PSM.

How to Study
The Scrum Guide
The most important resource is the Scrum Guide. It’s a 16 page booklet that explains the
framework. It gives you everything you must know, and you must follow in your Scrum
projects. Everything is mandatory in the guide, unless mentioned otherwise.
You can download the guide in your own language. In that case, I suggest you also read it
in English to get familiar with the phrases and expressions, because they will be used in the
exam.

When you’re done reading the guide, read it again. Then you should… read it again! Yes,
it’s very important. Mark the important parts, take notes, and so on. Also, if you answered
something wrong in the exam, do not limit yourself to the explanations I provide; go to the
guide, find the related part, and read it again.

A Guide for the Scrum Guide

Some people do not like the guide, because it’s very short and dry. If you believe so, you
can read the book we’ve written that explains the guide.

Here you are, Scrum Master Training Manual.

Something to Make Sense of it
If you’re wondering how it’s possible to use Scrum in practice, I suggest you read Scrum
and XP from the Trenches. It’s free, and available in multiple languages.
Henrik Kniberg, the author, is a great storyteller. This book explains how they use Scrum in
their projects, as simple as possible.

WARNING: the PSM exam is very precise, and not every resource is 100% compatible with
it. It’s also the case for the book I’ve just suggested. Just read it to get an overall
understanding, and then forget the details.

Something to Teach You

This exam preparation module does not teach you the concepts directly. If you’re interested,
you can take our eLearning course on Agility and Scrum. Everything you need for the PSM I
exam is covered in that course, plus some extra content that helps you get a deeper
understanding.
 An important point about this eLearning course is that it also covers the PSPO I, EXIN ASF,
and PMI-ACP exams. So, you can get more certifications with the same course and even
bring more credit to your career. We picked this strategy, because when you have more
than one certification on a subject, you will be more confident that you have the knowledge,
and others also perceive you as a super-expert. Fortunately, many of our participants like
this approach and take it.

Something for the Mastery

There are many great books about Agility and Scrum. My favorite books that can help you
learn a lot more are:

 Essential Scrum, Kenneth S. Rubin

 Agile Product Management with Scrum, Roman Pichler
 Succeeding with Agile, Mike Cohn
 Agile Estimating and Planning, Mike Cohn
 User Stories Applied, Mike Cohn
There’s also a book from Ken Schwaber titled Enterprise Scrum, which provides you with
many case studies. If you’re interested in reading case studies, you may like it.

Besides them, if you’re already familiar with the PMBOK Guide, I suggest you read the
Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide. It’s not exactly about Agility, but is helpful.

I also suggest the DSDM Atern Handbook (you can read it online for free). It’s about Atern,
another Agile method different from Scrum. It helps you understand Agility better.
Even though it helps, you don’t need to read them for your exam. But it’s a good idea to
continue your learning with these books after the exam.

Warning!
1. Be careful in using other sample questions on the Internet; not all of them are compatible with PSM
I, and may be targeted on CSM, PMI-ACP, or other certifications programs, that are more tolerant
about Scrum, and consequently, misleading.
2. Note that this is just a simulated exam package designed to help you polish your knowledge and get
ready for the exam “after” you learn Scrum. Learning Scrum is not the goal here.