about 4.1% of the exam content - about 90 minutes - 14 practice questions
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Reading
Every project GCHS runs (a bathroom accessibility retrofit in Galveston, a twelve-home post-storm rehab
program in Brazoria County, a new intake system for our case managers) needs a plan that hangs together as one
thing. Not a stack of unrelated documents. This task is about integration: picking a delivery
approach that fits the work, building the plan components that support it, connecting them so a change in one
shows up in the others, and then actually managing the work against that plan.
The project management plan is the hub: subsidiary plans and the three baselines, which combine
into the performance measurement baseline, all change only through approved change control. Project documents,
such as the risk register and stakeholder register, are a separate category updated freely as work proceeds.
What "the plan" actually is
In PMI language, the project management plan is a single integrated document made up of
smaller pieces called subsidiary plans plus baselines. It is not the schedule.
The schedule is one input to it. Think of it as the answer to "how will we run this project?" rather than "what
are we building?"
Subsidiary management plans typically include: scope, requirements, schedule, cost, quality, resource,
communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder engagement, and change management. Each one answers the same
question for its own area: how will we plan it, how will we execute it, how will we control it, and who decides.
A resource management plan for a GCHS rehab says how we will estimate crew hours, how we acquire subcontractors,
how we release them, and who signs off. It does not say who is working Tuesday; that is the schedule.
Alongside the plans sit the baselines: the approved versions we measure against. There are
three: scope baseline (scope statement plus WBS plus WBS dictionary), schedule
baseline, and cost baseline. Together they form the performance measurement
baseline. Baselines change only through approved change control. That is the whole point of calling them
baselines: if they drift informally, you have lost the ability to say whether you are ahead or behind.
Key points
Project management plan = subsidiary plans + baselines + how work gets executed and controlled
Three baselines: scope, schedule, cost; combined they are the performance measurement baseline
Baselines change only via approved change requests; plans are progressively elaborated
Project documents (risk register, issue log, stakeholder register, RAID log) are NOT part of the plan; they get updated freely as work proceeds
Choosing a delivery approach
PMI expects you to select an approach based on the characteristics of the work and the environment,
not on preference or habit. The 2026 exam leans about 60% toward adaptive and hybrid situations, so get
comfortable reasoning in both directions.
Predictive (sometimes called waterfall or plan-driven) fits when requirements are stable and
well understood, the product is familiar, regulation demands up-front definition, and the cost of change late is
high. Most of our physical construction work is like this: a wheelchair ramp built to Texas Accessibility
Standards has a known scope, a known code, and a permit that was pulled against a specific drawing.
Adaptive (agile, iterative, incremental) fits when requirements are uncertain or expected to
evolve, the customer can stay engaged continuously, feedback is valuable, and small increments can be delivered
and used. Our case-management software rollout is like this: nobody knows exactly what the intake form should ask
until caseworkers use it a few times.
Hybrid combines them, and it is the most common real answer. GCHS builds the ramp predictively
while running the homeowner-communication and finish-selection portion iteratively; the family reviews the grab
bar placement and tile selection in short cycles even though the structural work follows a fixed drawing.
Dimension
Predictive
Adaptive (agile)
Hybrid
Requirements
Defined up front, stable
Emergent, refined continuously
Stable core, evolving edges
Delivery
One delivery at the end
Frequent increments
Some phases fixed, some iterative
Change handling
Formal change control against baselines
Change welcomed; backlog reprioritized
Change control on the fixed part, backlog on the rest
Planning style
Detailed plan early
Rolling wave, plan the next iteration in detail
Rolling wave with baselined milestones
Success measure
Delivered to baseline
Value delivered, working product
Both, per component
GCHS example
Permitted ramp construction
Intake software, program pilot design
Whole-home rehab with homeowner-selected finishes
Tailoring
Tailoring means deliberately deciding which processes, tools, documents, and level of rigor a
specific project needs. PMI is explicit that no methodology applies unchanged to every project. A four-day grab
bar installation does not need a formal risk register with quantitative analysis; a FEMA-funded twenty-home
program needs a documented one.
Tailor based on project size and complexity, risk exposure, regulatory and funder requirements, team
experience and location, organizational maturity, and how much uncertainty sits in the product itself. Tailoring
decisions belong in the plan, not in someone's head, and they get revisited when conditions change. Under-
tailoring (running a tiny job with enterprise ceremony) wastes money just as surely as over-tailoring (running a
grant-funded program with no documented change process) invites audit findings.
Watch for on the exam
"The organization mandates a methodology": you still tailor within the mandate, and you consult governance before deviating
Tailoring is a project manager responsibility done with the team, not imposed on it
Choosing agile because the team likes it, rather than because the work suits it, is always a wrong answer
Integrating the pieces
Integration management is the work only the project manager does: making sure the parts fit. Four habits carry
most of the weight.
Consult the plan first. When something surprises you, the first move in most PMI scenarios
is to check what the plan already says: the change management plan, the escalation path, the communications
plan. Acting outside a plan that already covers the situation is a wrong answer.
Run integrated change control. A change request that touches scope almost always touches
schedule and cost. Assess the full impact across all components before the change control board (CCB) decides.
Never implement an approved-sounding change on a verbal nod from one stakeholder.
Manage project knowledge. Capture lessons learned continuously: in a lessons learned
register during the project, rolled into the organizational lessons learned repository at closure, not only
at the end.
Use a kickoff to align. Kickoff is where the approach, cadence, roles, and definition of
success get communicated. In adaptive work it happens at the start of a release or major iteration too.
Planning cadence and artifacts in adaptive work
Adaptive projects still plan; they plan more often, in smaller pieces. Rolling wave planning
means near-term work is detailed and far-term work stays coarse. A release plan sets the horizon
of several iterations; iteration (sprint) planning commits the team to a specific set of backlog
items for the next one to four weeks. Progress is shown with burndown or burnup charts and information radiators
rather than a Gantt chart, and the team's velocity (completed story points per iteration) drives forecasting instead of a resource-loaded critical path.
The governing artifact for scope is the product backlog, an ordered list maintained by the
product owner. In a hybrid setup you may hold a baselined milestone date for permit inspection while the
software or program-design portion runs off a backlog. Both can be true at once; say so in the plan.
Emerging themes: AI and sustainability in planning
PMI's 2026 outline adds explicit attention to AI-assisted practice and to sustainable, socially responsible
delivery. In planning terms that means two concrete things. First, AI tools can accelerate estimating, schedule
risk simulation, document drafting, and anomaly detection in cost data, but the project manager remains
accountable for the output. An AI-generated estimate is an input requiring validation against historical data and
expert judgment, never an approved baseline on its own, and feeding donor or client data into an external tool
without checking data-governance rules is a compliance problem, not a productivity win.
Second, sustainability and ESG considerations belong in planning as real constraints and real benefits:
specifying low-VOC and locally sourced materials on rehabs, planning construction waste diversion, weighing
lifecycle energy cost against first cost for HVAC replacement, and reporting the resulting benefits to funders
who increasingly ask for them. Treat these as requirements and success measures, not as afterthoughts.
Common trap
A stakeholder asks for "one small addition" and the sponsor seems fine with it. Approving it on the spot, even a genuinely small one, bypasses integrated change control and corrupts the baseline. The correct pattern
is: acknowledge the request, evaluate its impact on scope, schedule, cost, risk and quality, submit a change
request, and let the defined authority decide. In adaptive work the equivalent is: add it to the backlog and
let the product owner order it, rather than slipping it into the current iteration.
Practice Questions
1. A project manager is assembling the project management plan for a whole-home rehab. Which of the following is NOT a component of the project management plan?
The cost baseline
The scope management plan
The risk register
The communications management plan
Answer: c. The risk register is a project document, not a plan component. Project documents (risk register, issue log, stakeholder register) are updated continuously as work proceeds, while plan components and baselines change only through approved change control. The risk MANAGEMENT plan is a plan component; the risk REGISTER is not.
2. The three baselines that together form the performance measurement baseline are:
Schedule, cost, and risk
Scope, schedule, and resource
Scope, schedule, and cost
Scope, quality, and cost
Answer: c. Scope, schedule, and cost baselines combine into the performance measurement baseline used for earned value analysis. Quality, risk and resource have management plans but not baselines; there is no approved quality baseline to measure variance against in PMI terminology.
3. Halfway through planning, the sponsor asks the PM why so much documentation is being produced for a two-week grab bar installation. What should the PM do?
Tailor processes and artifacts down to fit the project's size and complexity
Escalate to the PMO to defend the approach
Continue as planned since consistency across projects matters most to the sponsor and the PMO
Explain that PMI methodology requires all documented processes
Answer: a. Tailoring is an explicit PMI expectation: processes and rigor are matched to project size, complexity, and risk. Insisting that methodology requires everything is the classic wrong instinct; PMI is clear that no methodology applies unchanged to every project.
4. Which situation most strongly favors a predictive delivery approach?
The customer wants to see working results every two weeks
The team has never built anything like this before
Requirements are expected to evolve as users and inspectors interact with early versions of the work
The deliverable is defined by a permitted drawing and code, with high cost to change late
Answer: d. Stable, well-defined requirements with a high cost of late change point to predictive delivery. Evolving requirements, frequent feedback, and high novelty all point toward adaptive approaches instead.
5. A GCHS project builds a code-compliant ramp to a fixed permitted drawing while the family selects and reviews interior finishes in short feedback cycles. This is BEST described as:
A hybrid delivery approach
A poorly controlled adaptive project
A predictive project with rolling wave planning
A predictive project with scope creep
Answer: a. Applying predictive control to the fixed, regulated portion and iterative feedback to the evolving portion is exactly hybrid delivery. It is not scope creep; the iterative portion is planned that way deliberately, with the customer's involvement designed into the approach.
6. A stakeholder emails the PM asking for a small change and copies the sponsor, who replies 'sounds fine to me.' What should the PM do FIRST?
Implement the change since the sponsor approved it and update the plan later
Evaluate the impact on scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk
Reject the change because it was not submitted formally
Add it to the next status report for information
Answer: b. Even with apparent sponsor blessing, the PM assesses full impact and routes the request through integrated change control. Implementing on a verbal or email nod corrupts the baselines; flatly rejecting it is unhelpful and not the PM's call to make unilaterally.
7. A supplier substitution unexpectedly changes a fixture specification mid-project. What should the project manager do FIRST?
Ignore it since fixtures are a minor detail
Approve the substitution since it seems minor and the supplier has already confirmed availability
Check what the change management plan and communications plan already say
Escalate immediately to the sponsor
Answer: c. When something surprises the PM, the first move in most PMI scenarios is to check what the plan already covers before acting. Approving on the spot or escalating immediately both skip that consult-the-plan-first habit.
8. Which planning technique details near-term work precisely while keeping far-term work at a coarse level?
Earned value management
Monte Carlo simulation
Critical path method
Rolling wave planning
Answer: d. Rolling wave planning progressively elaborates detail as work approaches, which fits both adaptive iterations and predictive phases with uncertain far-term detail. The other three are a performance measurement technique, a risk simulation technique, and a schedule analysis technique, not planning cadence techniques.
9. What is the PRIMARY purpose of a project kickoff?
To communicate the delivery approach, cadence, roles, and definition of success
To finalize the budget
To conduct the first retrospective
To assign detailed work packages for the first month
Answer: a. Kickoff aligns the team and stakeholders on how the project will run, which is broader than any single work assignment or financial step. Budgets are finalized in planning, and retrospectives are a recurring adaptive practice, not a one-time kickoff event.
10. The organization mandates a standard predictive methodology for all projects. A project manager believes agile would suit a particular initiative better. What is the appropriate action?
Use agile anyway without telling anyone
Refuse the assignment
Follow the mandate exactly with no tailoring at all
Consult organizational governance about tailoring within the mandate before deviating
Answer: d. Even under a mandated methodology, tailoring still happens, but through the proper governance conversation rather than a unilateral deviation. Silently switching approaches or refusing the assignment both bypass that legitimate channel.
11. In a hybrid GCHS project, which statement about scope artifacts is CORRECT?
A backlog automatically becomes part of the scope baseline once the product owner approves it and the sponsor signs
A baselined milestone for the permitted portion can coexist with a backlog for the iterative portion
WBS and backlog are the same artifact under two names
Only a WBS may be used, never a backlog
Answer: b. Hybrid delivery lets a fixed, baselined portion and a backlog-governed portion exist side by side in the same plan. A backlog is an adaptive artifact, not a scope baseline component, and the two artifacts serve different delivery styles rather than being interchangeable.
12. An AI tool generates a cost estimate for a rehab program. What must happen before that estimate becomes part of an approved baseline?
The project manager validates it against historical data and expert judgment
It is sent to the funder unreviewed, so the funder's approval can serve as the validation step
It replaces the WBS dictionary
Nothing; AI estimates may be baselined directly
Answer: a. AI output is a useful input, but the project manager still validates it and remains accountable before it becomes an approved baseline. Baselining it directly or sending it out unreviewed skips the human judgment PMI still requires.
13. A backlog item is added mid-iteration by a stakeholder in an adaptive project. What is the correct handling, per PMI?
Require a formal change request through a change control board before any work starts
Add it to the backlog for the product owner to prioritize against existing items
Reject it outright since iterations are fixed
Add it to the current iteration immediately since agile welcomes change
Answer: b. Adaptive delivery protects the committed iteration while still welcoming the new item through backlog reprioritization. A change control board is a predictive construct, and both disrupting the iteration and rejecting the item outright ignore how adaptive change actually flows.
14. A change request adds a bedroom conversion to a whole-home rehab's scope. Which of the following BEST reflects integrated change control?
Approve the scope change alone since it is the only thing requested
Implement it first and document it afterward
Defer the assessment until the next monthly report
Assess impact on schedule, cost, risk, and quality together before the change control board decides
Answer: d. Integration means a scope change is evaluated across every affected component before a decision is made, not scope alone. Implementing first, or deferring the assessment, both let the baseline drift before anyone has actually looked at the full impact.
Glossary
Project management plan
The single integrated document made up of subsidiary management plans and baselines, describing how the project will be executed, monitored, and controlled.
Baseline
An approved version of scope, schedule, or cost used to measure performance; changed only through approved change control.
Performance measurement baseline
The combination of the scope, schedule, and cost baselines, used together for earned value analysis.
Tailoring
Deliberately matching processes, tools, documents, and rigor to a specific project's size, complexity, and risk.
Rolling wave planning
Planning near-term work in detail while keeping far-term work at a coarse level, refined as it approaches.
Integrated change control
Assessing a change's full impact across scope, schedule, cost, risk, and quality before an authorized body approves it.
Product backlog
The ordered list of features and stories that governs scope in adaptive work, maintained by the product owner.
Velocity
An adaptive team's completed story points per iteration, used to forecast remaining work instead of a resource-loaded critical path.