Certifications / Sample questions

Try the exam before you take it

Two sample questions for each level, written in the same format as the real exams: one question, four options, one correct answer. Pick an answer to see whether you're right, and why.

PTMF Foundation

PTMF

Short questions on the basics of leading a technical team. 15 questions in 15 minutes, 60% to pass.

Which of these is the best measure of a technical manager's success?
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The answer is C.

A manager's output is the output of their team. Andy Grove made this point in High Output Management: a manager's work is judged by what the people they lead, and the groups they influence, deliver.

What is the clearest way to set priorities for your team?
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The answer is A.

When everything is top priority, people guess, and they guess differently. A ranked list plus an explicit “not now” list lets the team make trade-offs without asking you each time.

Read the PTMF study guide   PTMF exam details

PTMP Practitioner

PTMP

Everyday team leadership: delegation, decisions, planning and agile practice. 25 questions in 30 minutes, 70% to pass.

Two engineers have argued about which database to use for a new service for a week. What is the best next step?
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The answer is D.

Shared criteria turn a debate about preferences into a comparison, and a deadline stops it running forever. Deciding without explanation (A) costs trust; waiting for full agreement (C) can take indefinitely; escalating (B) skips a decision that's yours to make.

What is the main purpose of a sprint goal?
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The answer is B.

The goal says why the sprint matters. When something unexpected happens mid-sprint, the team can drop or swap tickets and still meet the goal, which a ticket list alone doesn't allow.

Read the PTMP study guide   PTMP exam details

PTMA Associate

PTMA

Managing across teams: resourcing, stakeholders, metrics and trade-offs. 25 questions in 30 minutes, 70% to pass.

Your team's velocity has dropped by 30% over two sprints, and a stakeholder asks you to “get it back up”. What is the most effective response?
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The answer is C.

Velocity is a planning aid, not a target. Once it becomes a target, it's easy to inflate (B) and stops telling you anything. The useful answer to the stakeholder is what changed and what you can do about it.

Two teams you manage both need the same senior engineer's expertise next quarter. What is the best approach?
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The answer is D.

An even split (A) often means neither team gets enough of her time. Tie the decision to business priority, make the trade-off visible to the people it affects, and fix the underlying single point of failure.

Read the PTMA study guide   PTMA exam details

PTME Expert

PTME

Organization-level scenarios: scaling, architecture decisions and executive communication. 25 questions in 30 minutes, 70% to pass.

Your company plans to double engineering headcount within twelve months. Which risk should you address first?
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The answer is A.

The number of possible communication paths grows much faster than headcount (Fred Brooks made this point in The Mythical Man-Month). Without a team structure, onboarding and decision-making that scale, adding people can slow delivery down.

You need executive approval for a large investment in reliability. Which case is most persuasive?
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The answer is C.

Executives decide between business outcomes. Numbers they already care about, a small set of options and a clear recommendation get a decision; architecture detail and ticket lists belong in the appendix.

Read the PTME study guide   PTME exam details

PTMS Specialist

PTMS

Leading specialist domains, R&D and standards across an organization. 25 questions in 30 minutes, 70% to pass.

You lead an R&D group exploring a technology that may not pay off for three years. Executives want quarterly evidence of progress. What is the most appropriate way to report?
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The answer is D.

Early research can't show revenue, but it can show that uncertainty is going down. Milestones based on what's been learned, with clear points to continue or stop, give executives real control without forcing false precision.

Your organization wants a common standard for API design across 40 teams. Which approach is most likely to be adopted?
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The answer is A.

Standards spread when they're co-owned, grounded in existing practice and cheaper to follow than to ignore, for example through linters and templates. Mandates without that (B) tend to produce workarounds.

Read the PTMS study guide   PTMS exam details

About the real exams

  • Each exam draws its questions from a larger question bank. These samples aren't in it, so you won't see them again.
  • Questions get longer and more scenario-based as the levels go up: PTMF and PTMP mostly test core concepts, while PTME and PTMS put you in situations senior leaders face.
  • Each exam is timed: 15 minutes for PTMF and 30 minutes for the paid levels, counted from the moment you press Start. The clock keeps running if you close the page, and an exam that runs out of time scores zero. Your result appears as soon as you submit.
  • Paid levels unlock in order: PTMP, then PTMA, PTME and PTMS. PTMF is free and optional.

More questions about how exams work are answered in the FAQ.

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