The entry-level Scrum Master assessment: format, scoring and how to prepare

Format and scoring

The assessment has 80 questions and a 60-minute time limit, about 45 seconds a question. The passing score is 85 percent: 68 correct answers, or no more than twelve misses. That margin is narrow, so careful reading matters more here than on most exams.

It is taken online, and no course is required before you sit it. Passing it is the only way to earn the certification, which does not expire.

• Multiple choice: one correct option.
• Multiple answer: more than one correct option, and the question tells you how many to choose.
• True/false: judge a single statement.

What it measures

Every question is measured against the Scrum Guide, the short document by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland that defines Scrum. The current edition is dated November 2020. When your workplace does something differently, the answer the Guide supports is still the one that scores.

The assessment page groups its content into three focus areas: understanding and applying the Scrum framework, developing people and teams, and managing products with agility. It does not publish how many questions come from each.

Buying an attempt

Each attempt costs 200 US dollars at the time of writing. You receive a password that does not expire but covers exactly one attempt, and the attempt counts as used once you start it, whether you finish or not. Prices and terms can change, so confirm them on the assessment page before you buy.

Buy when you can score well above 85 percent on full-length practice under a 60-minute clock, not when you first feel familiar with the material.

A study plan that works

Read the whole Scrum Guide once, end to end; it is free and takes under an hour. Then study it part by part: empiricism and the values, the Scrum Team and its three accountabilities, the five events, and the three artifacts with their commitments. Learn the 2020 vocabulary, because older terms such as roles and the Development Team are where outdated knowledge costs marks.

Practise in the real formats under time pressure, and for every question you miss, work out which sentence of the Guide decides it. Most wrong options describe a common practice presented as a rule, or a sensible action taken by the wrong person.

About the names used here

Professional Scrum Master, PSM and Scrum.org are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Advanced Development Methods, Inc., d/b/a Scrum.org. SkyLock Media is not affiliated with Advanced Development Methods d/b/a Scrum.org (ADM), and this guide does not constitute an endorsement of any product, service or point of view by ADM. Assessment details change: check the assessment page itself before you buy an attempt.