Free Practice Questions for PMI PMI-ACP Exam

The correct answer is A – High-risk features can be prioritized to fit into releases with less work in progress. Agile emphasizes risk-driven delivery: high-risk and high-value features should be addressed early to reduce uncertainty. Managing WIP also helps improve focus and throughput.

From PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile teams often deliver the highest risk or highest value items early in the project. This helps reduce uncertainty and allows for faster feedback and adaptation.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 3.4 – Value Delivery and Risk)

From Mike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book:

“Prioritizing high-risk features early is a proactive risk management strategy. Teams can reduce the likelihood of failure by discovering major issues early and correcting them while time and budget allow.”

(Mike Griffiths, Chapter 5 – Adaptive Planning)

Option B delays addressing risk.

Option C focuses on low-value items and may not satisfy customer concerns.

Option D adjusts WIP but doesn’t directly address prioritizing the risky features.

Answer: A

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The correct answer is B – The duration of feedback cycles has increased.

In Agile, quick feedback is crucial to success. An increase in feedback cycle time indicates breakdowns in communication, delayed decision-making, or weak collaboration—all of which are signs that a distributed team may not be functioning effectively.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Distributed teams require more intentional efforts to maintain communication and reduce feedback loops. Lag in feedback reduces responsiveness and impedes value delivery.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 2.3 – Agile Team Communication)

Mike Griffiths highlights:

“One of the key risks in distributed teams is the degradation of feedback speed. Long feedback cycles result in slower adaptation and lost opportunities.”

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

Other options:

A (more emails) is neutral—could be communication, not dysfunction.

C (increased velocity) is a positive sign.

D (rescheduling meetings) is an adjustment, not necessarily dysfunction.

Answer: B

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By moving to an iterative approach, the organization can focus more on delivering value and benefits incrementally, with each iteration producing a working product or a usable increment. This allows the team to receive feedback from stakeholders more frequently and make adjustments as needed, ensuring that the most valuable features are prioritized and delivered in a timely manner. Unlike a predictive approach, where the focus is often on completing tasks according to a strict plan, an iterative approach allows for flexibility and continuous improvement, ensuring the product better aligns with user needs and business objectives.

The requirement for the home button to be recognizable is subjective and requires clarification from a design perspective. The team should consult the design team or subject matter experts (SMEs) who have expertise in user experience (UX) and interface design. These experts can provide specific guidelines or criteria for what constitutes a recognizable home button, such as color, shape, placement, or icons. This ensures that the team can create an appropriate, measurable test for the requirement.

The correct answer is C – Facilitate a retrospective to identify areas of improvement.

In Agile, mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities. The Scrum Master should create a safe environment where the team can reflect, discuss issues openly, and identify ways to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Retrospectives provide a regular forum for teams to inspect and adapt. Teams discuss what went well, what didn’t, and how to improve. This supports continuous learning and performance enhancement.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 3.5 – Iteration Retrospectives)

Mike Griffiths states:

“Mistakes are inevitable; agile teams embrace them to improve. Retrospectives are essential for structured reflection and action planning.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book, Chapter 7 – Continuous Improvement)

Why other options are less appropriate:

A may reinforce outdated or flawed processes.

B may help in quality control but does not address the mistake constructively.

D promotes fear and competition, which undermines team trust and collaboration.

Answer: C

The correct answer is D – The Product Owner is responsible for both the budget and the release plans.

In Scrum and Agile frameworks, the Product Owner acts as the voice of the customer and is responsible for maximizing the value of the product. This includes managing the product backlog, prioritization, and release planning. Additionally, in Agile environments, budget management—especially in terms of what value is delivered with what investment—is a key aspect of the Product Owner’s role.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“The Product Owner manages the backlog and prioritizes work based on value delivery. The Product Owner is also typically responsible for budgeting and release planning, often in collaboration with stakeholders.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.2 – Roles and Responsibilities)

Mike Griffiths adds:

“Release planning and value-based budget decisions fall under the Product Owner’s responsibilities, as they are closest to business stakeholders and value prioritization.”

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

Why other options are incorrect:

A is partially correct but misplaces budget responsibility.

B is traditional and does not reflect Agile delegation to the team and Product Owner.

C promotes team ownership but budget and release planning specifically lie with the Product Owner.

Answer: D

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The product owner is responsible for managing the product backlog and ensuring that it reflects the priorities and vision of the product. While the Scrum team can suggest changes or improvements during the refinement process, the product owner has the final say on what changes are made to the backlog. This ensures that the product backlog aligns with business needs, stakeholder expectations, and the overall product vision. Therefore, the product owner can reject changes to the backlog if they believe the changes do not align with these priorities.

The Definition of Done (DoD) is a shared understanding of what it means for work to be considered complete. It is typically defined by the project sponsor and project team in collaboration. The DoD outlines the criteria that must be met for user stories, features, or tasks to be considered done, ensuring alignment between stakeholders and the development team. While the product owner, Scrum master, and stakeholders may influence the criteria, the final agreement on what constitutes " done " is determined by the project team and sponsor.

The agile facilitator should focus on keeping the daily coordination meeting (daily stand-up) focused and efficient. If the meeting is becoming unproductive or lengthy, the facilitator needs to actively manage the flow and intervene when team members deviate from the meeting ' s objective, which is to quickly discuss progress, identify blockers, and align on the work for the day. By doing this, the facilitator can help the team maintain the purpose and time-box of the meeting, which is generally 15 minutes.

The correct answer is B — Create a spike story to determine what needs to be done to use the new interface.

A spike is a special user story designed to address technical uncertainty or risk. It allows the team to explore, research, or prototype solutions within a time-box. Spikes are particularly useful for investigating unknowns such as integration with vendor systems.

PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Spikes are used for research and exploration. They help teams gain knowledge about technology, functionality, or business domain that is necessary before estimating or implementing a feature.”

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

Mike Griffiths notes:

“Spikes reduce uncertainty and are valuable tools for backlog refinement. They are especially helpful when the team is unsure how to implement a requirement or integrate external components.”

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

Other options:

A may delay addressing the issue until the next monthly meeting.

C defers the issue rather than exploring it.

D assumes outsourcing is the only solution and may remove team ownership.

Answer: B

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