PSM II Reference Materials

Use the following useful articles and books to support you on your Professional Scrum Master II journey, as well as our PSM I Assessments hints and tips page which covers topics included in the PSM II course.

The assessment

• The PSM II assessment is designed to test experience with Scrum in the real world. Compared to the PSM, the PSM II is far less theoretical and more case-based;
• Where the PSM assessment focuses on the Scrum Framework, the PSM II assessment taps into the deeper principles and values underlying the framework. The difficulty level of the conversations and cases in this class represents what to expect from the PSM II;
• The PSM II assessment features 30 multiple-choice questions;
• Time pressure is less of an issue with the PSM II assessment;
• A score of 85% is required to pass. Considering the small number of questions, this means that there is little margin for error;
• In order to prepare, it is recommended to read the Scrum Guide a couple of times and re-do the PSM Open assessment. There may be some questions about scaling as well, but they are all grounded in the Scrum Framework;
• PSM II class participants who attempt the PSM II assessment within 14 days of receiving their free password and do not score at least 85% will be granted a 2nd attempt at no additional cost. You are also entitled to a 40% discount on the PSM III assessment.

Recommended articles

Mastering the content in these articles is good preparation for the assessment.

• ‘The 8 Stances of a Scrum Master’ by Barry Overeem;
• Scrum Mythbusters;
• ‘There is value in the Scrum Values’ by Gunther Verheyen;
• ‘Getting done creating good goals’ by Stephanie Ockerman
• ‘Scrum from the trenches – the Sprint Goal’ by Jasper Alblas
• A repository of Liberating Structures and how to apply them as part of Scrum;
• ‘Evolution of the Product Owner’ by Ron Eringa
• ’14 Stances of highly effective Product Owners’ by Ravi Verma
• ‘The evolution of the Agile Manager’ by Ron Eringa
• ‘The Scrum Master as the change agent’ by Barry Overeem
• ‘Myth: the Scrum Master is a junior Agile Coach’ by Barry Overeem and Christiaan Verwijs’

For your bookshelf

These books are not essential for the assessment, but are recommended for continuing your journey as an advanced scrum master

• ‘Scrum – A Pocket Guide’ by Gunther Verheyen
• ‘Scrum Mastery’ by Geoff Watts
• ‘Servant Leadership’ by Robert K. Greenleaf
• ‘The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures’ by Henri Leipmanowicz & Keith McCandless
• ‘The DevOps Handbook’ by Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois & John Willis
• ‘Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins’
• ‘The Professional Product Owner’ by Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham
• ‘Product Mastery’ by Geoff Watts
• ‘The Product Samurai’ by Chris Lukassen
• ‘Lean Change Management’ by Jason Little;
• ‘Reinventing Organizations’ by Frederic Laloux & Ken Wilber
• ‘The Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum’ by Kurt Bittner, Patricia Kong & Dave West

Taking the Assessment

Once you have received your code and feel ready, schedule 90 minutes when you will not be interrupted then complete the following:

• Login to your Scrum.org account.
• Navigate to the PSM II Assessment page. Important details about the assessment are listed on this page
• Click the Start Assessment button in the middle of the page
• Enter your provided password

PSM II Certificate

When you have passed a Professional level assessment (PSM II) with a score of 85% or higher, a downloadable, printable certificate and badge will be added directly into your Scrum.org member account profile.

Please check your member profile to download and print your certificate. To access your profile, click on your name, which will appear at the top of any Scrum.org page whenever you are logged into your account. Please feel free to use your Scrum.org certificate and badge to represent your status and understanding of Scrum.