Free Scrum PSM II practice questions

10 free Scrum PSM II practice questions with the correct answer and a full explanation for each, taken from the CertStash pack of 221 questions. Work through them, then open each answer to check your reasoning.

Question 1

A Scrum Master is not only a servant-leader to the Scrum Team and organization, it's also considered a management position.

Which three activities describe what a Scrum Master manages as reflected by the Scrum Guide? (Choose three.)

  1. Reporting on the performance of the Sprint.
  2. The way Scrum is understood and enacted within the organization.
  3. Managing the capacity and utilization of each Development Team member.
  4. Managing the process in which Scrum is applied.
  5. Managing the Product Backlog items and work in the Sprint Backlog.
  6. Removing organizational impediments that limits the team's progress and productivity.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B, D, F

B. The way Scrum is understood and enacted within the organization. D. Managing the process in which Scrum is applied. F. Removing organizational impediments that limits the team's progress and productivity. The Scrum Master manages three key areas: how Scrum is understood and enacted within the organization (B), the process in which Scrum is applied (D), and removing organizational impediments that limit team progress (F). These reflect the servant-leader role focused on enabling the team and organization to succeed with Scrum. The Scrum Master does not manage individual team member capacity, report on sprint performance as a primary responsibility, or manage the product backlog, those are Product Owner and Development Team functions.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Reporting on Sprint performance is not a primary management responsibility of the Scrum Master; transparency emerges from Scrum events.
  • C. Managing team member capacity and utilization is not the Scrum Master's role; the Development Team is self-organizing.
  • E. Managing Product Backlog items and Sprint Backlog work belongs to the Product Owner and Development Team respectively, not the Scrum Master.

Question 2

An organization has just hired you as a new Scrum Master to help them transition their teams from their current traditional process to Scrum. The teams are currently structured to specialize in a single function. This is also known as component teams where a team would only address a single layer (i.e. design, frontend, backend, database, testing,

etc.). You've introduced the concept of cross-functional teams where all the skills needed to produce business functionality, from end to end, are inside of a single team.

What should you keep in mind when transitioning from siloed teams to cross-functional teams? (Choose two.)

  1. It is easier to compare the performance between cross-functional teams in order to identify to which teams to assign tasks and which teams need additional coaching.
  2. Newly formed teams will need time to stabilize before reaching their peak performance. During the initial stages of forming, performance will suffer and productivity may be low, although even then delivery of business value is still likely to increase.
  3. Without feature teams, you cannot do Scrum. Postpone Scrum adoption until the teams are reorganized in feature teams.
  4. People from the different layers and components will need time to become accustomed to working and delivering unified functionality together as one Scrum Team thus productivity may suffer.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B, D

B. Newly formed teams will need time to stabilize before reaching their peak performance. During the initial stages of forming, performance will suffer and productivity may be low, although even then delivery of business value is still likely to increase. D. People from the different layers and components will need time to become accustomed to working and delivering unified functionality together as one Scrum Team thus productivity may suffer. When transitioning from component teams to cross-functional feature teams, two critical factors must be understood: newly formed teams need stabilization time before reaching peak performance, and initial productivity may suffer even though business value delivery can still increase (B), and team members from different layers need time to adjust to working together on unified functionality, which may temporarily reduce productivity (D). These reflect the reality of team formation and the learning curve involved. Comparing cross-functional teams is not easier, and Scrum can be adopted with component teams present, though cross-functional teams are the ideal model.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Cross-functional teams are actually harder to compare fairly due to their varied composition and interdependencies compared to specialized teams.
  • C. Scrum can be adopted with component teams; feature teams are ideal but not a prerequisite for Scrum adoption.

Question 3

Paul is a Product Owner for multiple products. Each product is allocated a dedicated Scrum Team and a set budget. Based on the average velocity of a previous product release, Paul had estimated a new product to take 9 Sprints to complete. The average velocity of the previous product release was 50 completed units of work per Sprint. Over the first 3 Sprints, the Development Team reported an average velocity of 40 completed units per Sprint, while not fully completing the required integration tests. The Development Team estimates that integration testing would require additional effort to make the increments shippable. The Development Team is unsure if the required velocity is achievable.

What is the most effective way to recover?

  1. In the next Sprints, the Development Team strives to make the selected work as close to 'done' as possible and at the minimum 90% completed. Any undone work is divided into new Product Backlog Items that will be deferred to the last Sprint in order to maintain stable velocity.
  2. The Development Team informs Paul that the progress he has perceived to date is not correct. The Increment is not releasable. They give Paul their estimate of the effort it would take to get the previous work 'done', and suggest doing that work first before proceeding with new features. The team also re-estimates the effort to make the remaining Product Backlog items 'done', including all integration effort. In the end, it is Paul's call to continue the project or to cancel.
  3. The Scrum Master will manage the Sprint Backlog and assign work to the Development Team members to ensure maximum utilization of each member. He/ she will keep track of unused resources so that it does not impact the budget. Unused budget can be allocated for additional Sprints if needed.
  4. The Scrum Master sets the open work aside to be performed in one or more release Sprints. They remind Paul to find funding for enough Release Sprints in which this remaining work can be done. Up to one release Sprint per three development Sprints may be required. It is Paul's role to inform users and stakeholders of the impact on the release date.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. The Development Team informs Paul that the progress he has perceived to date is not correct. The Increment is not releasable. They give Paul their estimate of the effort it would take to get the previous work 'done', and suggest doing that work first before proceeding with new features. The team also re-estimates the effort to make the remaining Product Backlog items 'done', including all integration effort. In the end, it is Paul's call to continue the project or to cancel.

progress he has perceived to date is not correct. The Increment is not releasable. They give Paul their estimate of the effort it would take to get the previous work 'done', and suggest doing that work first before proceeding with new features. The team also re-estimates the effort to make the remaining Product Backlog items 'done', including all integration effort. In the end, it is Paul's call to continue the project or to cancel. Recovery starts with transparency about the real state of the product. The Development Team must tell Paul that the Increments are not releasable because integration testing is incomplete, give an honest estimate of the effort needed to bring that work to 'done', and re-estimate the remaining Product Backlog with all integration effort included. With accurate information, Paul can make an informed economic decision to continue funding the product or to stop it, which is the Product Owner's call.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Declaring work 90% complete and pushing the remainder into later items creates undone work and hides technical debt behind an artificially stable velocity.
  • C. The Scrum Master does not own the Sprint Backlog, assign tasks or manage budgets and utilization, all of which break the Development Team's self-organization.
  • D. There are no release Sprints in Scrum, and the Scrum Master has no authority to defer work or direct the Product Owner to secure extra funding.

Question 4

Paul, a Product Owner of one of the Scrum Teams, has been attending the Daily Scrum. During the Daily Scrum, the Development Team members have been reporting their daily work to Paul so that he is aware of their Sprint progress and what each member is working on.

What is the best action for the Scrum Master to take?

  1. Ask Paul to stop attending the Daily Scrum.
  2. Coach Paul and Development Team members on the purpose of the Scrum events and let them figure out what to do in this situation.
  3. Allow the Paul to participate in the Daily Scrum as he is responsible for the success of the product.
  4. Facilitate the Daily Scrums to avoid any conflicts between the Development Team members and Paul.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B. Coach Paul and Development Team members on the purpose of the Scrum events and let them figure out what to do in this situation.

purpose of the Scrum events and let them figure out what to do in this situation. The Scrum Master's best action is to coach Paul and the Development Team on the purpose of the Daily Scrum, which is for the Development Team to synchronize work and plan the next 24 hours, not to report status to management. Once both parties understand the purpose, they can determine the appropriate participation level. This approach respects the Scrum Master's coaching role while allowing the team and Product Owner to reach the correct conclusion themselves. Telling Paul to leave ignores coaching; allowing status reporting misuses the event; facilitating to avoid conflict does not address the fundamental issue.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Simply excluding the Product Owner without explanation misses a coaching opportunity.
  • C. Allowing the Daily Scrum to become a status report for the Product Owner undermines its purpose of team synchronization.
  • D. Facilitating around a conflict without addressing the root cause leaves the misuse of the Daily Scrum unresolved.

Question 5

Steven, the Scrum Master, is approached by one of the Development Team members saying that they are not completing regression tests for all of the work they are performing to the level defined in the Definition of Done. They have discussed this with the Product Owner and decided to remove regression testing from the Definition of Done.

Which two actions are the most appropriate for Steven to take? (Choose two.)

  1. Reject the decision as the long term maintainability of the product will be negatively impacted by modifying the Definition of Done.
  2. Accept the decision as a mutual agreement has been made between the Development Team and the Product Owner.
  3. Ask the Development Team and the Product Owner what problem they are trying to solve by altering the Definition of Done and removing regression testing from it. In what ways will this decision impact transparency and quality?
  4. Ask the Development Team and the Product Owner if they are still able to produce potentially shippable product increments by altering the Definition of Done?
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C, D

C. Ask the Development Team and the Product Owner what problem they are trying to solve by altering the Definition of Done and removing regression testing from it. In what ways will this decision impact transparency and quality? D. Ask the Development Team and the Product Owner if they are still able to produce potentially shippable product increments by altering the Definition of Done? Steven should ask probing questions about what problem the team is trying to solve (C) and whether the team can still produce potentially shippable increments without regression testing (D). These questions help the team and Product Owner understand the true impact of their decision on transparency, quality, and releasability. Rejecting their decision unilaterally disrespects their autonomy, and accepting without question fails the Scrum Master's coaching responsibility. The right approach is facilitative inquiry that drives informed decision-making.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. While the Scrum Master can raise concerns, they should not unilaterally reject team decisions without discussion.
  • B. Accepting the decision without exploring its implications abdicates the Scrum Master's coaching and guidance role regarding quality standards.

Question 6

At the end of the eighth Sprint, the internal sponsors are upset and angry with the progress of the product being built. The current state of the product is not as expected and will require additional Sprints and more budget than originally anticipated at the start of the project.

What factors may have led to this? (Choose three.)

  1. The Product Owner has not been engaging with sponsors frequently enough and has not been kept aware of the overall progress of the project.
  2. The sponsors haven't been using the Sprint Reviews to actively engage, and inspect and evaluate progress.
  3. The scope changes have not been tracked adequately and the change request process has not been followed properly.
  4. The stakeholders have not been using the Daily Scrum effectively to track the Development Team's progress.
  5. The Scrum Master has not ensured transparency.
  6. The project plan proposed to the sponsors at the start of the project followed stringently.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: A, B, E

A. The Product Owner has not been engaging with sponsors frequently enough and has not been kept aware of the overall progress of the project. B. The sponsors haven't been using the Sprint Reviews to actively engage, and inspect and evaluate progress. E. The Scrum Master has not ensured transparency. The sponsors' surprise points to broken feedback loops rather than a delivery failure alone. The Product Owner has not engaged sponsors often enough to keep them aware of real progress (A), the sponsors have not used Sprint Reviews to inspect the Increment and evaluate progress themselves (B), and the Scrum Master has not ensured transparency across the artifacts and events (E). Without transparency and regular inspection, adaptation happens too late and expectations drift from reality.

Why the other options are wrong

  • C. Scrum has no change request process; scope evolves through ordering and refining the Product Backlog and inspecting the Increment at the Sprint Review.
  • D. The Daily Scrum is the Development Team's event for planning the next day's work toward the Sprint Goal, not a stakeholder progress report.
  • F. Sticking rigidly to an up front project plan contradicts empirical process control and would not explain sponsors being surprised by the product's state.

Question 7

Three Development Teams are currently building a single product and pulling work from the same Product Backlog. All three teams have identified that they will need Dan, a database specialist, to work full time in their team for the next several Sprints.

What should Steven, the Scrum Master, do to solve this potential problem?

  1. Manage the items in the Sprint Backlogs so that Dan can be utilized evenly for each team.
  2. Assign Dan to the team with the most urgent tasks first and then move him to the next team and so on until the required support is completed.
  3. Facilitate a discussion with all Development Teams on how they want to deal with this issue, and help them implement their preferred solution.
  4. Ask Dan to work with the HR department to recruit and hire additional database specialists. In the meantime, have the Product Owner move items that do not depend on Dan to the top of the Product Backlog.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. Facilitate a discussion with all Development Teams on how they want to deal with this issue, and help them implement their preferred solution.

on how they want to deal with this issue, and help them implement their preferred solution. The Scrum Master should facilitate a discussion with all three Development Teams to surface the constraint and help them design their own solution collaboratively. Teams might choose to rotate Dan, pair specialist work differently, cross-train another member, or restructure their work, the key is that they own the problem and solution. This respects team self-organization and autonomy while the Scrum Master enables resolution. Assigning Dan by management violates team autonomy; managing sprint backlogs to allocate Dan inappropriately places the Scrum Master in a task assignment role; and deferring Dan-dependent work is premature without team discussion.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. The Scrum Master should not manage Sprint Backlogs or make resource allocation decisions for the team.
  • B. Assigning Dan sequentially treats the constraint as a management problem rather than enabling teams to solve it.
  • D. Deferring work without team discussion bypasses their input and inappropriately escalates a constraint they should address collectively.

Question 8

An organization wants to apply Scrum to build a new product and has hired Steven to be the Scrum Master of three new teams that will build the first release. The organization is new to Scrum and asks Steven for advice on how to start.

Which two things should Steven first advise? (Choose two.)

  1. Each Scrum Team has its own Product Backlog with items only their team will be working on.
  2. One Product Backlog to represent all of the known work needed to be done for the product.
  3. Three Product Owners, one for each Scrum Team.
  4. Having one Product Owner to be accountable for maximizing the flow of value throughout the development process and provide transparency on the overall progress.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: B, D

B. One Product Backlog to represent all of the known work needed to be done for the product. D. Having one Product Owner to be accountable for maximizing the flow of value throughout the development process and provide transparency on the overall progress. Steven should advise the organization to establish one Product Backlog representing all known work for the product (B) and one Product Owner accountable for maximizing value flow and providing overall transparency (D). These foundational structures ensure a single, prioritized view of work and clear accountability for value delivery across all three teams. Multiple product backlogs fragment the work and create coordination problems; multiple Product Owners create conflicting priorities and accountability confusion.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Each team having its own Product Backlog fragments the product vision and complicates prioritization across teams.
  • C. Three Product Owners would create conflicting priorities, duplicated effort, and unclear accountability for product value.

Question 9

A Development Team has a total of six members, 4 members who work full time in the office and 2 members who work part time at home. The Development Team is complaining that it is too difficult to synchronize every day and has suggested having the Daily Scrum every other day instead.

What would be three key concerns if the Daily Scrum is held less frequently? (Choose three.)

  1. Impediments are raised and resolved more slowly.
  2. Opportunities to inspect and adapt the Sprint Backlog are reduced.
  3. Less information about the progress will be shared causing the Sprint plan to become inaccurate and reducing transparency over progress toward the Sprint Goal.
  4. The Scrum Master loses the ability to update the burndown chart adequately.
  5. The Product Owner cannot accurately inspect utilization of the individual team members.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: A, B, C

A. Impediments are raised and resolved more slowly. B. Opportunities to inspect and adapt the Sprint Backlog are reduced. C. Less information about the progress will be shared causing the Sprint plan to become inaccurate and reducing transparency over progress toward the Sprint Goal. The Daily Scrum exists so the Development Team can inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt its plan every 24 hours. Meeting every other day means impediments surface and get resolved more slowly (A), there are fewer opportunities to inspect and adapt the Sprint Backlog (B), and less shared information leaves the Sprint plan inaccurate and progress toward the Sprint Goal less transparent (C). For a partly distributed team these gaps widen faster, not slower, so reducing frequency is the wrong remedy.

Why the other options are wrong

  • D. The Development Team, not the Scrum Master, tracks the remaining work shown on a burndown chart, so this is not a concern created by a less frequent Daily Scrum.
  • E. The Product Owner inspects value and progress toward the Product Goal, and individual utilization is not measured or managed in Scrum.

Question 10

Steven is a Scrum Master asked to assist in creating five new Scrum Teams that will be working to build a highly anticipated product. He talks with them about the importance of being able to integrate their Increments by the end of their Sprints. This includes the first Sprints. The product is very important to both the end users and the organization.

Of the choices raised by future team members, what would Steven encourage?

  1. Each Scrum Team delivers Increments in its own code branch. After UAT is performed at the Sprint Review, the code branch is isolated until enough Increments are considered acceptable. All code branches will then be merged during the release phase.
  2. Each Scrum Team delivers functionality at the end of each Sprint. New Product Backlog items will then be added to the next Sprint Backlog to integrate their functionality with the other teams to create a unified Increment.
  3. All Scrum Teams agree on a mutual understanding of 'done' that defines all work necessary to deliver a potentially shippable Increment that includes all previous Increments delivered for the product.
  4. Wait until enough of the infrastructure and architecture is in place before starting the first Sprints. This will increase the success of delivering integrated Increments in Sprint 1.
Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: C. All Scrum Teams agree on a mutual understanding of 'done' that defines all work necessary to deliver a potentially shippable Increment that includes all previous Increments delivered for the product.

'done' that defines all work necessary to deliver a potentially shippable Increment that includes all previous Increments delivered for the product. Steven should encourage teams to establish a shared Definition of Done that ensures all Increments from all teams meet consistent quality and integration standards from Sprint 1 onward. This approach embeds integration requirements into every Sprint rather than deferring it to later phases. Option A delays integration to a release phase, creating risk and violating the commitment to deliver a potentially shippable Increment each Sprint. Option B adds extra work items to integrate, which is inefficient and doesn't establish upfront standards. Option D wastes Sprints waiting for infrastructure when teams can begin delivering value immediately with proper Done criteria. A mutual Definition of Done ensures technical excellence and seamless integration across all five teams.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Isolating code in branches until UAT and merging only during release contradicts the Scrum requirement for a potentially shippable Increment at the end of each Sprint.
  • B. Adding integration work as new backlog items creates waste and delays value delivery rather than building integration into the Definition of Done from the start.
  • D. Waiting for infrastructure before starting Sprints wastes time and delays value production; Scrum teams should begin delivering integrated value immediately with proper standards in place.

That was 10 of 221.

The full Scrum PSM II pack has all 221 questions, each with the answer, the explanation and why the other options are wrong, plus a questions-only copy for timed runs. US$39, paid once, with free monthly updates and a pass-or-your-money-back guarantee.

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