Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)
PSM I assesses understanding of Scrum as the Scrum Guide defines it: the accountabilities, the events, the artefacts and the commitments attached to them.
An hour, eighty questions, and a pass mark considerably higher than most exams here.
Exam facts
- Exam code
- PSM I
- Level
- Foundational
- Field
- Agile & Scrum
- Duration
- 60 minutes
- Questions
- 80 (multiple choice, multiple answer, true/false), online and unproctored
- Passing score
- 85 % (68 of 80)
- Languages
- English, ChineseScrum.org assessments are English-only; a Chinese PSM I is run through Scrum.org's China partner.
- Price
- 200 USD (read 12 September 2026)
- Validity
- never expires
- Exam delivery
- Unproctored online assessment, started at any time from the Scrum.org account; the attempt is bought directly from Scrum.org
Prerequisites: None. Scrum.org recommends its two-day PSM course but does not require it.
Renewal: None — Scrum.org certificates do not expire and carry no annual fee
Source: exam page at Scrum.org · Price: Per attempt on scrum.org (read 2026-09-12); a Scrum.org PSM course includes one attempt and a free second one within 14 days, otherwise each retry costs 200 USD again
How to prepare
1. The vendor's free learning path
Scrum.org publishes the exam objectives and a learning path free of charge — the authoritative source for scope and weighting. Open the learning path (opens in a new tab)
2. Online courses
Courses and practice questions from the directory that target exactly this exam — details, price and the provider link (affiliate) are on the course page.
Book the exam
Delivered by Unproctored online assessment, started at any time from the Scrum.org account; the attempt is bought directly from Scrum.org. Schedule with Scrum.org (opens in a new tab)
Affiliate disclosure: the course links above is affiliate links — buying through them may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The vendor's learning path and booking links carry no commission.
The combination that makes this unusual is worth stating plainly. No prerequisite, no mandatory course, one modest fee per attempt, no expiry and no annual maintenance. Against certificates that charge to exist each year, that is a genuinely different proposition, and that stands as the clearest practical case for choosing this body over its better-known rival.
| Aspect | This assessment | Typical certification body |
|---|---|---|
| Mandatory course | No | Often yes |
| Expiry | None | One to three years |
| Annual fee | None | Common |
| Primary study text | Free | Usually purchased |
| Pass mark | 85 % | 60 to 75 % |
The pass mark is the difficulty
Eighty-five per cent leaves room for roughly a dozen wrong answers across eighty questions, and the questions are written to punish approximate knowledge of the Guide. Practitioners with years of experience fail this regularly, because the assessment tests the framework as written and not as their organisation has adapted it. Read the Guide as a legal document rather than as a description of your workplace.
Eighty questions in sixty minutes
- Forty-five seconds a question, which is fast, and the item types vary: multiple choice, multiple answer and true or false.
- Multiple-answer items are the trap. They ask which statements are correct, the count is sometimes stated and sometimes not, and a missed option scores nothing.
- Sixty-eight correct answers pass. Twelve wrong is the whole margin, so guessing at speed is a losing strategy on every item.
- English only, with a Chinese-language assessment run through Scrum.org's partner in China.
Unproctored, online, and taken seriously anyway
The assessment is sat online with no proctor, and the obvious question is why anyone trusts it. The answer is the pass mark and the clock. With forty-five seconds a question there is no time to look anything up, and with twelve wrong answers as the entire margin a candidate who relies on the Guide open in another window runs out of time before they run out of doubt. The result is a credential that working practitioners recognise as hard to obtain by accident, which is more than can be said for some proctored papers.
After the pass
Nothing at all. The certificate never expires, costs nothing to hold, and proves what you knew on the day. Scrum.org runs a two-day course that includes one attempt and a free second attempt within fourteen days, which is worth weighing if you believe one sitting will not be enough, and otherwise every retry costs the same fee again. The free material is the Scrum Guide itself plus the open practice assessments, and candidates who can score full marks on those repeatedly, under time, are the ones who pass this at the first attempt. The open assessments are easier than the real one and drawn from a smaller pool, so treat a perfect score there as the entry ticket rather than the finish line, and read the Guide once more the night before.
What a question looks like
Written by us in the exam's style. It is not a real question from any question bank, and we do not publish those.
During a Sprint, the Product Owner asks the Developers to add an item that was not in the Sprint Backlog. The Developers believe it fits within the remaining capacity. What does Scrum say should happen?
The practical answer and the framework's answer diverge, and the assessment wants the framework's. Real teams absorb small additions constantly; the Guide is specific about who owns the Sprint Backlog and what the Sprint Goal protects. Experienced candidates answer from habit and lose marks, which is precisely why an 85 % threshold catches them.
What it costs to get and to keep
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment fee | 200 USD | per attempt. A failed attempt means paying again, which at this pass mark is a real risk rather than a formality (read 12 September 2026) |
| Course, optional | not published | not required. The body's own two-day course includes one attempt and a free second within a fortnight of attending, which is worth weighing against two separate attempt fees (read 12 September 2026) |
| Renewal | not published | none. The certification does not expire and carries no annual fee, which over a decade is the cheapest arrangement of any credential covered here (read 12 September 2026) |
| Study material | not published | the Scrum Guide is published free and is the primary source the assessment is written against (read 12 September 2026) |
How much preparation, from where you are
- You have worked in a Scrum team for years
- Do not assume. The assessment tests the Guide rather than your team's practice, and the gap between the two is where experienced candidates fail. Read the Guide closely and note every place your organisation differs.
- You are new to the framework
- The material is short, free and precise, which makes preparation unusually tractable. The open assessments published by the same body are the best available rehearsal of the question style.
- You are a project manager adding this to a CV
- Expect friction. Several habits from traditional delivery produce confidently wrong answers here, particularly around who decides what and when.
What passing this does not prove
- Whether you can help a team that does not want helping.
- Facilitation, coaching or conflict, which is most of the actual role.
- Anything about scaling beyond a single team.
- Whether the framework suits the work at all, which is a question worth asking.
Against the alternatives
- PSPO I — Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I)
- The product side from the same body, same format, same fee, same permanence. Which you sit should follow which accountability you hold rather than which looks broader.
- CAPM — Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
- Wider project terminology, gated on formal instruction and renewed on a cycle. This is narrower, cheaper to hold and permanent.
- PMP — Project Management Professional (PMP)
- An entirely different order of commitment, with a documented-experience gate and ongoing upkeep. They are not alternatives, though CVs sometimes present them as such.
PSM I — quick answers
Do I need to take the course?
No. There is no mandatory training and many people pass having read the Guide and worked through the free open assessments. The course includes an attempt and a second free attempt shortly afterwards, so it becomes worth considering if you think one attempt is unlikely to be enough.
Why is the pass mark so high?
Because there is no course requirement, the assessment has to carry the credibility alone. Eighty-five per cent is the mechanism for that, and it is why experienced practitioners fail: the questions test the Guide as written rather than the working compromise their team has settled into.
What about the rival Scrum organisation?
The main alternative generally requires attending a course and renews on a cycle with a fee. This does neither. That body has greater name recognition with some recruiters, and this one costs nothing to hold for the rest of your career. We cover only this one, which is worth knowing when you compare.
Is a certificate that never expires worth less over time?
It proves what you knew on the day, and nothing about now. That cuts both ways: no renewal invoice ever, and no evidence of currency either. Put the year beside it on a CV, and expect an interviewer to ask what you have actually run.
How do people with years of Scrum experience fail it?
By answering from their team's version of Scrum rather than the Guide's. Most organisations have adapted the framework, and the adaptations feel like the rules after a few years. The assessment asks about the rules. Reading the Guide slowly, twice, as though it were a contract, fixes most of that.
What comes next
Concepts this exam draws on
Glossary entries with the reason each one matters for PSM I.
- Scrum
The assessment tests the framework as the guide defines it.
- Sprint
Fixed length, fixed goal, and what a Scrum Master protects inside it.
- Product Backlog
Ordering, refinement and the product goal are examined from the Scrum Master's side.
- Definition of Done
The increment's commitment and what happens to undone work.
- Retrospective
The event the Scrum Master is accountable for making effective.
- Agile
The values the framework serves, and the questions that test whether you know the difference.
Last reviewed 12 September 2026 · Getting Digital