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Passed PSM1 - BUT dissapointed at test platform

Last post 04:07 pm December 11, 2018 by Scrum Support
8 replies
03:06 pm November 2, 2014

Hi Guys,

I am totally new to scrum.org and needed to write this exam for the job I currently have. I put in about 2 days study time ( 6 weeks before the test) and about 2 hours just before writing. Passed with 87.5% and disappointed due to the speed of the test platform.

YES, this COULD have been because of my internet connection, however, I did a few of the open assessments on scrum.org and it took me on average under 8 minutes for these. So my internet speed seemed fine.

However, when I bought and wrote the actual exam, the test platform was seriously slow. I was averaging 2 minutes per question for the first 5-10 questions (and answered them in 20 seconds on average). I then decided to speed up and answer without thinking and going with first answer on instinct (As I was not certain if scrum.org would give me another password based on the speed issue). I could not even go back to my bookmarked questions (only 5 of them) before the time expired.

I am happy to have passed, just disappointed as I believe I could have done much better. Did any of you experience a similar issue? Do scrum.org allow a new password with these issues?

Just to re-iterate, I am happy to have passed on my first attempt, just disappointed that I could have done much better.

Thanks
Ash


03:53 pm November 3, 2014

I just completed it and I failed with an 82.5%, I had skipped 3 questions and bookmarked them, but it was running very slowly and when I went back to the first one I accidentally hit "save and finish" and it immediately told me I didn't pass. I don't know if I would have passed with correct answers on those 3, but it was disappointing that I wasn't given a confirmation option when I "finished" a test where you have to pay $100 to take.


Anonymous
11:53 am November 5, 2014

Hello Glenn,

Thank you for your post. We are sorry to learn that you were disappointed after completing your first attempt at the PSM I assessment. We appreciate your feedback suggestion on adding a confirmation feature to display after the "Save and Finish" button has been clicked. This has been noted for our consideration. Please be aware, however, that we have used several iterations of the assessment, and determined that the current version provides the best user experience.

We'd also recommend that individuals please be careful to note that once the red "Save and Finish" Button (that appears when the 80th question is reached) has been clicked, the session will immediately finish out and be graded (as is stated in the instructions that are provided at the start of the assessment session).

We thank you again for your feedback Glenn, and also congratulate you on subsequently passing the PSM I assessment and earning your PSM I certification!

For any issues or concerns regarding our assessments, please don't hesitate to contact us directly at support@scrum.org, and we will be more than happy to address them.

Thanks!


02:31 am December 27, 2015


Posted By Scrum Support on 05 Nov 2014 11:53 AM
Hello Glenn,

Thank you for your post. We are sorry to learn that you were disappointed after completing your first attempt at the PSM I assessment. We appreciate your feedback suggestion on adding a confirmation feature to display after the "Save and Finish" button has been clicked. This has been noted for our consideration. Please be aware, however, that we have used several iterations of the assessment, and determined that the current version provides the best user experience.

We'd also recommend that individuals please be careful to note that once the red "Save and Finish" Button (that appears when the 80th question is reached) has been clicked, the session will immediately finish out and be graded (as is stated in the instructions that are provided at the start of the assessment session).

We thank you again for your feedback Glenn, and also congratulate you on subsequently passing the PSM I assessment and earning your PSM I certification!

For any issues or concerns regarding our assessments, please don't hesitate to contact us directly at support@scrum.org, and we will be more than happy to address them.

Thanks!



I disagree with your conclusion that your exam provides the best user experience. That's your opinion only. I have three issues with it:

1. It's slow.
2. You do not have a confirmation after pressing save and finish.
3. The default text is way too small. I had to keep pinching and zooming on my MacBook Pro every question. And the question was too low on the page. Bad question layout.

Therefore, I think the exam overall is a poor experience and these issues, once addressed, would improve it. No, you should not add settings to increae the font size in the beginning of the test for a number of reasons. To focus on one, your font sizes should be big enough to offer the most utility to the widest number of people.


Anonymous
12:25 pm December 28, 2015

Hello Ryan,

Congratulations on your achievement in passing the PSM I assessment, however we are sorry that you were disappointed with some of the user experience provided by the test platform.

We do sincerely appreciate your feedback, as well as all user input provided to us. We will continue to carefully take all feedback into account as we consider future updates to further improve our assessment experience.

Congrats again, Ryan! Enjoy your day.


04:38 pm April 26, 2018

I am not writing this because I failed my first try but because it is the truth that I wanted to share. I totally agree with Ryan Vetter on each point he said because it is exactly what I faced yesterday taking my exam after I invested the money and time plus I was the only person using a high-speed internet connection but when I took the open assessment was totally different speed. I got 83.8%  due to all the points below and frustration with speed and losing time to adjust screen. 

1. It's slow. 

2. You do not have a confirmation after pressing save and finish. 

3. The default text is way too small. I had to keep pinching and zooming on my laptop every question. And the question was too low on the page. Bad question layout.

Therefore, I think the exam overall is a poor experience and these issues once addressed, would improve it. No, you should not add settings to increase the font size in the beginning of the test for a number of reasons. To focus on one, your font sizes should be big enough to offer the most utility to the widest number of people.


10:17 am August 11, 2018

Hi,

I passed the exam on first try, however, I couldn't agree more with the users complaining about the speed (which was awful)- in average It took me 20 seconds to answer each question and the rest I had to wait for the next question to show up, I didn't have enough time to review my marked questions and I was stressed out because of this problem!!!  There is also a very long repetitive explanation before each question which is distracting and as others mentioned the font size is too small.  

Thanks,

 


10:27 pm December 10, 2018

It's really impressive that you didn't solve the problems in four years.

I was about to take the test but now I am really reconsidering it.

Please, respect you customers, fix these things!


04:07 pm December 11, 2018

Hello Jemerson,

Our teams have been hard at work making improvements to our assessment platform over the years. Some of the enhancements we've made this past October include:

  • faster loading times between questions
  • a "Confirm Finish" button to prevent users from accidentally submitting their assessment before they are ready
  • the ability to see the full text for any question which has already been answered
  • a more consistent user experience between our free practice Open Assessments and Professional Scrum assessments for certification

Before an assessment can be started, the following instructions are displayed:

You will be allowed to re-visit any question until the time limit expires.

Please write down the ID or number of any question that you wish to revisit.

To view a list of previously visited questions click on the "Display previously viewed questions" link that appears below the available answers.

The bookmarking functionality has been replaced by the ability to view the full question text, which allows you to navigate directly to any question which has previously been answered. If you would like to flag specific questions, we kindly recommend that you make a separate note of the question number so you can quickly return to it when you are ready to review your answers.

We're also in the middle of working on more granular focus areas instead of the broader subject areas, so people can better hone their studies in the areas where their score was lowest.

I hope we were able to address your inquiry. Thank you again, and enjoy your day.


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