Guidance for PSM-I Certification

1. Please download the Scrum Guide and go through it multiple times till you
score 100% for 4-5 consecutive times for most of the open assessments
detailed in below section.
https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-scrum
http://www.scrumguides.org/

2. Scrum.org provided open assessments

Scrum Open: (Must)

https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=vek54a6ec10658ef

Product Owner: (Must)

https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=grx55b93a4d40895

Scrum Developer: (Optional)

https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=k6c5408cb891729e

Scrum practitioner open: (Must, but you will not find the answers. You have to research
on each question to ensure that you know the right answer.
http://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=dm954ca7177d9655

Scaled scrum: (At least 2 times)

http://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/?quiz=7rt5464b55300026

COMPILED BY: KESINI PRAHARAJ DATE: 31-OCT-2017 1

 3. Other open assessments for practice
mlapshin.com - Mikhail Lapshin 80-question PSM I sample exam
http://mlapshin.com/index.php/psm-quiz/

4. Additional Question Sets for reference

Mplaza PSM I Mplaza PSM I

Simulated Test 1.pdf Simulated Test 2.pdf

5. Few tips:

Be careful with the words: sometimes you dont pay enough attention to some of the
words, and answer the simplest of questions incorrectly. Always read the question
carefully, word by word. Also make sure youve read all the answer before choosing
the desired one. Let me give you some examples:

o Be careful with questions containing NOT: some questions ask, for example,
which of the following is NOT a characteristic of, and many people forget
about the NOT, and pick the wrong answer. You wont believe how common
this is; so, be careful not to miss this keyword.
o Be careful with multiple answer questions: some questions ask you to choose
multiple answers, and some people just dont pay enough attention and pick
one answer. All multiple answer questions use check-boxes instead of radio-
buttons; get used to paying attention to this as a double check. Its a good idea
to spend a few minutes at the end of the exam, going through all the questions
and only checking to see if youve picked multiple answers where you needed.
o Be careful with should vs. could: e.g the sentence Product Owner could
attend the Daily Scrum is true, while the sentence Product Owner should

COMPILED BY: KESINI PRAHARAJ DATE: 31-OCT-2017 2

 attend the Daily Scrum is false. Its not complicated, and you surely understand
it; just make sure you still pay attention to it under the exam pressure.
o Be careful with attend vs. participate: e.g. the sentence Product Owner can
attend the Daily Scrum is true, while the sentence Product Owner can
participate in the Daily Scrum is false.

Forget your sinful past! If you have experience using Scrum, chances are high youre
not doing it correctly; sorry to put it this way. Scrum.org asks you many questions
about the common wrong behaviors in Scrum projects, and thats why you should use
your knowledge instead of what youve seen in the projects. The following are some
examples:
o Theres no Sprint 0; also no hardening Sprint, integration Sprint, release Sprint,
planning Sprint, etc. All Sprints are the same.
o Only the developers participate in the Daily Scrums.
o There are no baselines in Scrum.
o Theres always only one Product Backlog and one Product Owner, no matter
how many teams are working on the project.
o There are no roles other than those three standard ones, and none of them
manage the rest.

Be brave! Yes, you know that, for example, the team should be self-organized. But to
what degree? For example, who should decide to exclude a developer from the team?
The team itself, the Product Owner or Scrum Master, the hiring manager, another
manager in the company? Trust what youve learned: the team should be self-
organized, and this is only limited by the authorities given to the Product Owner and
Scrum Master in the framework.

COMPILED BY: KESINI PRAHARAJ DATE: 31-OCT-2017 3

 Dont use miscellaneous sample Scrum questions: many of those questions are
designed for other exams, and they are not necessarily compatible with PSM I. If you
want to use sample questions, only use those specifically designed for supporting the
PSM I exam.

Be focused: being focused on the exam is probably as important as studying for it. How
can you do this? It depends on you. If drinking coffee makes you nervous, dont drink
it; if youre a coffee addict like me, drink it a lot; take the exam in your prime time (e.g.
not in the morning when youre not a morning person); take it in a quiet place; eat
appropriately before the exam; etc.

Manage your time: most people find 60 minutes enough for the exam, while about
20% of the candidates cannot spend enough time on all questions. Spend your time
appropriately on the questions; e.g. instead of stressing yourself and spending a lot of
time on a few hard questions at the beginning of the exam, just mark them for the end
and spend your energy and time on what you can do best.

Answer all questions: theres no negative points for wrong answers. Just answer
everything.

Use at least two rounds: its much better if you review your answers at least once. You
need to manage your time accordingly.

Dont worry about changing your answers: many people keep saying you shouldnt
change your answers unless youre really sure, and that your first answer is usually
COMPILED BY: KESINI PRAHARAJ DATE: 31-OCT-2017 4
 right. This is a myth, and proven wrong by scientific research. This feeling is caused
by a cognitive bias, and you can safely change your answers as you like, based on your
reasoning instead of your guts. Just remember to manage your time properly.

Look it up when needed: the exam is open book, remember? Finding the right answer
to some questions is really time consuming, while if theres a question like whats the
duration of Sprint Retrospective in a one-month Sprint?, and for some reason, youre
not sure if you remember it correctly, just look it up!

Dont panic: the last thing you need is to panic. Theres a famous advice for musicians:
practice as if youre performing, and perform as if youre practicing. Dont think about
the result in the middle of the exam, and dont think about how many questions youve
probably missed; just focus on one question at the time, and do your best. And by the
way, if you were disconnected in the middle of the exam, you can just go to the exam
page and continue. Believe me, it has happened to me when I was taking my exam. I
lost 15 minutes trying to solve my internet connection problem, but at least I could
continue afterwards and pass the exam. Dont worry about anything during the exam.

Good Luck!!

COMPILED BY: KESINI PRAHARAJ DATE: 31-OCT-2017 5