Doing Professional Scrum Mastery assessment without a taught course

I’d like to do the first Professional Scrum Mastery certification (PSMI) online, and the description states that it’s difficult to pass, and suggests doing a course first. I’ve seen a lot of 2-day courses, but they’re way too expensive to finance myself through.

Is there anyone here who has done the exam/assessment without doing a taught course, and could I pass if I sit and study the suggested reading materials for a week instead? I’ve worked in scrum and run a lot of ceremonies so I feel like I have the basic knowledge and experience, but it’d be embarrassing to fork out over a hundred quid only to fail due to my own arrogance. xD

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I came here for the answers as I too am looking for courses, there is also: https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/scrum-master-track/certified-scrummaster

I have always found with these kinds of courses that the ‘classroom’ sessions followed by the exam are the most successful for me.

I would say that I am going to try and get my work to pay for it though.

I decided to just study really hard. Currently partway through Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work In Half the Time. Then I’m gunna read The Scrum Guide Explained. Then I’m gunna take these practice tests over and over until I score 100% consistently: http://mlapshin.com/index.php/scrum-quizzes/sm-learning-mode/ and https://www.scrum.org/open-assessments

Basically I’m doing the exact same thing I did for my theory driving test. Study really intensely for a few days, take practice tests over and over until I have the perfect score 10 times in a row, then see how it goes.

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Good Luck!!

I look forward to the blog posts and/or videos chronicling this journey!

I meant to also say that I think you would make a really good scrum master, you show the right attributes for someone who is humble, awesome, inclusive and with great EQ!!

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I haven’t done PSM, I did the CSM certification about 10 years ago through Scrum Alliance, which was really useful. But I have to admit, the most useful learning i did was from a book:

It became my go-to reference and also has an accompanying card set which you can get.

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Here @undevelopedbruce, I just stumbled upon this post, did you take the exam yet? If yes, how did it go?

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It’s on my list! xD Your recommendation bumps it up two places though :3

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Yes I did it! I passed, and wrote a blog post about how I prepared for it: https://undevelopedbruce.com/2020/11/29/how-i-studied-for-the-psmi-certification/

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Omg loving the TAU reference, confetti every time you score a measly 50 points :joy::orange_heart:).

Right so I need to hang out at the club more because the first few paragraphs I was like ‘Nooooooo what are you doing, just read the scrum guide that’s all you need!!’ Very glad you passed, indeed, 150 dollars is a lot of munmunz.

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