There are three items that help with studying and taking the Scrum Master I certification.
- Creating a one page reference guide with notes, key terms and numbers
- Taking practice exams from Scrum.org and other sites
- Study, Practice, Note Taking and Repeat
For 1. Here’s a sample of my notes:
The key here is by writing up your notes on a one page format, you are identifying major items to know and reference if needed during the exam. As I was taking the practice exams, I would revise this note page for items I needed to memorize or keep handy as a reference (such as role responsibilities, review content and goals, and key terms). Color coding helped with role items as a quick reference. In my example, I had scrum master (yellow), product owner (green), developers (purple) and organization (gray). Recommend you make your own to help; this sample is older and some content might be updated by Scrum.org. Also, by keeping the notes into one page, you don’t have to flip through multiple pages and helps with memorizing where to review by organizing the page into key sections (roles, meetings, concepts, etc…).
For 2. Key links and thoughts:
Scrum.org, the organization that is responsible for scrum and the certification, read all their recommended content and take the practice exams:
https://www.scrum.org/assessments/professional-scrum-master-i-certification
Mikhail Lapshin’s scrum quizzes, provide a great way to practice and fine tune your notes and memorization for the certification test. Give a donation, it’s worth it.
For 3. I worked through a process of reading and studying, then taking practices test, updating my one page note document, and repeating the process. Once I could repeatedly get 90% or higher on the practice exams I felt confident to take the certification exam. At the time I took practice exams, scrum.org practice exams were easier than the real exam and Mikhail’s practice exams were at the same level of difficulty with the real exam.