of the ECO domains is not exhaustive either.
The ECO assumes that prospective PMP aspirants are familiar with other sources of
information/preparation, including but not limited to PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, PMI’s
Practice Standards (e.g., Scheduling, Earned Value Management, etc.); organizational behavior theories
such as Tuckman’s Ladder, Theory X and Theory Y, Maslow's hierarchy of needs; commonly frowned upon
project management practices, such as gold plating; and others.
We intentionally have these questions in our simulator so that you would be better prepared for the real
exam. PMP aspirants are encouraged to explore additional sources of information and/or to be familiar
with them from their project management experience. The PMBOK® Guide is provided as a reference to
indicate that the scenario refers the Develop Team process.
Answer

5. All our questions are updated to the latest
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide) standard.
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