PSK I difficulty

The only thing I can think of would be to go on the PSK course, checking to make sure that the PST has also passed the PSK exam.

That said, 81.8% is an excellent score. I only got 76.8%, and that’s as a native English speaker who did attend the course.

Unfortunately  there is no PSK course in Israel. It seems the exam is really hard, or tricky... don't know. I studied really hard for the second attempt, even beyond the Scrum.org recommendations - browsing blogs in the internet about little law, CFD and so forth...

Based on what you say, doesn't it mean the difficulty level of the exam is too high? I'm not sure I would go for a third attempt, especially because I don't know how to improve my chances. 

My strategy for re-take, as much as I have one, is to thoroughly digest the book "Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An Introduction" by Daniel Vacanti.

As you may know from the Scrum.org press releases, Vacanti has been heavily involved in the development of PSK. I've just ordered his book and so haven't read it yet. However, the outline and table of contents do seem aligned to the exam as I remember it, and more so than any other material I have found. It is on the PSK suggested material reading list.

I tried the PSK I once and did not pass it. I scored very well in the Kanban Practices and Scrum Framework portions, but did very poorly in the Agile Metrics portion. I find that somewhat strange, personally, considering my background. In school, my focus was on software development processes. I worked for 5 years in an organization that used Lean Software Development and Toyota Production System with the continuous improvement department and I've worked for the past 2 years in an organization using Scrum. I very easily passed my PSM I, PSM II, SPS, and PSPO I exams based only on my education, self-study, and experiences. I would think that someone with this background who then read and understood the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams and the various Scrum.org blog posts about Scrum and Kanban would be able to pass the exam.

Unlike the other exams, I felt like most of the questions weren't addressed in the free Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams and could not be addressed with experience. This is particularly true of the metrics questions. A lot of the metrics questions weren't just about the metrics but an application of them. If you weren't in the head of the person creating the exam and how they think the metrics should be applied, then you wouldn't know. I don't believe that my answers were necessarily wrong or incorrect, but they weren't specified in the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams and they didn't match up with what the authors had as the correct answer.

If Ian is right and many of the answers can be found only in Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An Introduction, I would consider this exam a money grab and not a valuable assessment. I didn't feel that way about the other Scrum.org certifications, which is why I took them - the resources to pass the entry level exams are all out there for free if you read them, everything else is optional (but probably a good idea to make sure you understand the topics). The resources to pass the next level of exams are also out there, but you need some level of experience.

I somewhat feels better with my score, seeing other experts in the field not managing to pass this exam :) 

I will consider buying Daniel's book, although I think the knowledge to pass the exam should be available for free. 

As a steward for the PSK class, hopefully, I can shed some perspective and maybe help a little. 

First of all - there's good feedback here and we're certainly in the process of inspecting and adapting the assessment. The goal is certainly NOT to be a money grab. The goal is to provide a similar approach as other Scrum.org assessments - you should be able to pass the assessment by either taking a class or having comparable field experience. 

We're aware that the metrics related questions are a bit challenging even for people with experience in agile and kanban. We expect a relatively deep knowledge of lean metrics for the PSK1. We're still tuning difficulty and clarity on some of the metrics questions. 

We're also working on providing more accessible reference materials around these metrics. For example, yesterday I published an article about the 4 key metrics and how to use them on the scrum.org blog https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/4-key-flow-metrics-and-how-use-them-scrums-events. It will be added to the recommended reading list. I also published https://www.agilesparks.com/blog/limiting-work-in-progress-wip-some-anecdotes-worth-thinking-about-when-using-kanban-with-scrum/ which is on its way to the scrum.org blog ...

Finally Erez one of our israeli PSTs is in the pipeline to add PSK to her license so I'm hoping we will have a PSK class in Israel soon! 

Oh - and Dan's book is really worth it! and regardless of the book I'd suggest playing around with http://www.actionableagile.com/analytics-demo/ to get a feeling for some of the metrics that you're not familiar with. 

HTH

First of all - there's good feedback here and we're certainly in the process of inspecting and adapting the assessment. The goal is certainly NOT to be a money grab. The goal is to provide a similar approach as other Scrum.org assessments - you should be able to pass the assessment by either taking a class or having comparable field experience.

I'm curious as to why this certification exam was released to the public for purchase, since it doesn't seem that it was ready. It's necessary to inspect and adapt the assessment, for sure - I would expect this with any kind of good certification exam on a regular basis. But it seems like this exam was not ready for prime time if you're still publishing material that helps with the exam and have found that some questions are a "bit challenging even for people with experience in agile and kanban". The difficulty is labeled as "Intermediate" - the same as the PSM I, SPS, and PSPO I exams. Personally, I would have called the current format "Advanced". I felt that the PSM II was significantly easier than this.

When I purchased the exam, it was not clear that there was still material to be published and that there was active efforts to refine an entire category of questions. If I had known that, I would have waited to purchase the exam and let more content be published. For me, $200 and an hour of my time isn't a huge burden, but it can be for some people. It's the first time I've been disappointed at Scrum.org content.

If this exam is overhauled (especially these metrics questions - 1/3 of the categories of questions), will people who attempted and failed previously be given a second chance, at least at a reduced rate?

Thanks for opening and contributing to this topic so far, I would also like to see the questions from Thomas answered.

Thank you for the feedback.  There certainly was no intent on our part to make a money grab and I apologize that it may have been received that way.  The decision to release the assessment, which followed shortly after the release of our new PSK course, was only made once we believed the course and materials recommended on our Suggested Reading page were sufficient to pass the assessment.  We tested the assessment questions over the course of a month and incorporated changes based on the feedback we received.  While the assessment may be proving to be a bit more challenging right now, this is not unusual for a brand-new assessment.  We do have successful attempts across all three categories of assessment takers:  Scrum.org Trainers, Professional Scrum with Kanban Students, and Individuals who have purchased an attempt directly via Scrum.org.

Scrum with Kanban is new territory and not entirely similar to our other assessments which focus on Scrum.  Scrum has a wide body of knowledge, experience, and published material available.  As noted in an earlier post we are continually adding more learning material to our Suggested Reading page and we are refining the courseware as we learn more and take into consideration more viewpoints on how to successfully implement Scrum with Kanban.  We released several additional blogs over the last couple of days that will help you prepare for the assessment.

• 4 Key Flow Metrics and how to use them in Scrum's events
• Limiting Work in Progress (WIP) in Scrum with Kanban - What? When? Who? How?
• Kanban Service Level Expectations and how to use them in Scrum

We are constantly adding, changing, and refining questions for all of the assessments offered by Scrum.org.  The PSK I assessment is no exception, and we are refining the handful of questions that have proven more challenging than we anticipated.  We met our original definition of “Done” and felt the assessment was ready to release and now we are inspecting and adapting.  If we identify a question that we refine or correct, and determine that it caused the user to miss the 85% pass mark, then we reach out to the user individually to rectify that.

We appreciate your input.  Our commitment is that we will continue to improve this assessment, making it challenging - yet passable.  We will also continue to develop and post additional resources as the conversations and learning around Scrum with Kanban evolve.

Hello

Like many, I did also try and fail on PSK1, even with a solid background in Scrum & Kanban.

I passed easily the new PAL1, I found it easier than PSM1 but very interesting. I expected about the same level of difficulty for PSK1 than PSM1, PSPO1, PSD1, SPS.

I'm very surprise to see that even PST failed this "Level 1" assessment. This should be an hint that the assessment needs some rework...

Like Thomas, I feel disappointed by the PSK1. Some couples of questions/answers are ambigus (like the ones on "urgente work item", has the team already a policy with an expedite lane ? is the expedite lane already full ?...). Shall we have a good knowledge of Scrum & Kanban or shall we read inside the mind of the test-writer ?

This ressource is ambigus also https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/limiting-work-progress-wip-scrum-k…. So finally, who should determine wether to visualize the Sprint Backlog with Kanban : Dev Team or Dev Team + PO ?

By the way, on this point, I disagree with having a state "owned" by the PO inside the Sprint Backlog. If the PO is having a critical impact on the Sprint Backlog (for functional testing for instance), then she should be part of the Dev Team.

I feel more like a beta-tester than a test-taker :-(

Hello,

Thanks you all for your honest and straight feedbacks. Actually I wanted to start the assessment and thought I would have been fully prepared, but after reading the input from experienced Scrum folks here I got some doubts. 

I´d appreciate if you could share your experience on this assessment, like what kind of questions were confusing, how did you feel during the assessment, etc..?

I didn't manage to pass the PSK I after trying it after lot of study with all the resources provided.

I have PSM I, PSPO - passed them all in high scores. I read all the recommended material, a few times - both Guides, the blogs, watched the webinars, but still couldn't pass it. I'm practicing a Scrum in the past 3 years. There is also no open assessment for this exam as well.

I understand the certification is new and have different confusing questions, I felt like most of the questions weren't addressed in the free Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams and could not be addressed with experience. This is particularly true of the metrics questions.

Are the questions more scenario based? I was thinking of taking it, maybe might hold this off till it matures a little more on the questions.

Thanks for opening up this discussion.  My own assessment of the situation is: Daniel Vacanti's book 'Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability is a compulsory reading, specifically for the agile metrics assessment.  Yes, it is listed on the Suggested Reading page.

I'm familiar with David J Anderson's Kanban Method (not listed in suggested reading), and will attempt the PSK I after studying Daniel Vacanti's book.

Well, thank you all for this very interesting and enlightening post. I was going to have a go at the test, but now I feel it’s premature and will concentrate on the others.

SO even with 10 years using Kanban I don't feel comfy taking it either. I feel very good about my KANBAN knowledge but I will hold of. My next 2 were NEXUS and PSK think I'll hit the PSMII instead. 

Olivier Ledru - if this is a real question then it is a bad question. I'll tell you why. No two Kanban boards are alike.

That state of owned is misleading because to me as you stated once it hits the sprint backlog it should be owned by the DEV team. It should even be like in like a "ready state" or in the "to do state" that's just an example. I have had a Kanban board with 12 states. I argued against this many times , many cycles, and got it down to 8. 

By the way, on this point, I disagree with having a state "owned" by the PO inside the Sprint Backlog. If the PO is having a critical impact on the Sprint Backlog (for functional testing for instance), then she should be part of the Dev Team. 

I passed my PSK last night (91.2%), after I passed my PSM II a bit earlier in the evening.  I did that because I want to carry my momentum of what I have captured fresh in my mind from the Scrum Guide.

This is my second attempted.  My first attempt was in mid May, and I only got 74.5%.  I agree that the questions related to the "why" of the 4 metrics assessment, as well as "when" (which Scrum events should use / change them) and the "who" are vital.  I read the book by Daniel, but I found that the recent 3 new blog posts by Yuval Yeret plus the Little's Law reading sum up the key points as well as the applications of them quite well (which I have to admit I missed this depth during my first attempt).

I found that having Scrum Guide in my mind is very important as well.  A few questions are actually trying to trick if we are solid enough with Scrum Guide or not, to see if Kanban new ideas will alter the Scrum framework or not.  I believe this is a core part as well.

Hope this helps.

I haven't taken the PSK certification yet, but I've done the open assessment a couple of times. My concern is not with the exam, but with the Scrum With Kanban Guide. It seems like there are core concepts and terms ("batch size," "Little's Law") that are key to passing the assessment but are not mentioned at all in the Guide. With PSM-I and PSPO-I, everything in the exam was directly derived from the Scrum Guide. That doesn't seem to be the case with the PSK certification, and it seems like it ought to be.

OMG! And I was planning to take PSK I next. I am very hesitant to take it now. Maybe I will proceed with SPS first.

Passed PSK I (94,5%) today after PSK I courses with my first attempt. I can strongly recommend attending courses and read all suggested articles, especially that one related to 4 Key Flow metrics and be sure that you clearly understand diagrams meaning and SLE definition. I didn't read "Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An Introduction" by Daniel S. Vacanti before the assessment. Good luck!

Passed this an hour or so ago at 98%, my first attempt at it. Was very nervous and even when hitting the "finish" button I was anxious about whether I'd passed or not...turned away from the screen before the page refresh cause I was scared to look!

I devoted most of a day to this, reading the guides and particularly reading every blog post i could find on the subject. You are not likely to pass this if you don't spend at least as much time in the blogs as you do in the guides. I did read the Actionable Agile book, and its it's very useful to bring to the real world, but it honestly was not all that helpful in passing the assessment.

I have tried the PSK twice and failed both times. Like others, I did all of the available reading just like I did for the other exams. I even did some pretty in-depth study on Kanban itself. I have been intrigued with it and felt it added to my ability to coach agile teams.  I have used the Scrum with Kanban guide to introduce Kanban practices into a couple of my teams, with success I might add.  So I really feel like the guide itself is useful. But the exam covered a lot that wasn't in the guide.  And if those concepts were discussed in the suggested readings, I totally missed them (which I admit is possible). 

I did not take any of the courses for any of the certifications.  I didn't expect that I would need to.  One of the reasons I chose the scrum.org certs over the other scrum org ones was because I wasn't required to take a course.  If that is going to become a requirement, I am not sure I will continue to pursue these certs either. 

I have not decided if I will make a third attempt.  I believe I am going to wait a while, let some of the reference materials and questions be refined.  Then I'll come back and try it again. 

I want to say that I appreciate this thread.  I was one of those people thinking that I was just wasn't getting it.  Seeing how many of you also have had problems makes me feel a little better about myself. 

I have tried as well past week, I just didn't read this chapter until today, I couldn't believe my score, 79,9%, a total deception, until that moment my scores were quite high in all the exams SPS, PSPOI, PAL, PSMI ...,and to be honest I had not a clue about what might be the result ... I  will invest a bit more time anyway, reading all the blogs avialable, which I though I already did ... let's see the second atempt

@Aitor and @Daniel - Thank you for your feedback. 

You're raising valid concerns about the Guide. We're trying to figure out how to keep it simple and concise and still cover everything that is needed.

You SHOULDN'T have to participate in a PSK class to pass the PSK1 but you should have a solid understanding of Scrum with Kanban including Flow and Flow metrics that we consider essential to do Scrum with Kanban professionally. 

At the moment the supplemental reading should help people with that solid understanding learn the language and terms we use in the PSK world, and we find that people who read the supplemental reading have a much better time with the assessment. Should some of that move into the Guide? probably. What's the best way to do that while keeping it manageable? something we will experiment with...

If you have further feedback would love to hear directly (as a steward of the class and a co-author of the guide). Feel free to reach out at Yuval@AgileSparks.com or https://www.scrum.org/yuval-yeret.

Hi Yuval, many thanks four your answer and comments, I really found beneficial to read all the aditional information, even though I found some of the answers a bit dificult, maybe my English is not good enough, and I miss some details.

Anyway I have to tell that just some minutes before I achieve it!!, in second atempt and a lot of reading, which will be for me beneficial anyway, due to the extra-reading and investigation. I also read many blogs from expecific Kanban sites.

This one I will defenitelly celebrate!

I tried and didn't clear the PAL1 exam. 

Hi There,

My 2 cents on this lies on the assumption that the test is done 100% on a subject that is available in the manual - wich is not true. Also, the assessment is not even 10% of the difficulty level of the real test, which is misleading and disappointing! I have read all documentation available a few times and still got 80% in my exam. 

I beleave that the assessment should have some questions with levels that are closer or even higher than the real test! That’s is what is going to make people chase for improvement and to actually understand every single step of what is required.

Now I am preparing for the next attempt - which we got not even a discount (it would be reasaboble to have a good discount in the second assessment - if this is not a money trap).

cheers

Hello. I took PSM I and passed Feb 06, 2019 (Sprint 1) then took PSK I March 4, 2019 (Sprint 2) with 91% passing score. Just wanted to share my experience. What I did - Read all the Blog posts, articles and watched all Videos and listen to the podcast by Steve - all provided in the Suggested Readings for PSK. I did not read the books since I do not want to pay extra for it. Read the Kanban Guide 8 to 10 times (I think!).

The open assessment also was very helpful in knowing what kind of questions there will be. Took it everyday. It is really hard when there is no other open assessments like Mlapshin's. Also, I watched some videos in Youtube like Kanban Metrics in Practice - Mattia Battiston, Cycle Time and Little's Law by Jim Brisson and How to reduce WIP using Little's Law by rtdknowledge.

Also, what really helped me is that I focused more on understanding Kanban and the integration to Scrum since the Scrum Framework and its elements are still fresh because I just took PSM I. 

Cheers! Hope this helps. 

Hello, I passed PSK in my first attempt. I didn’t take any course or read any specific book mentioned in reading section. I believe my experience and in-depth understanding of scrum was my main strength in exam. I really admire exam quality due to tough sense.

 To share my experience, exam is based on practical/ real-life scenarios. Maximum questions are based on day to day practice scenarios for Scrum and Kanban practices. So most comprehensive tool to pass exam is your experience and how well you understand Scrum 😊

In my view this exam is real test for your practical knowledge of Scrum and how good understanding and practical knowledge you have about below area:

1. Scrum Theory of empiricism.
2. How you understand and apply scrum values 
3. How clear on the fact Kanban is to complement the Scrum and doesn’t change Scrum 
4. How well you understand workflow in Scrum context
5. How well you can apply Kanban practice, Flow Matrices and Flow based event
6. Understanding below matrices and elements will help in exam:
   • Cycle time
   • WIP
   • Throughput
   • WIP limit
   • Work Item Age
   • Little’s Law
   • Objective of Service level Expectation (SLE) and how to apply SLE
   • CFDs and Cycle Time Scatterplots  
7. Below resources are good help to prepare for exam
   • The Scrum Guide and the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams
   • BLOGS written by Daniel S. Vacanti and Yuval Yeret
   • Actionable Agile-Metrics-for-Predictability by Daniel S. Vacanti
   • Little's law and predictability - Daniel Vacanti

• Note: Keep track of time during exam, as you might run out of time, options mentioned for questions are very close and you need to go with the best option selection 😊

Remember, Exam is tough in its true sense , I hope these tips may help for PSK aspirants.

Best of Luck

Sunil Gulia

I can only re-iterated what Sunil said.  Tough exam.  I found the Vacanti book very useful, personally - but I have a lot less practical experience than Sunil obviously has.

But's it's passable, even with that lesser experience.

Hello, I didn't manage to pass PSK, it is my first attempt and scored 84.5%. Despite reading of Kanban guide/suggested readings/following blogs/Vacanti books and related videos. I don't have any practical experience.

 Questions in the exam were tough and tricky, most of the questions in the exam were no where discussed either in guide or suggested readings, seems should have practical experience. 

 Could some one suggest me tips or any other readings. Is it necessary to attend the course?

Thanks 

I passed the PSK 1 on my first try with a 90.2%.  I spent several weeks on/off reading/re-reading the Professional Scrum with Kanban Guide, the Scrum Guide, the various blog posts, Little's Law, and the other suggested reading.  I found the test to be challenging and it made me think.  I had enough time to go through all of the questions twice.  I made a couple of adjustments before I nervously pressed the finished button.  The questions were challenging enough that I was not sure I had passed.

My recommendation is to read and take the practice exam several times.  I reached a point that I had scored a 100% on the practice exam several times in a row before I purchased the exam.

HTH,

Gil

I have spent 2 weekends passing 7 of the assessments (PSMI, PSD I, PSPO I, PAL, SPS, PSM II and PSK I).  I did not attend any courses, just years of experience & and a lot of reading but I found that some of the tests were very complementary to each other and helped solidify my learning and experience (especially PSMI, PSPOI, PAL & SPS) - especially on the PSM II.

PSK came as a bit of a shock at first - firstly, the depth of the questions in the Open Assessment was very superficial compared to the actual assessment - which is much, much harder due to the amount of 'interpretation' and subtlety of siome of the questions.   Even now ..... having passed on my 2nd attempt with 88% ..... I am still wondering which ones I got right :-)

I think people need to be aware that the implications of flow & flow metrics and the subtle differences of how Scrum accommodates and can be improved by Kanban need to be very well understood if you plan to take this assessment.  That said, I think the assessment stretched my knowledge and experience, which is very positive (as did some of the questions in the PSM II).

Today i passed the PSK1 exam. I spent a few days reading the suggested blogs, videos etc and doing the online mock exams. Personally i didn't think it was too hard, Sunil Gulia's post above i think explains the areas in a nutshell that need to be learnt and understood before taking the exam. 

To be honest, the practice assessment and the exam questions presented are drastically opposite. I did not found issue in passing pal or sps or psm 2 even. But this one is a tough nut. The questions present are really really hard. I just was not able to pass the exam. Please have more discussions regarding psk before making this a full fledged exam. I too felt like a beta test taker of the exam.

I have to echo some of the comments. I have spent hours reading the required elements and nailing the practise exam until I managed to get 100% every single time. I had one question in the mock exam which was in the real exam, I encountered many questions that were not in any of the reading, and unfortunately I have failed this exam twice. I think that this exam you have to have real world experience and not "be good at passing exams". I am going to concentrate my efforts elsewhere, SPS maybe until I have had real world Kanban experience in a Scrum environment. This is a tough cookie for sure.

There isn't much cross over like the others, having passed PSM1, PSPO1, PSD1 and PAL1 in the high 90%.

I downloaded the "Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams".

When studying, I found that there are too few materials available.

Therefore, I temporarily gave up the PSK attempt.

I want to make some preparations and try again this year.

For PSU, I bought LeanUX books in the supplementary knowledge domain.

I hope to complete PSU and PSK this year.

We work together.

I just took the PSK I assessment for the first time and passed with a 97% score. It was definitely very challenging, but I had enough time to finish and review all my answers. A few questions threw me because they approached a topic from a perspective that I did not expect. Those questions required significant thought about the underlying intent of the Scrum framework and the Scrum with Kanban strategy.

I studied the same material as Sunil Gulia above, but I had also read Daniel Vacanti's book pretty extensively and actually built CFDs and Scatterplots. I think the process of creating these artifacts helped with insight into the processes. The mistake I made while preparing was that I completely skipped Throughput runs, which impacted my score.

I suppose it could happen, but I would be very surprised if someone passes this assessment based purely on reading or attending a class with no practical experience.

I am also very thankful for the discussion here. I considered taking the PSK I as want to deepen my understanding of Kanban. Yet I am afraid if experts are not able to pass the exam and some even have doubts about the questions, then I will not attempt it.

I firmly believe that all certificates should be priced as this makes them valuable but they need to be fair. Most of all I should be able to study in depth all material beforing taking an attempt.

Hello everyone, thank you for your insights on the PSK exam, it really helped a lot. I just passed the PSK exam without taking the class and It wasn't as hard as described here. I do think having experiences in Kanban can help a lot but using the resources listed on this page. 

So don't be afraid of trying it, make sure you undertand the practices, the metrics (Read and watch Daniel Vacanti's stuff) and you should be good. Good luck.

Thank you @Scrum.org for this certification. 

Hi all, 



I have also started to investigate all valid sources regarding the preparation for this test. I've found on Scrum.org page where all books/blogs/podcasts/articles and going over and over. Also, I've made a bunch of sticky notes to remind me where I am. 



I've tried open assessment and scored 86% before doing all that. I have an experience working with teams as a Scrum Master and including Kanban metrics. 



Do you have any tips, what to cover, and how long the preparation should take?



Thanks!

@jovan - Scroll up to see Sunil's tips and what to cover, I think he did a great job summarizing it.

In addition to his list, I would also recommend the book "When will it be done" by Dan Vacanti.

I failed the PSK exam with 84.8%. Really shattered.

Hello, 

I passed the PSK exam today. If someone has any question, feel free to ask here or via PM. 

Good luck for everyone who tries to pass this exam. 

Congratulations @Damian. Your message is a bit vague, but I hope you are not planning to share questions or answers as that would be a violation of the copyright.

Thanks to all the experts and seniors here,

I passed PSK,Passed Score: 95.2%

Thank you for your information and suggestions, and useful sharing

Glad to share my positive experience with PSK I assessment. Passed in first attempt with score 97.2% (103 points scored out of 106 maximum points). I was concerned initially after reading 'PSK Assessment' difficulty experiences shared by many and was expecting it to be lot harder.  The following is my PSK I assessment journey:

1. Sunil Gulia tips above helped me get over the initial 'difficulty' fear.
2. 2-day Professional Scrum with Kanban course with Sanjay Saini gave all the relevant knowledge and right directions to prepare for the assessment.
3. Multiple reads of Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams and the Scrum Guide helped grasp the concepts.
4. Yuval Yeret's blogs, especially https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/4-key-flow-metrics-and-how-use-them-scrums-events#disqus_thread reinforce the understanding of concepts.
5. Daniel S Vacanti's book 'Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability', especially chapters in Part One, Part Two and Part Three of the book helped to study Flow Metrics, Little Law, CFD and Cycle Time Scatterplots
6. Multiple attempts on Open Assessment until consecutive 100% scores.
7. For more practice, used Practice Tests and PSK Exam Simulators found in internet.  

Once the concepts are grasped, the PSK I assessment turns out to be lot easier than feared. 

Hi @Eric, 

I haven't meant sharing questions or anything like this. It was more like: if you want to know how I prepared to the exam, feel free to write. 

To add to my experience of the PSK assessment. Passed first time. I'm an experienced practitioner but did not under estimate this exam due to many experienced people having issues.  I think the exam is the right level of difficulty, its definitely not a give-away and I really respect scrum.org for making this a credential worth obtaining. There a lot of scrum organisations out there which are just giving away certifications for attending training.

I didn't need to buy or read any books suggested above. So I'd consider this non-essential if you want to keep costs down. I did not attend a training course.

I did read the scrum guide and Kanban for scrum guides a few times. Just reading these will definitely not be enough to pass this exam at all. You need to do the extra work by reviewing scrum.org's recommended reading list.  I should also say you must understand Scrum before taking this exam or you will be in difficulty.

I read all of the blogs in scrum.org's suggested reading list and really made sure I understood the agile flow metrics, their purpose, how they inter-relate, different charts, how Kanban impacts scrum events and the scrum framework. The blogs are really excellent and informative in terms of learning about the subject and will significantly help. I'd consider reading the blogs suggested to be essential to really understand the subject.

I found some practice exams were very helpful in reinforcing knowledge also. I used Udemy (I think it was 20 USD or something) which was helpful particularly for solidifying knowledge on different charts and their purpose. Having said that, the actual PSK exam is harder than any practice exams, as you'd expect, but if you know the fundamentals, understand Scrum and read the blogs you'll be fine as per more recent comments above.

Hi! I wrote a small article about my jorney to PSK approval. It is in Portuguese, but you should be able to read well with Google translator. I hope it helps.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/minha-jornada-%C3%A0-psk-1-da-scrumorg-tiago-luz