How to study for the Scrum Master exam
These are some very fresh tips that could help you learn quickly and effectively the theory of Scrum, so that you could have more chances of passing the exam with success. I will detail you what steps I have followed. It as my first attempt and it was a success! I hope it will be very easy for you too!
How to beggin learning something about Scrum?
The first thing I did, was to read the Scrum Guide. My mistake here was to look at any Scrum Guide I’ve found. Little did I know, that Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber (the authors of Scrum) make frequent updates of this guide, so don’t waste time reading old versions of the Scrum Guide and download the free last update from here.
The second step I would recommend you is to read and learn by heart the Agile Manifesto and its Twelve Principles . Yes, you need to learn exactly as it is described, but don’t worry, with time it will be easier to remember everything, because everything makes a lot of sense when you learn the method. Even though I showed you the original sources of the Agile values and principles, the truth is that I prefer to read it this way (and doing the same with the 12 principles):
The third step is to learn by watching an example of how it works. So, I would recommend these two places:
- Mplaza training about the Scrum Framework (2021 version): this one is free just for the first 30% of the course and the rest costs more or less 19 dollars. You can access to his website by clicking here.
- The Scrum Training Series. A free and very fun way of learning about Scrum by watching animated series with an example of a Sprint and all the events. The author is Michael James and you can access to his website by clicking here.
I would also recommend to listen to the audiobook “SCRUM, The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time”, by Jeff Sutherland. This helped me understand the why of the framework and how it started. But I believe that it is an optional way of learning.
Finally, with all the knowledge I gained, I finished a lot of exam simulations, from many online places. Some of them had questions from the old versions of the Scrum Guide, so be careful, it is better to look for Scrum Master exam simulators based on the last update of the guide. Some places I recommend for practicing the test mode are these ones:
- Scrum.org open assessment. You can access by clicking here.
- MPLAZA exam simulator. You can access by clicking here.
- Test-questions.com. You can access by clicking here.
With these tips, and by doing many other exam simulations, you will be prepared for passing the exam with good grades. The important thing here is to do a lot of exams and be sure to get more than 90% in the last 5 exam simulations. I gave the exam in scrum.org where the price was 150usd. I did it on that organization because some great Scrum Masters recommended me to do it there. You can access to buy the option of giving the exam by clicking here.
Don’t be fooled, the questions in the exam are a little bit harder than the exam simulations. Fortunately, there are some questions that are literally exactly as the real exam.
I also believe that learning the theory is easy. But to really learn deeply the mindset and framework good practices, you should practice a lot in real sprints, so try to practice as soon as you can. You should also continue learning with scrum podcasts, like the one called Scrum Master Toolbox | Agile Coach podcast, by Vasco Duarte or many others.
Best of luck in your exam! 🙂
