PSM I Passed with 95%
Hello Friends, I owe to write my experience in detail as I was referring this forum to get useful information during preparation period.
First of all I haven't worked in scrum team, Working in Support project for last 6 years so no development exposure however I have attended few scrum meeting from outside and observed even scrum master not following basic rules.
I have almost 10years of IT experience basically in traditional software development methodology.
To boost my career-growth I wanted to take this exam , I attended two days Scrum training(mar 2015) in my company premises hosted by In-house trainer. After that could not dare to take on exam as pass mark creates doubt in mind.
I was referring scrum guide after every 3-4 weeks , I read it almost 15-20 times then free assessment and had 100% all the time but still doubted myself as no experience of scrum. Then I started collected free materials over web. Management plaza training material which is very and detailed is good to read(at least 3 times) .
I was still not sure and not confident and wanted to try more questions so finally bought management plaza course on 17th april 2016 at 8PM in 37Euro (after company agreed to approve this ) and tested myself with their three practice sets (250 questions).
I just tried 3 times all three sets and at 12PM I purchased test and at 1 PM on 18th april 2016 I just rushed to complete it as I had delayed it for over an year and was frustrated reading same thing.
When I attended the test, I felt questions are not direct but similar and you can definitely answer if you have read at least those two books.
There were questions from mplaza practice set also but not that much. questions are pretty simple(except 2-4) so you need to have confidence.
Initial phase I bookmarked 8 questions and was thinking remaining 72 may have 3-4 wrong too. when I rechecked I was confident that I have answered 72 questions correctly and had doubt on 8.
When I clicked I was hoping 90% but got 95% ..:) ...first I saw 76 out of 80 correct and my mind was blank...I thought I am failed as I got 76% only ...but then saw 95% score card....
So my tips (for newbie to scrum like me (2 days training was not that in my mind after 1 yr) or for one who is experienced ) : -
1. read scrum guide - (no need to remember just understand , my count 10-15 times)
2. Free material of mplaza ...
3. free assessment on scrum.org
4. Practice more questions, if you can....
5. Don't delay....else it will get delayed always...the moment you feel comfortable just book the test and get it.
6. If you can manage mplaza practice question it would be good , else you can seek any oter source..
Hope this helps
If anyone require any help from my side , I would be glad to help them.... :)
Hi. Congrats that you were able to pass your exam:)
Below are two questions., I am confused about from Mplaza.com and i feel they are contradictory of each other.
can you explain?
1) Who can replace Sprint Backlog items during the Sprint?
- The Product Owner and the Development Team together
- The Scrum Team
- The Scrum Master
- The Product Owner
- The Development Team
- No one
‘
2) Who adds new work to the Sprint Backlog during the Sprint?
The Development Team
The Product Owner and the Development Team together
The Product Owner
The whole Scrum Team together
The Scrum Master
Thanks
Parul
Hello Parul,
You are right, these are a bit badly formulated.
Maybe what they thought is the difference btw "item" and "work"?
Like an item meaning a story, a full scope.
You cannot remove a story, a scope (item), although you can remove a work, a task that deemed unnecessary to achieve a scope of a story.
Addition is enabled, but only in the way of splitting stories , so when dev team feels a new work/task emerged to achieve a scope, then they add it to the sprint backlog.
So in this (my) terminology, a story cannot be added/removed, a task (of a story) can.
Still not sure if that is what they thought.
Zoltan
You are right. This might makes sense. But this is where you need to think deeply:)
Thanks for breaking it down for me:)
Hi Zolton
I have a question on your reply. Please help me understand here. 'Who can replace the sprint backlog item?' If Item means story (full scope), I think they want to replace the story(not remove) with other stories may be a new story associated with the scope emerged or Product owner might got additional clarification of any stories which were not in the sprint backlog and now he/she feels the new story is essential to be build now in the current sprint based on priority) and hence item may be replaced.
So I think the answer is Product owner & development team.
Thanks
kanchana
I am preparing to taking the PSM I exam and have been doing the Open Assessment of Scrum. I am confused if I also need to take the open assessment for Product Owner and Developer in order to help me prepare for the exam. Can someone who has taken the exam respond if I am ok just reviewing the Open Assessment - Scrum?
Thanks in advance
Hi Jody,
I passed the test at 86.7% - Apart from the Open Assessment for Scrum Master, I also took the test on http://mlapshin.com/index.php/psm-quiz/ . That really helped, even though the questions in the actual exam are not all that similar or simple, think before you answer.
I hope this helps.
Hello kanchana,
its confusing for me as well.
If this item is a story (full scope), then it cannot be replaced at all. The scope is fixed in the sprint by the sprint goal. If the sprint goal is not current anymore, the sprint is cancelled.
So in this case answer would be "No one"
If this item is just a step in the plan, it might be replaced by the Dev Team (Scrum Guide: The Development Team modifies the Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint, and the Sprint Backlog emerges during the Sprint. This emergence occurs as the Development Team works through the plan and learns more about the work needed to achieve the Sprint Goal.)
So answer in this case: "The Dev Team."
But the PO cannot change scope ny replacing an item, but by only cancelling the sprint.
Zoltan
Thanks for the clarification Zolton. I think we need to know what exactly an 'item' means here. In an exam we cannot answer anything based on assumption. It would be better if the questions are clear enough to understand for the users to answer :)
Hi Parul,
Yes those questions from Mplaza are quite contradictory. Mplaza questions are based on assumption that the sprint backlog items are frozen once they are pulled into the sprint but the tasks attached to this items can be modified by the dev team.
But according to the latest scrum guide dev team owns the sprint backlog and they can make changes to the sprint backlog(items/tasks) after renegotiating and communicating with the PO of course.
So the first question's answer is 'Development team' as they own the sprint backlog and also they are supposed to be a self organized bunch
Any one please correct me if am wrong. Thanks
Sprint Backlog is not frozen. Remember that Sprint Backlog contains not just the selected PBI but also the tasks. At the end of Sprint Planning, it is quite ok not to capture all the tasks for entire Sprint duration. The team can add/change as they learn through the Sprint.
These questions from unauthorized sources are not trustworthy. So, don't get confused by them. My recommendation outside the Scrum Guide are only three:
1. The book for PSM - Scrum Narrative and PSM Exam Guide https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Narrative-Exam-Guide-All-ebook/dp/B018JXYRNA
2. Michael Lapshin free quiz. Just be aware that around five questions are confusing that need to be ignored. For example, wherever he uses the 'Project' concept. http://mlapshin.com/index.php/psm-quiz/
3. Responses and Clarification by Dr.Ian Mitchel here in this forum and his blog.
In my opinion the answer is Dev Team, because Scrum guide mention that the owner of sprint backlog is development team, no one except the development team can modify the sprint backlog