Professional Scrum Master I Practice Tests

What to Expect

The Professional Scrum Master I exam costs $200 USD. No training is required, so the total cost is just the exam fee. You'll face 80 questions in 60 minutes, giving you roughly 45 seconds per question. 85% or higher to pass (68 out of 80 correct).

Prerequisites and Audience

None. There is no required training course. You can study independently and take the exam whenever you feel ready. Scrum practitioners, aspiring Scrum Masters, and anyone who wants to validate Scrum knowledge. PSM I is more rigorous than CSM and attracts candidates who prefer a challenging knowledge assessment.

Staying Certified

Lifetime certification. PSM I never expires and does not require renewal, CPE credits, or maintenance fees.

Based exclusively on the Scrum Guide. Tests deep understanding of Scrum roles, events, artifacts, and their interactions. Questions can be nuanced, testing not just what the Scrum Guide says but what it implies. You need to understand the "why" behind each element.

Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework

Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework carries 45% of the exam weight, making it the single most impactful domain. Allocate your study time accordingly and make sure you can answer questions on this topic confidently before sitting the exam.

Managing Products with Agility

Managing Products with Agility carries 30% of the exam weight, making it the single most impactful domain. Allocate your study time accordingly and make sure you can answer questions on this topic confidently before sitting the exam.

Developing People and Teams

Developing People and Teams carries 25% of the exam weight, making it the single most impactful domain. Allocate your study time accordingly and make sure you can answer questions on this topic confidently before sitting the exam.

Question Format

Multiple-choice, multiple-response, and true/false. 80 questions in 60 minutes. The time pressure is real because questions require careful reading.

Study Timeline

Two to four weeks of focused study. Read the Scrum Guide multiple times until you can explain every element. Take the Scrum.org Open Assessments until you consistently score 100%.

Top Resources

The Scrum Guide (free, the only authoritative source), Scrum.org Open Assessments (free practice), and Mikhail Lapshin's PSM I quiz. The Scrum Glossary on Scrum.org clarifies key terminology.

Common Mistakes

Assuming CSM-level difficulty. PSM I has an 85% passing threshold and questions are more nuanced. Also, studying from sources other than the Scrum Guide. The exam is based exclusively on the Scrum Guide, and other Scrum books may contain conflicting information.

Hands-On Advice

Read the Scrum Guide start to finish at least five times. After each reading, quiz yourself on the relationships between elements. Why does the Sprint Retrospective happen after the Sprint Review? What is the maximum Sprint length? Be precise.

Testing Options

Taken online through Scrum.org. Unproctored and open-book, but the time pressure means you can't look up every answer.

Time Management

You have 60 minutes for 80 questions, about 45 seconds each. This is tight. You need to know the Scrum Guide well enough that most answers come from memory. Searching the guide during the exam burns too much time.

Practice tests are the single most effective study tool for the PSM I exam. They reveal your weak domains before the real exam does, and getting questions wrong in practice is how you learn. Each practice test here mirrors the real exam format: 80 questions, timed at 60 minutes, with the same 3-domain distribution.

Don't just take practice tests and check your score. Review every wrong answer and understand why the correct option is better. For the PSM I, pay special attention to Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework (45%) and Managing Products with Agility (30%) questions since they carry the most weight.