What happens if a task lying on the critical path is not completed on time?

1. The critical path is the longest path through the linked activities. 2. Being longest, it has no spare time built into it anywhere. 3. A delay to any task on it therefore pushes every following task on that path back by the same amount. 4. Since the path already determines the finish date, the entire project falls behind schedule. 5. Tasks off the critical path are different, because they can be delayed a bit or done early without harming the finish date. 6. That contrast is the whole point of identifying the critical path in the first place, which is why option A misses the significance of the delay. _Source: OpenStax Introduction to Business (CC BY 4.0), Ch 10 "Achieving World-Class Operations Management", section The Big Picture: Critical Path Method and PERT_