What a Good PMP Practice Question Actually Looks Like (And Why Most Are Terrible)
Most PMP practice questions on the market are bad. Not wrong, necessarily — though some are — but bad in a specific way: they test the wrong thing.
The real PMP exam is scenario-based. Every question drops you into a project situation and asks what you should do. The skill it's testing isn't whether you can recall the definition of a RACI matrix. It's whether you can reason through a messy, contextual situation and identify the right response.
A lot of practice questions — especially in cheaper or older banks — don't do this. They test recall. They ask what a term means, or which process belongs to which knowledge area, or what document gets produced at project initiation. These questions feel productive. They're not.
Here's how to tell the difference.
What a Bad Practice Question Looks Like
What is the primary purpose of a project charter? A) To authorize the project and identify the project manager B) To document project risks and assumptions C) To outline the detailed project schedule D) To define the work breakdown structure
This is a recall question. You either know the answer or you don't, and if you've read any PMP study material, you know it's A. Answering this correctly tells you nothing about whether you can apply the concept under exam conditions.
The real exam doesn't ask you what a project charter is. It puts you in a situation where you need to know when to use one, what happens when you don't have one, or what to do when a stakeholder is trying to change project scope without one.
What a Good Practice Question Looks Like
You've just joined a project that's been underway for three months. During your first week, several team members mention that the project sponsor keeps adding features without going through the change control process. The sponsor argues that as the project's executive champion, she doesn't need formal approval. What should you do first? A) Escalate the sponsor's behavior to the PMO immediately B) Review the project charter to confirm the change control process and your authority as project manager C) Call a team meeting to discuss the sponsor's behavior and establish norms D) Accept the changes since the sponsor has the authority to direct the project
The answer is B — but notice what the question is actually testing. It's testing whether you know that the project charter is the document that establishes your authority and defines the change control requirements, and that "first" steps in PMP scenarios almost always involve understanding the formal process before taking action. Option A is wrong because you haven't confirmed the facts yet. Option C is wrong because it doesn't address the actual authority question. Option D is wrong because a sponsor's authority does not bypass the change control process.
To get this right, you need to:
- Know what a project charter actually does in practice
- Understand PMI's emphasis on process before action
- Recognize that "first" is a key qualifier — the question isn't asking what you'd eventually do, but what you do first
That's a scenario question. It tests judgment, not memory.
The Four Markers of a Well-Written PMP Question
1. There's a situation, not just a question. Good questions describe a context: a project, a challenge, a stakeholder dynamic, a constraint. Bad questions just ask about a concept in isolation.
2. All four answers are plausible. On a poorly written question, you can eliminate two answers immediately because they're obviously wrong. On a well-written question, all four options make some sense — and you have to reason through why three of them are worse than one. That reasoning is the skill the exam is testing.
3. The right answer requires applying PMI's framework, not just your real-world instinct. PMI has a preferred approach: communicate before acting, go through formal processes, involve stakeholders, document everything. Sometimes this conflicts with what an experienced PM would actually do in the field. The exam is testing whether you know PMI's model, not whether you're a good PM in practice. Good practice questions are calibrated to this.
4. The explanation tells you why each wrong answer is wrong. If a question only explains why A is correct, you learn one thing. If it explains why B, C, and D are wrong, you learn four things — including the reasoning patterns that will trip you up on the next question with a similar structure.
What to Do When You Get a Question Wrong
Most candidates read the explanation, nod, and move on. That's the least effective use of a wrong answer.
A better approach:
First, identify the category of mistake. Did you get it wrong because you didn't know a concept? Or did you know the concept but apply it incorrectly? These require different responses. Concept gaps need more practice on that subtopic. Application gaps need more scenario practice — you know the rules but aren't applying the right framework.
Second, understand why each wrong answer looked tempting. The options that distracted you are telling you something about your reasoning. If you picked "escalate to the sponsor" on a question where the right answer was "review the charter," that might mean you're defaulting to people-based solutions before process-based ones — a common pattern that the PMP exam is designed to catch.
Third, don't re-do the same question too soon. If you mark it for review and see it again the next day, you'll often remember the answer without reconstructing the reasoning. Let it age. Practice it again in a week.
A Note on Volume
There's a persistent belief in PMP prep that doing more questions is always better. It's not.
Doing 200 high-quality scenario questions with careful review of every wrong answer will produce better results than grinding 1,000 recall questions with a glance at the explanation. The former builds the reasoning pattern. The latter builds a false sense of progress.
That's not to say volume doesn't matter — it does. But volume without review is just a way to feel productive. The question isn't how many you've done. It's how well you understand the ones you got wrong.