CSM practice exam

This practice exam is offered to those that are preparing to take the Certified Scrum Master exam from Scrum Alliance.

CSM Practice Exam

Practice exam for the Certified Scrum Master class

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1. How much work must the Developers do to a Product Backlog Item they have selected for a Sprint?

A. As much as it is needed to complete the work in conformance with the Definition of "Done"

B. All development work and at least some testing

C. As much as it can fit into the Sprint

D. Analysis, design, programming, testing and documentation.

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2. Who can cancel a Sprint that is undergoing, and why?

A. The Product Owner, when top management has a new priority to complete

B. The Scrum Master, when the Scrum Team projects it can’t complete the work on time

C. The Product Owner, when the Sprint Goal is no longer valuable and therefore it would be a waste to continue the work

D. The Developers, when an impediment cannot be solved within the Sprint

E. The Project Manager, when the resources allocated to a team need to be reassigned

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3. What is the Agile Manifesto?

A. A book published in 2001 that explained the Agile methodology and its benefits

B. A set of 4 Values and 12 Principles

C. A formal document that Agile teams need to subscribe to before starting any work

D. A list of criteria that every Agile team needs to satisfy in order to be “agile”

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4. How is iterative and incremental planning in Agile different than traditional planning?

A. Planning in Agile is considered waste and therefore should be avoided

B. Agile planning is conducted at the beginning of a project and no longer needed once work begins

C. Traditional planning assumes that the risk of change decreases as work gets done

D. Agile planning describes the road ahead in enough details to cover a short distance and then expects that the plan is revisited frequently as new things are discovered along the journey

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5. The Product Backlog is ordered by:

A. Size, where small items are at the top and large items are at the bottom

B. Least valuable items at the top to most valuable at the bottom

C. Whatever is deemed most appropriate by the Product Owner to maximize the value delivered

D. By priorities set by the stakeholders

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6. What is the Scrum Master responsible for?

A. Organizing and prioritizing the Product Backlog

B. Measuring the progress of the work done by the Scrum Team and reporting it to management

C. Acting as Project Manager to coordinate the team’s activities and making sure everyone knows what to do

D. Coaching the adoption of Scrum and facilitating the Scrum events so that their objectives can be met

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7. The Sprint Backlog is aligned to a Sprint Goal, much like the Product Backlog is aligned to a Product Goal

A. True

B. False

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8. During the Sprint, the Developers may update the Sprint Backlog to remove or add work to it, while ensuring that the Sprint Goal remains unchanged. True or False?

A. True

B. False

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9. What is the difference between Teaching, Coaching, and Facilitation? [select all that apply]

A. Teaching starts from a stance of “telling”, Coaching from a stance of “guiding”

B. Coaching starts from a stance of “telling”, Facilitation from a stance of “directing”

C. Coaching is about inspiring personal and professional growth

D. Facilitation is about guiding through a process to achieve an objective

E. All of the above

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10. How does the Daily Scrum support the Scrum values?

A. By respecting the timebox so that everyone has a maximum of 1 minute to answer their three questions

B. By helping the Developers keep the focus on the Sprint Goal and determine what work needs to be done to achieve it

C. By creating an open environment in which team members report status to the Product Owner for transparency

D. By having the Scrum Master direct the activities so that everyone reports to him/her on what they have completed and demonstrate openness

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11. The Increment must be released to the market at the end of each Sprint. True or False?

A. True

B. False

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12. Which are Agile Values among those listed below [select two]

A. Responding to change over following a plan

B. Processes and tools versus individual and interactions

C. Working software is the primary measure of progress

D. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

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13. The Sprint Planning is taking longer than expected and the timebox is almost over. The Developers are asking for more time to review all the PBIs selected for the Sprint. What should the Scrum Master do?

A. Suggest to come back tomorrow and continue the Sprint Planning until everyone feels ready

B. The timebox is 8 hours for a monthly Sprint. When the timebox is over, the meeting is over. The Developers can start the work with what they got, and can continue their discussion throughout the Sprint if needed.

C. Extend the timebox to add another hour or so to the meeting.

D. Leave the meeting. The Scrum Master is not needed anymore and the Developers can complete the discussion on their own.

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14. The CEO stops by and asks the Developers to add an urgent item to the current Sprint. What should the Developers do?

A. Add the item to the current Sprint and drop an item of equal size to maintain velocity

B. Just add the item to the current Sprint and stay longer to finish everything as promised

C. The current Sprint is already committed, so add the item to the next Sprint

D. Let the Product Owner know and ask them to talk with the CEO

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15. How often should Retrospective meetings be held, and why?

A. As long as the Developers deliver a usable Increment at the end of the Sprint, the Retrospective is not necessary

B. Whenever there is something the Scrum Team needs to discuss to improve

C. At the end of each Sprint, as an opportunity to inspect the working processes and find ways to improve

D. At the end of the project, to identify lessons learned and share them with other teams

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16. When does the next Sprint begin?

A. The first Monday immediately after the previous Sprint finished

B. Immediately following the next Sprint Planning

C. When the Product Owner has a “Ready” Product Backlog

D. Immediately after the conclusion of the previous Sprint

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17. What is the recommended size for a Scrum Team?

A. Typically, up to 10 people

B. 3 to 9

C. 7 plus or minus 2

D. Whatever is necessary to have all the skillsets needed to build a product

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18. Who is required at the Daily Scrum meeting? [select all that apply]

A. The Developers

B. The Scrum Master

C. The Product Owner

D. Important stakeholders on the project

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19. What is the role of the Project Manager in a Scrum team?

A. To provide status reporting to top Management

B. To help the Developers in the execution of work during the Sprint

C. There is no Project Manager role in Scrum

D. To assign work to the Developers so everyone knows what to do

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20. What does it mean “a meeting has a timebox”?

A. The event must happen at a set time

B. The event must happen by a given time

C. The timebox is indicative of the expected time, but the event could take more or less time if needed

D. The event can take no more than a maximum amount of time

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21. The Sprint Backlog, after it is formulated at Sprint Planning, cannot change during the Sprint. True or False?

A. True

B. False

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22. What is the main reason for the Scrum Master to be at the Daily Scrum?

A. The Scrum Master does not need to attend, they only need to ensure that the Developers have an effective Daily Scrum meeting

B. So that the Scrum Master understands the status of the work and can report progress to management

C. To document any changes to the plan and to update the PBIs in the Sprint Backlog

D. To make sure every team member answers the three questions

E. All of the above

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23. What is a main responsibility of the Product Owner?

A. Make sure the Developers deliver the work by the promised deadline and ask the team members to work harder if needed

B. Organize the work that the Developers are doing in the Sprint so there are no uncertainties in the process

C. Optimize the value of the product delivered and the return of the investment into the work

D. Monitor the performance of the Scrum Team during the Sprint

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24. Who is responsible for managing the progress of work during a Sprint?

A. The Developers

B. The Scrum Master

C. The Product Owner

D. The Project Manager

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25. What is the timebox for the Daily Scrum?

A. It’s usually held at the same time every day to reduce complexity

B. About 1 minute per person so that everyone has time to participate

C. 15 minutes, regardless of the Sprint duration

D. It’s usually 15 minutes, but it may be more if the team requires more time to problem-solve an issue

Your score is

The average score is 80%

Interested in becoming a Certified Scrum Master? Join us in one of our upcoming classes or contact us.

Practice before taking the CSM exam!

This practice test is developed by Valerio Zanini, a Certified Scrum Trainer with Scrum Alliance, and author of Sprint Your Way to Scrum, the book that contains 50 practical tips on how to accelerate your Scrum.

Take the test and practice your knowledge of Scrum. This is useful for anyone looking to complete their Certified Scrum Master certification.

My recommendation is to read the official Scrum Guide for a full reference on Scrum and to solidify some key concepts before taking the actual CSM exam.

And if you are looking for a training class on CSM, CSPO, and other practices, visit our training section.