Additional Testing Resources: TestTakers
With testtakers I have developed a serious irritation , some of the questions are completely wrong ... even if you paraphrase the scrum guide word for word , i mean where there can be no ambiguity about the answer ... testtakers will mark it wrong based on fringe events.
are a PO and an SM calculated as part of the Dev Team number (NOT THE SCRUM TEAM) ... the answer is No. In the rare occasion that a SM is a developer, then yes - he would be part of the number of members in the dev team. But this is hardly the more common scenario , and the questions gives no other information other than that
... Just because it "could" happen doens't mean its Scrum practice in an optimal way. In the reference section , when you look up the Scrum Guide , it takes you to a link that is dead on Scrum. Org , which tells me its referencing a link that has been replaced by a later version of the Scrum Guide ...
i'm not going to bother with another prep quiz or mock exam on their site , I cannot believe that if all i'm missing is 2.5% to pass , when I messed up with going back to questions I bookmarked and wanted to double check which could have easily given me a pass mark, that testtakers is in any way accurate , when following the scrum guide i'm failing consistently below 60%
Why would you use a third party website like TestTakers to prepare for scrum.org tests? There are open assesments availble for free on scrum.org which, in my experience are more than good enough, and free.
The "reason" to testtakers was that they had both PSM I Quiz's and Mock Exams , all structured in the same time boxes as the real exams. I suppose its because i'm used to not studying for anything and passing without having to work much. So failing by 2.5% was a knock to my ego , if i have to be completely honest and call it what it was...
So i wanted to hit 100% on the pass to make up for it, went looking for sites and they offered what seemed like highly specific tests for the exam, and also don't go into any detail why you fail the mock exam.
I was already passing the open assessments on Scrum.Org pretty easily ...
Ive refined my study approach , I'm not going to scan read the Scrum Guide -even though i think i absorbed enough of it, I now want to be able to recite it word for word , that and the Scrum Master Training Manual ... i'm going to do both PSM and PSD open assessments until i'm comfortable there's no room for error.
> I was already passing the open assessments on Scrum.Org pretty easily ...
"Pretty easily" isn't enough. You have to know every correct answer and the reason why the other answers are suboptimal or false. You have to understand the nuances in each question and potential answer.
Third party test tools can contain incorrect information. Even if they don't, they can still convey a differently nuanced understanding of Scrum which might mislead you in an exam situation.
I say pretty easily since they made sense, even coming from a CSM background , but there are numerous subtle differences as you say, knowing numerous scrum strategies isn't going to help pass this exam.
and i ABSOLUTELY agree with you that you must understand precisely why the answers are right or false specifically as explained in the Scrum Guide, like I said it was my first venture onto the site ... i didn't read everything as suggested, I was over eager and I paid the price as it cost me a pass mark.
i'm hitting 100% on every single open assessment now, in an average of 5 minutes when the site doesn't lag , but i suspect that's more my connection ....
Even some materials suggested on this forum as reading material contain wrong answers ... The Scrum Training Manual for example. I marked two questions - to refer back to the Scrum Guide and when i did the answers in the new Scrum Guide were different, even simple things like time boxed events ...
I used TestTaker and passed with no problem. Some questions were straightforward and the correct answer was directly from the Scrum Guide. Some questions made me really think about the answer and I learned from them. The exam questions are not necessarily word for word so I was really prepared.
Just absolutely miffed... have failed 3 times.
100% each open assessment... i am a scrum master for a living and the area i am failing on is cross functional self org teams YIKES.... $450 bucks far paid... think i just might have to give this a miss.. costing me too much money...
Hi Tracy,
We're sorry to learn you were unable to achieve a passing score on your recent attempts at the PSM I assessment, but we're encouraged to see that your score has been improving!
If Cross-functional Self-Organizing Teams was where you were struggling the most, you may wish to review some of the suggested reading in that category on the PSM Subject Areas page: https://www.scrum.org/resources/suggested-reading-professional-scrum-master
You may also wish to follow as many steps as you are able to on the following page: https://www.scrum.org/resources/ways-learn-about-scrum
I hope this information helps. We wish you the best of luck in your continued journey with Scrum.
Tracy, I understand your frustration. The exams can get expensive very quickly. I failed my PSM II exam the first time, and I covered my study prep before and after that failure in a brief post here. Although it's a slightly different exam, perhaps my prep process will help you with your own prep for future attempts.
If your primary issue is Cross-Functional training, have you looked at the other Open exams besides the Scrum Open, specific to the Developer and Product Owner roles? There's also MPlaza's study prep which, although I haven't used it myself, seems to be highly regarded in these forums.