Free Practice Questions for PMI PMI-ACP Exam

Knowledge sharing and organizational learning are core elements of scaling agile. According to the PMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 8.4 Organizational Change Management) and the PMBOK® Guide (6th Edition, Section 10.2 Manage Communications), the project manager should actively disseminate lessons learned, best practices, and project outcomes to promote agile adoption across the organization.

Mike Griffiths reinforces in the PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 7: Continuous Improvement) that continuous feedback loops and transparent communication are essential to agile transformation success.

Option D is correct because regular meetings specifically focused on sharing outcomes and learning from the pilot project help embed agile values and improve future implementations.

In an adaptive environment, the project manager’s role is focused on facilitating collaboration and communication among stakeholders, teams, and sponsors to ensure that decisions are made quickly and effectively as circumstances change. This aligns with the agile principle of collaboration over contract negotiation and emphasizes adaptability and the ability to respond to changing needs. While project managers may still contribute to planning and other activities, fostering a collaborative and flexible decision-making process is key in an adaptive environment.

The correct answer is A – Add risk mitigation tasks to the backlog, then prioritize in current and upcoming sprints. In Agile, risk is actively managed and addressed as part of the backlog. When the risk threshold is exceeded, the team should explicitly identify risk-related tasks and bring them into visibility for planning and execution.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile teams manage risk by incorporating risk mitigation tasks directly into the backlog and addressing them early. Risk exposure is reviewed frequently, and responses are prioritized based on value and urgency.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 6.7 – Risk Management)

Also from the PMBOK® Guide (6th Edition):

“Risks should be integrated into project activities. Agile teams identify, analyze, and prioritize risks continuously and handle them as regular backlog items.”

(PMBOK® Guide, Section 11.5 – Risk Response Planning)

Mike Griffiths further supports this by noting:

“Agile teams track risks visually and use backlog prioritization techniques to ensure they’re addressed appropriately.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 6 – Problem Detection and Resolution)

Incorrect options:

B suggests padding estimates, which is an anti-pattern.

C is arbitrary and not recommended.

D delays risk response and contradicts proactive risk management.

Answer: A

The primary reason for delivering a minimally viable product (MVP) is to reduce risk as quickly as possible. By releasing a version of the product with just the essential features, the team can quickly test assumptions, gather feedback from users, and make necessary adjustments before investing more time and resources. This approach allows the team to identify and address potential risks early in the process, ensuring that the product is on the right track and meets user needs before full-scale development continues.

The correct answer is C — Training in areas of weakness.

Velocity can be improved when the team removes skill-based bottlenecks. If some members struggle due to lack of knowledge or technical gaps, their productivity—and the team ' s velocity—will be impacted. Targeted training helps the team overcome these weaknesses and deliver more efficiently.

PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Improving technical and team skills through training and mentoring increases team performance and agility. Learning is a continuous improvement activity that directly impacts delivery capacity.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 6.4 – Developing People and Teams)

Mike Griffiths adds:

“Velocity is driven by team capabilities. When teams address their weakest areas—through training, pairing, or knowledge sharing—they improve quality and throughput.”

(PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 4 – Team Performance)

Other options:

A supports communication but doesn’t directly impact skill-based bottlenecks.

B helps with planning but not necessarily performance.

D describes the work cadence, not a practice that enhances velocity.

Answer: C

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A complete and realistic backlog must include not only functional stories but also non-functional and support tasks such as infrastructure setup, analysis, and design. The PMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 5.2: Backlog Composition) and Mike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 6: Adaptive Planning) emphasize including all types of work in the backlog to ensure accurate effort planning.

Option D is correct: effort must include technical tasks, not just feature delivery.

Option A suggests speculation on velocity and cost increases, which is unreliable.

Option B and C (adding buffers or padding estimates) violate agile’s principle of transparency and simplicity.

Capturing and reviewing lessons learned is a vital practice in both agile and traditional environments. According to the PMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 5.6: Retrospectives) and PMBOK® Guide (Lessons Learned Register), continuous learning from project execution helps teams and organizations improve predictability, quality, and efficiency.

Mike Griffiths in the PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 7: Continuous Improvement) highlights the importance of documenting insights and feeding them into future projects for organizational maturity.

Option A is correct: creating and reviewing a lessons learned repository supports organizational learning and better delivery.

Option B confuses issue tracking with structured learning.

Option C removes responsibility from the team—agile encourages team ownership of improvement.

Option D is helpful in some contexts but is not a repeatable organizational improvement tool like a lessons learned repository.

The correct answer is C — Update current user stories.

Acceptance criteria are part of a user story’s definition and describe the specific conditions under which the story is considered complete. As user stories evolve and more clarity is gained, acceptance criteria must be updated within the user story itself to ensure mutual understanding of scope and expectations between the product owner and the development team.

According to PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Acceptance criteria are detailed during backlog refinement and are commonly added to user stories to define the done conditions. These are updated throughout the lifecycle of the story as more details emerge.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.2 — Backlog Refinement)

Mike Griffiths reinforces this:

“Acceptance criteria serve as the test conditions for confirming user stories. They are not fixed and can be elaborated collaboratively during grooming or development, and are updated directly in the user story.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 3 — Value-Driven Delivery)

Other options:

A refers to adding more stories, not updating existing ones.

B (retrospectives) are used for process improvement, not for editing user stories.

D (project plan) reflects a traditional mindset and not applicable in Agile.

Answer: C

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The correct answer is D — Engaged key stakeholders periodically to collect requirements.

Agile is based on frequent stakeholder collaboration. Continuous engagement ensures evolving needs are captured and prevents misalignment. Waiting for planning meetings or demos is too late to catch missing input.

PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile teams ensure stakeholder engagement is ongoing throughout the project. This helps validate requirements and prevent surprises during reviews.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 4.2 – Stakeholder Engagement)

Mike Griffiths:

“Stakeholders should be consulted early and often. Relying on static requirements leads to gaps. Agile teams maintain constant feedback loops.”

(PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 3 – Value-Driven Delivery)

Incorrect options:

A is too early and one-time.

B may help but is reactive.

C is a predictive approach inconsistent with agile.

Answer: D

Social awareness—a key element of emotional intelligence (EI)—is the ability to understand and respect others ' feelings, perspectives, and dynamics, especially in diverse teams. The PMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 4.3.2: Emotional Intelligence and Team Collaboration) highlights that social awareness is essential when planning inclusive team-building activities, as it helps the leader consider cultural and personal differences.

Mike Griffiths also discusses EQ (Emotional Quotient) in the PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 3: Team Performance) as vital to managing diverse, high-performing teams.

Option B is correct: social awareness allows the leader to design inclusive and engaging team activities.

Option A (networking) is more external-facing.

Option C (communication) is important but not specific to diversity sensitivity.

Option D is broad and not specific to the interpersonal nuance required here.