How to effectively pass PSM-II for the first time? (Resources Given)
A Further Self-Adaptive Journey
A Further Self-Adaptive Journey
A Journey toward Advanced Scrum Master
I think it is a remarkable milestone to pass the PSM-II certification. It’s been 4 years since last time I got certified by PSM-I, which proves my basic understanding of Scrum knowledge. Over the past few years, there was an idea rooted in my mind — one day I would take PSM-II course for further learning about scrum master.
And fortunately, I suddenly got laid off because our customer decided to terminate the project. So the idea of taking Professional Scrum Master Advanced course re-emerged in my mind, and took PSM-II certification exam. Well, it also told you that I restarted my interview loop again.
In this training course, which was different with the feeling in PSM-I, we shared a lot of business scenarios, talking about how to adopt scrum principles under limited conditions, such as no sponsorship from the management, mixed roles, etc. When the trainer asked my feeling about the course, I felt the strong shock in PSM-I vanished because in PSM-I we would be challenged with many business contexts to stimulate our thinking to scrum principles, while in PSM-II we focus more on real applications of scrum, and find a compromised solution to make things work.
After I backed from HK, I decided to take the PSM-II certification exam for 3 primary reasons. First of all, scrum.org provides additional chance to retest if you failed for the first time, and I wanted to fail fast to improve my performance. Secondly, I think it valuable to get certified as PSM-II in the job market. As I had investigated, there are more than 650000 individuals having PSM-I certificates but more than 42000 people certified as PSM-II, which implied strong competition in scrum adoption. Lastly, unlike other institutions that “abuse certificates as a business”, scrum.org does verify an individual’s belief with application fee included, which effectively filter people who just wants the certification.
As a result, I successfully pass the PSM-II exam for the first time after the training course. And I’d like to share how to effectively pass the exam, together with some useful resources.
3 Simple Strategies For The PSM-II Exam
I guess some people might be wondering how to pass the exam, and let me share my viewpoints that is actionable for anyone. Of course, there are some prerequisites.
Read the scrum guide, again and again
Well, I think nobody would deny the suggestion — read the scrum guide. And I would emphasize more — read it again and again. Because unlike the PSM-I, the PSM-II is testing if you could make correct decisions not violating the scrum principles when you are undergoing limitations.
And you need to read it through, word by word, to think about the situations you’d gone through. In most conditions, the exam doesn’t provide you absolutely correct options, but better ones, which validate your belief to implementing scrum.
I know some expertise would recommend you to read other books but in my opinion, it would take longer and stop you from improving your performance by facing the exam directly.Verify your experience with online exam resources
Once you already are familiar with the scrum guide, try to test yourself with online problem sets, which helps you understand the real exam scenarios, no matter duration, problem categories, etc. In my opinion, I would strongly suggest you take at least 150+ questions to cover all possible scenarios. Of course, you need not spend money on problem sets. Instead, just scroll down to the last section, and practice all the questions I provide you.Join an online agile community
Well, when you take the free exam, you might discover that some answers are controversial based on your perception to scrum. You are right. You would face similar situation when you are taking the exam, because PSM-II is designed for facing real tough application of scrum. Some options are hard to choose. So you need a strong agile community to support your practice. You could consult many experts in some communities regarding the problem sets. They would share their experience guiding you through the process.
Prerequisites Before PSM-II
Wait, if you read here, that doesn’t mean you would successfully pass the exam. In fact, I don’t recommend anyone to take it if you don’t possess some prerequisites.
In the beginning, I recommend anyone who’d like to take the exam should have at least 1-year experience as a scrum master. Because PSM-II is verifying your reactions to real-world situations. If you don’t have any experience but try to take the exam, it’s undoubtedly you would fail it. Additionally, real experience helps you feel the business scenarios when you practice with the given problem sets, which would sharpen your sensitivity to answers.
And then, although it’s optional but I advise you to take Professional Scrum Master Advanced course before taking the exam. In the course, you would get more business questions from other participants, and reflect yourself as you put yourself under their difficulties. Try to understand how to handle your current problems with different mindset shared by others.
Coach’s Murmur
For me, it’s a hero’s journey to keep mastering my agile skill. I wrote down my wish list here at the end of 2023, swearing that I would take PSM-II course in the near future. Yeah I did it and pass the certification. I hope the article could provide you some inspiration to move on with PSM-II.
I also hosted an online episode talking about the same topic, as below.
How to Effectively Pass PSM-II Exam For The First Time? (Resources Given)
Pass the PSM-II exam for the first time!Well, I am not telling you to become a certificates collector along the…youtube.com
Free Online Problem Sets
I hope the problem sets below could effectively prepare for the PSM-II exam. Good luck!
Let Me Help You
Now I provide free, 1–1 online consulting service. If you have any agile related problems or project management issues, please reserve a web call with me. I would answer your questions as possible as I could.
👉 Book now: https://calendly.com/uragilecoach/consulting
🎁 Anyone who reserves for the web call would be rewarded with a secret gift that helps you grow on project management skills.
If you acknowledge the value I share with you, do as below:
1. 👏 the article
2. subscribe me for latest contents
3. follow me on other platforms for further information
- IG: @ur_agile_coach
- Podcast: Agile Rocket
- Youtube: Your Agile Coach
- LinkedIn: Tsung-Hsiang Wu
- Twitter: @ur_agile_coach