Suggestions to pass the Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I) assessment from Scrum.org

A big thank you to all members who have shared their experience and tips to clear PSM-I.

I did not have much experience in Scrum and I passed PSM-I with 92.5% in first attempt.

My tips:

1. Studied Scrum Guide for 4 times and started giving tests and I got 90% in open assessment, 83% in Mlapshin and 80% in www.thescrummaster.co.uk and I did not feel confident enough and felt that Scrum guide is enough for me to clear.

2. And as highly recommended by one of guys and many others in this forums I brought 'Scrum Narrative and PSM Exam Guide: All-in-one Guide for Professional Scrum Master (PSM 1) Certificate Assessment Preparation Kindle Edition by Mohammed Musthafa Soukath Ali'. This was extremely useful to digest concepts and after this I started scoring 95%+ in all mock tests.

3. Started reading Scrum Guide almost every day (read it 15 times before taking exam)

4. Read Soukath Ali again (2 times total) and completed tests. There are nearly 250 good questions with explanations. I highly recommend or I would say it as mandatory rather to clear PSM-I with ease.

5. Practised Open assessment (psm and pspo), Mlapshin, thescrummaster, mplaza, whizlabs and all possible free mock tests available on internet

6. Brought assessments on Volkerdon for $15 and it was worth, highly recommend. 

Day before exam day:

1. Gone through summary of each chapter of Soukhath Ali

2. Gone through Scrum Guide

3. Gone through mistakes that I made in my tests that I noted down

Exam experience:

I was attempting certification after nearly 12 years and I was very nervous but slowly I progressed and I completed 80 questions in 55 mins and I had some 3-4 flagged for review. Please note that you need to write down question numbers on paper to review later unlike Mlapshin tests and please don't flag more than 10.

I gave the exam from my office and I did not find any lag between questions. 

Last word: It is not that difficult to clear it, just prepare well and it can be cleared with ease. Good luck to you all....

Dear All,

I have passed PSM1 with handsome figures - 97.5% and would like to share my experience. I will feel very happy if it helps someone else, the way it helped me.

I found PSM1 assessment relatively easy so relax and PREPARE HARD ! I feel, there is no need to take any external class for PSM1 as you can crack it after proper preparation and self-study. 

PSM1 assessment is mainly divided into 2 parts - 1. Your preparation about Scrum Guide 2. Your understanding about Scrum. If you prepare well then first part is relatively easy. Second part is little tricky, they will test your understanding by asking tricky questions but don't worry, you will master it with practice.

Here I go .. 

• Preparation time - 2-2.5 weeks 
• Material or Sources Used - 
  • Official Scrum Guide & Glossary - Scrum.org
    • You can print them, I got it on my tablet
  • Open Assessment - Scrum, Scrum Developer, Product Owner, Nexus (only 1 time to understand as Nexus is not part of PSM1)
  • scrum-narrative-and-psm-exam-guide – Written by Mohammed Musthafa Soukath Ali
    • Detailed explanation of every topic followed by quality questions and answers
  • https://mlapshin.com/
    • Learning Mode Exam (87 questions)
    • Real Mode Exam (80 questions)
    • Blog Section - Scrum Questions, Quiz FAQ
  • http://volkerdon.com/
    • Free Registration (You can buy entire suite if you want in just $15)
    • Used its free course for revision of concepts 
    • Quiz after every Section (almost 60-70 questions)
  • Random youtube videos 
    • Some of them are really good which gives you good understanding within 20-25 mins of video. You select which one is good for you.
  • Audio books while driving to and fro to office
    • You will get loads of youtube videos of scrum guide which you can enjoy in a loop while driving. I did it almost for 5-6 times. I was surprised not to read any suggestion on audio version of scrum guide from people who have passed PSM1. I feel, audio books are very strong medium and you can get it recorded from your son/daughter/wife etc. 
  • Talking to friends who have done PSM1 and understands Scrum. This will help you boost your confidence and will also know new things which you are missing. Discussing Scrum Framework with my colleagues, friends and started explaining them about it.

Sharing the sequence of my preparation. In my opinion, you need to figure out your own, what works for you in more important.

• When I had decided to do PSM1, after some online surfing (1-1.5 hours), I could get to all above sources.
• On the same day I had attempted scrum.org open assessment for Scrum, I scored 65% which I was expecting
• I have started reading Scrum guide and finished within 35-40 mins. That's it, is this Scrum Framework? I took a pause and then decided to read it thoroughly and surf scrum.org on similar topics. Almost for 5-6 hours I was enjoying reading and searching same topics/blogs on scrum.org
• Now my open assessment score went up to 90-91%, lot of repetitive questions though. 
• Shifted my focus on scrum-narrative-and-psm-exam-guide and read it carefully. Also solved all questions after each topic sincerely.
• As I mentioned above, I used to hear audio while driving to office. It helped me personally as I am very much into audio books.
• It's time to attempt one of the best source - mlapshin
  • I have used learning mode only once and it was very helpful 
  • I switched to real mode and got 85% first time and 90-92% second time
  • Gone through Blog Section - Scrum Questions, Quiz FAQ
• By this time, I could figure out my strong areas and weak areas. I went back to scrum guide and read more about my weak areas.
• Now 100% consistently in Scrum Open assessment and 90-92% in mlapshin real mode
• Time to attempt, Developer & PO Open assessment. It was altogether different. One of my friend suggested that do only assessment that will be enough, don't read to much material on this topic so I have taken these assessment multiple times (almost 5-6 times) and mastered 100% consistently. 
• Taken Nexus open assessment only once to get essence of Nexus as PSM1 does not cover Nexus. PSM1 questions will be based on working with multiple teams.
• By now, I have started discussing Scrum with my colleagues and friends and started explaining them about it. Had good brain storming sessions among us.
• Created login on Scrum.org and ordered PSM1 assessment password 
• My level was real great by this time,
  • Open Assessments (Scrum, Developer, PO) - I was able to complete within 4-5 mins each with 100% score
  • Practice of scrum-narrative-and-psm-exam-guide questions and answers
  • mlapshin real mode quiz in 15-16 mins with 100% score
  • volkerdon sample quiz after every section with 100% score
• Read Scrum Glossary, Agile Manifesto - Values and Principles as Scrum guide support these
• By this time, I was very confident and prepared. Decided to go for it immediately without wasting time

My morning before real exam (old school) ..

• Started my morning at 5 am, very calmly gone through each and every line of scrum guide and glossary 
• Had most favorite breakfast, positive chit-chat with family
• 7:45 am - Started driving to office, listening most favorite songs and reached office.
• Arranged my laptop, water bottle, paper, pen on my desk, mobile phone on silent 
• Login Scrum.org, started Scrum Open Assessment to get into exam feeling, completed within 4-5 mins with 100% score.
• Started PSM1 assessment calmly at 9:30 am, passed it with 97.5% with 8-10 mins spare with 4-5 questions for review (answer of which I did not change though)

Some Tips ..

• Remember throughout, in any case or situation you cannot break Scrum framework which consist of roles, artifacts, events and rules. You will get tempted to select answer which suites your current/past project situation which might have worked but stick to Scrum Guide.
• More exams/quiz you attempt, you will get into more reading so practice, practice, practice and concentrate on getting your concept clear.
• Read all questions and answers carefully and do not hesitate to answer if you are confident. 
• Consistency is the key. Do not deviate yourself in between and read, prepare throughout 2-3 weeks. 

Disclaimers:

• Only believe and follow official content and do not get confused with any other information. Don't overdo!
• It's open book exam but you will not get any time to browse or go through Scrum guide while taking the exam. 

I hope, it helps many other agile enthusiastic across the world. Happy learning and unlearning! Good Luck .. 

Regards,

- Dipesh Madhav Mahajan (Pune, India)

I have recently cleared PSM-1 exam with 97.5% and want to share my experience..

First of all I want to Thank each one of members who have posted tips and technics on this forum..!

You need 3 weeks for the exam preparation if you are already working as a scrum master or scrum team member (Which is in my case) and this is how you can prepare:

1. Take print out of Scrum Guide and Scrum Glossary
2. Read from hardcopy and make notes/highlight what you feel is important
3. After reading one time give Scrum Open assessment from Surum.Org then you will know how much you have understood and underestimated scrum guide😊   
4. Read scrum guide again and this time you can relate questions from Surum.Org
5. Keep on giving  Open assessment from Surum.Org Till you score 100% continuously
6. Time to repeat steps 3-4-5 with other sources for preparation which are :
   1.  https://www.scrum.org/open-assessments/product-owner-open
   2. https://www.volkerdon.com/
   3. https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/assessments/professional-scrum-master-i-psm-i-practice-assessment/
   4. https://mlapshin.com/index.php/scrum-quizzes/   (This is great source however keep in mind this is as per old scrum and not updated as per 2020 scrum guide so you may find some answers wrong)
7. Prepare one XL sheet and keep record of your scores as your target is 100% multiple times for all
8. Keep reading and understanding scrum guide as and when you are giving mock tests
9. Many questions will be there in real examination but may be wordings is different or may be exact same to same, so its import you understand why the answer is correct
10. Finally you can go through some videos to boost your confidence and tips for examination day :
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAOTrBsJsoU
    2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUpTNB33jgg
    3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erghQK6a8tk&t=6s
    4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLtACH7VpHM
11. Don’t forget to go through : https://amazing-outcomes.de/en/what-we-offer/what-agility-really-is-about/scrum/comparison-scrum-guide-2020-and-scrum-guide-2017#PurposeOfTheScrumGuide2017

I hope this information will help you to pass. 

Good luck!

Regards,

Sudeep Bidwai