Frequently, learners in our Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) courses have questions about the CSM exam: How do I prepare? How long is the exam? What sort of questions are on the test? Are there any practice exams?
Our answer is usually, “You’ll do fine. Our course has more than adequately prepared you.” However, the little product manager voice in my head is telling me that if people are asking these questions, that suggests there is an unmet market need. Customers are rational actors, so perhaps all these questions are legitimate inquiries and not a form of test anxiety. So, we set out to create a practice test, written by actual Certified Scrum Trainers (CSTs), with current content, which helps you gauge your readiness for the exam.
Why We Created a New Practice Exam
After some research, I learned that the existing CSM practice tests had some issues:
- Lack of Scrum knowledge: The practice tests out there were created by people OUTSIDE of the Scrum Alliance — people who were never validated as experts in Scrum are writing practice exams supposedly testing your Scrum knowledge. Our practice exam was created by experienced CSTs who have real-world experience using Scrum.
- Out-of-date content: As a member of the Scrum Alliance design team who helped create and shape the current set of learning objectives for the CSM exam, I have the most up-to-date information on the CSM learning objectives. The practice tests out there were at least two years behind the current learning objectives and are based on the wrong documents. Our practice exam is based on the most recent learning objectives and reference the correct documentation, Scrum Foundations and Certified ScrumMaster.
- Not a learning experience: Lastly, as a result of nearly three years of experience building and supporting the world’s only online, on-demand advanced Scrum certification programs, I know a thing or two about how to develop an online assessment that is also a learning experience. The practice tests out there were only providing a pass/fail score. Our practice exam provides cogent explanations supporting the correct answers, reinforcing your Scrum knowledge.
As a result, a few of the CSTs at Applied Frameworks got together to create our own CSM practice exam that fixed these issues. It is now available for you to take today.
How We Prepared the Exam
To make the practice test realistic, we carefully replicated the topics that were covered in the official test administered by the Scrum Alliance as well replicating the distribution of those topics and the number of attempts. We did make a few modifications to our practice test to make it a good learning experience and a good use of your time. The chart below shows a side-by-side comparison of the official CSM Exam to our Practice CSM Exam.
A Sample Exam Question
Below is a sample question to give you a sense of what we have created:
Which types of challenges is Scrum BEST suited to solve?
- Problems and issues caused by sensitive interpersonal dynamics.
- Complex adaptive problems related to managing and developing valuable products.
- Complicated scenarios caused by poor project planning, execution and monitoring.
- Simple conditions with obvious solutions.
Correct answer: 2.
Explanation: Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. Scrum is not a process, technique or definitive project management method. Rather, it is a framework within which you can employ various processes and techniques so that you can evaluate the relative efficacy of your management and day-to-day work techniques with the goal of continuous improvement.
Are you ready to take the exam?