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PSK I difficulty

Last post 06:47 pm May 2, 2022 by DEEPAK SUBRAMANIYAM
59 replies
07:23 am May 11, 2018

I didn't manage to pass the PSK I after trying twice (the second time was very close - 81.8%). I have PSM I, PSM II, SPS, PSD, PSPO - passed them all in high scores. I read all the recommanded material, a few times - both Guides, the blogs, watched the webinars, but still couldn't pass it. 

I'm practicing a mature Scrum in the past 4 years. I wander whether the fact that I'm not a native English speaker is an obstacle for me. I saw that only 7 people passed the PSK I so far - that doesn't seem reasonalbe to me. There is also no open assessment for this exam. 

If anyone passed it, do you have any tips for me on how to prepare for the next round? (this becoming very expensive for me...) 


09:22 pm December 18, 2020

I really appreciate all the notations on this assessment that have been posted.  The organization that I am at currently has made the transition from waterfall to scrum about 2 years ago and I was one of the scrum masters that helped with this transition.  Over the course of the past year, we have been looking at introducing some other concepts of agile frameworks to assist our scrum journey, KABAN with Scrum being one of them.

I am one of the few Scrum Masters that is pursuing this certification in my organization and after reading through the experiences with the exam over the past 18 months, I do want to know if any of the initial takers of the exam were able to go back in and attempt the assessment and pass.  This, to me, would indicate that there has been inspection and adaptation of the questions to be not only relevant, but also concise to the usages of KANBAN with Scrum.  

I have read through the majority of the suggested articles and gone through the guide a number of times, but I am still hesitant to pursue this at this time.  Any information on those who have retaken it would be wonderful, and thank you in advance. 


09:34 pm December 18, 2020

I am curious about this assessment and it's current iteration.  I have read through all the statements made on this page and I wonder how many of those that had attempted the assessment previously have retried it recently to see if the inspection and adaptation of the questions have been updated?

I am looking to implement a number of aspects of Kanban with Scrum in my teams and having this certification would certainly help my credibility.  I have read through the guide a number of times and will be reviewing the articles about WIP Limitations, the 4 Key Flow Metrics, SLE's,  and Little's law.  However if the standpoint of those that have years more experience, let alone any of the other certifications under their belt more than I, is that the assessment is still as difficult as it's initial iteration I think I may want to hold off a bit. 

Can anyone chime in on that level?


04:22 pm December 19, 2020

I can tell you Tadao, the test has been updated significantly since its inception and the first post.  We are always looking at the question results and adjusting "difficult questions" as determined by scoring.  


08:40 pm December 20, 2020

Hi to all,

If the team uses Kanban, but not Scrum, will it be helpful to prepare for PSK exam or not?


06:53 am December 21, 2020

If the team uses Kanban, but not Scrum, will it be helpful to prepare for PSK exam or not?

Are the team working in a complex domain, where more is unknown than is known?


02:04 am December 24, 2020

Sorry for the late response, Ian. Can you please clarify, what do you mean by complex domain?


11:16 pm March 29, 2021

Hi All,

Today I passed my PSK-1 with 92.7% after second attempt ( failed first with 84.7%. So close yet so far). But I was glad that that I failed even with .3%. Sometimes borderline passing won't give you satisfaction.

Having said that, let me share my experience and resources I used for the preparation. 

1. Scrum Guide and KANBAN Guide. Know each sentence and try to understand meaning of it. Reading only will not work.

2. Basic Flow Metrics (article written by Yuval Yeret was very helpful). This section was heavy weighted in test, one can say.

3. Kanban Practices ( I read blogs on Scrum Org about those)

4. Usefulness of each the scrum event. When you read KANBAN guide, it mentions the usefulness of these events.

That's it. 

Keep in mind that this assessment is not walk-in easy. One needs to put serious effort to pass. So prepare well and good luck.


07:54 pm April 6, 2021

Bonjour ! J'ai réussi mon examen PSK hier (1 er essai, avec un score de presque 90%).  Je tiens à vous remercier tous. Vos discussions dans ce forum sont très bénéfiques. Pour ceux qui préparent cette certification, n’hésitez pas de me contacter pour vous partager mon expérience.

Next : PSM II . So, Keep Calm & Scrum On 😊

 


11:19 am May 2, 2022

PSK is an extremely challenging exam and the questions are super tricky and would throughly test your application of scrum with Kanban. I thoroughly enjoyed the exam and in terms of prep, I followed all the suggested reading blogs and articles mentioned in the scrum.org site. 


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