10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
The CPPA exam has 110 questions and runs 1 hours 56 minutes.
These 10 free CPPA questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Certified Professional Property Administrator blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
Domain 1: voluntary consensus standards
Question 1
Two packaging machines meet the same five-year capacity and reliability requirements. Machine M costs $42,000 plus $3,000 for commissioning, requires $4,000 in annual maintenance, and has expected net resale proceeds of $5,000. Machine N costs $55,000 with commissioning included, requires $1,000 in annual maintenance, and has expected net resale proceeds of $8,000. Energy and labor costs are equal; ignore discounting, taxes, and financing. Which machine has the lower five-year life-cycle cost, and by how much?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D - Machine N, by $8,000.
Question 2
The risk assessment favors six-month physical counts; the federal contract expressly requires quarterly counts of the same assets. The contractor's adopted voluntary consensus standard permits risk-based intervals, but no contract amendment or waiver has been issued. Which proposal respects the governing requirement?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B - Retain quarterly counts unless an authorized contract change permits another interval.
Domain 2: requirements determinations
Question 3
A maintenance shutdown cannot start until 96 serviceable actuators are available. The stockroom holds 38: eight are quarantined and ten are committed to another job. Another 18 will be inspected and ready before the shutdown; 12 more will arrive after it begins. Six uncommitted, serviceable actuators must remain in reserve after the shutdown requirement is filled. How many additional actuators must be obtained for the shutdown?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D - 64 actuators
Question 4
A university's service vans have 97% availability, measured as serviceable hours divided by scheduled hours, but only 24% utilization of those serviceable hours. The vans are interchangeable and unrestricted for this work, but departments retain exclusive assignments even though trips rarely overlap. Maintenance is current, and no standby requirement applies. Three departments nevertheless request additional vans because they cannot access vehicles assigned elsewhere. The figures support which recommendation?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B - Pilot shared dispatch of the existing vans before authorizing additional purchases.
Question 5
Twelve Government-furnished instruments arrive with serial numbers matching the shipping list. Two have cracked housings; the other ten show no apparent damage. Technical acceptance testing is still pending, and the receiving system supports separate condition and acceptance statuses. Select the appropriate receipt treatment under FAR 52.245-1.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A - Record twelve pending acceptance; segregate damaged units and notify the Property Administrator in writing.
Question 6
A shipping supervisor claims that a signed subcontractor receipt ends the prime's accountability. The Government-owned laser was sent for authorized subcontract work under a prime contract containing FAR 52.245-1. Which record treatment is warranted?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D - Retain it under the prime contract, recording the subcontractor as its location.
Domain 3: contracting and assistance
Question 7
An accountant finds 75 laptops in the property register but not in the capital-asset ledger. Each cost $1,800 and was correctly expensed under a $5,000 per-unit capitalization policy. A separate custody policy requires individual tracking of every laptop, and all 75 serial numbers have been physically verified. Which reconciliation treatment is appropriate?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B - Retain the custody records and document the difference from the capital-asset ledger.
Domain 5: consumables
Question 8
An inventory supervisor concludes that the register is complete because every asset sampled from it was found. Yet a workshop walk-through reveals organization-owned meters absent from the register. What additional test would address the assertion the sample did not establish?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A - Select equipment from the workshop floor and trace it to the property register.
Domain 6: fleet management
Question 9
A contractor purchases a test chamber as a reimbursable direct cost under a federal cost-reimbursement contract containing the basic FAR 52.245-1 clause, with no title-related alternate or special provision. The vendor has delivered the chamber, but the contractor has not yet used it, paid the invoice, or received Government reimbursement. How should the chamber be classified at this point?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C - Contractor-acquired Government property because title vested upon the vendor's delivery.
Domain 8: environmental considerations
Question 10
During one calendar month, a facility generates 80 kg of non-acute hazardous waste and 2.4 kg of acute hazardous waste. Environmental staff confirm that both quantities count toward generator classification and that no exclusion or episodic-generation provision applies. An authorized contractor removes the waste weekly, leaving none on site at month-end. Under the federal hazardous-waste generator rules, which conclusion is correct?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D - Large quantity generator, because its monthly acute hazardous-waste generation exceeds the 1 kg limit.