The Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I) assessment is a 60-minute timeboxed assessment. You need to score over 85% to pass and gain the PSPO I certification. The assessment contains 80 questions in English of multiple choice type.
You decide when and where to take the assessment. You are not required to attend an assessment centre and can take it online from a location of your choosing. There is no expiration date once you have purchased the assessment attempt.
Further details on what to expect from the assessment can be found on the Scrum.org PSPO I assessment page.
Here are some tips to help you prepare for, take and pass the Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I) assessment:
- Choose the preparation route that suits you:
- Live Scrum.org training: ideally, attend a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner course.
- Certification Pathway: for a flexible, supported route to PSPO I, explore the Ultimate PSPO I Certification Pathway. It combines official Scrum.org self-paced training, 500+ practice questions, live Trainer support, a PSPO I assessment attempt and retake protection, subject to meeting the published readiness criteria.
- Self-paced eLearning: a lower-cost way to build your knowledge is with our Ultimate Scrum & Agile eLearning courses. Start with the Ultimate Scrum eLearning Course for the fundamentals, then take the Ultimate Scrum Product Owner eLearning Course to deepen your Product Owner knowledge.
- Read the Scrum Guide and become very familiar with it. It is the primary source of answers for the assessment.
- Read the Evidence-Based Management Guide. You do not need a deep understanding, but be prepared for questions relating to it.
- Download our Scrum 1 Pager. It is useful for reference and revision.
- Review our other Simple Guide To Scrum resources.
- Review the Scrum Glossary for quick definitions of key terms.
- Take the Scrum Open assessment until you have seen all the questions and can consistently score 100%.
- Take the Product Owner Open assessment until you have seen all the questions and can consistently score 100%.
- Take our Free Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I) Practice Assessment. It contains different questions from the Scrum.org Open Assessments and gives you another way to test your knowledge before taking the real assessment.
- Take our paid Ultimate Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I) Practice Assessment. It includes more than 500 questions and detailed explanations to help you identify gaps in your understanding and prepare for the style and difficulty of the real assessment.
- Remember: the Product Owner is accountable for maximising product value and helping the Scrum Team focus on the right things in the right order.
When you are ready to take the assessment:
- Have the Scrum Guide, Scrum Glossary and our Scrum 1 Pager to hand and use them to look up what you need.
- Answer all the questions even if you have to make an educated guess. The assessment is not negatively marked.
- Read the questions and answers carefully. One word misread can lead you to the wrong answer.
- Don’t spend too long on each question. If unsure of an answer, note down the question number and move on. Completing all the questions in the timebox can be challenging.
- Be aware of the difference between “must” (a mandatory thing) and “should” (an optional thing).
- Make sure you select the required number of answers as the platform will not prompt you. Choosing only 1 answer on a “Pick 2” style question is a quick way to drop points.
- Come back to the hard questions at the end and use your time to think them over.
- Aim to leave time to check all your answers before the end.
- Google the question if really unsure, but be careful as this takes time and there are lots of unreliable sources out there.
You can resit the assessment if you need to, but you will need to purchase another attempt from Scrum.org. The only exception to this is if you attend a Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner course, and then fail the PSPO I assessment within 14 days of completing the course. In this case, Scrum.org will provide you with a 2nd free attempt.
I hope this information will help you to pass. Let me know how you get on via the comments below and good luck!
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After previously failing the exam with almost 77%, I purchased the 500-question practice test and gained access to clear, to-the-point video explanations that made everything feel much simpler. Simon Kneafsey’s recommendations are accurate and extremely useful. Being able to retake the timed practice tests—with the same number of questions as the real exam—gave me the confidence to finish well within the 60-minute limit. I passed PSPO I with 100%. Highly recommended!
Hi Simon,
I have already bought the “Ultimate Scrum Master I (PSM I) Practice Assessment” and passed the PSM 1 certification. I am planning to target the PSPO 1 certification next.
However, I am wondering if I should buy the “Ultimate Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I) Practice Assessment” or not, considering most of the questions would be repeated.
Can you please guide me?
Hi Sahana. Some questions are the same but many will be new. You need to decide if spending £15 to de-risk the $200 assessment a little further is worth it for you. If you comfortably passed PSM I you may not need it.
Hi Simon,
After how many successful assessment can we consider ready to pass the exam?
Thanks
Hard to say as it varies between people depending on how much pre-existing knowledge you have. However, if you have a good level of understanding and work through the 500+ questions in our Ultimate Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I) Practice Assessment you would be unlikely to fail.
Good day. I am planning to take the PSPO exam however I cannot afford to pay for a class. Would you say that the material on the scrum.org learning path plus your material above is sufficient for me to pass the exam?
Hi Yolanda. On its own it is probably not enough, but if you have existing knowledge it might be.
Hi Sam,
based on your experience, what has greater the value in UK the CSPO or PSPO?
Thanks,
Elie
Hi Elie,
I have responded to you via email.
Regards
Simon
i do have same question which one gives more value. CSPO or PSPO or POPM from Scaled agile
Read this post on the differences between the Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master (PSM) vs Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certifications. The same applies for PSPO & CSPO. I would not recommend the others.
Hi Simon,
Passed the PSPO exam, thank you.
Hi Sir,
Thanks for sharing very informative post about PSPO. I am planning to take up PSPO 1 certification, can you please recommend some good suggested readings for preparing for the same?
Thanks
Hi,
I have sent a message to you.
Kind regards
Sam
The Product owner certifications from Scrum Alliance and Scrum.org seems to be same and it doesn’t make any sense to go after both.
PSPO certifications from Scrum.org looks better in comparison.
No consistent course material(Trainers quality)and renewal required every 2 years are big negative for CSPO.
Hi Simon,
Obviously, I failed!
I think I read that after attending a class Scrum in practice, you should be able to claim a second atempt within 14 days after first one.
What you would recomd me reading passing the exam?
My main concern, my weakest point is that I am not a native English speaker and under preasure of 60 min to pass 80 questions, I am not able to think faster as I should be. If I have had 10 more min, I could have pass the exam!
Please send me an email what should I do next.
Thanks, Maria
I have worked with thousands of non-native English speakers who have managed to pass the Scrum.org assessments so this is rarely the primary factor.
When I say attend a class I mean a Scrum.org approved class as detailed in the post. The quality and coverage of material may not be present in any other class from other providers. So I would recommend doing that. My other tips are in the post. A lower-cost option would be to read the recommended books.
I hope that helps. Good luck if you choose to go again.
Hi Simon
I have recently successfully taken the scrum master exam, but then tried to take the product owner one (after additional preparations of course) but turns out the PO exam is just totally different and also different to the scrum.org and you open assessment here. The exam is just much more text per question to analyse and much more analytical questions.
Do you have any suggestions for me how I can prepare myself even more for a second attempt. My employer does not pay for (facilitated) training or books, only for the exams themselves. Training I need to do using any available free documentation and free open assessments.
Kind regards,
Jorgen
Hi Jorgen,
All my tips on preparing and passing PSPO I are detailed above and many hundreds of people have found these tips helped them to pass.
There is nothing else free that I think would make a big difference for you. Perhaps you could consider the book that is mentioned which is low cost and will really help you if you take the time to read and study it.
Good luck!
Simon
Hi Simon,
Thank you so much for this informative piece.
I do not have any experience in this field. This is a new career interest for me and I am looking at taking both the PSPO and PSM.
I plan to write the PSPO first and I will be self-studying.
Please do you have specific tips for newbies in this field as I am determined and positive to pass on the 1st attempt.
What free online materials would you recommend?
Thank you.
Hi Temi,
All my tips and suggested materials are listed above.
Regards
Simon