Hi Cox,
PMP situational questions are usually lengthy questions in themselves, however they are also more tricky. These questions will describe a situation (usually problematic) and ask you how to best deal with it. There is usually no black and white distinction for the “correct” answer as usually 2 to 3 answer options are logical or reasonable. Situational questions will usually ask you to identify:
the best next course of action
the first thing to do
the best response
Don’t make the common mistake of reading the answer choices from A to D and select the first option that looks okay — there are usually 2-3 situational question options that look okay, your task is to find the BEST one among them according to PMI’s point of view.
It should be noted that since PMI expects project management to exercise responsibility and autonomy, ignoring the issue, escalating the problem to senior management or pausing the project to solicit advices from others tend to be incorrect…… be careful here as this is a general observation NOT a law.
Here are some tips that could help tackle such questions:
1. Pick the most important and relevant information from the description of situation.
2. Read carefully all the answer choices for at least twice (it may be a good idea to read the options in reverse order, i.e. from D -> C -> B -> A for the second time).
3. Eliminate the obviously wrong answer(s) — usually only 1 to 2 options are obviously wrong.
4. For the remaining options, re-read them to closely understand their implications / rationales in order to find the best answer according to principles outlined in the PMBOK Guide. Pay attention to the consequences for the actions.
Hope this helps.
