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Question? (PSM-II, Essay-Part)

Last post 08:33 am February 25, 2014 by Olivier Ledru
4 replies
10:01 am February 5, 2014


A) Introduction: I have recently passed PSM-I and I want to work on PSM-II. I know that it is difficult and needs good prepration. I found following information :

- Passing score: 85%
- Time limit: 120 minutes
- Format: Multiple Choice and essay
- Essay questions are graded by a real person, so you will not receive your score right away.**

B) I Have following quiestions:

Q1) how many multiple questions are expected?
Q2) how many points (%) maximally could be achived with multiple choice question part?
Q3) how many essay - questions are expected?
Q4) Is there any sample essay-question?
Q5) could you give me a sample correct answer to the essay - question (Q4)?

Thanks,
Mehdi


03:42 am February 6, 2014

Hi Mehdi,
I think there are around 20 multi-choice and 10 short answer.
I am not sure of the marking proportion.

You are already answering sample questions with your involvement in the forums!
I don't understand there to be any samples, as the PSM II is intending for you to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the role of the Scrum Master. You definitely need practical experience of working with Scrum in an organisation.

It is a very busy 2 hours, and you need to be very focussed in that time - it felt like 10 minutes.

I hope that helps
Regards
Simon


06:00 am February 6, 2014

Here is a recent forum question that is broadly similar, as far as I can recall, to the sort of thing that can be asked in PSM II:

https://www.scrum.org/Forums/aft/656

In summary here it is and the answer I chose to give. The length of my response is more or less appropriate, depending upon how quickly you can type. You won't have time to do much more. Words have to be chosen carefully:

Q) What can/must the Scrum Master do, when the Product Owner is not collaborative? e.g. the PO is always busy and has no time to adjust or review the Product Backlog. Teaching him of Scrum rules has no result. Is it possible that the development team members elect a new/another PO? May a development team member be elected as a new PO?

A) The Product Owner determines product value and is responsible for return on investment. The PO may genuinely own the product in some cases, and without a co-operative PO it can be argued that there is no product at all. Unfortunately, a team is no more able to elect a new PO than it can elect a new product.

<...> it falls to the Scrum Master to deal with the impediment presented by an uncooperative Product Owner. The Scrum Master has a wider duty to organizational stakeholders. As such, the Scrum Master should inform those stakeholders of the concerns, and of the risks presented by inadequate product ownership. The focus should be on the problems caused to date and which are likely to result in the future...not on the failings of the PO as a person. It should then be left to those stakeholders to make the decision whether or not to replace the PO. The Scrum Master would be wise to keep communication channels to the stakeholders open regardless of the outcome.


09:55 am February 6, 2014

@Simon & Ian: Thanks.

To sum up:
- Scrum Guide, ...
- PSM I and multiple choice questions
- Practical experience as SM
- Following and participating in Scrum forums discussions
- Reading books, papers...
- Workshops, presentations (webinars),....
- Summarizing the main idea in few sentences
- Stenotyping ;-)


08:33 am February 25, 2014

+ Ken Schwaber & Jeff Sutherland blogs ;-)


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