Advanced Scrum Master with PSM II certification has become one of the essential certification programs for the role of Scrum Master in many organizations. I regularly see people posting the PSM II certificate copy on social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
They also share the list of books and blogs they have gone through while preparing for the exam. In my opinion, you don't need anything more than the Scrum Guide to pass the exam.
After all, Scrum is Scrum and questions are from the Scrum Guide as Scrum.org value the guide more than anything else. If this is the case, then why so much hype about this certificate?
It is a hype among people who are new to Scrum and would like to collect many certifications in the shortest possible time. If you are an experienced Scrum Master, you will most likely not struggle in the exam, as stated on the Scrum.org website.
It is particularly beneficial for those people with at least one year of Scrum Master experience. Attending Professional Scrum Master II training adds more value to your professional career than adding just a certificate. Professional Scrum Master II training covers useful facilitation techniques to deal with team challenges and coaching elements.
The Agilemania program takes you to the next level by adding more practical aspects of facilitation, mentoring, and coaching in addition to what the Scrum.org program covered.
Let's talk about the exam
- Professional Scrum Master II has 30 questions, and you will have 90 minutes to write the exam. Effectively you will have 3 minutes to answer each of the questions.
- There is no prerequisite for the exam. Better to try PSM II after attending PSM training
- The exam will cost you $250 (INR 18000+), and you will have only one attempt to clear it
- All questions are multiple-choice questions. Some will have one correct answer, and some will have more than one.
- Lastly, attending Professional Scrum Master II training will give you two free attempts to write the exam plus a $200 discount on PSM III.
What's the big deal about the exam
Let's look at the type of question. Here is a difference between PSM I and PSM II exam questions. The majority of questions are lengthy, but the meaning is the same as the PSM I exam.PSM I is: 2+2 is what?
PSM II is: Naveen has 20 rupees, and Sumeet has 200 rupees, and both have taken 2 rupees each from Preeth. Preeth wants his money back from both, so how much Preeth has to collect from Naveen and Sumeet?
The answer will be 4 in both cases, but you will take a little more time to read PSM II questions than PSM I exam.
How to prepare and pass the exam on 1st try
You pass or don't. You write the exam or don't write but don't waste money on the following: -
1. Exam dumps - nobody cares about your certificate, and you will ultimately be tested based on your knowledge, not your certificate.
2. Buy books specifically designed for the exam
3. 1000+ meaningless questions and exam-specific video programs on Udemy etc
4. Paying random people on Facebook and LinkedIn
Don't want to attend the training
I might have criticized many things above, but there has to be some solution as well. I am going to run a FREE 2 hours monthly session to help you prepare for the exam.One session is good enough to understand how to prepare yourself if you are an experienced Scrum Master. I would suggest waiting for some time and gaining experience if you are not a practicing Scrum Master.
I can help you through 15 weeks of mentoring on how to jumpstart as a Scrum Master. Mentoring is a paid program, and I charge only $25 per session to ensure you and I stay committed to the goal.
Check here for the upcoming PSM II preparation session. Please write to me at naveen@agilemania.com for the mentoring program.
