Completed PSM 1 with 98.8% first attempt

Hi,

I have just passed the exam and I would like to share my thoughts to help the others. Generally, if you are here, on this forum, and you're looking for some pieces of information then congratulations, you are in the right place! :)

What strategy I do recommend to pass the exam:

1. Read Scrum Guide 2-3 times in your main language - just to ensure you understand every concept
2. Read Scrum Guide in English 2-3 times and go back to it many times later - the exam is conducted in English and it's important to know words used in guide as they are many times used in the same way in the questions
3. If you think you understand the Scrum Guide then check your knowledge. Use open assessments for it:
   • Open Assesment from Scrum Org
   • Open Assesment created by Mikhail Lapshin: Learning Mode). Please read the comments about both failed and passed questions. It's very useful - it contains phrases directly from the Scrum Guide
4. Each concept, each idea associated with questions which you did wrong or just guessed during the open assessment needs further learning. Please read the feedback from those questions, please check associated parts of the Scrum Guide. If it's still not clear, please look for some articles online or ask about the concept on this forum.
5. Do steps 3 and 4 until you consequently receive more than 95%
6. Now you should have a good base for the exam. You should understand the Scrum Guide quite well. But please note that only some of the questions during the exam are strictly about the Scrum Guide, some others require interpretation. It may be possible to pass the exam with the base knowledge but in my opinion it requires some further learning/practice. How to do that? Read next three points.
7. Check the Agile Manifesto and read more about the Scrum Values. Think about those ideas/pillars during the exam in questions which require interpretation in some described scenarios. 
8. Every day read this forum and articles on the Scrum.org page
9. I do recommend additional training with Management Plaza. They have several interesting positions. I bought Practice Exams. In this option you'll receive also some useful information about the exam, tips and tricks etc. They also have The Scrum Master Training Manual. I like those exams because they contain some interpretation questions and have clear feedback. They also touch scaled scrum, burndown charts aspects which are omitted by most open assessments but are present on the real exam. I recommend taking all the exams, learn from the guessed or failed questions and take the exams again. I started from about 85% in each exam. When I took them second/third time I had 95-100%.

You don't need to read any books to pass the exam. They may be even a problem if they have some differences/own interpretations of the Scrum Guide. They can be useful later, to expand your knowledge after the exam.

Some other tips for the exam:

1. Read the questions and options carefully, especially if English is not your main language. Do they ask about one item, two items or many items? Is there "NOT" in the question? Please be careful about small differences between should/could or participate/attend etc.
2. If the question is clear and you are 100% sure what's the answer after 5 seconds, then mark the answer and go to the next question. You will use this time in more complicated ones.
3. Don't spend too much time on one question. If you can't find an answer in one minute or you are not sure, mark it and go back to it later. 
4. You probably won't have time to check for the answers on the Internet or in other places. You have 40 seconds for a question. This may be a lot during open assessments but during the exam you read questions and options more carefully and need more time for a question. Just have the Scrum Guide with you just in case but generally time is short and the knowledge should be already in your mind. Otherwise, you may not be able to meet the deadline.