How to Score 100% on the PSPO II
I recently passed scrum.org’s Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) II exam with a perfect score on the first try. I had enough time during the exam to identify and correct mistakes. Although it was twice as hard and twice the work as the PSPO 1, the scenario-based PSPO 2 material was twice as interesting. I’ll cover how I prepared, which resources I used, which resources I avoided, how much I studied, and how I learned from mistakes.
Why I took the Exam
I’m not a Product Owner. Most of my time is split between Development Manager and Solution Architect roles. Both roles require face time with customers, daily interaction with a Product Owner (including backlog refinement), and working sessions with architects, developers and engineers. Since my time is often spent on troubleshooting, technology, and architecture (i.e. time with “The Developers”), my motivation is to balance other skills things out, such as agile leadership and collaboration with the Product Owner.
Timeline
I spent around 26 hours preparing for the exam over a 3-week period. Most of my study time was during weekends, with 80% or more of the studying within the first 2 weeks.
Period Days Hours Total
Ext Weekend 3 4 12
Work Week 4 0.5 2
Weekend 2 3 6
Work Week 0 0 0
Weekend 2 3 6
--
26 hours totalI kicked it off with a vacation: a 3-day weekend music festival. Since the festival didn’t kick off until after noon every day, I spent 4 hours each morning studying. I did not think about work or the PSPO 2 at all while I was at the festival. When I came back to work, I got busy, so I studied only 30 minutes per day during weekdays. The next weekend I studied another 6 hours total. After that, I didn’t study at all during the work week, but I felt like I could pass the exam that weekend regardless. I reviewed practice exams for 3 hours on Saturday. On Sunday, the day of the exam, I reviewed with ChatGPT for 3 hours to warm up my brain, and then I took the exam.
The 3 hours of warm up with ChatGPT was unplanned, but on that particular day, I felt I needed a warmup rather than rest. I would not try this approach with an exhausting test such as an AWS certification, but for me, I do better on the scrum.org exams with an hour or so of warm-up.
If my goal was to just pass the exam, I could have lowered my total study time to under 20 hours; however, the scrum.org tests require an 85% to pass. Since the difference between perfection and failure was only 16%, I invested extra time for the best chance at success. The timeframe and number of hours were not pre-determined. They were based on my performance on the practice tests (both score and time), and also the level of comfort I had: how “ready” I felt. My goal wasn’t a perfect score, just a feeling of, “I’ve learned and studied as much as I should before taking the test.”
Strategy
I took the following approach at studying:
- Measure: since my last scrum.org exams were a year ago, assess starting state by taking the free Product Owner Open, the Evidence-Based Management Open, and the Nexus Open assessments back-to-back.
- Study: take a self-paced, online course.
- Measure: take a practice exam. Tag questions I guessed at or thought were difficult.
- Inspect: review tagged questions and questions I got wrong. Identify and categorize those gaps for immediate study.
- Adapt: immediately remediate gaps with 30-minute to 1-hour research/study sessions using resources such as the Scrum Guide, the EBM Guide, and The Professional Product Owner book. Rewatch snippets of the Udemy course (enable transcript mode or subtitles, increase video speed to 1.5x).
6. Repeat step #2 through #5 until higher than 95% for 2 consecutive practice exams.
7. Optional: during the above steps, see how ChatGPT explains the answers to a few tricky questions. I didn’t try this until I felt confident enough with the material to spot ChatGPT’s mistakes. This can be dangerous since ChatGPT was wrong a few times, but it was worth the risk.
8. Repeat step #1 (open assessments) until 100% for 3 consecutive assessments.
What I Used
For the initial video lectures, I used Michael James’ PSPO II Scrum Product Owner Preparation course from Udemy. I had originally taken Valentin Despa’s PSM 1 and PSPO 1 courses on Udemy, but he didn’t have a PSPO II course available at the time. Michael’s PSPO II course was the only one I could find that wasn’t just a set of practice exams. Michael James’ production quality, delivery style, length, and content were spot-on. Although Valentin’s videos were excellent, I liked Michael’s delivery just a bit more. In the area of Evidence-Based Management (EBM), Michael James spent quite some time going over the four Key Value Areas (KVAs): Current Value (CV), Unrealized Value (UV), Time-to-Market (T2M), and Ability to Innovate (A2I). He also covered example Key Value Metrics (KVMs) within each KVA. A lot of the more interesting questions on the exam involved understanding the right KVA or KVM. He also spent almost half the time covering test questions with detailed explanations on the reasoning of correct vs incorrect choices. This teaching style linked the question scenarios to the concepts he presented in the same segment.
If you haven’t purchased videos from Udemy before, you should be aware of these things:
- Never pay full price. Udemy has a sale at least once a month, so videos that normally cost $85 to $135 will be between $12 to $20.
- When you purchase a course on Udemy, it’s yours for life.
- Established authors constantly update their courses, even if the certification changes to a newer version. It’s a great way to get lifetime updates, especially if you ever plan on retesting or recertifying (scrum.org certifications do not expire though).
I cannot emphasize the importance of practice tests enough: they require active decisions rather than passive absorption. It was my primary feedback loop. I took Tech Agilist’s Product Owner Level II Certification Practice Exams, also on Udemy. Their set of 280 practice tests were broken up into 1 beginner test, 4 intermediate tests, and 1 advanced test. The explanations were thorough, and in their Q&A section you can see they consistently respond to student questions and feedback within the same week. A word of caution: I did purchase another set of practice exams from another instructor, but Udemy removed it for some reason. I presume it was quality or a violation of the platform (which could include exam dumping), so buyer beware. I would not place the Tech Agilist’s practice exams in that category due to the level of work they put into the explanations. Many of their questions were harder than the actual exam, which was a good thing. You can also try a sample of their questions for free on their plaform.
I also read Tech Agilist’s Advanced Product Owner Reference Guide several times. That, along with the Official Scrum Guide and scrum.org’s Evidence Based Management (EBM) Guide are the three quick references that were important enough for me to bookmark and print out (I rarely use the printer but make an exception for these type of tests). I dislike memorization, but reading those three short documents completely made a difference after several iterations. I used them during reviews of my practice test results to help understand why I got something wrong.
Scrum.org has a resource search that I found useful in locating guides, blogs, books, papers, videos, and other useful resources based on topic, media type, and keyword search. I went through several dozens of those in order to be immersed into the mindset necessary to do well in their exams.
Finally, I spent 20 to 30 minutes at a time reading relevant sections of the The Professional Product Owner book. The short half-page quizzes at the beginning of the relevant chapters were useful, and the deeper content matched the somewhat brief Michael James material on Udemy. Switching from video to quizzes to articles and back to the book as a reference a dozen times made the book itself much more interesting than just reading it serially.
What I Did Not Do
Professional Product Owner — Advanced (PSPO-A). I did not attend the recommended 2-day PSPO-A course. I dislike the slower pace of most instructor-led classes and the disruption it causes to work, so I prefer to spend my time in self-study mode. Since I am actively working in software development, I am lucky to be able to workshop with my peers on the job, something that may not be an option for everyone. I made sure I understood the EBM Guide, especially the Key Value Areas (KVAs) and the experiment loop. Tech Agilist’s Advanced Product Owner Reference Guide recapped the 5 stages of the Product Owner, the 6 misunderstood stances of the Product Owner, and the 6 preferred stances of the Product Owner. I also used scrum.org’s resource search.
Exam Dumps. Aside from the ethical concern of violating scrum.org’s Standard of Conduct for Assessment, exam dumps would have worked against my goal of learning the material to be more effective at work. Practice exams from a good instructor have well-written explanations that are far more useful and reliable than exam dumps.
Exam Day
A few hours before the exam, I started a chat session with ChatGPT that began with, “I am about to take the PSPO 2 test. Any tips or review to give me before I do it?” Although it was an open-ended start, it listed 9 key review points which included “scenario-based questions,” so I asked it to give me practice questions in several categories. At first, I answered tersely with just the choice (A, B, C, D) and let it read the explanations, but after I while I found it more useful and interactive for me to “show my work” by summarizing my reasons back to it in the form of a mini-essay. Here is one example:
ChatGPT:
During a sprint, the Development Team realizes they’ve underestimated the complexity of a Product Backlog item, and it’s unlikely they’ll complete it within the sprint. What’s the most appropriate action?
A) Push to complete the item at the cost of potential overtime and reduced quality to ensure the sprint goal is met.
B) Remove the item from the sprint and replace it with another of lesser complexity.
C) Inform the Product Owner and collaboratively decide on the best course of action, potentially revising the sprint’s scope or goal.
D) Continue working on the item, but only update the Product Owner at the end of the sprint during the Sprint Review.
My response:
C, so long as we meet the Sprint Goal. Since an unfinished item must not be presented during the Sprint Review, the Development Team needs to collaborate with the Product Owner to see if the work completed during the sprint would meet the Sprint Goal that was defined during Sprint Planning. If not, they should work with the Product Owner on a revised Sprint Goal that still provides value in accordance with the Product Goal. If the Scrum Team cannot come to an agreement, as a last resort the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the sprint, but this is rare and should be avoided, so the two other options I mentioned are preferred.
ChatGPT:
Your grasp of the material is spot on!
Feedback on Question 4: C) “Inform the Product Owner and collaboratively decide on the best course of action, potentially revising the sprint’s scope or goal.”
You’re absolutely right. Open communication is one of the foundational principles of Scrum. When challenges arise, it’s essential for the Development Team to engage with the Product Owner promptly. Together, they can determine the best path forward, ensuring alignment with the Sprint Goal and overall Product Goal. And as you correctly noted, while canceling a sprint is an option, it’s a last resort and is rarely exercised.
Regarding the other options: A) Quality should never be compromised, and consistent overtime is not sustainable. B) Simply replacing an item might not align with the sprint’s objectives and could result in loss of focus. D) Waiting until the Sprint Review to inform the Product Owner of significant challenges deprives the team of the opportunity to adapt and collaborate effectively.
Fantastic insights! Ready for the final challenging scenario?
Although ChatGPT is both impressive and supportive in its response (almost too agreeable), it also unexpectedly gave me an incorrect answer on a basic PSM 1 or PSPO 1 question. I have reworded it slightly here so as to not lift the original practice question:
My question:
Is the Product Owner required to be present at the Sprint Retrospective?
A. Yes, attendance is mandatory. The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to assess and improve itself.
B. No, the Product Owner should not be allowed. The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to assess and improve itself.
C. No, the Product Owner is optional. Attendance is only required when the Product Owner gets invited by the Scrum Master.
ChatGPT:
The best answer is C. The Product Owner is optional. Attendance is only required when the Product Owner gets invited by the Scrum Master.
My response:
Please quote the “Sprint Retrospective” section in the 2020 Scrum Guide. It should be 11 sentences.
ChatGPT:
I apologize for the confusion earlier. Here is the “Sprint Retrospective” section from the 2020 Scrum Guide:
“The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness. The Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went with regards to individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done. Inspected elements often vary with the domain of work. Assumptions that led them astray are identified and their origins explored. The Scrum Team discusses what went well during the Sprint, what problems it ran into, and how those problems were (or were not) solved. The Scrum Team identifies the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness. The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible. They may even be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next Sprint. The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint. It is timeboxed to a maximum of three hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter.”
I hope this provides clarity. Let me know if you have further questions!
My response:
That is correct. Explain why/how you made the initial error, and why the other response is correct.
ChatGPT:
I apologize for the oversight. Here’s the clarification:
Initial Error: When you first asked, “Is the Product Owner required to be present at the Sprint Retrospective?”, I provided a generic response without referring to the specific guidelines of the Scrum Guide. This led to a misinterpretation on my part.
Correct Response: As per the 2020 Scrum Guide, the Sprint Retrospective is for the entire Scrum Team, which includes the Product Owner, the Development Team, and the Scrum Master. The purpose of this event is for the team to inspect its past actions and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the subsequent Sprint. Given the collaborative nature of Scrum and the importance of the Product Owner’s role in the Scrum Team, their participation in the Sprint Retrospective is indeed essential. This ensures that all perspectives, including that of the Product Owner, are taken into account when reflecting on the past Sprint and planning for improvements.
Again, I apologize for the confusion and appreciate your understanding.
My response:
Do you recall which sources you used initially to create your generic response?
ChatGPT:
I don’t have direct access to my training data or individual datasets, but I was trained on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available data in multiple languages. This corpus was used to pre-train me on a range of language tasks, such as language modeling, text completion, and text classification. I then fine-tuned on specific tasks using custom datasets prepared by OpenAI.
When answering questions, I don’t “recall” in the human sense but generate responses based on patterns in the data I was trained on. My initial generic response was based on the patterns from this vast amount of data, which might not always align perfectly with specific sources like the Scrum Guide.
After a few hours of interacting with ChatGPT and double-checking a few things, I was warmed up. I closed out all my other browser sessions, paused notifications, and took the exam.
The PSPO 2 exam has a time limit of 1 hour to answer 40 questions. That’s 1.5 minutes per question. The PSPO 1 had twice as many questions (80 in one hour). The PSPO 2 questions were longer and more complicated than PSPO 1, but the actual exam questions seemed slightly easier than most of the study questions. Since the exam is an open book exam, I did have copies of the EBM Guide and Scrum Guide by my side, but I never opened them.
I finished my first pass through the test in less than 25 minutes. I did tag a couple for review because I felt I had “guessed” at the answer, but after careful re-reading of the questions, I resolved my confusion. After correcting one of the questions, my doubts went away.
Since I still had plenty of time to review, I re-read all my responses on my 3rd and final pass. I discovered another mistake in an untagged question early into the first 1/3 of the test. The untagged question I got wrong was a “best two out of six” question. The incorrect option was an “only” statement and the very different correct option involved a “should” statement.
On the PSPO 1 test I took last year, I also had extra time to review all my questions, so back then I changed an answer I was unsure of. Since that was the only question I got wrong, I knew I should have left it alone; however, this time around on the PSPO 2, I had no such doubts. I had enough time to correct the only error I could spot, so I was satisfied. Before I hit the final button to wrap up the PSPO 2 exam, I knew I would be close to getting them all. If I missed anything, it’s something I just could not see no matter how long I looked. That was good enough for me. I knew if I hung around for too long, I’d get in my own way. With 15 minutes to spare after a 20-minute review, I ended the test.
Next Steps
After the test I went to Credly to share my new credentials. The next day, I started thinking about the time and effort I put in. I felt that I slightly overstudied. The deep dives forced me to cover a lot more than I would have done if getting the PSPO 2 certification was my only goal. Since overdoing it isn’t necessary a bad thing, I looked back at where my deep dives started to lead me: the Professional Agile Leadership — Evidence-Based Management Certification (PAL-EBM). The day after the exam I pre-ordered a copy of Unlocking Business Agility with Evidence-Based Management: Satisfy Customers and Improve Organizational Effectiveness. While waiting for that, I watched the first 12 videos from Agile for Humans’ “Evidence-Based Management — Free EBM Training Course” on YouTube. After EBM, I’ll continue to the PSPO III essay exam; however, I’d like to apply what I have learned hands-on for a year or so before attempting it. In the meanwhile, I’m sharing what I’ve learned with my teams so that they can level up and enjoy the journey like I did.
