Am I ready to tackle PSM III?

I will share my experience from 2018. Things have changed as the exam now has an extra 30 minutes and is now pass/did-not-pass rather than an 85% passing score. There were also MC questions in addition to the essay ones back then. Today there are 24 essay questions and no MC.

Experience counts for a lot, and at the time I had been using Scrum for more than 10 years. But we all know how that goes. Some folks never get to experience Scrum the way it was intended and never grow. Others are thrown into the ring and get deeper experience in a shorter time.

The most helpful resource was taking the PSM I course, even though I had completed the PSM I and II certs. At the time there was no PSM II course. The reason I call out the course is because there were many short "day in the life of a Scrum Master" scenarios to work through. After the course, I practiced answering many of those questions in four minutes or less, like you're doing. I also created my own questions to practice.

My focus was on areas such as empiricism, Scrum values, 'Done', self-managing teams, value, goals, servant leadership, accountabilities, artifacts, events, etc. I didn't focus on Nexus but did prepare for multiple Scrum Team scenarios (hint: Scrum is still Scrum with multiple teams).

I don't recall having to know complementary practices like Kanban, user stories, story points, or tools such as Jira, but knowing the pros/cons of component vs feature teams might be beneficial. I wouldn't expect specific questions on Agile values or principles, but how might a Scrum Master lean on those values when serving a team?

I didn't use abbreviations like DS or PO, but did stay away from non-professional Scrum terms like 'demo', 'stand up', and 'ceremonies'.

Since I took the test some new books have come out which may be helpful. This is not a complete list but may help:

• Fixing Your Scrum (also a great YouTube channel)

• Mastering Professional Scrum: A Practitioner’s Guide to Overcoming Challenges and Maximizing the Benefits of Agility

• Scrum - A Pocket Guide (I used this book - it has since come out with a 3rd edition)

The Serious Scrum folks have also come out with some blogs which I may have used if they were available at the time.

Since then new open exams have come out - make sure to give those a look.

Wishing you all the best!

Scrum on

Very exhaustive answer Chris! Thx for your detailed feedback. You're right to point me all open assessment, will give it a try for sure. Thx for the support as well \o/.

Great advice and suggestions from Chris.

I have taken and passed the PSM 3 twice. First time was 2017 version taken a few years ago, second time a month or so ago as part of PST candidate journey. As Chris mentions the exam has changed in this time.

Fewer questions now, but all essay based questions. More time has been added, but that time will fly by. I can’t speak for others, but I used every last second of that time. Some questions will have multiple sub-questions so be sure to watch for this and ensure you answer all parts.

When I used acronyms I used the whole term first with the acronym in brackets to make it clear. Daily Scrum (DS). Not saying you have to do this, but it is what I did.

There were a few questions that needed more time than others, so it is worth reading through all questions first, making note of which ones will require more thought and time. An initial read through may help you in budgeting your time.

In addition to what Chris provided, consider exploring Scrum.org Learning Series on various topics (example) as they go into more detail in a consumable way.

If you include a complimentary practice in an answer, I think it is worth calling it out as such and explaining how it is relevant to the question/scenario.

How do you know if you are ready? That is tough to answer. You could find a study buddy who can review your answers to see if they feel like they are hitting the mark or not. Speed is a factor, but you also need to ensure your answers align to Scrum, cover the topic(s) and are clear and concise. I personally wouldn’t rely on ChatGBT for this. I got to the point in my study and practice where the only way I could know was to just do it and learn from it if I wasn’t ready.  

All the best!

Thx Chris and Ryan! A lot of valuable tips here. ChatGPT was acceptable to review my answer but I agree it is not perfect and I felt it to be to permissive.

The Scrum.org Learning Series looks very interesting, I will definitely walkthrough some items where I am a bit febrile.

I am concerned also about not being a native english speaker: Shall I dedicate time to make my sentence better worded or is it fine if it may be a bit cumbersome but true (and quick to type).

Thx for your support!

Happy to help.

ChatGBT won’t be reviewing your answers in the real exam so this may give you a false sense of being prepared. Also consider that you are essentially training ChatGBT with your questions and answers.

This isn’t a grammar test. I would focus on ensuring you are using Scrum language and approaches and you are hitting all of the points. Your points and/or sentences need to be clear and understandable, but they don’t have to be spelled perfectly or grammatically correct (others can correct me if I am wrong on this)

Thx Ryan, actually I have stopped using ChatGPT as a support reviewer. I am focusing on the learning series you pointed me: It is amazingly helpful! Actually, it is almost usable as a practice exam because section are mostly like questions and content is the answer.

Thx for the advice on grammar.

My two cents:

A few things helped me tremendously for the PSM3:

-making my own Scrum glossary, where I would explain each Scrum term with my own words in a "mic-drop" way (no more than 1 or 2 sentences), always linking those with the pillars and values of Scrum. One example, Sprint Review : 4h(or less) event during which the attendees (i.e minimally the Scrum Team and its key stakeholders) inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog if necessary. Progress toward the Product Goal becomes transparent to the stakeholders.

-finding PSM2 questions (you can find practice assessments on internet), and trying to answer those in an essay-type, then comparing my answer to the choices. It should be similar in terms of ideas conveyed, behaviors expected, and wording

-buy "52 challenging cases for Scrum Teams" from the Liberators (or at least download the 10 questions sample), and try to answer the cases. Those were the closest I saw to the real exam, in terms of having long cases requiring several answers.

-as Ryan said, find a study buddy! I found some discord groups (there is Mastering Agility which was an awesome source of help) where we gather with other people preparing PSM3 and have sessions during which we train to answer questions and review our answers

-try to reach some PSM3 certificate holders or PSTs on linkedin, and ask them to give you feedbacks on your answers. Not all of them will answer (obviously), but those who will give invaluable improvement tips

-don't overstudy/overthink it. At one point you will "feel" that you have done everything you could and you don't want to wait anymore. Then go for it! If you pass good, if not, be true to the Scrum framework, inspect what went wrong, adapt your study process, and then retry :)

Hope that helps!

Hi everyone!

I have updates on my progress. I tackled the exam but unfortunately failed with 15 (met expectations) / 24 (total). I had no "exceeded" expectations answer. It is not a bad score but not a close passing one neither. Note that I got my result the day after I took the test!

I decided to give it a try because I was studying regularly from a month now and I really knew I had made a leap in my scrum grasp. I also thought that despite the high price, it was the best way to assess my level of progress (either pass or know how much I still need to practice).

I hadn't "done everything I could" before taking the exam. Basically my focus was on:

- Scrum Guide

- Nexus Guide

- Learning Serie (great resource)

- PSMII-like and PSMIII-like sample pratice

I hadn't bought any book as I am used to find anything on the web.

The exam was 2h30 long and 24 questions (essay-type) as expected. It means I had on average 5 minute per question. I could walk through all of them and answer the full list just in time (I had no extra time to review my answers). Time management was ok. I felt so-so after completing the test. On one hand, there were many questions I was really comfortable with and on the other some did felt tricky or slightly ill-posed (probably because I am not yet mastering the topic). I also noticed at the end that there were part of the guide I wasn't asked about (I probably didn't link all questions to their suitable scope).

I can't out essay question I had here as it is prohibited but they were aligned with what I expected. Not really surprised.

I don't have a per-question feedback from scrum.org but rather a per topic. I am a bit confused with it. While they are some clear points I missed (I confused unethical behavior with disrespectful) there are others were I am pretty clear about (for example immutability of Scrum Guide) which are pointed (without detailing why). One general feedback is my answer lack clarity as well. I wished it was more transparent but at least it is a starting point.

My next steps are:

- Try to remind the test questions and practice them

- Buy and study "Fixing Your Scrum"

- Buy and study "Scrum - A Pocket Guide"

- Buy and study "52 challenging cases for Scrum Teams"

I will again take the learning path I did as well. Glossary tip from Dioumé is also a plus!

I feel really motivated to improve and tackle the test back (probably in a few months).

Any advice appreciated! Thx for your support!

Answering essay questions is indeed not always easy.

How I dealt with answering my PSM III.
The Scrum Guide shows you what is fundamental: look at the structure and you see it. These are the first 3 sections:
1/ Scrum Theory: empiricism (transparency, inspection, adaptation)

2/ Scrum Values

3/ The Team: cross-functional and self-managing

I added 'Done' as the fourth key aspect in my answering, because of the feedback that is made possible through it - though I could have left it out as it does relate to 1. Still I feel it is important enough to give it it's own spot in my list.)

So when answering a question I identified the angle the question was directing me, and answered with that focus.
I did pay attention not to violate one of the others.

Raising clarity in answers can be done by using different approaches, depending the question.
I like using bullets, instead of paragraphs. Short sentences instead of longer phrases.
An example often helps.
As is the use of a concrete practice which is complementary with the Scrum framework.

On the day of the assessment itself, this is what I did: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/race-day-passing-your-professional-scrum-master-level-iii

If you want to learn more about how the different elements of Scrum are aligned with the 4 topics I mentioned earlier, then my blog posts on the topic might be useful. This is the intro on the series: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/back-foundations-scrum-framework-introduction-00

Enjoy the learning adventure!
Feel free to shoot further questions. Always happy to help if I can.