Passes PSM1 with 93.8% First Attempt (Experience Share + Tips)

Hello everyone,

I passed the PSM 1 exam on my first attempt and got 97%.
Many thanks for everyone the shared tips, were definitely success factors to pass the exam.

My recommended studying plan:

1. Read Scrum Guide at least 7 -8 Times until you get bored with it

2. Scrum Master Certification Mock Exams 800 Set of Questions on Udemy by Ludovic Larry;

3. Open Assessment on Scrum.org and REVIEW MISTAKES;

4. Open Assessment on http://mlapshin.com/index.php/psm-quiz/ and REVIEW MISTAKES; This is Good one

5.  Open Assessment on https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/quizzes/ 

6. One more suggestion DO NOT go with  www.volkerdon.com ; Although I purchased the 15$ Assessment set, I did not find it helpful and got confused after taking the Volkerdon assessment. There are many who suggest Volkerdon, but I clearly do not recommend Volkerdon. 

This is waste of time and money. Just go with Scrum Guide many time as you can and Udemy courses and Exams are enough to crack PSM-1 with good marks.

 I did the above 3 times, consider an iterative and incremental approach where knowledge emerges ;)
Good luck!

Practice exams will be the key to this, and the scrum guide of course but questions are asked that will make you think, not difficult at all just not straightforward.
 

I managed to have 20 minutes left over which I used to go over questions numbers I had jotted down as unsure..
Good luck to all future test takers!

Hi All,

I want to thank you all for sharing these useful and informative suggestions to pass PSM1. 

I attempted and cleared the exam with 96.3%. The community is really great for anyone going to appear for the exams.

My suggestions for the study plan would be 

Read and understand Scrum Guide very carefully multiple(2-3) times. 

Attempt Open assessment on Scrum.org multiple times till you get 100% and go through the mistakes.

Read the scrum guide again.

Attempt the assessment on http://mlapshin.com/index.php/psm-quiz/ multiple times and try to get more than 95%. Few of the terms used in this are not updated as per 2020 scrum guide update. Other than that this would be very useful.

Attempt assessment on https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/quizzes/ . 

Study with full focus and repeat the above steps to clear the exams. This is enough. Though the exam is not difficult, its also not very straightforward, but everything is from scrum guide.

Practice is the key, also try to complete all the above assessment within 10-15 minutes before the allocated timebox. Due to this one will not feel pressure and will have time to revise the questions.

All the best to everyone looking to clear the exams!!! :) 

Thanks everyone for this thread. Started two days ago with a technical background and little understanding of SCRUM and passed today (98.8).

I used mainly the Scrum Guide (read it, marked it, read it again, read it again, repeat). Also the Open Assessment (Open and Product Owner Open) until I had at least 6 consecutive 100% runs in each.

I also read everything from the first three competencies (all focus areas) here:
https://www.scrum.org/professional-scrum-competencies (and skimmed trough the others). I believe, a lot of answers were in there (which makes sense as it is from the same plattfom).

Still there were some hard questions, some to which I circled back, using the remaining time to reread and rethink. That may have saved me, because I changed 4 or 5 answers after this. 

Good luck to all and thanks again for all the helpfull hints here.

Hi All,

I have cleared my PSM with 96.3 % on my first attempt. All thanks to this forum for the preparation tips which helped me to crack this exam within a week preparation. 

Here's what I did:

Read Scrum guide 2020 multiple times. Took print out and used highlighter to mark important keywords, glossary etc. Also had quick recap before attempting my final exam. Avoided to read multiple materials as it would only create more confusion.

Done Open assessments for PSM and PSPO multiple times.

Attempted https://mlapshin.com/index.php/scrum-quizzes/ in Learning as well Exam mode until I got 100 % multiple times. Keep in mind that questions here are based on old Scrum guide, so don't try to memorise the answers.

Didn't purchase dump from https://www.volkerdon.com/ .

And most important, time-management during the exam, I tried to attempt all questions within 35 mins and then review all questions specially the flagged ones.

Hope this helps and good luck to all who is preparing for this exam.

Cheers !

Hi,

Passed with 98,8% first attempt.

I really advice to focus only in SCRUM.ORG content,specially the learning path  and the assessments.

Read the Scrum guides,slowly and many times.

For every topic that is relevant go to the forum and see what experienced people think about, but pay attention to read only answers from 2021 and ahead, since the actual Scrum guide was launched in 2020.

I have bought one course in UDEMY that could have made me fail, if I did not knew scrum a little bit,very confusing questions ,some answers that for me are completely wrong. 

This course had advices for the gotchas I could encounter in the real exam(lol), In the real exams there were

no gotchas at all.

My only advice is :Pay attention to the questions,some have more than one answer,exactly like the open assessments, the time is more than enough,I have finished 12 minutes before the time.

Thanks,

Marcello

Thanks Christopher Schmidhofer. Your way of learning helped clarify some things for me. 

I still think the open assessment is great but the questions repeat a lot, so not sure it is enough for me to pass the test with 99% certainty

✅ Passed PSM I with 96.3% on the 21st September 2025 (with just free resources ) 🎉 – My Experience, Tips, and All the Links 

First of all, I would like to thank everyone in this community 🙏. Reading your posts and experiences helped me a lot in preparing for the exam, and now I want to give back with mine.

Today I passed the PSM I on my first attempt with 96.3%.

💡 About the exam

The exam itself is not super difficult, but the questions are very tricky. Many are one-liners, and the options all look correct at first — you must really understand what is being asked.

I finished in about 45 minutes — not because of any issues — I just wanted to be very clear with each answer. The interface was perfect, no problems at all.

💔 A personal note

I also want to share something personal, because maybe it will help someone out there. I’ve been looking for a job for over a year, with no success. It’s been really hard, and I decided that risk-skilling myself was the only way forward.

That’s why I went for the PSM I certification. But honestly, 200 dollars (or 200 euros) is a lot of money for me right now. I couldn’t afford to pay for extra premium test simulators. Even $10 or $15 more felt like too much. So I decided I would prepare only with free resources — and with discipline and focus, I managed to pass with 96.3%.

So for anyone who thinks they need to buy a bunch of courses — you really don’t. You can do this with free material if you put in the work.

📖 My Preparation Path (in the exact order I used things)

1) Scrum Guide (my bible)

https://scrumguides.org/index.html

• First, I read it in English for about two months, then again in Spanish (I’m from Colombia 🇨🇴).
• For non-native speakers: read it in English first. I’m C1, so it was fine, but reading it again in my mother tongue helped me catch nuances because translations matter.
• This is your bible. Memorize it and understand it… but reading alone is not enough. I even hired a private professor to help me (JIRA, how things work, etc.). When I started simulations, I was getting 65–75%. Frustrating. Reading is important, but tests are what make the concepts stick.

2) Mikhail Lapshin — blog + simulator (100% recommended)

Blog: https://mlapshin.com/index.php/blog/scrum-questions/

Learning Mode: https://mlapshin.com/index.php/scrum-quizzes/sm-learning-mode/

Real Mode: https://mlapshin.com/index.php/scrum-quizzes/sm-real-mode/

• The blog explanations are gold.
• I used Learning Mode when I had less time, but focused on Real Mode.
• I started ~70%. By the end I was at 96%, which is exactly what I got on the real exam.
• Important tip: take at least two real tests the day of your exam (I did one from Agilemania and one from Mikhail, both above 95%). That gave me the confidence to go into the real thing calm and focused.

3) Volkerdon — free course, tests, and their glossary

Practice test inside the free course: https://www.volkerdon.com/courses/take/psm1/quizzes/18801224-scrum-team…

Agile Glossary: https://www.volkerdon.com/pages/agile-glossary

• Many people recommend it — I agree.
• I didn’t watch the video courses; I just used the free practice tests. There are four parts: Theory, Team, Events, Artifacts.
• At the beginning I scored 50–65%. It’s okay to make mistakes. Retake them and review the answers (not just the wrong ones — the “right” ones you guessed too). Repetition helped me memorize and, more importantly, understand the “why.”

4) TheScrumMaster practice tests (PSM I & II)

PSM I: https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/quizzes/professional-scrum-master-i-ps…

PSM II: https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/quizzes/professional-scrum-master-ii-p…

• I highly recommend both, even if you’re only taking PSM I.
• PSM II humbled me (~70%), but it sharpened my thinking for PSM I.
• On PSM I I went from 80% → 95% after retakes (and reviewing why).

5) Scrum.org Open Assessments + the official glossary

Scrum Open: https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/test-intro/?quiz=3qg5fac7…

Product Owner Open: https://www.classmarker.com/online-test/start/test-intro/?quiz=r4n5fac7…

Scrum Glossary (official): https://www.scrum.org/Resources/Scrum-Glossary

• These opens are repetitive, but great for grounding in the exact Scrum.org phrasing.
• I scored 100% on the PO open quickly and ~96% on the SM open — that matched my real score.
• (FYI: these opens run on Classmarker; from what I read it’s an official partner platform for Scrum.org. Good to get used to the style.)

6) Agilemania + YouTube

YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUP9cvbywwk&list=PL3e3aKzZIn4ZhqZBoA2qh…

Agilemania tests: https://agilemania.com/resource/assessment/psm-i-practice-assessment

• Honestly, really good. The questions felt ~80% similar in style to the real exam.
• I scored 90% on one, 97.8% on the other (one miss on a Developers question).
• The video is slow — I even listened while sleeping 😅 — weirdly it still helped.

7) Two glossaries (terminology matters!)

Official Scrum.org glossary: https://www.scrum.org/Resources/Scrum-Glossary

Volkerdon agile glossary: https://www.volkerdon.com/pages/agile-glossary

• The official one is fine (short). The Volkerdon one is long but much better for depth. I didn’t read it all, being honest, but if terms confuse you, it’s worth it.
• Terminology can throw you off — e.g., the Cone of Uncertainty really caught me by surprise the first time. I only have ~2 years in project management, so this kind of context helped a lot.

🤖 On AI for studying (not during the exam!)

• I played with Jeff Sutherland’s GPT in ChatGPT. It was too easy for testing, but really good for explanations — great for clarifying concepts you don’t fully get.
• I also asked Google’s AI the same questions in different ways. If the AI doesn’t answer well, tweak the wording or punctuation — seriously, ask it again until the explanation clicks.
• My rule: for every question you think you got right but actually got wrong, ask multiple AIs to explain the concept until you really understand the “why.” Don’t just memorize.

Huge warning about AI in the actual exam:

If they catch you using any AI or external help — even on your phone — they can invalidate your result and ban you from taking the certification again. Believe me, not worth it! Study with AI if you want, but do NOT use it during the exam.

🚀 My Tips (from my experience)

1. Read the Scrum Guide multiple times (in English first; then your native language if that helps).
2. Do lots of simulations and review the answers — both wrong and right (especially the ones you guessed). Aim for 95%+ before booking.
3. Don’t overstudy random stuff. I didn’t read extra books.
4. Nexus / scaling note: in my PSM I there were no questions about Nexus, Scrum of Scrums, or scaling Scrum. You can learn it later, but I didn’t need it for PSM I.
5. Focus on understanding, not just memorization. Always ask “why”: Sprint Goal fixed, scope flexible; Developers own the Sprint Backlog; DoD makes the Increment transparent; PO orders the Product Backlog; SM ensures transparency & coaching.
6. Do not use AI in the exam. It’s proctored. If they find anything suspicious (even your phone), you risk losing your exam and your chance to take it again. Not worth it.

🎯 Final Thoughts

I only prepared seriously for 12 days before the exam — and I still passed with 96.3%. If you’re focused and strategic, you can absolutely do it on your first attempt.

You don’t need to be a genius or read a pile of books. Be consistent, use the resources above, review your answers, and keep asking “why” until the concepts are clear. You’ve got this 💪

Best of luck to everyone preparing!