CSM prep
A course companion and test prep for people taking a Certified ScrumMaster course, covering the Scrum Team, events, artifacts, facilitation and the ScrumMaster's service to the team and organization.
The real exam
| Questions | 50 |
|---|---|
| Time | 60 minutes |
| Pass mark | 37 of 50 (74%) |
| Course | Required: a live CSM course with a Certified Scrum Trainer before the test |
| Attempts | 2 attempts within 90 days included with the course, then $25 per retake |
| Format | Online in your Scrum Alliance dashboard, unproctored |
| Open book | Yes: the Scrum Guide and your course materials are allowed |
| Based on | CSM learning objectives, Scrum Guide 2020, Agile Manifesto |
| Validity | 2 years, renew with 20 SEUs and a $100 fee |
What you get
Mocks follow the real rules: 50 questions in 60 minutes, flag and review.
Syllabus
Empiricism, lean thinking, the three pillars, the five Scrum values and the four values and twelve principles of the Agile Manifesto.
Accountabilities of the Scrum Team, Developers, Product Owner and ScrumMaster, why the Product Owner is one person, and self-management.
The Sprint and cancellation, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum versus a status meeting, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, timeboxes and inspect and adapt.
Product Backlog and Product Goal, Sprint Backlog and Sprint Goal, the Increment, refinement and a strong Definition of Done.
When and how to facilitate, group decision techniques, and the difference between facilitating, teaching, mentoring and coaching.
The ScrumMaster as a leader who serves, technical debt and development practices, supporting the Product Owner, impediments, organizational change and why Scrum has no project manager.
Course outline
- Foundations: why Scrum works · 4 lessons
- The Scrum Team · 6 lessons
- Scrum events · 6 lessons
- Artifacts, commitments and Done · 4 lessons
- ScrumMaster core competencies · 3 lessons
- Service to the team, Product Owner and organization · 5 lessons
- Test readiness · 2 lessons
Try a question
The Developers keep their task board up to date, but the Product Owner discovers that several items marked done were never tested. Which pillar has been weakened most directly?A. Adaptation, because the team changed its plan far too often during the SprintB. Transparency, because the board did not show the real stateC. Focus, because the team worked on too many itemsD. Commitment, because the team did not finish all of the work it forecastShow answer
During a Sprint Review, a Developer tells a senior stakeholder that the feature the stakeholder asked for has a serious performance problem the team has not solved yet. Which Scrum value is she showing most clearly?A. FocusB. CommitmentC. CourageD. RespectShow answer
Passwell is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Scrum Alliance, Inc. CSM and Certified ScrumMaster are registered trademarks of Scrum Alliance, Inc. Passwell does not offer the CSM certification or test and does not replace the required CSM course with a Certified Scrum Trainer. All questions and lessons are original Passwell content. Concepts from the Scrum Guide 2020 by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland are explained in our own words, with short quotes attributed, under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0). Facts checked 2026-11-14.