George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
What's the most difficult question you've faced in a mock exam?
It could be a general topic
It could be a knowledge area
It could be a process group
It could be a particular question that you never got by
It could be a phrase/wording
I want to hear from your experiences... Saving Changes...
George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
Strategies for Difficult Questions
Most students experience difficult test questions during some point of their academic careers. There are several ways that you can break questions down and make them simpler and easier to answer with the knowledge you have available.
A. Translate the questions into your own words
B. Read each option carefully
C. Use a strategy
Strategy Suggestions
Attack unfamiliar words by sounding them out, by breaking them into familiar parts with meanings you know, and by looking at the surrounding words and sentences for clues to the meaning of the word.
Use your general knowledge. Ask yourself, "What do I already know about ____________"?
Anticipate the answer to the question you’ve just read and look for the one most like what you expect. Be flexible. You may not always find exactly the choice you are looking for. Then, you must choose the best of the options available.
Use logical reasoning. For each possible answer, ask yourself, "What would happen if… "?
Use the process of elimination for multiple-choice questions where more than one option is correct:
Pick out the options you are sure are correct.
Pick out the options you are sure are incorrect.
Rule out all answers that contain wrong options.
Rule out all answers that omit options you are sure of.
Select the best remaining answer.
Look for test-wiseness cues if the other strategies don't work. If you guess at an answer, check your guess against what you already know and against what your logical reasoning tells you.
I'm still studying right now so they are all difficult! :)
I agree with Stephen. This question with at least 7 consecutive measurements being below or above the mean is difficult, and you get to know the answer thanks to mock questions and checking back the PMBOK and other books.
This type of question is difficult and happens in reality. It is an important PMP question... Saving Changes...
Joan RichardsProject Manager, Regulatory AffAirs Associate| Aesculap Biologics, LLCQuakertown, Pa, United States
I can’t think of any particular question that was the most difficult, I think it’s going to be specific to the test taker as to what would be considered difficult. I can tell you that I got a question during the exam for which none of the answers really made any sense to me. There are 25 throw away questions (questions that PMI is testing and may or may not use in the future exams) and it’s entirely possible that question was one of the throw away questions. Saving Changes...
I do not remember exact question but questions relating to Execution and Monitoring & Control were tricky ones for me. Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
On the mock exams, I remember that I had to be very careful about the questions that asked what do you do first.
On the test itself there was this one question concerning Present Value that every calculation I did resulted in an answer that did not match any of the choices. Saving Changes...
Denise CantyAgile Coach, Life Coach, Author, Senior Project-Program Manager| Cenden CompanyWashington, Dc, United States
At the time I studied for my PMP and my PM Master's degree, the questions on schedule diagrams were the most challenging for me. Just doing the math in my head and trying to follow the float and lags were difficult at that time. They may even be difficult now but I use MS Project so I don't have to do that manually. Whew!!! Saving Changes...
Denise CantyAgile Coach, Life Coach, Author, Senior Project-Program Manager| Cenden CompanyWashington, Dc, United States
May 25, 2016 8:10 AM
Replying to Jenny Gooch
...
Exactly! This is giving me flashbacks to the PMP prep and exam:(
Made me have flashbacks too! Scary stuff at that time. Saving Changes...
Suresh KumarAssistant Vice President| Infinite Computers India LtdChennai, Tamilnadu, India
Especially questions with answers like A and B, B &C , A&C, All the above Saving Changes...
Ezz KhayyatSenior Software Engineer| Dar Al HandasahAmman, Jordan
When all the options are true Saving Changes...
George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
