Passed PSM I
Dear All,
Cleared PSM I certification exam last week with 97.5%, score of 78/80.
I have decent experience working in Scrum based projects and Certified Agile Practitioner (PMI-ACP). I have taken PSM certification since I want to have something specific to Scrum. I must say I really learned a lot during this exam preparation, during reading the Scrum Guide, I could relate to my experience and found guide very structured way to understand the Scrum framework. To test my knowledge and to ascertain how I would fare in the exam, I have attempted all the Scrum open assessments till I get 100% repetitively. That gave me general understanding of the kind of questions in the exam. I have also attempted PSM I Quiz in Real mode by Mikhail Lapshin in order to get the feel of real exam with total 80 questions.
Since this is the first certification exam I appeared which is self-proctored in my personal PC from the comfort of my home, so exam feeling was different & also little worried about the power & internet disconnection issue, But fortunately did not happen in my case, I found test GUI OK & questions were loading without prominent time lag, However some look & feel improvement can be made in Test software.
I really enjoyed the exam with the kind of interesting questions coming in my way, few directly from the Scrum Open assessments. I was able to complete the 80 questions in 30 mins, with around 13-14 marked for review. Then I took some time to understand and answer those reviewed questions. Again cross checked all the 80 questions and managed to finish the test 4-5 mins before time, thinking better to finish it if done, than giving any chance for any disconnection or interruption to happen.
Questions were not easy but of intermediate difficulty level with some scenario based. It will really test your understanding of Scrum Guide and ability to apply it in real-world situations. But if you are prepared well & have some practical experience in Scrum, it is not difficult to pass this exam.
All the Best for the people who are PSM aspirants. Hope my feedback will help you in your preparation for your PSM exam and Scrum journey.
Thanks,
Pranab Chakraborty, PMP, PMI-ACP, ITIL v3F, PSM I
I have just passed PSM I. It was my first attempt and I am glad all the work paid off.
During the exam, there was a latency in getting the next questions and it took me exactly 1 hour to answer all questions.
In addition to the Scrum Guide, which I went through at least 5 times, I did the open assessments on scrum.org and the mock exams on http://mlapshin.com/index.php/psm-quiz/ .This site has 80 questions in learning mode (with answers - excellent way to understand scrum) and real mode ( real time exam practice). I kept doing the exams until I had 100% result. Excellent site and I suggest everyone studying for the exam checks it. Lots of questions were very similar to the certification exam questions.
All the best for the people preparing for PSM certification.
Regards,
Mare Ananijevska
Just passed PSM 1 today. Here my preparation
- Read the scrum guide from scrum.org which is very brief and concise
- Then run to the open assessments (PSM) on scrum.org several times, improving from initial 75%. Tried the other PSD and PSPO assessments as well to broaden knowledge.
- I found an excellent PSM 1 preparation course at management plaza (https://mplaza.pm/) including an online video course, a textbook and 3 full simulated exams.
- I first read the textbook which is very well-structured, then watched all 19 videos (some 180mins). The videos also where well-structured and explain Scrum very well. Finally I was running trough all 3 simulated exams, one per day and a repetition in the evening. The simulated exams give excellent feedback and explanation for all questions. I have collected all questions where I failed in a text file to improve by adaptation (a scrum principle :-)). So I could find out where I failed.
- The Mplaza course also contains some valuable tips and hints for the exam.
- Finally read the textboolk again one day before the exam.
another good resource for prep is https://scrumstar.com/ worth paying the $20 for the bank of questions and resources they have. Progress & scores are presented in graphs which makes it transparent so you can inspect and adapt!!
I came here to make a similar post, but perhaps by adding to the thread it will serve as a better resource for others.
I also recently passed PSM-I. Obviously there is some great advice in these forums, so I will try and not repeat those.
In addition to the standards of reading the Scrum Guide and taking the Open Assessments for Scrum Master and Product Owner, I used the following resources -
- Read the book "Software" in 30 Days
- Read the book "Scrum" by Sutherland
- Read the book "Scrum Narrative and PSM Exam Guide" by Mohammed Musthafa Soukath Ali (and read his associated pocket guide)
- Subscribed for one week to BostonAgileTrainings Mock tests, which I believe was $10. I did not use their training material.
- Used the practice tests at mlapshin.com
There are other resources out there, and you really need to be careful about what you use. For example, I had a copy of the Scrum Master Training Manual from Mplaza that listed 6 Artifacts. A different version I had showed the correct listing of Artifacts. So, whatever your resources, make sure they are current and up to date.
Advice on the forum is pretty solid all the way around. Take the open assessments until you get 100% all the time. These not only give you a feel for the format of the test, but I probably had at least 10 or 15 questions that were straight from these open assessments, so those are pretty much free points.
I really found the best resource to be the book by Ali. He actually tries to guide te reader into an active learning process, which is what you need to do. Essentially, for every sentence in the Scrum Guide, you need to ask yourself "what does this mean in an applied setting, how would I actually use this?" If you can begin to internalize that concept while reading it will take you a long ways. Conversely, while taking a test, you invert this idea and ask "what concept in the Scrum Guide does this question speak to?" The test is very much asking you to apply Scrum principles.
I advise reading the Scrum Guide and Ali's book before reading the "Scrum" and "Software in 30 Days" books. I found the utility of the latter two books to be in the application and execution of Scrum, which is much easier to understand when you have the knowledge of the construction of Scrum. Not to mention that they are fun reads and show actual successful transformations to Scrum, which gives an added real world view.
I also advise picking two or three sample exams and doing them until you pass with 90% or better. However, hold one set of sample exam in reserve. So, if you pick 3 exam sources, practice 2 of the 3 regularly. Then, right before taking the real exam is when you want to take the final set of practice exam. The reason is that the more you practice anything, the more you will start to learn those questions, those answers and that style of question. So, you might be scoring very high but that could be just because you are starting to learn the right answer. Holding one test in reserve will force you to apply knowledge in an unfamiliar setting, which is what you want before the real exam.
I also advise as you engage our learning process, start to build yourself a "1 pager" based intially on the Scrum Guide. Sure, you can find plenty of one page slides online, but there is a part of learning that comes from your own captue and recreation of information. After you make this one pager, keep it next to you as you read other materials and use it as a reference, making notes and updating the one pager through the process.
As humans, we tend to prefer our learning to be specific, and fact based as opposed to concept based. This will throw you during the real exam if you aren't careful. You will see questions, and question patterns that look familiar but if you don't read every word, it will trip you up.
For example, you might see a question that asks about Done for a Product Backlog Item, which might be different than Done for a Sprint Backlog item. If you are disposed to thinking about DoD for Sprints and Sprint Backlog Items, you really need to think about this for a minute before answering. You need to read every word of a question and don't make the mistake of thinking that you recognize the question based on some key words and thus know the answer.
Also for example, you might see a question about treatment of Non Functional Requirements and you think "oh man, I read three books and not one of them mentioned NFRs, what do I do?" Again, the answer is to apply the principles of Scrum. I would argue that NFRs, Functional Requirements, or Whackadoo Blue Moon Chupacabra Requirements should all be treated the same way if they are delivering value to the customer.
Finally, right before testing, re-read the Scrum Guide. As many others have said, every word and every sentence is chosen carefully. I did this and there were at least 3 questions on the exam that used language straight out of the Scrum Guide that I was able to recall because I had read it 10 minutes before.
Well, that is a bit more than my 2 cents. I tried to give you some food for thought, but without revealing any testing specifics. I hope this helps and is a unique perspective.