Free Practice Questions for PMI PMI-ACP Exam

The team lead should facilitate a constructive discussion by restating both perspectives clearly, which can help ensure that all team members understand each other's viewpoints. Asking for more details about both approaches allows the team to analyze each method's pros and cons, fostering a collaborative, solution-focused discussion. Creating a chart of similarities and differences can provide a visual representation that helps the team make an informed decision, highlighting which elements from both approaches might be beneficial. This approach encourages open communication, avoids escalation, and leads to a productive exploration of options without dismissing either side.

The correct answer isC – Facilitate a conversation about the user story between the development team and the product owner.In Agile,collaboration,self-organization, andface-to-face conversationare foundational principles for resolving disagreements and achieving a shared understanding.

According to thePMI Agile Practice Guide:

“The agile practitioner facilitates healthy communication and constructive dialogue between the product owner and the development team to align understanding and priorities. Agile coaches and Scrum Masters serve the team by removing obstacles to collaboration, not by acting as decision-makers.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 6.3 – Facilitating Agile Practices)

Further, the guide emphasizes:

“Effective teams discuss issues collaboratively. When disagreements arise, the agile leader’s role is to facilitate communication and resolution through shared understanding, not to dictate decisions.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 4.1 – Agile Mindset and Behaviors)

Mike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Bookalso states:

“Agile encourages close collaboration between business and technical teams. When conflicts arise regarding a user story, the agile practitioner’s role is to facilitate meaningful discussions to ensure mutual understanding and team-driven resolution.”

(Mike Griffiths, Chapter 4 – Team Performance)

Why the other options are incorrect:

Aundermines team self-organization and implies a command-and-control model.

Bis confrontational and goes against agile values of respect and collaboration.

Dcontradicts the facilitative role of the agile practitioner, who should not act as an authoritative decision-maker.

Thus, the most agile-consistent approach is toenable conversation and clarity between roles.

Answer: C

The Walking Skeleton approach involves developing a minimal, end-to-end working system with just enough functionality to demonstrate how the product works in its simplest form. This is often used in Agile to ensure the core structure of the product is in place, and it allows stakeholders to see how basic features are implemented and how the product will evolve. By highlighting this approach, the project manager can help the sponsor understand the essential features and the incremental development process, making it clear what will be developed and when, without overwhelming them with detailed planning at this stage.

The correct answer is C – The team realized that some stories were underestimated relative to other stories and reestimated as needed.

According to the data in the chart:

Backlog started at 500 points.

Points steadily decreased by 25 points per iteration for the first 3 iterations, reflecting normal velocity.

At the end of iteration 4, the backlog increased from 425 to 450 points (a 25-point jump), which indicates an increase in estimated remaining work.

In Agile, backlog point totals can increase when work is reestimated—typically because items were originally underestimated or new complexity is discovered. Reestimation reflects the evolving understanding of requirements and is a core principle of adaptive planning.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Estimates may change as the team learns more. Agile teams inspect and adapt their understanding of the work during iteration planning and refinement. Story reestimation is normal and may result in backlog point increases.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.3 – Adaptive Planning and Estimation)

Mike Griffiths writes:

“Backlogs are dynamic. Teams may reestimate stories during grooming or retrospectives if they find that original estimates were off. This helps maintain planning accuracy and backlog integrity.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 5 – Estimation and Backlog Refinement)

Incorrect options:

A refers to external factors not reflected in the backlog points.

B would be better handled by new backlog items, not inflating prior estimates.

D suggests increased scope/output, which would add stories but not necessarily reestimate existing ones.

Answer: C

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The Scrum Master’s role as a servant leader is to support the team, not to resolve conflicts for them. It is important for the team to work through their disagreements themselves, as this fosters collaboration and improves their problem-solving skills. The Scrum Master should encourage open communication and guide the team toward healthy conflict resolution, ensuring that the disagreements are addressed constructively. This approach helps the team build trust, improves their cohesion, and strengthens their ability to handle challenges in the future.

In agile methodology, particularly in Scrum, it is essential to focus on delivering value through iterative, incremental development. Rather than planning everything upfront for the entire 2-year duration, the focus should be on delivering small, manageable releases on a regular cadence, allowing for flexibility and adaptability based on feedback from stakeholders. This approach helps to ensure that the team remains responsive to changing requirements and can continually improve the product over time.

Based on the velocity chart, the team has completed 43, 42, 44, and 46 story points in previous sprints. The average number of completed story points is 43.75, and committing to 44 story points for the upcoming sprint aligns closely with this average. It offers a realistic target that takes into account the team's capacity while providing a reasonable chance of completing the planned work within the sprint.

The correct answer is B – The customer changed requirements. Agile teams embrace change, especially when it improves the product’s value. Customer-driven changes to requirements are the most common and legitimate reason for adjusting project plans in agile, supported by rolling wave planning and continuous backlog refinement.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile projects anticipate changes in requirements. The product backlog is continuously updated to reflect new insights and customer needs.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.3 – Rolling Wave Planning)

Mike Griffiths emphasizes:

“In agile, planning is dynamic. The most common source of change is evolving customer requirements, which lead to changes in scope and prioritization.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 5 – Adaptive Planning)

Incorrect options:

A is unrelated and unrealistic.

C is useful but doesn’t directly alter the project plan.

D is ambiguous and doesn’t reflect business-driven change.

Answer: B

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The correct answer is C — During the retrospective, discuss the issue and create an action plan to avoid it in the future.

When teams misestimate or experience incomplete work, it’s important to reflect during the retrospective and create action items. This is a fundamental aspect of agile: continuous inspection, adaptation, and team-driven improvement.

PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Retrospectives help identify opportunities for improvement. The team reviews its estimation accuracy and adjusts processes or practices based on patterns observed.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.8 — Retrospectives)

Mike Griffiths elaborates:

“Estimating complexity is an area for ongoing learning. Teams use retrospectives to improve their sizing, identify knowledge gaps, and refine their planning techniques.”

(PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 5 — Adaptive Planning)

Other options:

A unnecessarily involves a project manager (non-agile).

B assumes one-size-fits-all rules, which limits team agility.

D ignores the structured opportunity the retrospective provides for team learning.

Answer: C

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The correct answer is A — Teach the team the appropriate agile principle, obtain consensus, and drive adoption.

Agile values “working software over comprehensive documentation.” However, this does not mean eliminating all documentation, but rather focusing on documentation that delivers value.

PMI Agile Practice Guide states:

“Agile teams should regularly question whether the work being done adds value, including documentation. If documentation does not serve a current need or stakeholder, it should be minimized or eliminated.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 2.2 — Agile Manifesto)

Mike Griffiths further supports this in his exam prep book:

“Agile team members are encouraged to surface inefficiencies and suggest improvements. This is an example of continuous improvement and shared responsibility.”

Option A aligns with both the Agile Manifesto and the principle of team empowerment. Options B, C, and D either avoid accountability or introduce hierarchy that agile teams seek to minimize.

Answer: A

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