Planning and Problem Solving: Constraints, Priorities and Time
Planning exercises test whether you can organise limited resources against fixed constraints. The concepts are: constraints (time, people, equipment, dependencies), critical path (the longest chain of dependent tasks, which sets the minimum duration), sequencing and dependencies (what must precede what), resource levelling (moving flexible tasks to free a scarce resource), prioritisation by importance and urgency, and contingency - what you will sacrifice if something slips.
Traps appear in the wording. A question may ask for the minimum time, not the obvious order; or for the first action, not the whole plan. Candidates lose marks by scheduling flexible tasks first and blocking the critical path, by ignoring a stated constraint because it seems inefficient, and by producing a plan with no slack identified. Also watch questions that hide a dependency in prose ("B cannot start until A is signed off").
Rule of thumb: list every constraint explicitly, identify the longest dependent chain, then fit everything else around it. State your assumption when information is missing - a stated assumption scores better than silence.
Worked example: Tasks: A (2 days, no dependency), B (3 days, after A), C (1 day, after A), D (2 days, after B and C). The critical path is A→B→D = 7 days; C has 2 days of slack and can absorb delay without moving the finish.