Flashcard deck

PMP® flashcards

These PMP flashcards cover look-alike pairs that a scenario can hinge on: contingency vs management reserve, risk vs issue, validate scope vs control quality, three contract types. The rest are the earned value letters and the handful of formulas worth knowing cold.

Exam: PMP
Cards: 30
Updated: Oct 13, 2026

01Look-alike terms and formulas

Say the answer out loud, then flip. Both sides are on the page, so nothing loads late.

Card 01
Contingency reserve
Money or time for identified risks, the known-unknowns. It sits inside the cost baseline, and the project manager can use it under the plan's rules.
Card 02
Management reserve
For risks nobody identified, the unknown-unknowns. Outside the cost baseline but inside the budget; using it needs management approval and a baseline change.
Card 03
Project budget
Cost baseline plus management reserve. The baseline already contains the contingency reserve.
Card 04
Risk vs issue
A risk is uncertain and still ahead; an issue is already happening. When a risk occurs, run its planned response. An unplanned event gets a workaround and an entry in the issue log.
Card 05
Control quality
Checks that deliverables are correct against requirements. An internal step, before the customer sees the work.
Card 06
Validate scope
The customer or sponsor formally accepts finished deliverables. On an agile team, acceptance happens at the review, against the definition of done.
Card 07
Quality assurance vs quality control
Assurance looks at the process and prevents defects. Control inspects the product and finds them.
Card 08
Cost of quality
Conformance costs (prevention and appraisal) against nonconformance costs (internal and external failure).
Card 09
Fixed-price contract
The seller carries the cost risk. Fits a scope that is well defined.
Card 10
Cost-reimbursable contract
The buyer carries the cost risk. Fits a scope that is still uncertain.
Card 11
Time and materials contract
A hybrid of the two, used for staff augmentation and small or unclear scope.
Card 12
EV, PV, AC
Earned value: budgeted cost of work actually done. Planned value: budgeted cost of work scheduled. Actual cost: what that work really cost. See earned value management.
Card 13
CV, cost variance
EV − AC. Negative means over budget.
Card 14
SV, schedule variance
EV − PV. Negative means behind schedule.
Card 15
CPI, cost performance index
EV / AC. Below 1 means each dollar spent is buying less than a dollar of planned work.
Card 16
SPI, schedule performance index
EV / PV. Below 1 means behind schedule.
Card 17
EAC if current cost performance continues
BAC / CPI, where BAC is the budget at completion.
Card 18
EAC if the remaining work goes to plan
AC + (BAC − EV). The variance so far is treated as a one-off. The other forecasts are on PMP formulas.
Card 19
ETC and VAC
Estimate to complete: EAC − AC. Variance at completion: BAC − EAC; negative means a forecast overrun.
Card 20
TCPI to finish on budget
(BAC − EV) / (BAC − AC). Above 1 means the remaining work has to run more efficiently than planned.
Card 21
PERT (beta) estimate
(O + 4M + P) / 6, with standard deviation about (P − O) / 6. The triangular version is (O + M + P) / 3.
Card 22
Communication channels
n(n − 1) / 2. A team of 10 has 45 channels.
Card 23
Expected monetary value
Probability × impact. Threats carry a negative value, opportunities a positive one.
Card 24
Total float
LS − ES, or LF − EF. The critical path is the longest path through the network and usually has zero float.
Card 25
Crashing vs fast-tracking
Crashing adds resources and costs money. Fast-tracking overlaps activities and adds risk.
Card 26
Tuckman's ladder
Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning. A scenario names the behavior; you name the stage and the project manager's next move. See Tuckman's ladder.
Card 27
Sprint review vs retrospective
The review inspects the product with stakeholders. The retrospective is the team inspecting how it works.
Card 28
Lessons learned vs retrospective
Lessons learned are captured throughout the project and archived in organizational process assets. A retrospective is one team's improvement event, every iteration.
Card 29
Change to an approved baseline
Assess the impact, submit a change request, and let the change control board or the named approver decide; only then implement and update the documents. See integrated change control.
Card 30
Scope baseline
The approved scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS) and WBS dictionary.

02Cards for recall, packages for judgment

A card tells you what management reserve is. It cannot tell you whether the scenario in front of you calls for it, and that call is what a scenario question asks you to make. Flip a dozen cards, then work the same ideas in the PMP practice test, where the notes on each option show the term in use.

Responses to threats and to opportunities have their own page, with the confusable pairs side by side: risk response strategies. To fit the deck into a week, the PMP study plan gives each domain its turn.