How do I prepare for PSM III
Edit: this post is from February 2020, circumstances changed shortly after this and I decided to not attempt PSM III as for now. Even so, I still believe that you’ll find here really comprehensive resources on Scrum and agility.
I’ve been most of my life in IT and software development. After passing PSM II now it’s the time for PSM III. Here’s how I’m preparing for this.
PS: if you are curious you can read here How I prepared for PSM I (and PSM II)
PSM III format
Basic information on the exam:
- Fee: $500 USD
- Passing score: 85%
- Time limit: 120 minutes
- Format: Combination of 34 Multiple Choice and essay
- Difficulty: Expert
- Language: English only
- Prerequisites: passed PSM I and PSM II
Here’s all info on Scrum.org.
I read. A lot.
I believe that agility and Scrum is not something you can just memorize. It’s something you almost need to feel. You need to understand the very core of it. The Why of it.
Here’s a list of guides, articles, resources and books that may be helpful in passing PSM III. Keep in mind that some of things in the internet could be inaccurate, so always refer to the newest version of Scrum Guide.
Foundation, I believe that’s the minimum, the must:
- What is Scrum?
- Scrum Guide
- Scrum Glossary
- Manifesto for Agile Software Development
- Evidence Based Management
- Scaling Scrum with Nexus
- Serious Scrum — Road to Mastery (everything!)
- Gunther Verheyen — Scrum — A Pocket Guide
Should:
- Scrum Master Learning Path — after registering you can track progress on reading/watching suggested materials
- Professional Scrum Developer Glossary
- Ken Schwaber — Agile Software Development with Scrum
- Ken Schwaber — Software in 30 days
- Scrum Guide Reordered
- There’s Value in the Scrum Values
- What is ScrumBut?
- Jocko Willink — Extreme Ownership
- Barry Overeem — The 8 Stances of a Scrum Master
- Evolution of the Development Team
- Evolution of the Scrum Master
- Evolution of the Product Owner
- Evolution of the Agile Manager
- A Day in the Life of a Scrum Master
- Maximize Scrum with the Scrum Values
- The Scrum Master as the Change Leader
- Patrick Lencioni — The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
- Mike Cohn’s blog
- Scrum Burndown chart
- Geoff Watts — Scrum Mastery: From Good To Great Servant-Leadership
- Hiren Doshi — Scrum Insights for Practitioners
Could:
- Product Owner Learning Path
- Agile Leader Learning Path
- Team Member Learning Path
- Ken Schwaber — Agile Project Management with Scrum
- James Shore — The Art of Agile Development
- Mike Cohn — User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development
- Mike Cohn — Agile Estimating and Planning
- 5 Powerful Things About the Sprint
- Getting to Done: Creating Good Sprint Goals
- Sprint Review: Much More Than Just A Demo
- Roles in Scrum
- Christiaan Verwijs — How To Kickstart A Great Scrum Team
- 14 Stances of Highly Effective Product Owners
- Myth 8: The Scrum Master is a Junior Agile Coach
- Stephanie Ockerman, Simon Reindl — Mastering Professional Scrum
I practice. A lot.
For the PSM I and II there’s a lot of training resources as those are easier and close-ended. PSM III consists of some essay questions so you need to clearly and concisely write answers in English, with Scrum in mind.
Here’s some online practice tests, keep taking them until you’ll score 100% almost every time:
- Scrum Open Assessment
- Nexus Open Assessment
- Product Owner Open Assessment
- Developer Open Assessment
- Scrum with Kanban Open Assessment
- Agile Leadership Open Assessment
- Agile Measurement Open Assessment
- Mikhail Lapshin Scrum Quizzes
- Volkerdon Scrum Master Exam Simulator
Try to write max. 2–3 paragraphs answer on sample questions:
Watch out for the traps
Every exam question could be somehow tricky, remember to:
- read every question and really understand the wording. Sometimes it will be should/could difference, other time Sprint Backlog will become Product Backlog — it’s really easy to fall in such traps;
- be flexible and agile; answers that’re very strict probably aren’t good ones
- make sure to mark as many answers as it’s stated in the question (sometimes it will be best answer, sometime two or three best answer)
- usually you’ll have to choose best answer, not the ideal or perfect one
- Every question might have several sub-questions. Count a number of question marks and make sure you answered all the questions.
Also, let’s clarify some common Scrum facts:
- there’s no such thing as Sprint 0 or hardening sprint
- Scrum Master can remove members of development team
- self-organizing team still work within boundaries of organisation
- Scrum Master doesn’t have to be present during Daily Scrum
- During the sprint no changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal
- Scrum does not mandate any additional formats and techniques like User Stories, Planning Poker, Burnup, Burndowns, Architectural spikes
- A Scrum Master does not solve any problems that the team can solve itself
- Every Sprint always produces a “done increment”
- Scrum Team cannot change the fundamentals of Scrum in the name of improvement
- remember all the Scrum values: Focus, Openness, Courage, Commitment, Respect
- Using team velocity is optional in Scrum
The hardest part for me would be essay questions as I’m non-native English speaker. Having that in mind it’s important to really understand the difference between words like:
- should, could, must, may, would, will be
- help, facilitate
- transparency, openness, visibility, accessibility
- cross-functional, Multi-disciplinary
- self-organisation, self-management
- participate, attend
- …
Preparation
Before the exam you need to be in your best shape, so sleep well, eat well, exercise to get this oxygen flowing.
Prepare some materials:
- print out Scrum Guide and mark important parts of it
- print out cheat sheet from Road to Mastery
- create some notes on values, pillars, roles, events and artifacts, prepare everything that could help you in the heat of the fight
Preparation right before exam:
- have some water beside you
- pen for taking notes will be helpful
- turn off notifications
- close the door :)
The Exam
The exam is 120 minutes and 34 questions, giving you 3 minutes and 31 seconds per question. That doesn’t seem to be much. Almost every PSM III taker says that the time is really tight.
During the exam:
- read the question twice
- keep it to the point; in essay type write 2, max. 3 paragraphs answers and focus on the key issue(s)
- even if you are unsure, answer the question and note its number — you’ll revise it a the end if you’ll have spare time; if not — you’ll have some answer anyway
- keep track of your time, after an hour you should be on 18th question
Summary
After taking the exam you have to wait for the final score of your essay answers. I wish you the 100% :)
I wrote all above before taking an PSM III exam as my personal preparation checklist, let me know if it helped you somehow on the road to being certified Scrum Master.
Good luck!