Guide to studying for PSPO II

I passed the scrum.org PSPO II certification on the 16th May 2020 with a score of 93.3% and honestly I think the difficulty is overstated. Don’t get me wrong, you need to study and prepare for it, I just don’t think it needs as much knowledge and experience as people make out. I am going to keep this guide as concise as possible, so without further a do let’s get started:

1. Scrum.org Product Owner learning path

Study this from end to end:

Product Owner Learning Path

2. It’s not just the Scrum guide

The PSPO II exam covers a lot more than just The Scrum Guide, study and memorise the following:

• The Nexus Guide
• Evidence Based Management
• Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams
• Scaling Scrum

3. Product Owner Stances

There are also a number of Medium articles by scrum.org contributors, which are useful:

The Preferred Product Owner Stances:

• The Influencer
• The Experimenter
• The Collaborator
• The Decision Maker
• The Customer Representative
• The Visionary

The Misunderstood Product Owner Stances:

• The Manager
• The Gatekeeper
• The Project Manager
• The Clerk
• The Subject Matter Expert
• The Story Writer

4. Top 10 Tips Series

Read the series of “Top 10 Tips” by scum.org contributors:

• Agile Product Roadmaps
• Release Planning
• Product Backlog Management
• Scrum Framework
• Stakeholder Management
• Business Value
• Product Vision
• Agile Product Management

5. Practice Tests

There are not many PSPO II practice tests available online and those which do exist are often out of date and misleading. It is worth going through the following:

Free options:

• PSPO II questions by https://www.thescrummaster.co.uk/
• Scrum Open
• Product Owner Open
• Agile Measurement Open
• Nexus Open
• Mlapsin PSM I Preparation Quiz
• Mlapsin PSPO I Preparation Quiz
• Mlapsin Scaled Scrum Preparation Quiz

Paid options:

• Udemy Course: PSPOII Exam Prep by Andreea Ionică. I honestly found these questions really useful in guiding my learning. It can be bought for £9.99 in one of the frequent Udemy sales.

6. Books

If I was to recommend one book to assist you with learning for the PSPO II it would be The Professional Product Owner by Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham. It costs around £20, but I honestly found this book invaluable for studying for PSPO II and becoming a better product owner.

7. Write Flashcards

I find writing physical flashcards really useful when preparing for exams and certifications. In particular I recommend Herlitz A6 Ruled Record Cards.

Like I said I have kept this guide concise, I hope you find it useful.

Good Luck !