Have you just started your Scrum Master journey or aspiring to be one in the near future or want to level up your skills or showcase your Scrum Master skills to the world? Then, PSM (Professional Scrum Master) Certification from Scrum.org is one of the most recognized certifications in the industry.

Though having a certification is not mandatory all the time, but it does help you in 3 major ways:

  1. It shows that you’re serious about the career move to your boss or potential new employers
  2. It puts you a step ahead of people who are not certified
  3. It improves your domain knowledge

Keeping the above in mind, I will share my journey on How I Cleared My PSM 1 Certification in First Attempt without any formal training classes and help you too to clear the PSM 1 Certification. [I have cleared my PSM 2 Certification the very next day. Read about How I Cleared My PSM 2 Certification Exam in First Attempt]

Long Story Short…

  • Time Taken: 4 Weeks
  • Total Hours Spent for Preparation: 24 Hours
  • Mock Exams: 2
  • No of Attempts: 1
  • Level of Difficulty: Easy – Moderate
  • Was it worth? Absolutely YES

If you want to know the complete details on what all resources I have used, my motivation to get PSM 1 Certification and the challenges I faced during the preparation, please read further.

It was 2018 and I have decided to pitch myself to become a full time scrum master within the same organization. My Scrum Master journey has begun 2.5 years prior to that learning bit by bit about the roles and responsibilities, and what it takes to be in a Scrum Master role.

Study Plan

I first scanned through Scrum.org website and understood what is the level of expertise need for PSM 1 Certification. Once I analyzed what I know and what I need to know to pass the PSM 1 Certification Exam, I wrote down all the gaps and gave a rough timeline of 25 days to be ready for the exam. I started with reading the Scrum Guide and made my notes along. I have used below resources to help with my study plan:

Resources

  • Scrum.org Blog which contains loads of articles to enhance your skills
  • Became very familiar with the Scrum Guide, few questions were direct from this guide
  • Understood Scrum Values clearly as it helped solve almost every situation based question
  • Scrum: A Smart Travel Companion book by Gunther Verheyen
  • Take the Scrum Open Assessment to get a baseline of your knowledge and take it again until you are comfortable with the content. The Scrum Open assessment is a learning tool, and thus feedback is provided during the test.
  • Research on understanding what is Scrum and what is NOT Scrum

Above all, the practical experience I gained in my day to day professional work which proved to be immensely helpful during situation based questions both in PSM 1 & PSM 2 Certifications.

Additional Resources

Certification Details:

  • Cost of Certification: $150 per attempt
  • No of Questions: 80
  • Time: 60 minutes
  • Passing Score: 85%
  • Format: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, True/False
  • Lifetime Certification: No annual renewal fee required

Key Areas to Focus

PSM I includes questions from the following Focus Areas as defined in the Professional Scrum Competencies.

Examination Day: 14 Sep, 2018

I was a little nervous but backed up myself with all the reading, practicing mock exams and the practical experience I have been gaining from past few years in various roles. The mock exams that I practiced helped me with time management and to be honest, those exams were tougher than the actual exams. 
Some of the questions were straight forward which is expected given that PSM 1 Certification tests your basic Scrum Master skills. But let it not fool you, it’s tougher than other popular Scrum Master Certifications in the market. I could answer all the questions within the allotted 60 mins and did review couple of questions to be sure. Finally when I hit the submit, the result was given immediately and I cleared my PSM 1 Certification Exam.

Tips to Remember

  1. Do not try to by-heart what’s in the books or try to memorize everything
  2. PSM 1 certification exam has situational based questions too, so try to recall a particular situation in your past experience (if any) and answer accordingly
  3. Be calm and relaxed. There will be ample amount of time to answer all the questions
  4. Do not try to study anything in the last minute and clutter your thoughts
  5. Ensure your internet connection is stable
  6. Keep the time consuming questions to the end and save your time

Hope you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any questions or need help in clearing your PSM 1 Certification, please feel free to drop in the comments below.


Also Read about How I Cleared my PSM 2 Certification Exam in First Attempt (You Too Can)

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