SPS Certification – Important Tips and Tricks

SPS Certification – Scaled Professional Scrum™ (SPS) with Nexus™ is one of the most popular Agile certifications provided by Scrum.org. Nexus builds upon traditional Scrum by expanding it to handle more complex organizational needs while keeping the basic Scrum structure intact and not introducing anything fancy, which makes it very popular among growing organizations. It helps professionals to gain an understanding of how to scale Scrum using the Nexus Framework and launch structure, staff, and manage a large Agile project using Scrum.

SPS Certification

SPS certification requires that a student demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of Scrum through a rigorous assessment. There are no prerequisites to attempting this certification, but it is highly recommended to attend Professional Scrum Foundation, Professional Scrum Master, or Professional Scrum Product Owner training in order to grasp concepts faster.

SPS Practice Exam – Click Here

Also, practice Scrum Master and Product Owner practice exams, these will help you to brush your Scrum knowledge and help in answering Nexus questions.

Pros:

• Questions are really high quality, unlike some other exams where, for example, questions don’t make real sense or don’t have any completely correct answers to choose from.
• It’s not as commercial as some other certifications: you don’t have to take accredited courses, and self-study is accepted. Overall, it can be one of the least expensive certifications you can aim for -if the cost is an important factor for you.
• You learn something really valuable when you try to pass this exam, unlike some other certifications that only force you to memorize a large bunch of unrelated topics.

Cons:

• It’s hard to pass; 85% passing score is really high.
• There’s no single resource that covers 100% of the things you need to know for the exam. So, you’ll have to study many books, and still, you won’t be sure if you know everything.
• There are not many e-Learning courses dedicated to this exam.

SPS Subject Areas

Five subject areas are contained in the syllabus. Therefore each subject area covers a specific topic. Let’s have a look at the Exam Objectives for this Certification–

Application of Nexus: Apply Nexus to complex situations and large software development efforts.

Nexus Framework: Rules, Roles, Events, and Artifacts of Nexus, the Exoskeleton of Scaled Scrum.

Scaling Framework: Scaling Scrum effectively requires a firm understanding of the Scrum Framework and how it is founded on empirical theory. This includes an understanding of the scrum principles, values, and a focus on technical excellence.

Key Elements of Nexus

Nexus Roles: Nexus Integration Team, Product Owner in Nexus Integration Team (PO) & Scrum Master in Nexus Integration Team (SM), Nexus Integration Team Members

Nexus Events: Refinement, Nexus Sprint Planning, Nexus Sprint Goal, Nexus Daily Scrum, Nexus Sprint Review & Nexus Sprint Retrospective
Artifacts: Product Backlog (PB), Nexus Sprint Backlog (SB) & Integrated Increment
Artifact Transparency: Definition of Done (DoD)

• Nexus’s key focus is to solve the primary source of issues and problems which is dependencies when scaling to multiple Scrum Teams.
• The Nexus Integration Team is a role, performed by people from multiple Scrum Teams under Nexus Framework. This is not a Scrum of Scrum.
• The Nexus Integration Team behaves as another Scrum Team within the Nexus.
• Integration is another key focus area of Nexus & while Nexus Integration Team is responsible for Integration it does not mean that it has to perform integration itself.
• The best way to achieve Integration resulting in a Done Increment is by tool & infrastructure that supports Continuous Integration, Deployment, and Delivery.
• The work of the Nexus Integration Team requires prodigious amounts of teaching, coaching, and patience.

SPS Certification Format

• Number of questions: 40
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Type of questions: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, and True/False
• Passing Score: 85% or Greater
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Open book: yes
• Price: $250
• Prerequisite: none
• Needs renewal: no

How to prepare for SPS Certification

• Read and thoroughly understand/internalize the Nexus Guide. This is the primary source of all answers for the assessment.
• Take the Open assessment numerous times. Get to where you can take it 3 times in a row and score 100% each time, in about 10 minutes or less each time. Take Scrum Open and Product Owner Open assessments, these will help you to brush your scrum knowledge.
• For each question that you miss, read the feedback given by the assessment on that question. Then, look in the Nexus Guide for specific language OR just Scrum principles and concepts that support the correct answer. Analyze what makes all of the other (wrong) answers seem inferior.
• If you took a class (which is quite helpful but not required), review the slides, workbooks, notes, etc from that course.
• Don’t spend too long on each question. If unsure of an answer, note down the question number and move on. Come back to the hard questions at the end and use your time to think them over.
• Discuss the questions you answered wrongly in the scrum community and forums, for example on the scrum.org forum.  This will make you contact other people that already taken the test and had the same doubts you have.

Purchase SPS Practice Exams (240 Questions – 6 sets of 40 Questions) Click Here for UDEMY or TechAgilist Paid Membership.

Recommended Reading

• Scrum.org
  • PSM I – PSM Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • PSM I – PSM Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSM II – PSM II Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSPO I – PSPO Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • PSPO I – PSPO Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSPO II – PSPO II Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • PSD – PSD Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions
  • SPS – SPS Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions

• Scrum Alliance
  • CSM – CSM Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • CSM – CSM Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions

• PMI
  • PMI-ACP – PMI ACP Practice Exam Real Mode Questions
  • PMI-ACP – PMI ACP Practice Exam Practice Mode Questions

Disclaimer: Scaled Professional Scrum™, SPS™, 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.

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