How To Pass SAFe Certification Exams

Tips and Advice To Help You Pass Scaled Agile’s Exams From a SAFe Trainer

Published in

Lean-Agile Mindset

10 min readApr 3, 2024

Over the last couple of years, I have been teaching SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) classes and have noticed that many learners enjoy the classroom experience, but dread the exam. According to research 25–40% of students suffer from some level of test anxiety.

In this article, I discuss everything you need to know about the SAFe certification process and share some tips to help you prepare for and pass the exam, and hopefully reduce test anxiety.

What is a SAFe certification?
Who should consider SAFe certification?
How to become SAFe certified?
How much does SAFe certification cost?
What is the format for the SAFe exams?
Five tips to help you pass your SAFe certification exam
How to retake the SAFe exam?
What to do after you pass your SAFe exam?
How to renew your SAFe certification?
FAQ: How difficult are the SAFe exams?
FAQ: Can I take a SAFe exam without attending a course?

Note: If you already know all about the certifications and just want tips on how to pass the exam, then skip to the middle of this article.

What is SAFe certification?

SAFe certification is a professional credential that validates that you have attended SAFe training and demonstrated a certain level of knowledge by passing an exam.

SAFe is an enterprise-level framework designed to enable business agility. If you would like a beginner’s guide to SAFe, then read my SAFe 101 article below.

SAFe 101: A Beginner’s Guide to the Scaled Agile Framework

What is SAFe? How to learn about SAFe? (SAFe resources) How to start doing SAFe at your organization?

medium.com

Scaled Agile currently offer thirteen* different SAFe courses, which are tailored to different roles or contexts.

*As of 2024 Scaled Agile also offer a third-party course called Agile HR Explorer (AHRE).

You can explore an overview of these courses via the link below.

Which SAFe® Course is Right for You?

Use our Course Wizard to find the SAFe® course that's right for you. Start the path toward your Scaled Agile…

scaledagile.com

Who should consider SAFe certification?

SAFe certification is for anyone who wants to learn about SAFe, and over one million people have been SAFe certified worldwide. This includes (but is not limited to):

Leaders who are interested in implementing SAFe
Agile team members who are part of an Agile Release Train (ART)
People who are taking on new roles or responsibilities (example: new Release Train Engineers)
Stakeholders who interact with the ART and use the solutions it develops

SAFe is typically used at larger organizations that are developing solutions (products, services, software) which require multiple Agile teams to collaborate to deliver.

Certified SAFe professionals are the people who work in these enterprises and have undertaken SAFe training, and ideally include Agile team members, leaders, stakeholders, etc.

How to become SAFe certified?

Becoming SAFe certified is a relatively simple two-step process:

Attend a SAFe training course
Pass the associated exam

Courses can be in-person or virtual, and public or private (delivered within your organization).

You can find a list of public courses here: Training Calendar | Scaled Agile

What is the cost of SAFe certification?

The cost of your first SAFe exam attempt is include in your course cost.
See the sections below for further information on retake costs (usually $50USD) and renewal costs ($195 or $295, except for SPCs).

What is the format of the SAFe exams?

SAFe exams are all taken online, in your web browser, via your SAFe Studio account (which is created when you register for a course). The exam is closed book, but it not proctored (supervised).

Depending on which exam you are sitting you will have:

45 or 60 multiple choice questions (with four options)
Passing scores range from 70 to 80%
An exam duration of 90 or 120 minutes

Exam questions are all multiple choice (four options) with one correct answer (see image below for an example).

Mockup of a typical SAFe exam question — Image by author

The multiple-choice questions tend to be similar to or variations of:

What is the primary purpose of x?
Which of these statements is true?
Which event does x occur in?
Situation described — what value is demonstrated here?
What are 3 types of x?

Five tips to help you pass your SAFe exam

Over the years I’ve sat quite a few SAFe exams (courses, version upgrades, and teaching enablements). Below are my top five tips to help you pass your SAFe exam.

#1 Review the Exam Study Guide, and the listed articles from the end of the lessons

Scaled Agile publish an Exam Study Guide page for each course. This page contains useful info about the exam format, but crucially it also provides a percentage breakdown of the topics that appear in the exam (i.e. 29–33% of the exam is focused on Agile Product Delivery).

This information will help you know where to focus your efforts when studying.
i.e. In Leading SAFe, Lean-Agile Leadership (29–33%) and Agile Product Delivery (29–33%) make up a much larger part of the exam than Lean Portfolio Management (12–14%).

Screenshot from Leading SAFe 6.0 Exam Study Guide

Below are links to the SAFe Exam Study Guides:

In your workbook (which you receive when you enroll onto a course) each chapter ends with a list of the articles that were referenced during that lesson. These articles are pages on https://scaledagileframework.com/.

It is really important that you fully read these articles (pages), as some of the material may have only been covered briefly during the course.

#2 Understand the difference between theory and practice

Some people attend SAFe training having no prior experience of SAFe, while others attend having worked in a SAFe environment for years.

While those with practical SAFe experience typically find the course and exam easier than those without, it is important to understand that practice and theory are not the same thing.

It’s great if you have first-hand experience of PI Planning events, but that might not necessarily help you answer the three dimensions of Organizational Agility, or successfully identify a Quality Practice for Hardware.

Also, it is also important to be aware of any differences between your organization’s ways of working, and how Scaled Agile defines SAFe.

#3 Practice, practice, practice with the mock exam

Scaled Agile have a mock exam which you access via your SAFe Studio account, which replicates the exact experience of the actual exam. Infact, sitting the mock exam is a required step before starting the actual exam.

You can sit the practice exam as many times as you want. If you do this, you might notice that the questions do not actually change, although the order does. I highly recommend looking up the answers you got wrong, and repeating the practice until you are consistently scoring 90% or more.

The difficulty of the mock and actual exam is intended to be similar, but some of my learners have told me that they have found the actual exam questions to be slightly more difficult.

#4 Set yourself up for success on the day

The SAFe exam is not dissimilar to any other online exam you might sit. So these are general exam tips which apply:

Ensure you have a strong internet connection.
Make sure you won’t be interrupted or distracted during the 90 or 120 minutes.
Manage your time carefully. You have 2 minutes per question, which should be plenty. Move on if you get stuck, as you can always come back to a question later.
Read the questions carefully. There are no trick questions in the exams but it’s easy to get the various levels and artefacts confused.
i.e. there is a Team Backlog, ART Backlog, Solution Train Backlog, and a Portfolio Backlog.
Make sure you are well hydrated, fed, and rested. These all factor into our exam performance.

#5 Take the exam sooner rather than later

You have 30 days to attempt the exam after attending the course. However, I would advise you to sit the exam earlier if possible. Many SAFe trainers have noted that there is a correlation between learners who pass the exam, and learners who sit the exam early. This is hardly surprising as it is easier to pass an exam when the knowledge is fresh in our minds.

How to retake the SAFe exam?

If things don’t go your way try not to be too disheartened. You can retake the exam at a cost of $50USD per attempt (except for SPC which costs $250).

Try to study the areas you scored lower in between retakes. I have noticed that learners tend to score lower on unfamiliar areas.
i.e. Agile team members often struggle on LPM questions, while managers may be less confident answering questions that are technical or that cover team practices.

First retake — May be taken immediately after the first failed attempt.
Second retake — 10 days+ after the first retake.
Third retake — 30 days+ after the second retake.
All subsequent retakes require a 30-day wait.

What to do once you’ve passed your SAFe exam

After passing the exam you will receive a digital certificate, similar to the one below.

You can also opt in (with Credley) to receive a digital badge, which can be used to verify your credentials.

Certified SAFe® 6 Practice Consultant was issued by Scaled Agile Inc to Tom Boswell.

A Certified SAFe® 6 Practice Consultant (SPC) is a SAFe implementation professional responsible for training leaders…

www.credly.com

What is the renewal cost of SAFe certifications?

SAFe certificates need to be renewed annually to be valid.

As of 2023 SAFe have three membership tiers

SAFe Expert Membership Tier ($995USD/year + tax) for SPCs and SPCTs
SAFe Advanced Membership Tier ($295/year + tax) for: Agile Product Management (APM), Lean Portfolio Management (LPM), Release Train Engineer (RTE), SAFe Advanced Scrum Master (SASM), SAFe for Architects (ARCH), and Agile Software Engineer (ASE).
SAFe Foundational Membership ($195/year + tax) for: SAFe Agilist (SA), Safe Practitioner (SP), SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), SAFe Government Practitioner (SGP), SAFe DevOps Practitioner (SDP), and Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM).

You can read more about membership and tiers via the following links:

General Membership Renewal FAQs (scaledagile.com)

What are Scaled Agile’s Membership tiers for SAFe Studio?

FAQ: How difficult are SAFe exams?

One frequently asked question is how difficult are SAFe exams? The answer of course is very subjective, and is affected by a range of things including, the learner’s prior knowledge, level of test anxiety, the quality of the course that was delivered, how busy the learner is with other things, etc.

My experience as both a learner and course instructor is that the majority of the class typically pass if they prepare properly. Although there are occasionally surprising outliers, such as the person who passes with 100% having seemingly not engaged in the class at all, or a keen but unfortunate person who fails multiple times by 1%.

The SAFe courses do vary in difficulty and Scaled Agile used to indicate competency level in the 5.0 Exam Study Guides. They have removed this in the 6.0 versions, but you infer from the membership tiers, which indicate Foundational > Advanced > Expert

FAQ: Can I take the exam without attending a course?

SAFe certifications are credentials that validate that you attended SAFe training, as well as proving knowledge. You can only sit the SAFe exams and become certified if you have attended the class.

Summary

Thanks for reading this article, I hope you have found it useful 😊

If you only take a few points from this article, it should be:

After attending the course, review the Exam Study Guides and read all of the (SAFe website) articles listed at the end of your lesson in your workbook
Practice using the mock exam until you score at least 90%
Set yourself up for success on the day by ensuring you have a suitable environment for sitting the exam

Best of luck with your exam!

Please connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/tom-boswell/ if you want to chat about SAFe or Agile.

You can also reach me via www.tomboswell.com

If you want to read more of my articles about SAFe, Agile, and Scrum please follow me on Medium here https://blog.tomboswell.com and/or subscribe to my newsletter.