Comments on: Scrum Gathering – Orlando Florida – Beta CSM Exam

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:57:12 +0000

certification sample test…

I can’t believe I missed this! I’m going to have to do some more reading me thinks….

By: AgileMan

AgileMan — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:26:02 +0000

One thought that occurred to me as I read this was: what’s considered a passing grade for the exam, and is your grade published/certified, or simply the fact that you passed? In other words, is there any externally-discernible difference between 2 “exam passers”, where one scored 51% (assuming that’s a pass) and the other scored 100%? I’m not advocating one way or the other here, because I (like Mishkin) tend not to place a lot of importance in exam results (especially certification exams). But I’m just curious.

By: ogourment

ogourment — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:34:56 +0000

That’s smart. The only thing is it might lead to people discussing details of the exam questions during the training. At least, it would be between the trainer and people who have already passed the test. But it could create a situation where students feel that it’s ok to discuss the exam details.
Another path to explore would be to have the ScrumMaster training material divided between a “core” that must be taught “as is”, and a “non-core”. And/or have variations/personalizations/”improvement” on the core taught but with mention that they are variations, so that students know they are expected to answer the other way. The advantage is that it clearly presents the way other people might do “Scrum” and also generate healthy discussions on the “why” of the variation.

By: Richard Lawrence

Richard Lawrence — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:16:17 +0000

I like the test first approach. Two days really isn’t enough to prepare someone for the day to day requirements for the ScrumMaster role. Ensuring a minimum level of knowledge going in would allow the course to go deeper than if you have to teach with the assumption that some portion of the class didn’t do the reading.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:25:49 +0000

I hadn’t thought of that! This would indeed be a fantastic way of assessing a participant’s needs. In fact, we do this in our course on a daily basis. In our three day course, we do a knowledge test every afternoon and use the results to adapt our focus on the training for the next day. The test we use internally is not at all standardized, and we are still new at trying this out, but it is similar to the idea you have suggested. Thanks!!! – Mishkin.

By: aaron

aaron — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:56:20 +0000

What is also nice about this test-first approach, it would allow the curriculum to be designed a little around the outcome of the assessment and address weaknesses in either the test or student knowledge.