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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Hi Simon,
It is great to read your article. I am an experienced Project Manager and have worked in the Agile space for 3 years. I am interested in taking PSPO assessment and my confusion is whether to go for PSMl first and then take the PSPO, OR directly attempt the PSPOl.
I would love to know your thoughts on it.
Hi Rajat,
PSPO and PSM focus on different aspects of Scrum so it depends where your interests lie.
If you want to be a Product Owner, then go with PSPO first. Otherwise, PSM is the preferred starting point for most people.
Regards
Simon
Hi Simon,
I’ve had 2 attempts at the PSPO I now. First attempt was days after attending the PO training, prior to finding your study guide and doing any additional studying, I received a 74.5. With my schedule I knew I would not be able to dedicate enough time to fully study and attempt within the 14 days so I just took a stab at it. With my second attempt I followed your guide, with the exception of reading any of the books, it was very helpful but I still fell short with an 83.8%. This was frustrating for sure!
From what I’m feeling the multiple choice questions are the ones tripping me up. I feel very confident on the single answer questions.
Could you share any additional insights that might help me get over this hump?
Hi Marsha,
I would recommend the books as your next best option. In particular Scrum: A Pocket Guide by Gunther Verheyen and Agile Product Management with Scrum by Roman Pichler
Good luck.
Simon
Hi Marsha,
Did you do a third attempt?
I also failed 2 times and didn’t sleep well this night! I feel sick ..
Maybe because I am not native English speaker I failed. I definitely need more time, 60 min are not enough and that’s the main problem with me.
I am not quite sure do I want to have a third attempt?
Hi,
As the assessments are in English and so are harder for non-native speakers, unfortunately. And the assessments are designed to be hard so the certification has some meaning once you achieve it.
Have you read the books? Have you attended a class? You will need to put the time in to get really familiar with all the topics required
Regards
Simin
Hi Simon,
I am a Certified Business Analyst (CBAP) and work as a freelancer. I had already worked on one of the project using scrum framework.
Can you guide me on if I need to take PSM1 or PSPO 1 certification? Is it really required to attend the training to understand the framework?
Thanks
Hi Meena,
Taking a course is not essential to gaining the Scrum.org certifications.
I can’t advise you on if you need PSM I or PSPO I specifically without more information. It depends on what you hope to achieve.
If you self study you can pass the assessments without attending a class. All my tips are on this post and the corresponding PSM post.
Good luck with it all.
Regards
Simon
Hello Simon,
I have recently passed the PSM I exam, and am now triggered in the PO side of the Scrum spectrum.
Do you regard – the Product Owner Manual by Peter Hundermark (see: http://www.scrumsense.com/resources/product-owner-manual/) in combination with the Scrum Guide (November 2017) and Scrum a Smart Travel Companion by Gunther Verheyen – comprehensive enough to go for the PSPO I exam?
So far, I haven’t been able to find a comprehensive training manual for PSPO, like there is for PSM, for which I found the Scrum Master Training Manual by Nader K. Rad & Frank Turley very useful indeed.
B Rgds,
Michael
Hi Michael,
Without knowing you better and knowing your level of experience and understanding around Scrum it would be impossible for me to know if these would be sufficient.
Let me know how you get on.
Regards
Simon
Hi Simon,
I am working on agile development for few years now as a business analyst and lately working a s a product owner, planning to give the scrum and PO certification soon, kindly help with the
names of preparation materials like books or pdfs plz?
Hi Ashoka,
All my tips are on this post. Good luck with it.
Regards
Simon
I want to pass PSPO 1 while I failed in PSM 1 attended recently. So please help which can be learnt and cleared in short time.
Please advise ASAP!
Hi Ron,
All my tips on passing PSPO I are here:
https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/scrum/how-to-pass-the-professional-scrum-product-owner-i-pspo-i-assessment-from-scrum-org
If you struggled with PSM I you may have similar issues with PSPO I. Consider attending a course and/or reading some of the suggested books.
Good luck with it.
Regards
Simon
Hello,
First of all thank you very much for your posts which I find very informative. I am also interested in PSPO I certificate as this is very much inline with my career plans. I am quite experienced PM and BA (several years in IT dealing with various approaches towards product delivery), but had no opportunity to work in Scrum, though attended several trainings. Since my current employer offered an opportunity to take the exam, I would like to ask you about some tips how to prepare best for the challenge.
Regards,
Iza B
Hello Simon,
Thanks very much for your post, very informative.
I want to change my career toward Product Management. Since I have not had much experience in this field nor in the Agile/Scrum world, I want to pass my Scrum Certificate.
I am bit confused between the Scrum Master I or PSPO I certificate.
Which one would you recommend to start with ? and please what are the materials to read ?
Nabil
Thanks very much Simon
Hi Nabil,
I have sent you an email with some further guidance.
Regards
Simon
Hi Simon,
Excellent Article. I have the same question as Nabil and was hoping to find an answer in a comment. It seems it’s hidden in the e-mail :P.
Could you please forward the same to me.
As an aspiring Product Manager, I’m confused whether I should do the PSM-I or PSPO-I or both (in the same order)
Hi Sumedha,
Not very transparent of me I now realise. Here is the crux of what I told Nabil:
Where you should start depends on what you want to achieve and where your interests lie. Do you wish to become a Scrum Master (PSM), a Product Owner (PSPO) or something else?
The Product Owner is responsible for optimising the value of a Product. They help the Scrum Team work out what to build.
The Scrum Master helps people take an empirical approach and use Scrum to deliver value. Their focus is more on people and process.
Have a look at the Scrum.org site for some further guidance on roles and what they include. Decide which role appeals to you more and start with that.
Quick question : There are questions with multichoices i think, but how maximum ? 3 choice for questions ? 4 ? more ?
Thanks a lot !
Hi Jo,
For my practice assessments, some questions allow/require multiple answers. Some questions tell you how many answers are required, some do not.
This is designed to mirror the experience on the real Scrum.org assessments.
Regards
Simon
Hello,
Can you tell me a single source to read for the PSPO 1 preparation?
Regards,
Aveek
Hi Aveek,
There is no perfect or complete single source. The Scrum Guide is a good place to start.
Regards
Simon
Hello Simon ,
There is no mention anywhere of a minimum passing score level , is it percentiled or is there a defined threshold ?
-thanks
A
You need 85% + to pass.
The full details are on the Scrum.org page here:
https://www.scrum.org/professional-scrum-certifications/professional-scrum-product-owner-i-assessment
Hi,
I am planning to take up PSPO 1 certification, can you please recommend some good suggested readings for preparing for the same?
Thanks
I have sent you an email.
Hi Simon,
I’m also planning to take the PSPO I certification, nevertheless I intend to do it without attending the “Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner course”.
Can you please suggest me the best readings and online free training materials?
Best regards,
António Pinto
Hi Antonio,
Have a look at these:
https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/scrum/how-to-pass-the-professional-scrum-product-owner-i-pspo-i-assessment-from-scrum-org/
https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/scrum/my-favourite-scrum-books-2/
Regards
Simon
Hi Simon, can your send me that same email?
Hi Derek. Which email is that?
Simon,
I liked crisp summary of no non-sense tips. Thank you very much.
I passed PSM 1 and preparing for PSPO now.
I won’t recommend Roman Pichler book, because that is very outdated (2010) compared to latest Scrum Guide (2013). Here are some examples that he use:
– Product Owner can participate in Scrum
– Scrum Master is sort of lead of the team etc
I liked two books in particular to understand Scrum and PO role:
1. Scrum Narrative and PSM Exam Guide by Mohammed Musthafa Soukath Ali – very crisp explanation of scrum fundamentals. This helped me to understand Scrum and pass PSM 1
2. Scrum Product Ownership by Robert Galen – An exhaustive coverage of PO role – not just at team level, but at enterprise level too.
However, I am not getting sufficient confidence on PSPO 1. Could you help with following questions. Appreciate it
1. I have very good understanding of Scrum and can answer typical questions about Product Owner, like their role, rules, and product backlog. Is that knowledge enough? If no, what would be additional knowledge needed and how many questions will be on that additional knowledge?
2. Is there Product vision and Release plan still a good practice in Scrum? Who owns them? What is the format of vision and plan?
3. Will there be questions about User Stories and Points? Isn’t user story outside the Scrum? Why is “User Stories Applied” is recommended as a book in Scrum.org for PSPO?
4. What is the difference between Lean Product Planning and Empirical Product Planning? Whihc knowledge does PSPO test here?
5. What should we know about calculating the value of Product and Project?
Thank you again
Hi Vera,
I am glad you found the post useful. To answer your questions:
1. It may be, but without knowing you and your level of experience better it is hard for me to say.
2. Yes they are very much so. Generally these sit with the Product Owner. The Scrum Guide doesn’t mandate a format so start with what you have currently and then inspect and adapt to improve
3. User stories and points aren’t a mandated part of the Scrum framework so there is unlikely to be much on these topics. As long as you have a good basic understanding it will be enough.
4. There is a big overlap between these 2 topics, but also some differences. There is much to say on this and it is fuel for another blog post in itself.
5. You should know it is important and have some strategies to do so.
Roman Pichler’s book is a little old now, and perhaps not 100% up to the latest Scrum Guide, but I would still recommend it. It covers many of the questions you have asked in more detail than I can go into here.
Give PSPO I a go. You will never now if you have enough knowledge until you try.
I hope that helps.
Regards
Simon