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PSM 1 study plan: learn the Scrum Guide cold

By the SaveMyCert Editorial TeamPublished Updated

A good PSM 1 study plan has four phases: read the Scrum Guide closely until you can explain every part of it, practise topic by topic against it, learn the traps the questions set, then rehearse under time with full-length mocks until you clear the pass mark with margin. The Scrum Guide is the source of truth throughout. Scrum.org says a PSM I holder has proven they understand Scrum as the Scrum Guide describes it, so when a book, a course or your own workplace says something different, the Guide’s answer is the one that scores.

Know what kind of exam this is

PSM I tests whether you know Scrum exactly as the Scrum Guide defines it and can apply that to situations a Scrum Team meets. Its questions come from three focus areas in Scrum.org’s Professional Scrum Competencies: understanding and applying the Scrum Framework, developing people and teams, and managing products with agility. Questions are multiple choice, multiple answer or true/false.

Two things shape how you should prepare. The clock is tight and the pass mark is high (both are in the facts above), so there is no time to look things up and little room for half-known topics; you need to recognise the answer on first reading. And the results tell you how you did per competency, not which questions you got wrong, so your own practice has to do the diagnostic work before you sit it.

Phase 1 — Read the Scrum Guide properly (the first week)

Start with the Scrum Guide itself, before any course notes or summaries. The current edition is the November 2020 version, published free at scrumguides.org. It is short, so read it once straight through, then again slowly, one section at a time, writing down what each element is for as well as what it is.

Pay attention to the exact words, because the exam does. The Guide talks about accountabilities rather than roles, calls the people who build the Increment Developers, describes the Scrum Team as self-managing and cross-functional, gives each artifact a commitment (the Product Goal, the Sprint Goal and the Definition of Done), and treats event timeboxes as maximums. Older material written for earlier editions uses different terms, so check the edition of anything else you read.

Our revision notes follow the Guide section by section and add the reasoning behind each rule. Use them alongside the Guide, not instead of it.

Phase 2 — Practise topic by topic

After each section of the Guide, answer practice questions on that topic straight away, and read the explanation for every option, including the ones you rejected. In PSM I the wrong options are often things real teams do, and understanding why the Guide does not support them is most of the work.

Scrum.org’s free Scrum Open practice assessment is a useful checkpoint. Scrum.org describes its open assessments as study tools that are easier than the certification tests, so treat a good Scrum Open result as a minimum, not as proof you are ready. Cover each focus area in turn:

  • Understanding and applying the Scrum Framework: empiricism (transparency, inspection, adaptation), the Scrum Values, the three accountabilities, the five events, the three artifacts and their commitments, and what Done means.
  • Developing people and teams: what self-management means in practice, and how a Scrum Master facilitates and coaches rather than directs or assigns work.
  • Managing products with agility: how the Product Owner maximises value, works with stakeholders and customers, and orders the Product Backlog, and how forecasting and release decisions rest on what has actually been delivered.

Phase 3 — Learn the traps (a few days)

Go back over your incorrect answers and sort them by why you missed them. Most PSM I misses come from a small set of patterns, and once you can name the pattern in a question you stop falling for it.

  • Treating a common practice as part of Scrum. The Guide does not mention story points, velocity, user stories or a “Sprint 0”, and it names burn-down charts only as one optional way to forecast progress. Teams may use any of them, but an answer that makes one mandatory is wrong.
  • Giving a decision to the wrong person. The Developers decide how to turn Product Backlog items into an Increment and own the Sprint Backlog; the Product Owner orders the Product Backlog; only the Product Owner can cancel a Sprint. The Scrum Master does not assign work or make these calls for the team.
  • Answering from your workplace. If your organisation runs the Daily Scrum as a status report to a manager, or treats the Sprint Review as a sign-off meeting, the exam’s answer will differ from your experience. The Daily Scrum is for the Developers, and the Sprint Review is a working session, not a gate to releasing.
  • Missing the multi-team rules. Several Scrum Teams working on one product share the same Product Goal, Product Backlog and Product Owner, and must define and follow the same Definition of Done.
  • Picking the most active option. When a question asks what the Scrum Master should do, the best answer usually helps the team see and solve the problem itself, rather than the Scrum Master solving it for them.

Phase 4 — Rehearse under time, then book

Sit full-length timed mocks and treat them like the real thing: no notes, no Guide open, one sitting. The aim is speed as much as accuracy. If you are running short of time, you are still reasoning out answers you should simply recognise, which means going back to the Guide on those topics.

Between mocks, review every incorrect answer by focus area and reread the matching part of the Guide. The day before, our cheat sheet gives a one-page pass over the accountabilities, events, artifacts and commitments. There is no deadline pressure from Scrum.org: a PSM I password does not expire and is valid for one attempt, so book when your results say you are ready, not when a date arrives.

Signals you are ready

Sit the exam when all of these are true:

  • Your last few full-length timed mocks clear the pass mark with margin, on questions you had not seen before.
  • You finish mocks inside the time limit without rushing the final questions.
  • No focus area trails the others in your results.
  • You can say, for any event or artifact, its purpose, who is accountable for it and what the Guide does not require of it.
  • You score very highly on Scrum Open, consistently and quickly.
Start studying for PSM I — free
Revision notes, explained practice questions and timed mock exams.

Plan your prep

Questions, answered

It depends on how well you already know Scrum as the Scrum Guide describes it. People who use Scrum at work often need a few weeks, much of it spent unlearning local habits that differ from the Guide. Newcomers need longer. Decide when to book from your timed mock results rather than a fixed number of weeks.

Sources

Exam facts in this guide come from the vendor's published exam guide. Vendors revise these — check the source for the current version before you book.

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