hello and welcome to this video the pmp
exam format
has changed and now the format is based
on an entirely new syllabus starting
this year so in today's video we would
be solving some situational questions
as per the new format of the pmp exam so
by watching this video from start to end
you will get a flavor of how situational
questions will be
in the new pattern of the pmp exam and
how you can use my framework which i
have discussed right in this video
to solve such questions so let's get
started
the questions in this video are samples
from my mock exam simulator on udemy and
review and prep that has been updated as
per
the new format of the pmp exam so don't
forget to check out the links in the
description box
for this exam simulator on udemy and
review and prep
so the first question that we'll be
solving in today's video
is from the topic servant leadership
which is
a new topic as per the revised syllabus
of the pmp exam in 2021 so the first
question
guys as per the new format of the pmp
exam read the question and try to answer
it before moving forward
okay so we'll start solving the question
as step number one
we'll remind ourselves of the positive
bias principle
which states that we'll analyze every
option word by word
with a positive bias of acceptance until
we get a solid reason to
reject that option with that we move on
to step number two which is to identify
the question stem
so if you look at the question stem here
it states that
what should be your best approach as a
servant leader
so it's hinting at a question which
talks about
demonstrating the traits of a servant
leader right
and with that we go to step number three
and start eliminating options
based on solid grounds now guys before
you start eliminating the options
in this question you need to know a bit
about what is servant leadership
so let's talk a minute about
understanding servant leadership which
is a new topic
in the pmp exam in the revised format
okay
so this slide talks about the different
traits of a servant leader
in project management context so a
servant leader
is expected to enable not direct the
team so if there is a difference between
enable and direct
and we learn more when we talk of
servant leadership in other videos
but you get the drift right so you need
to enable and help people rather than
being bossy and direct people right you
need to coach people
and not teach them that means that you
need to help people through experiential
learnings rather than giving them
direct learnings okay you need to
empower the people
not lead them so you need to trust them
with responsibilities
and help them to perform better in their
day-to-day activities
you need to seek to understand the root
cause of any problem
before attacking it and trying to solve
it and you need to be very sure of where
the source of a problem lies
okay next one you need to build
conditions for the team success
and the final one is the team success
defines
the leader's success for a servant
leader right
so we'll practice more questions on
servant leadership in our future videos
but for this question remember these
traits of a servant leader
and we will use this particular trait of
the servant leader
to solve this question at hand so going
back to the
question let's try to understand every
option and
eliminate them on solid grounds so
option one
identify the developer who made this
error and do a performance review
meeting with him
okay now a performance review meeting
guys means that you are trying to
penalize
the developer in his career by doing a
performance review meeting
and maybe by giving him a bad rating for
his mistake right
as a servant leader it is not expected
for you to do
such kind of a step so that is a wrong
option
so we'll eliminate it moving on identify
the developer who made this error and
reassigning him
to another project okay so this is also
a outright wrong option guys
because here you are not exhibiting the
trait of a servant leader who
seeks to understand and tries to help
the team it's thus that if one of your
team members are not performing
you just reassign him to another project
that's not the trait of a servant leader
like we learned
right now correct moving on
option number three plan a review
meeting with the development team
identify the developer who created the
error and try to understand
blah blah blah it is very important to
note this point the root cause of the
error
and arrange a training for the developer
so this
can be a right option because it
demonstrates the correct traits of a
servant leader who tries to seek
and understand the root cause of a
problem and then tries to address it
so we'll hold this option for a while
moving on
option number four plan a review meeting
with the development team
identify the developer who created the
error and ask him to correct at the
earliest before the client catches it
okay now this can also be a correct
option we do
not as of now have any solid grounds to
reject the option
so let's park it for a while correct so
with that
we have eliminated option one and two
and we are left with
option three and option four okay
now if you look very closely at option
number four guys
it states that you have asked the
developer to correct the error before
the client catches it now
that's a bit shady here right that
you have committed a error that's all
right but there is no
need of hiding the error from the client
right we understand that during a
project errors may happen
so there is no point hiding it from the
client and that goes against the
purpose and values of a good project
management principle
right and also if you see here even if
you tell the developer to fix the error
and manage to hide it from the client
there is no guarantee
that the error may not happen again in
your project right
so even if you are going with option
number four you will be able to address
the issue at hand
but you will not solve it from the root
cause because the developer may do some
kind of damage control and fix the error
this time
but it may happen again in future so
that
way option number four doesn't capture
the root cause
of the problem and tries to solve it and
therefore option number four
is also a wrong option guys so with that
we have option number three as the
correct option for this question
which tells that the project manager
should understand
the root cause of the error and if there
is a training gap
with that error you need to arrange that
training for the developer and that's
how you become a good servant leader
by helping and enabling the team to set
them up for success for future projects
and
this project as well right so the
correct answer to this question is
option number three how was it guys a
bit different right
expect such questions in the new format
of the pmp exam
and you will find loads of questions
like this
in my mock simulator should you wish to
register for the same
and now let's move on to the next
question this one is from agile project
management
which will form about 50 percent of the
revised content of the pmp exam so you
need to practice such
questions very well so let's go so
question number two guys
read the question try to answer it
before moving forward
okay so we'll start solving the question
as step number one
we'll remind ourselves of the positive
bias principle
which states that we will analyze every
option word by word
until and unless we get a very solid
reason to reject that option
and with that we move on to step number
two which is to study the question stem
so if we study the question stem here
it's asking that what should you do as a
project manager
to prevent this type of situation in
future
so the key word which you need to
understand guys here is
this term which is in future which means
that
the question is looking for an answer
which
provides a systemic solution rather than
a one-time solution or a damage control
solution okay
so with that we move on to step number
three
and analyze every option based on solid
grounds
okay now this question is a typical
question
of agile manage project so to answer
this question
you need to have a basic understanding
of how a agile project
works so let's take a minute to
understand the basic framework of
agile manage project so this slide
provides a basic framework of
agile managed project guys okay so if
you see it starts with a product backlog
and then it goes into a sprint backlog
so if you have for example six product
backlogs
you start up with two product backlogs
based on priorities
and that's called your sprint backlogs
and with that
you enter the sprint stage which is
planning design testing and release
and that goes in an iterative format
until and unless you go ahead and
deliver the final product for that
sprint
and then again you look at the product
backlog identify
couple of more sprint backlogs and do
the step again and again
right now if you see here there is a
feedback loop which goes from the sprint
to the sprint backlog which is the
sprint review
or the retrospective so read the term
retrospective from the agile practice
guide very carefully guys because
retrospective is a very important term
in agile life cycle of projects now as a
feedback
loop what you do after a sprint is you
identify the mistakes which you have
committed during the sprint
and what could have been better and you
feed it back as a continuous
improvement cycle into your next print
so that
you do not commit the same mistakes or
the same misses
again and again in your sprints
thereafter right so this is called the
whole concept of retrospective or the
feedback loop
which is essentially nothing but
learning from experience
and developing the capability of the
team by analyzing and understanding
mistakes
and fixing it in a systematic manner
right so as of now remember this chart
as a basic
of agile development cycle in my future
videos we can solve more questions on
agile
but for this question with the
understanding that we have received
right now
let's move on and try to eliminate the
options on solid grounds
okay so option one make sure that the
issue is discussed in the next
iteration meeting okay we can hold this
option for a while let's see the other
options
discuss the issue in retrospective okay
so that's our key term here so we will
hold this option for a while as well
let's move on to the other options and
analyze them before selecting the final
answer review the issue in the next
daily stand-up meeting okay now
reviewing the issue in the next
daily stand-up meeting will not
necessarily
solve the issue in a systematic manner
right so what we have
understood from the question stem is we
need to identify a solution
which solves the issue in a systematic
manner so
option number three is a wrong option
guys moving on
to the next option which is addressing
the issue in prototyping
this is also a wrong option guys because
if you read the basic concept of agile
and iterative project management
it's the iterative project management
which talks about prototyping
and learn from experience cycles or what
is called as proof of concepts
so you need to go back and read the
agile practice guide of pmbok
to get your understanding of agile
iterative
incremental and predictive project
management very clear
so if you are clear with that
understanding you know that
addressing the issue in prototyping is a
characteristic of iterative project
management
not agile project management so this
option is a
wrong option guys and we have safely
eliminated the option
with that we are left with option number
one and two
and if you see option number one here
make sure that the issue is discussed in
the next iteration meeting
not necessarily solves the issue in a
systematic manner
and ideally whenever you are having
sprints and where you have
a mistake which you have committed you
generally discuss it in the
retrospective
not in your daily stand-up meetings so
that's why option number one
is not a correct option for this
question so with that
we have option number two which is
discussing the issue in retrospective
which is the correct option and this is
actually what we have discussed in
this schematic representation of the
agile project
so the correct answer to this question
is option number two
which is to discuss the issue during
retrospective
so let's try out another example from my
updated
udemy and review and prepmock this one
is from the topic
personality indicators another new one
in the
revised format of the pmp exam in 2021
give it a try okay so question number
three guys
for this question you need to know what
is a mbti personality indicator
so take some time and google the term
and read about mbti personality
indicators or
you may find some literatures in human
resource management books as well
now if you already have a basic
understanding of what mbti personality
indicators mean
pause the video try to answer the
question before moving
forward okay so we'll start solving the
question guys
as i discussed to solve this question
you need to know what
mbti personality indicators mean so if i
go to the next slide
this slide talks about the different
personality types for the mbti
personality indicators
so you see that there are extroverts and
introverts sensors and intuitives
thinkers and feelers and judgers and
perceivers
so to answer such questions you need to
have a basic
understanding of the traits of the
different
categories of personality indicators
right so you need to have a basic
understanding what is the difference
between an extrovert and
introvert what is the difference between
sensors and intuitives
what are the main differences between
thinkers and feelers
and what are the main differences
between judgers and perceivers
but while answering these kind of
questions
the best strategy to answer these kind
of questions are
through the method of elimination so
let's go back to
our question and see how we can answer
that so
while applying method of elimination you
need to find
out the patterns of repetitions of the
alphabets okay
so let me explain what i mean by that so
if you see
option number one to four you will see
that three options starts with i
and one option starts with e okay
and on the other hand these are the
three options that is two
three and four that ends with p and
option number one
ends with j so ideally you need to
eliminate options based on the traits
which is discussed in the question stem
and trying to categorize that whether
it's a i or an e
or whether it's a j or a p right
so with that let's quickly look at the
question and try to identify any traits
which may have been discussed in the
question so if you see here
you are the developer of agile manage
project and your product owner has
some traits which have been discussed
here so let's go through the traits
he likes to carefully plan things out
well in advance he likes to be well
organized
okay he has a logical approach to
achieving goals
he likes to work at a steady pace and
moving towards accomplishing the tasks
and he also places a
great deal of emphasis on traditions and
laws of the company
okay so these are fairly the traits that
have been discussed for your product
owner
now if you see the traits of i and e so
let's see
first these three options and this
option so if you see the traits of i and
e
you will see that introverts are like
working alone
uh in a more deliberate pace like to
focus one task at a time and extroverts
are energized by people
blah blah blah quick pace and
multitasking right
but if you see in this question there
has been no traits which are discussed
with respect to extroverts and
introverts so mostly categorizing the
options
as a differential factor of i and e will
not help
for this question right so let's move on
to the other way we can categorize the
the options of the question so if you
see that another way you can categorize
is
the first option ends with a j and the
last three options ends with a
p right so let's go and try to
understand what the traits of a j is
and what does the traits of a p right
so if you go here judges tend to be
organized
prepares like to make and stick to the
plans comfortable with following rules
okay now this is making sense
okay and perceivers are like prefer to
keep their options open
like to act spontaneously like flexible
with making plans
okay now if you see the traits of the
judges guys
and you go back and try to compare it
with the traits which has been
discussed here in the question you will
see that most of the traits are
with respect to the judges right well
organized logical approach
logical approach towards achieving goals
ability to work at a steady pace
emphasis of tradition and laws so mostly
this is a j type personality
not a p type personality right so if you
see with that bifurcation
it becomes super easy so all the three
options
two three and four are wrong because
they end with
p that's a perceiver but the character
traits that we have discussed here
mostly links with j which is the judges
right
so the correct answer to this question
is option number one
is tj so you see guys you need not to
understand
every bit of all the personality types
of mbti to
answer such questions even we didn't
discuss the
s and ts or the n and f's here in this
question right
so there has to be a strategy whenever
you answer such type of questions and
you have to be smart while answering
such type of questions in your pmp exam
and this is how you can apply your
smartness
in terms of eliminating options right so
follow this process whenever you are
answering such questions which are very
important in the new format of the pmp
exam
okay so the correct answer to this
question is option number one which
is the istj personality type so i hope
today's video was useful guys
i will keep on uploading such videos on
youtube
to help you prepare for the revised
format of the pmp exam
and if any one of you have actually
attempted the new format
let me know in the comment section below
so that we can all learn together
on how this new format is panning out
don't forget to like
share and subscribe this video if you
have found it useful
thank you for watching today's video and
i'll see you again soon
in another video like this bye