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Written 13th June 2022 by JC (articleFR translated September 2024)
The PSM III, the top level of Scrum.org’s PSM certifications! 🏅 One certification to rule them all! 🤣An exam from hell to obtain a certification that is so gratifying and still rare in the world. It is even said, in the depths of hell, that it is one of the most difficult certifications – if not THE certification – Agile on the market to obtain. 😈And I can tell you that the legend was true! It is really difficult to obtain and many of us have broken our teeth doing it! 😩For my part, didn’t achieve it until my second attempt, with a score of 93.5%, and after several months of hard work.
When you’ve got it, after having struggled so much, you’re really proud of yourself! 😉So, I’m giving you here all my preparation tips 💡 to improve your chances!
It should be noted that there are too few of us in the world who have obtained the PSM III. So, I might as well tell you that it can make a big difference on the CV, when you are applying for a position of Scrum Master or Agile Coach. It also makes a difference with customers who are familiar with Scrum.org certifications. Your Scrum expertise is immediately recognized, and this helps build confidence. While the difference between PSM I and PSM II is quite light, PSM II and PSM III are worlds apart 🌓 And, beyond the certification itself, which is only a culmination, the most interesting thing is the long learning journey you will live! 🧭This path will certainly take you months, just like me, to learn to structure your thinking differently, to explore various subjects and situations…
It’s really a great learning 🎓experience Of course, the $500 passing price can put you off, but when compared to the price of a 1500 € / 2000 € training, I tell myself that it’s worth it, even if I fail the exam once or twice.
Guess where to start! Yes, yes, look closely! 🤔
Read the Scrum Guide, of course! But here, you’re really going to have to read it, reread it dozens of times, soak up every sentence, every word. Absolutely everything is written in it… or almost, because we will have to learn to read between the lines. Every word is extremely important and really carefully chosen. 🤓You will have to understand, as a priority, the mechanism of empiricism and the values of Scrum. What is mainly expected of you is to be able to explain how a situation has an impact on empiricism and on the 5 values of Scrum and how they are useful in resolving this situation.
So many types of questions you can practice on! Get into the habit, for each situation, of explaining the impacts on empiricism and on Scrum values, as well as the possible consequences on the product, on trust, etc. You need to know that every element of Scrum serve empiricism (responsibilities, events, artifacts and their commitments…) and that any situation can be dealt with by Scrum framework, empiricism and the 5 values of Scrum (and also common sense). You will also be asked what you plan to do, as a Scrum Master, in these situations. Read the 6 postures of the Scrum Master and which ones to use at the right time. 👍
Also remember that a Scrum Team is self-managed and cross-functional. Some questions will test how you react as a Scrum Master to a tricky situation. And even with a self-managed team, there are certain situations where you should intervene to preserve the Scrum framework and the effectiveness of the team. Otherwise, apart from that, as long as situations can be handled by the team, the Scrum Master does not intervene. 🥷Then, understand the responsibilities (accountabilities) of each person in the Scrum Team. Learn by heart the objectives of the events: what to do there, what to come out with… Also learn about artifacts and their commitments: how to make them transparent, what is their use in Scrum…
You’ll also have to change your vocabulary, if you haven’t already, to use the true terminology of the Scrum Guide: event (and not ceremonies or rituals), refinement (and not grooming), daily scrum (and not stand-up), sprint review (and not demo), etc. If events are not called a ritual or a ceremony, it’s for good reason. 😊Learn to differentiate between what is considered a Scrum practice and an additional practice (complementary practices like estimates, board, user story, etc.).
Finally, also check out Scrum.org’s Nexus Guide and Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams, which will help you support some of the questions. 📖To prepare, you can go back to your questions from PSM 1 and PSM 2 and learn how to answer them on your own, without the Multiple Choice.
I also advise you, if you have the opportunity, to talk to a PST about his experience.
Be careful, the PSM III is an extremely rigorous exam! 🤯Also, the readings and videos recommended in the PSM II preparation articleFR may include inaccuracies, Scrum adaptations and incorrect terminology on elements of the Scrum Guide. These materials are sufficient for a PSM II preparation, but not enough for the PSM III. I recommend 3 readings to help you:
Honestly, once again, beware of books other than the ones I have quoted to you to prepare you for PSM III. 🙄I also invite you to read the articles and posts of Scrum.org (and only them).
I also advise you to follow the podcast on Youtube: Your Daily Scrum by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller 👍That’s all! Focus on the readings I recommended here! (you noticed I subtly mentioned a Scrum value!)
First, gain enough experience in enough different teams (at least 4 years) by trying a lot of things. A word of advice: despite your experience, be wary of environments where you may have applied and experienced a biased or adapted Scrum (SAFe, ScrumBut, etc.), sometimes without even knowing it. 😏No! The Developers do not commit to delivering the scope…
No! The Daily Scrum is not a report to answer 3 questions… No! Estimates and velocity are not part of Scrum… No! The board is not mandated by Scrum… No! Standing is not part of Daily Scrum… etc. 🤢I invite you to read my Coach’s TipsFR on these subjects (more reading for you 😉) You will have to learn to unlearn. And that’s the best part of your journey! Without wanting to discourage you, I can tell you that it takes a few months to acquire enough knowledge and fluency before having a minimum of confidence and courage (or recklessness? 🤪) to get started. You may also never feel ready. And, often, the more you discover and learn, the less ready you will feel. For a while, you’ll have to find the courage (another Scrum value!) and kick yourself in the butt to get started! 💪
You have 2 hours and 30 minutes to answer 30 questions, some of which are multiple-choice1. The other questions invite you to answer in writing in a text field. That leaves only 5 minutes per question. It is better to be precise and concise. ⌚And a minimum score of 85% is required to pass the exam. To embark on the exam, it is important to be fresh and available. So, better in the morning.
Forget about returning from a nightclub on a Sunday morning to take the exam. 🥴Remember to turn off the notifications on your PC and phone and check your internet connection is stable. It would be a shame if it cuts off in the middle of the exam (I’m telling you this because it has really happened to people)
Your main enemy, during the exam, is time! And, honestly, it’s a real challenge if you’re not prepared a little… ⏱️To be honest, you won’t really have time to bookmark the questions and come back to them. It’s better to answer something than to skip a question thinking you’ll have time to go back to it later.
If, like me, you’re not comfortable with English… know that WE DON’T CARE about grammar and mistakes! Don’t waste time on juggling your sentences. Those who score your responses are used to it and it is not an English exam. Familiarize yourself with a few phrases and keywords from the English Scrum Guide, which you will certainly have to bring out at the right time. Familiarize yourself better with modal verbs (must, have to, should, could, may…) because it can change the meaning of the sentence. You’ll see that Scrum is not very prescriptive. So, you won’t use the word “must” very much. You can even look up the word (Elon) “must” (I’m ashamed of this pun 🤦 ♂️) in the Scrum Guide, you’ll be surprised at how few results there are! 😮To be able to structure your thoughts quickly and respond in 5 minutes maximum, it is better to practice writing quickly (read the chapter on preparation).
Shortening the names of Scrum elements to go faster. What I was using: PO, SM, Dev, S Goal, S Backlog, P Goal, P Backlog, DoD, Increment, S Planning, Daily S, S Review, S Retro, PBI… Sometimes there are several questions within the question. Take the time to read and answer each of them. Skip lines between your different answers to air out and show that you answered everything well. If the question allows you to, share your experience to support your answer. Scrum.org PSTs love it 😉
Once your exam is submitted, you will have to wait about 1 month before getting the result by email. It’s loooooooong! 🥱😫When a PST has corrected your exam, you will receive the email with the result. It will be shared with constructive feedback, which will help you improve for the future, or to rework certain points before retaking the PSM III, if you have failed.
So if you failed, it’s not the end of the world! My first attempt failed at 80.9% raging me to improve and retake the exam. Failure always teaches us! A great way to experience it yourself, inspect & adapt and fail fast. 💪
When you have obtained this precious certification: Congratulations! 🎊 Welcome to the PSM III circle! You will now have a very different view of Scrum, a more informed analytical perspective. The burden is that, from now on, you will have a much more critical sense around everything related to Scrum: you will see that many literatures, articles, videos are sometimes – or even often – imprecise, or even misunderstood Scrum. Stay humble and learn to adapt to the situations you encounter, and avoid the sectoral categorising.
Finally, never forget that PSM III is not the end. You will always have opportunities to learn and improve in your life as an agile practitioner. 🧙♂️
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FR Articles not translated from their original French format
1 At the date this translation was published, the exam has slightly changed, it is now 2 hours and 30 minutes with 24 questions, all requiring a written response, the multiple-choice questions have been removed.