The PSM II Certification is available to anyone who wishes to demonstrate his or her ability to apply the Scrum framework to solving advanced, complex problems in the real world. The PSM II Certification is for advanced Scrum practitioners; hence the difficulty of the exam will also be advanced. As this is an advanced course, it is expected that candidates should have prior knowledge of the Scrum framework. Refresh your knowledge of PSM I, which benefits your preparation for PSM II.
The Professional Scrum Master II exam is not difficult if you have good working experience
- The situations are well stated/well explained and not confusing.
- You have several clear proposed answers without much ambiguity (some are clear no, others clear yes, and some need you to think a little bit).
- You have sufficient time to answer all the questions (90 minutes for 30 questions which is way much more than the PSM I).
- As long as you know the rules to abide by when going through the questions, you should be fine.
In a nutshell, training for PSM II is the systematization of everything that you’ve already faced in your day-to-day scrum master routine if:
- You have 2+ years working as a scrum master.
- You have experience working with conflicts.
- You’re experienced in facilitating agile events and meetings.
- You can explain how Agile principles and Scrum Values are working out in real life.
PSM II Focus Areas
- Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework (Empiricism, Scrum Values, Scrum Team, Scrum Events, Scrum Artifacts, Done)
- Developing People and Teams (Self-Managing Teams, Facilitation, Leadership Styles, Coaching, and Mentoring)
- Managing Products with Agility (Product Backlog Management, Stakeholders, and Customers)
- Developing and Delivering Products Professionally (Managing Technical Risk)
- Evolving the Agile Organization (Organizational Design and Culture)
PSM II Exam Details
- Fee: $250 USD
- Passing score: 85%
- Time limit: 90 minutes
- Number of Questions: 30 (partial credit provided on some questions)
- Difficulty: Advanced
- Format: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, and True/False
- Language: English only
- Renewal: Not Required
PSM II Certification Exam Tips
- Go through the Open Assessments of Scrum.org: Scrum Open, Product Owner Open, Nexus Open, Scrum with Kanban Open, Agile Leadership Open, and even Developer Open.
- Read 8 Stances of a Scrum Master, Scrum Master Anti-Patterns, and Books suggested by Scrum.org.
- Understand the topic Coaching & Facilitation, Scrum Values: Good Coach vs Bad Coach, how to bring team towards the solution.
- Read the Scrum Guide and the Nexus Guide thoroughly.
Review these tips again before the assessment
- Make sure you watch the clock, the time passes by faster than when doing mock tests. Do not waste time! You don’t have it.
- Try to mark for review ONLY questions that you want to revisit. Because of the time constraint, I do not think it is realistic to review more than 2–3 questions. So be careful what you mark.
- Be rested and fresh. A good night’s sleep — so make sure you are alert and do not feel tired when taking the assessment.
- Rely on your knowledge. Questions more often describe real-life situations. Something happens, what do you as a Scrum Master recommend? What action do you take?
- There are fewer ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ answers and more ‘better’ or ‘less optimal’ answers. Quick note: it does still pay to eliminate some obviously wrong answers first. The catch with the PSM II is that they will be less obvious than in the PSM I. There are often answers that sound plausible, but have something “off” about them. For example: mixing up the sprint backlog for the product backlog, calling the Daily Scrum a ‘standup’, etc. Read every word carefully!
- Read the questions out loud or as slowly as possible. Make sure you do not miss any words. Pay attention to the wording (for example the difference between may / can). While most of the questions were short, there were a few that were quite long.
- Read all the answers. Even if you think you have got it, read all the answers, do not select the first one or the ones you think are right. If unsure, try figuring out the correct answer but exclude the most unlikely ones.
Blogs and Articles
- There is value in the Scrum values.
- How to kickstart a great Scrum Team?
- The 10 commandments of egoless programming.
- Scrum from the trenches – the Sprint Goal.
- Liberating Structures: Unleash and Involve Everyone.
- 14 stances of highly effective Product Owners.
- The evolution of the Agile Manager.
- The Scrum Master as the change agent.
- 17 Common Scrum Myths.
- Scum glossary
PSM II Practice Exam (240 Questions) Click Here for UDEMY or TechAgilist Paid Membership.
Disclaimer: Professional Scrum™, Professional Scrum Master, PSM, PSM I, Professional Scrum Product Owner, PSPO, PSPO I, Scrum Open, etc. is the protected brand of Scrum.org. Our content and practice exams are neither endorsed by nor affiliated with Scrum.org. All the content related to Scrum Guide is taken from scrumguides.org and is under the Attribution ShareAlike license of Creative Commons. Further information is accessible at https:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode and also described in summary form at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.