PMI-ACPFree Agile Certified Practitioner practice test

Correct answer: A. XP

A Spike is a focused, time-boxed iteration found in Extreme Programming (XP). Its purpose is to reduce technical uncertainty or investigate design options before the main implementation begins. DSDM emphasizes principles like active user involvement and frequent delivery but has no concept called a spike. Scrum uses terms such as backlog, sprint, and increment; research tasks may occur informally but are never formally labeled spikes in Scrum. Kanban is a flow-based method that does not prescribe time-boxed activities or iterations of any kind.

Correct answer: D. Date driven release

Agile recognizes two primary release categories. A date-driven release targets a specific calendar deadline—such as a trade show, regulatory filing, or contractual commitment—and scope is adjusted as needed to hit that date. A functionality-driven release is triggered by completing a particular feature set, regardless of when that occurs. In this scenario, the external event (the trade show) dictates the delivery date, making it a date-driven release. "Estimating release" is not a recognized Agile release type; estimation is a planning technique, not a release strategy. "Backlog release" is not a standard category; the product backlog is a prioritized list of work items, not a release mechanism.

Correct answer: C. Escaped defect

An escaped defect is a flaw that slips through quality control and testing processes and reaches the end user. Because the bug was not detected despite testing and was only discovered post-release, it is classified as an escaped defect. Swarming is a collaborative Agile practice where team members collectively address a bottleneck or blocked task. Defect cycle time measures the elapsed time from when a defect is discovered to when it is resolved. Defect rate is a performance metric tracking how frequently defects are introduced or found.

Correct answer: D. Defect cycle time

Defect cycle time is the elapsed duration from the moment a defect is identified to the moment it is fully resolved. The longer the defect cycle time, the higher the cost of change associated with that fix. Here, eighteen hours passed between discovery and resolution, making this the defect cycle time. Escaped defects are flaws that bypass quality checks and reach end users. Lead time measures how long a work item takes to traverse the entire end-to-end process. Project cycle time is the total elapsed duration of the project from start to finish.

Correct answer: B. Extra processes

Lean identifies seven types of waste: partially done work, extra processes, extra features, motion, defects, task switching, and waiting. Requiring an external approval gate before work can be declared done adds a non-value-adding step to the workflow, which is extra processes. This also undermines the Agile principle of self-organizing teams. Extra features refers to building functionality beyond what the customer requested. Motion refers to unnecessary physical or digital movement between people or tools. Task switching occurs when a team member repeatedly shifts between different work items.

Correct answer: C. Test-driven development

Test-driven development (TDD) is the practice of authoring tests prior to writing the corresponding code. Developers think through expected behavior and usage first, then write code that satisfies the failing tests. Refactoring is the process of restructuring existing code to improve readability or maintainability without altering its observable behavior. Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) also creates tests before code, but focuses on acceptance-level verification involving the customer, development team, and testers. Continuous integration is the practice of merging individual developers' code changes into a shared repository frequently to detect integration issues early.

Correct answer: C. The issue can have unintended risks that increase the cost of change.

Defects discovered late in a project drive up the cost of change on the cost-of-change curve. Deferring a known issue accumulates technical debt and may introduce unanticipated risks into future deliverables. The issue should be resolved as promptly as possible. Logging the issue for a later iteration is not ideal; unresolved bugs compound in complexity and cost. In Agile, the highest priority is delivering customer value through working product increments, not necessarily meeting a date at the expense of quality. Workarounds are temporary patches and do not eliminate the underlying defect.

Correct answer: B. Acceptance test-driven development

Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) is a collaborative practice where tests are authored before code, specifically to validate user-facing acceptance criteria. It deliberately incorporates three viewpoints: the customer's perspective, the development team's perspective, and the testing staff's perspective. Refactoring improves the internal structure of existing code without changing its external behavior and does not involve pre-coding tests or multiple stakeholder perspectives. Kano analysis is a customer-focused prioritization model that categorizes product features by their impact on satisfaction. TDD also writes tests before code but operates at the unit level and is driven primarily by developers, not a multi-stakeholder team.

Correct answer: D. Exploratory testing

Exploratory testing is an unscripted, ad-hoc approach where the tester freely investigates the product by pursuing various scenarios and "what if" questions. Observations and results are captured in real time. It complements scripted or automated testing by uncovering issues that predefined test cases might miss. Test-driven development requires writing tests before code is written and is a development practice, not a QA activity conducted after code is complete. Unit testing involves structured, granular validation of individual code components, typically automated. Refactoring is the act of improving the internal design of code without modifying its external behavior.

Correct answer: D. Avoidance

The four recognized risk response strategies are mitigation, transference, avoidance, and acceptance. Avoidance involves changing the project plan or scope to eliminate the risk entirely—which is exactly what happened here by removing the legacy system upgrade from scope. The risk has not been shifted to a third party, so transference does not apply. Mitigation would involve taking steps to reduce the likelihood or impact of the risk. Acceptance means acknowledging that the risk exists and choosing not to take any preemptive action against it.