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I have passed PSM I (Professional Scrum Master I) with score 96.3%, and PSPO I (Professional Scrum Product Owner I) with a score 93.8% on the same day (27-Aug-2020). In this blog, I'm sharing my experience on how you can achieve both certifications.

Training courses

The following is a list of courses that I used for preparing for the exams:

Course / Link	Certification	PROS	Note
Agile Scrum Mastery: Full Project Simulation + Certification	PSM I	Uses several tools for demonstration including free & paid. Practical demos was very important for people new to Scrum.	Finished all course.
Scrum Master Certification Preparation & 240+ Prep Questions	PSM I	Geared more towards the exam providing detailed coverage of various topics. Also, conduct webinars for students to answer their questions as well.	Only solved extra exams in the course.
Scrum Product Owner Certification Prep & 160+ Prep Questions	PSPO I	Geared towards the exam providing detailed coverage of various topics. Also, conduct webinars for students to answer their questions as well.	Finished all course.

* For PMP holders: I reported PDUs for the above 2 completed courses in PMI.org and they got approved.

Study material

The following are list of materials that I used for preparing for the exams:

Material	PSM I	PSPO I	Note
Agile manifesto & principles	Mandatory	Mandatory	It is always good to know some history that lays the foundation.
The scrum guide	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official recommendation (Read minimum three times) - most of exam is from this reference.
Scrum Glossary	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official recommendation
The Scrum Framework Poster	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official downloadable poster, you might take some notes on it.
Scrum Values Poster	Mandatory	Mandatory	Official downloadable poster, you might get a question or two for the values.
Burn down chart	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam have chart questions
Burn up chart	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam have chart questions
What is the Cumulative Flow Diagram and How can I make use of it in my Backlog?	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam have chart questions
Cone of Uncertainty	Mandatory	Mandatory	Exam may have question about it and not included in Scrum guide
Technical Debt	Mandatory	Mandatory	Included in Scrum Glossary, and you may have question about it
Evidence-Based Management Guide	Not required	Mandatory	Exam usually contains questions for Key Value Areas. read once and repear the section for KVA, KVMs as very important.
15 things a Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) actually does	Optional	Mandatory	Good to have a list of the summarized PO role.
The Professional Scrum Competencies	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
Suggested Reading for Professional Scrum Master™	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
Scrum Master Learning Path	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
What is Scrum?	Optional	Optional	Official recommendation
Nexus Guide	Nice to read	Nice to read	The exam has many questions about scaling Scrum or multiple teams working on the same product. You will learn from practice as Nexus is not covered in any of the exams, but it is good to know how in such cases the product is handled.
Scrum - A Pocket Guide - 2nd edition	Nice to have	Nice to have	For book lovers, this was recommended in several posts.
Maximizing Scrum	Nice to read	Nice to read	Very good read
A 7-Step Agenda for Effective Retrospectives	Nice to read	Nice to read	Practical retrospective meeting
Scrum et al.	Not required	Not required	Session by Ken Schwaber back to year 2007 still good to listen from the founders. Recommended if you need to get convinced by Scrum.
Agile and the Seven Deadly Sins of Project Management \| Mike Cohn \| Better Software West	Not required	Not required	Session by Mike Cohn back to year 2011 still good to listen for project managers. Recommended if you need to get convinced by Scrum.

Practice Exam questions

Practice makes perfect: The courses have around 3 exams each, you must solve them (You will learn a lot from the explanations) and also below are free online exams.

Exam / Link	Notes
Scrum Open	Official Scrum Master open assessment. You can repeat as many as you want. Simpler than real exam so recommended to score near 100% before attempting the exam.
Product Owner open	Official Product Owner open assessment. You can repeat as many as you want. Simpler than real exam so recommended to score near 100% before attempting the exam.
Mikhail Lapshin - Scrum Quizzes	Similar to the real exam. Contains exams for both SM and PO. Also, you should not miss his blog link for scrum questions, they are well explained and most probably you will find similar questions in the real assessment.

Study Plan

I'm sharing with my MS project study plan to achieve both certifications after 3 weeks of study (Study time 20 hours / week ). If you don't have MS project, here is a link for Excel sheet having the same information. You can use it as a base for your study schedule.

Exam Registration

Free register to scrum.org
I found a discount coupon reported by another candidate when they took paid courses, but I could not find a free coupon, and I needed to pay full amount.
Navigate to certification -> Professional Scrum Master -> PSM I Assessment -> Buy (150$)
Navigate to certification -> Professional Scrum Product Owner -> PSPO I Assessment -> Buy (200$).
Enter billing info (Payment accepted using: Paybal, VISA, MC, AMEX).
Assessment password emailed to you within 1 business day (I got it instantly).

Exam Tips

Exam can be scheduled anytime, I prefer to have during vacation or before work.
Pick a quiet time to test.
Disable notification from your PC (Windows Focus Assist).
Silent Smartphone, no vibration, screen facing down.
Avoid conducting the test from your work network as advised by Scrum and use your home network.
Fully charged laptop not PC & connected to an electrical outlet.
Test your internet connection & have a backup connection up & running for an easy switch (Mobile Hotspot and set as a metered connection on your laptop).
Use same browser you used in open assessment (I used Firefox for both open assessment and actual assessment).
Have Scrum guide, Scrum glossary, Sprint framework poster, Scrum values opened for quick reference, but use it as last resort as no time will be available in the exam.
Have google translate opened.
Have the PSMI & PSPOI tracking sheet printed per exam attempt.
Take care of keywords & word tricks in the exam:

A phrase with “Not” -> Read carefully, in rare cases you might need to solve the question and invert the solution.
A question asking about false i.e. “Which is false?” -> Read carefully.
A phrase with “The best”.
A phrase with “Only”.
A phrase with “Authority”.
A choice of “All of the above”.
Recommended vs required.
Responsible / Accountable vs influence.
Must / should vs could.
Attend vs participate.
Can, may.
A phrase with “Allowed”

References

Hope this helps someone out there.

Techie Architect

How to pass PSM I & PSPO I in one day?