Scrum Exam Study Guide: How to Pass CSM and PSM I

Reviewed by [Reviewer name], [CST or certified Scrum Master credential]. Last updated [date].

How do I study for a Scrum exam? Read the 2020 Scrum Guide in full twice, take a timed practice test to find your weak areas, reread those sections and then take a second timed test. For the CSM, which follows a two-day course and needs 74%, this usually takes 3 to 5 focused hours. For PSM I, which has no course requirement and needs 85%, most candidates plan 10 to 20 hours over one to three weeks.

Key Highlights

• The 2020 Scrum Guide is the primary source. It is short and free, and skipping a full read in favour of summaries is one of the most common reasons candidates struggle.
• Know your exam. The CSM needs 74% (37 of 50 questions) after a mandatory course; PSM I needs 85% on 80 questions, with no course required.
• Reading it twice is the single highest value step, because the second pass connects things the first pass only introduced.
• Timed practice matters more than untimed quizzes, since pace is the real constraint on the CSM test.
• Focus study on the areas a practice test exposes rather than revising evenly.
• Questions test understanding in situations rather than definitions, so learn why each part exists.
• Extensive paid material is rarely necessary for a foundational exam.

Start With the Source

The Scrum Guide, currently the November 2020 edition by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, is the primary reference for both the CSM and PSM I. Avoid study material written for the 2017 edition. It is around a dozen pages, it is free, and it can be read in under an hour.

The most common reason people struggle is that they studied summaries instead. Summaries lose precisely the details that questions are built on: the exact wording of accountabilities, which decisions belong to whom, and the distinctions that separate one event from another.

First read. Straight through, no notes. You are building a map rather than memorising.

Second read. Slowly, with your own team in mind. Ask how each part would apply where you work, and which parts your team does differently. This is where understanding forms, because you are attaching abstract structure to situations you recognise.

Two reads take about ninety minutes in total and outperform several hours spent on prepared summaries and video courses. If you do nothing else before the test, do this one thing.

Once you have read it, our free CSM practice test will show you where the gaps are rather than leaving you to guess.

CSM vs PSM I at a Glance

The two most common foundational Scrum exams differ more than their names suggest. Knowing which one you are sitting changes how long you should study.

Sources: Scrum Alliance Support, What to expect from the CSM test; Scrum.org PSM I page. Checked October 2026.

What the Exams Actually Test

Understanding applied to situations, not recall of definitions.

Questions tend to describe a scenario and ask what should happen. A stakeholder wants to attend the Retrospective. An item does not meet the Definition of Done at the end of the Sprint. The Product Owner is unavailable during Sprint Planning. Answering those requires knowing why each rule exists rather than the rule itself.

That has a direct consequence for how to study. Memorising the five values will not help you answer a question about a team that has stopped raising problems. Understanding what openness is for will.

The areas questions concentrate on.

Accountabilities. Who decides what. This is the largest single source of questions, because it is where real teams get confused.

The events. What each produces, who attends, what the timeboxes are, and what belongs in which. Our guide to the five events of Scrum covers the structure and the common confusions.

The artefacts and their commitments. Product Backlog with the Product Goal, Sprint Backlog with the Sprint Goal, Increment with the Definition of Done. The pairing matters.

Empiricism. Transparency, inspection and adaptation, and how the values support them, which our guide to Scrum principles covers including what Scrum does and does not formally define.

Boundaries. What can change mid Sprint and what cannot. Scope can be renegotiated; the Sprint Goal and quality cannot.

A Study Plan That Works

For the CSM, which you sit after a two-day course, this takes three to five hours in total.

Five-hour CSM plan (after your course)

Two details make this plan work. Sit the first practice test before further study, not after: the point is diagnosis, and the pattern of what you get wrong is the most useful information you will gather. Then reread only the sections your errors point to, because targeted rereading beats revising everything evenly. On the second read, keep your own team in mind as the reference.

After the second test, check both the score and the pace. Finishing comfortably matters as much as answering correctly, and our guide to the CSM exam pattern explains why.

If the second practice test goes well, you are ready. Additional study past that point produces diminishing returns quickly for a foundational exam.

How Long Should You Study?

It depends on the exam. CSM candidates have just completed a two-day course with a Certified Scrum Trainer, and the pass mark is 74%, so 3 to 5 focused hours is usually enough. PSM I candidates often study alone for an 85% pass mark, so 10 to 20 hours over one to three weeks is more realistic. In both cases, stop studying when your timed practice scores are consistently above the pass mark with time to spare, not when you have read everything.

Why Timed Practice Specifically

The distinction that changes outcomes and gets overlooked.

The CSM test is fifty questions in sixty minutes, which is about seventy two seconds each. You cannot pause the test once it starts, though you can flag questions to return to.

That combination catches people out. Knowing the material is not enough if you spend four minutes on the first three questions and then face thirty questions with fifteen minutes left. The constraint is pace rather than knowledge.

Timed practice reveals that directly. An untimed quiz tells you if you know the answers. A timed one tells you if you can produce them fast enough, which is the thing being tested.

Three habits worth building during practice.

Answer what you know immediately. Bank the time on the straightforward questions.

Flag and move on. The instinct to resolve each question before continuing is what causes people to run out of time. Practise moving past one.

Check pace at the halfway mark. Twenty five answered at the thirty minute point means you are on track and can afford to revisit a flagged question.

What to Read Beyond the Guide

Genuinely optional for a foundational exam, and useful if you want depth.

Your course notes. Trainers emphasise what candidates find difficult, and their framing is frequently closer to how questions are worded than the Guide's formal language.

The learning objectives. Published by the certifying body, they describe exactly what the exam covers, which our guide to the CSM syllabus sets out.

One practitioner book. Useful for understanding rather than for passing. Anything that explains why the framework is shaped as it is will improve your answers on situational questions.

Nothing else. Large question banks and multi hour video courses are aimed at exams considerably harder than this one. For a foundational Scrum exam they are usually money spent on reassurance.

The honest position is that the exam is designed to confirm the course landed rather than to filter candidates. Preparing as though it were a demanding professional exam wastes time you could spend practising the role.

Common Reasons People Struggle

Five, in rough order of frequency.

They never read the Scrum Guide. The single most common cause. Studying summaries loses the precision questions are built on.

They deferred the test. Sitting it three months after the course means relearning material that was fresh. Within a fortnight is considerably easier, and the window rules are covered in our guide to the CSM certification process.

They practised untimed. Knew the material perfectly well and ran out of time on the day.

They answered from experience rather than the framework. A common trap for practitioners. Questions ask what Scrum says, and how your team does it may differ. Where they conflict, answer from the Guide.

They over-thought. Foundational questions are usually less subtle than experienced candidates expect. The straightforward reading of a question is generally the right one, and searching for a hidden trap is a reliable way to talk yourself out of a correct answer.

That fourth point deserves emphasis for anyone with real experience. Teams routinely deviate from the framework for good reasons, and an exam is not the place to reflect that.

If You Have Not Taken a Course Yet

Worth stating, since the study guidance assumes a starting point.

For CSM specifically, the course is mandatory. There is no self study route and no way to register for the test independently, which our guide to CSM certification eligibility confirms. Studying before booking is still worthwhile: reading the Scrum Guide beforehand makes the two days considerably more productive, because you arrive with questions rather than encountering everything for the first time.

Other foundational Scrum certifications, such as PSM I, allow exam only registration, which changes the preparation picture. Without a course you are responsible for the whole syllabus yourself, and the study plan above becomes the minimum rather than the whole of it.

For anyone booking a course, CSM Certification Training covers the two days, the exam and the certification together, and reading the Scrum Guide before you attend is the best preparation available at no cost.

The Week Before

A short sequence for anyone with a test booked.

As you read on day seven, note anything that surprises you, since surprise indicates a gap between what you assumed and what the framework says. On day five, record which areas your errors cluster in rather than just the score.

On the day. Find a quiet place and a stable connection before you begin, since the CSM test cannot be paused once it starts.

Cramming the night before works poorly for a test built on situational understanding rather than recall. If the second practice test went well, additional study adds very little, and arriving rested matters more than one more hour of revision.

After You Pass

Brief, because the study guide question usually comes with a next step in mind.

Passing a foundational exam confirms you understood the framework. It does not make anyone effective in the role, and the gap between the two is where most disappointment with certification comes from.

The useful thing to do immediately afterwards is apply one thing. Facilitate a Retrospective differently. Ask about a Definition of Done. Notice who is not speaking in a planning session. Knowledge that is not applied within a few weeks fades, and the certification then represents something you once knew.

For anyone continuing along the Scrum Alliance track, the advanced level requires a year of practical experience alongside the credential, which is a reasonable signal about where competence actually comes from. Details of the wider pathway and current course dates are on the CSM Certification Training page.

Areas Candidates Most Often Get Wrong

Five that account for a disproportionate share of incorrect answers, worth targeting directly.

Who owns what. The Product Owner orders the Product Backlog. The Developers decide how much to take into a Sprint and how to do the work. The Scrum Master owns neither. Questions frequently describe someone doing the other person's job.

What can change mid Sprint. Scope can be renegotiated between the Product Owner and the Developers as more is learned. The Sprint Goal does not change and quality does not decrease. The distinction between those is tested often.

Who attends what. Stakeholders are invited to the Sprint Review, where the Scrum Team presents its results to them; the Scrum Guide does not bar other interactions with stakeholders. The Retrospective is for the Scrum Team, and the Product Owner is inside that boundary while a manager is not.

The Definition of Done as binary. Work that does not meet it is not part of the Increment, does not appear at the Review, and returns to the Product Backlog. Partial credit does not exist.

Impediment removal. The Scrum Master causes the removal of impediments rather than removing them personally. Answers describing a Scrum Master doing everything themselves are usually wrong.

If a practice test exposes errors in two or more of these, reread the relevant sections carefully rather than continuing to take more tests. Additional practice reveals the same gaps repeatedly without closing them, and rereading the source is what actually fixes it.

Using the Practice Test Properly

Most people use practice tests to build confidence. They are more useful as diagnosis, and the difference changes how you should read the result.

Ignore the score initially. A percentage tells you very little except roughly where you stand. What matters is the pattern of errors.

Group your errors by topic. Three wrong on accountabilities and one wrong on timeboxes is a completely different signal from four scattered across everything. The first is a gap to close; the second is usually carelessness or pace.

Check the ones you got right but guessed. These are gaps the score conceals. Someone who guessed correctly on four questions has four areas of uncertainty that a second test may expose differently.

Note where time went. If you spent four minutes on the first three questions, that is the finding, regardless of the score.

Take a second one after rereading, not immediately. Repeating a test straight away measures recall of that test rather than understanding of the framework.

Two tests used this way are more useful than ten used as reassurance. The purpose is to direct your rereading, and once the errors stop clustering anywhere in particular, further testing has little left to tell you.

Preparing for PSM I and Other Scrum Exams

Brief, since the study approach differs where the course is not mandatory.

Where a course is required, as with CSM, the course does the teaching and the study plan above is sufficient. You arrive at the exam having spent two days with a trainer.

Where the exam can be sat independently, you are responsible for the whole syllabus yourself. The Scrum Guide remains the primary source and it is no longer supplemented by anything, so expect to read it more than twice and to spend longer on practice.

PSM I is harder to pass than the CSM because there is no required course and the pass mark is 85%. Questions test whether you can apply the Scrum Guide to situations, often with several correct-looking answers. Start with the free Scrum Open assessment on Scrum.org to get a baseline, read the 2020 Scrum Guide three times with a different focus each time (accountabilities, events, artifacts and commitments), and keep a log of every missed question with the Guide sentence that answers it. A common benchmark is to book the exam once you score 95% or more on the Scrum Open several times in a row and can answer 80 questions in 60 minutes, about 45 seconds each.

Three adjustments for the self study route.

Read the Guide three or four times rather than twice. Without a trainer explaining the reasoning, repetition is what builds the understanding that situational questions test.

Use more practice tests, and analyse them properly. Not to memorise questions, but to find the areas where your model of the framework differs from the Guide's.

Find a way to discuss it. The largest thing a course provides is other people describing how their organisations work. A community, a colleague or a study group partially replaces that, and reading alone is the weakest version of preparation.

At foundational level the content is broadly similar, but PSM I's higher pass mark and lack of a required course make it harder to pass. What differs most is how much of the teaching you are doing yourself, and anyone choosing the independent route should budget considerably more than five hours.

Closing Thoughts

Preparation for a foundational Scrum exam is unusually simple, and most of the difficulty people experience is self inflicted.

The Guide is short, free and authoritative. Reading it twice, with a timed practice test between the readings to direct the second pass, covers nearly everything. Anyone who does that and sits the test promptly is in a strong position.

The two habits that make the difference are reading the primary source rather than summaries of it, and practising under time rather than at leisure. Neither costs anything.

Beyond that, the more useful investment is not further study. It is thinking about how each part of the framework would apply to a team you know, because that is what situational questions test and it is also the thing that makes the certification worth holding.

If you have not booked a course yet, CSM Certification Training covers the mandatory two days along with the exam and certification. Request the curriculum to see the agenda and upcoming dates, or start with the free CSM practice test to see how much you already know before you commit to anything.