PSM II Professional Scrum Master II: Study Guide and Exam Tips 2026

What is the PSM II?

The Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II) is Scrum.org's advanced Scrum Master certification. It sits above the PSM I in the Scrum.org credentialing ladder and is designed to validate that a Scrum Master can handle complex, real-world team dynamics, organizational impediments, and advanced facilitation scenarios — not just recite the Scrum Guide. The PSM II is fully online, proctored by honor system, and consists of 30 situational questions that must be completed in 90 minutes, with a passing threshold of 85%.

PSM II vs PSM I: The Critical Differences

The PSM I tests whether you understand the Scrum framework as defined in the Scrum Guide. Questions are largely definitional: What is the Scrum Master's role? Who orders the Product Backlog? The PSM I pass rate is relatively high because most candidates who have taken a Scrum course can answer these questions correctly.

The PSM II is fundamentally different. It tests judgment in ambiguous situations. Instead of asking "What does the Scrum Guide say?", it presents a realistic scenario — a dysfunctional team, a conflicted stakeholder relationship, a Sprint Review that is going poorly — and asks you to choose the best course of action from several plausible options. Many wrong answers are partially correct, making it easy to rationalize poor choices. You will also encounter questions on empiricism, scaling Scrum, and coaching stances that go well beyond PSM I territory.

• PSM I: 80 questions, 60 minutes, 85% to pass, open-book.
• PSM II: 30 questions, 90 minutes, 85% to pass, open-book. Fewer questions, harder questions, same threshold.

Advanced Scrum Concepts Tested on PSM II

The PSM II goes significantly deeper than the Scrum Guide alone. Prepare for questions on these topics:

• Empiricism: Understanding transparency, inspection, and adaptation as a coherent system — not just buzzwords. How does the Scrum Master ensure empiricism is not just performative?
• The Scrum Master as coach: Coaching stances (teacher, mentor, facilitator, coach), when to use each, and how to avoid creating dependency.
• Servant leadership and organizational change: How to remove systemic impediments that the team cannot remove themselves. Managing upward and sideways, not just downward.
• Scaling Scrum: Nexus framework basics, dependencies between Scrum Teams, the Nexus Integration Team role.
• Advanced facilitation: Handling conflict in retrospectives, dealing with a dominant voice in planning, managing psychological safety.
• Done and quality: Negotiating the Definition of Done, managing technical debt as a Scrum Master, distinguishing undone work from product backlog items.

How to Approach PSM II Situational Questions

The single most important mental model for the PSM II is this: the correct answer almost always supports empiricism, team self-management, and long-term systemic improvement over short-term fixes. If an answer option fixes the immediate symptom but does not address the root cause, it is probably wrong.

• Eliminate answers that bypass the Scrum Team: The Scrum Master does not assign tasks, resolve team conflicts for the team, or override the Product Owner's backlog ordering.
• Prioritize answers that build team capability: Coaching, facilitating, creating space for the team to solve problems themselves are hallmarks of strong PSM II answers.
• Watch for "manager" behaviors disguised as leadership: Escalating to the team's manager, reorganizing the team, or deciding the Sprint Goal on behalf of the team are red flags.
• Re-read each scenario slowly: At 3 minutes per question, you have time to think. Use it. Rushing is how candidates fail at 85%.

PSM II Pass Rate and Difficulty

Scrum.org does not publish official pass rates, but community surveys and training provider data consistently suggest that the PSM II first-attempt pass rate is in the 50-60% range — significantly lower than the PSM I, despite both having an 85% passing threshold. The difficulty is not raw Scrum knowledge; it is the ability to reason through realistic scenarios where multiple answers feel right. Candidates who fail the PSM II typically report scoring 75-80% — just below the threshold — with wrong answers concentrated in coaching stance and organizational dynamics questions.

Best PSM II Study Resources 2026

• The Scrum Guide (2020): Read it five times minimum. PSM II questions are grounded in it even when they go beyond it.
• Mikhail Lapshin's PSM II preparation site: The most targeted free resource available. Practice scenarios with detailed explanations of why each answer is right or wrong.
• Scrum.org Nexus Guide: Required reading for scaling questions.
• "Coaching Agile Teams" by Lyssa Adkins: Essential for coaching stance questions. Read at minimum chapters 1-5.
• Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master Open: The free PSM I-level assessment from Scrum.org. If you are not scoring 100% here, you are not ready for PSM II.
• Certify Copilot AI: Use it during practice scenario sessions to get deep explanations of why situational answers align or conflict with Scrum principles, in real time without breaking focus.