SSM Practice Test 4 — 25 Questions

Question 1

During an Iteration Retrospective, a Scrum team identifies that too many stories were brought into the iteration, resulting in frequent context switching and low completion rates. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to calculate their velocity accurately and commit to a realistic amount of work that matches their capacity.. The Scrum Master should coach the team to establish and respect a realistic Work in Process (WIP) limit, ensuring they commit only to what they can realistically finish based on historical velocity. This prevents overloading the team and fosters a sustainable cadence of continuous flow.

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Require the team to work mandatory weekend overtime to finish all the open stories before the next iteration starts.

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Remove the Scrum Master role from the team and let them self-manage without any coaching on process discipline.

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Assign stories arbitrarily to individual developers so that each person has a separate, isolated task list.

Question 2

A SAFe Scrum Master/Team Coach notices that during Iteration Retrospectives, the team consistently identifies the same improvement action but never implements it. The team agrees the action is valuable but claims they lack time during the Iteration. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a root-cause discussion to understand why the improvement is not being implemented and help the team adjust their Iteration plan or working agreements.. The Scrum Master/Team Coach should first facilitate a root-cause discussion to uncover why the improvement is not being implemented, then help the team adjust their plan or working agreements. This keeps ownership with the team, builds their problem-solving capability, and addresses the real obstacle. Imposing a solution or escalating prematurely would not create sustainable change.

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Escalate the issue to the Product Owner and ask them to reduce the team's Iteration commitment so they have time for improvements.

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Add the improvement action as a mandatory backlog item for the next Iteration and track it like a Story.

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Decide that the improvement is not a priority and remove it from the retrospective action list to avoid frustration.

Question 3

During a SAFe transformation, a Scrum Master notices that the team treats the Iteration Review as a status meeting for the Scrum Master and Product Owner only. Stakeholders are not invited, and no working software is demonstrated. What should the Scrum Master do to correct this when introducing Scrum in SAFe?

Accepted Answer

Invite stakeholders, coach the team to demonstrate the working increment, and use the feedback to adapt the backlog.. The Iteration Review exists so the team can demonstrate a working, tested increment to stakeholders and use their feedback to adapt. When it degrades into a status meeting, the Scrum Master must restore stakeholder participation and a demo of working software. That feedback also feeds the train-level System Demo and helps keep the Agile Release Train aligned to value.

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Convert the Iteration Review into a second Retrospective so the team can focus solely on its internal process.

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Replace the Iteration Review with a written status report distributed to stakeholders at the end of each iteration.

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Ask the Release Train Engineer to present the team's results at the next System Demo instead of holding a team-level review.

Question 4

A Scrum Master is preparing her team for their first ART Sync. The team is unsure what the primary purpose of this event is. What should she tell them?

Accepted Answer

It is where the train's teams and shared services coordinate their work and address dependencies and risks.. The ART Sync is a recurring train-level coordination event where teams, shared services, and other representatives align on progress, dependencies, and risks during PI execution. It complements team-level events like the daily stand-up and is distinct from PI Planning and the Inspect and Adapt. Explaining this purpose helps the team understand how their work connects to the broader train.

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It is the formal event where the train commits to the PI objectives that were drafted during PI Planning.

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It is a retrospective where the train inspects its process and identifies improvement items for the next PI.

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It replaces the daily stand-up for teams on the train so they only need to meet once per week.

Question 5

The ART Sync is becoming a status reporting meeting rather than a synchronization event. How can the Scrum Master help the RTE pivot the meeting?

Accepted Answer

Focus the agenda on dependencies and the ROAM board risks.. The ART Sync is intended for cross-team coordination and risk management, not for reading status reports that could be found in a tool. The Scrum Master should coach the RTE to focus the conversation on dependencies, risks, and progress toward PI Objectives, ensuring the time is spent solving problems.

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Extend the meeting time to allow for more detailed team status updates.

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Require each team to submit a detailed written report before the meeting.

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Cancel the meeting if there are no major issues to report that day.

Question 6

How does the Scrum Master support the Product Owner (PO) during the preparation for PI Planning?

Accepted Answer

By ensuring the Team Backlog is refined and that the team understands the upcoming priorities.. The Scrum Master and Product Owner have a symbiotic relationship. While the PO focuses on content and value, the Scrum Master ensures the process is followed and the backlog is healthy. Supporting the PO in refinement and ensuring the team is prepared helps the entire Agile Release Train have a more successful and efficient planning event.

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By writing the technical acceptance criteria for all the Features in the Program Backlog.

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By selecting the Business Value scores for the team's PI Objectives before the event starts.

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By acting as the primary point of contact for all stakeholder requests to keep the PO focused.

Question 7

An Agile Team's Scrum Master/Team Coach notices that the team relies on them to assign tasks, resolve every technical disagreement, and decide when a Story is done. The team meets its Iteration Goals, but members rarely challenge each other or improve their process. What should the coach do to develop a more self-managing team?

Accepted Answer

Gradually shift decision-making to the team by using coaching questions, reinforcing their Definition of Done, and letting them resolve technical disagreements themselves.. A team that depends on the coach for task assignment, conflict resolution, and completion decisions is not self-managing, even if it hits goals. The coach should deliberately transfer ownership through questioning, a clear Definition of Done, and space for the team to resolve technical debates. This grows capability and reduces the coach as a bottleneck.

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Ask the Release Train Engineer to attend team events and take over facilitation so the team learns from an external authority.

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Introduce a formal RACI matrix that defines exactly who decides each type of task, then enforce it during Daily Stand-up.

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Continue assigning tasks and resolving disagreements because the team is meeting its Iteration Goals and the current approach is working.

Question 8

You are the Scrum Master for Team Beta in an ART that runs three-week sprints, but the System Demo occurs every two weeks at the end of each sprint's second week. Team Beta's latest increment is only partially integrated with Team Gamma's API, though both teams have completed their committed stories. During the System Demo, the Product Manager asks why the end-to-end customer journey cannot be shown. What should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Explain that the System Demo shows the integrated solution from all teams, and facilitate a discussion about the integration gap as an impediment.. The System Demo is an ART-level event that demonstrates the integrated solution from all teams every two weeks. When integration is incomplete, the Scrum Master should ensure the gap is visible and treated as an impediment, not hidden or bypassed. This maintains transparency and allows the ART to inspect and adapt, which is the core purpose of the event.

Answer

Cancel the System Demo for this iteration and schedule a special integration session with Team Gamma instead.

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Request that Team Beta's Product Owner present only the stories that are fully integrated with Team Gamma's API.

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Ask Team Gamma to delay the demo until their API is fully integrated with Team Beta's increment.

Question 9

What is the primary role of the Scrum Master in the ART's Scrum of Scrums?

Accepted Answer

Sharing impediments and dependencies that affect the team's ability to deliver.. The Scrum Master is the representative of the team in the Scrum of Scrums. They should focus on identifying blockers and dependencies that impact the team's ability to meet the PI objectives. By sharing these openly and collaborating with other Scrum Masters, they ensure that issues are escalated or resolved before they become train-wide impediments that delay the entire release schedule.

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Reporting on each team member's daily attendance and hours worked.

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Assigning tasks to other teams to ensure the program gets done on time.

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Acting as the lead architect for all solution components.

Question 10

What is the role of the Scrum Master during the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event?

Accepted Answer

Facilitating the team's participation and helping them identify systemic improvements.. During the Inspect and Adapt, the Scrum Master supports the team in presenting their results and identifying systemic improvement opportunities. They act as a facilitator, ensuring the team's voice is heard in the ART-level discussion. This helps the entire program learn from past mistakes and successes, which is vital for the long-term agility and success of the release train.

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Representing the team to defend their performance against criticism.

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Writing the final report for executive leadership on behalf of the team.

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Directing the team on what to say during the PI System Demo.

Question 11

During Iteration Planning, an Agile Team is struggling to commit to a realistic set of Stories because team members want to pad their estimates to account for unpredictable interruptions. How should the Scrum Master coach the team?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to calculate true available capacity by subtracting routine overhead and meetings, ensuring commitments reflect realistic throughput.. The Scrum Master facilitates predictable delivery by coaching the team to use historical velocity and actual capacity rather than inflated estimates. By establishing transparent capacity planning that accounts for routine overhead, the Scrum Master helps the team build trust with stakeholders through reliable commitments aligned with SAFe principles.

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Mandate that all story estimates be reduced by fifty percent to force the team into accepting a higher workload during the upcoming iteration.

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Take over the estimation process directly to eliminate emotional debates and ensure the velocity metrics remain consistent for management reporting.

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Advise the Product Owner to remove all uncertain backlog items so the team only works on trivial tasks with zero risk of interruption.

Question 12

What is the role of the Product Owner in the daily Stand-up?

Accepted Answer

To listen to the team and answer questions about requirements.. The Product Owner is a key participant in the Stand-up, providing clarity on priorities and requirements. Their presence ensures that the team remains aligned with the business goals as they make daily decisions. This is important because it prevents misalignment and ensures that the work being done during the iteration remains consistent with the goals established in the PI planning process.

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To report their daily status to the team members.

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To direct the team on exactly how to write their code.

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To evaluate the team members' individual productivity.

Question 13

During PI Planning, a team identifies a significant dependency on another team that is not available until the second iteration of the PI. How should the Scrum Master handle this?

Accepted Answer

Document the dependency on the Program Board and coordinate with the other team.. Effective dependency management is a key Scrum Master responsibility. The Scrum Master must ensure the dependency is documented on the Program Board and communicated to the other team's Scrum Master immediately. By raising this early, the teams can negotiate a solution, such as rearranging the order of work, creating a mock, or adjusting their plans, ensuring that the dependency does not become a blocker that halts progress later in the PI.

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Ignore the dependency and hope the other team completes their work.

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Ask the Product Owner to remove the story from the plan entirely.

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Instruct the team to build a placeholder component themselves.

Question 14

An Agile Team in a SAFe portfolio is experiencing severe friction between developers and testers, leading to delayed story completions at the end of every Iteration. What is the primary responsibility of the Scrum Master / Team Coach in addressing this specific team dynamic?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate targeted problem-solving discussions and retrospectives to help the team co-create working agreements that foster cross-functional collaboration and built-in quality.. The Scrum Master facilitates an environment of high trust and collaboration by coaching the team through conflict resolution and process improvements. By actively coaching team members to break down functional silos and adopt built-in quality practices, the Scrum Master helps the group achieve predictable flow and shared accountability for the Iteration Goal, which is essential for successful Agile Release Train execution.

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Escalate the personnel conflict directly to the Release Train Engineer to initiate formal corrective action plans for the resistant team members.

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Reassign the testing tasks to senior developers temporarily to bypass the bottleneck and ensure the current iteration stories meet the Definition of Done.

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Adjust the Team Backlog priorities to isolate developers from testing dependencies until the next Program Increment planning event occurs.

Question 15

During Iteration Planning, an Agile Team attempts to commit to a scope of work that significantly exceeds their historical velocity. What is the primary responsibility of the Scrum Master in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a transparent capacity discussion, helping the team negotiate a realistic scope based on historical velocity and upcoming time off.. The Scrum Master protects the team from burnout and ensures realistic commitments by coaching them to balance demand against capacity. By guiding the team toward sustainable pacing, the Scrum Master promotes reliable execution and prevents the quality degradation associated with overburdened iterations.

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Override the team's concerns and mandate the acceptance of the complete backlog scope to satisfy stakeholder expectations for the Program Increment.

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Redefine the acceptance criteria for all selected Stories to make the implementation faster without consulting the Product Owner.

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Cancel the Iteration Planning event immediately and refer the prioritization conflict to the Release Train Engineer for final resolution.

Question 16

A Scrum Master notices that a team is consistently failing to complete their User Stories during the iteration. What is the most effective first step for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a team discussion to analyze the root cause of the incomplete work.. The Scrum Master must first facilitate a discussion within the team to identify the root cause of the failure to meet the Definition of Done. Rather than blaming the team, the Scrum Master encourages transparency and empirical observation. By understanding whether the issue is related to technical debt, scope creep, or poor estimation, the team can implement targeted process improvements that directly address the specific challenges causing the delays.

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Report the team to the Release Train Engineer for poor performance.

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Assign the incomplete work to the next iteration automatically.

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Require the team to work longer hours to finish the current stories.

Question 17

What is the primary focus of the Scrum Master when coaching a newly formed Agile Team in a SAFe enterprise?

Accepted Answer

Establishing foundational team norms, fostering psychological safety, and coaching the group toward effective self-organization.. Newly formed Agile Teams require intensive foundational coaching on Agile principles, team norms, and self-organization to establish high performance. The Scrum Master focuses on building psychological safety, establishing working agreements, and ensuring clear understanding of built-in quality practices to enable future delivery success.

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Maximizing individual billable hours and enforcing strict time tracking for every hour spent on functional tasks.

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Writing all the user stories and acceptance criteria on behalf of the Product Owner to accelerate backlog grooming sessions.

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Reporting daily individual productivity metrics directly to executive leadership to justify the team's funding.

Question 18

During the first day of PI Planning, a team realizes that a critical architectural dependency will prevent them from completing their committed features. How should the Scrum Master coach the team for the Management Review and Problem-Solving session?

Accepted Answer

Summarize the dependency and its impact on the team's draft plan for the RTE.. The Management Review and Problem-Solving session is a pivotal event where leadership addresses challenges that teams cannot resolve alone. By clearly articulating the impact of the dependency, the Scrum Master ensures that the Release Train Engineer and Business Owners can make informed decisions about scope adjustments or resource reallocation to maintain the integrity of the ART.

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Wait until the second day to see if other teams can take over the work.

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Advise the team to mark the feature as uncommitted without informing management.

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Instruct the team to ignore the dependency and plan as if it were resolved.

Question 19

Which TWO of the following behaviors should a Scrum Master demonstrate during the Team Retrospective? (Select TWO)

Accepted Answer

Ensure that the team identifies at least one actionable improvement to implement next iteration.. The Retrospective is a safe environment for continuous improvement. The Scrum Master must ensure the discussion remains constructive and focused on systemic issues rather than individual blame. By facilitating an environment where the team feels safe to share insights, the Scrum Master helps the team identify actionable improvements that lead to higher quality, better flow, and increased team satisfaction in future iterations.

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Focus the discussion on identifying the individual team member responsible for failures.

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Strictly follow the same agenda format every time to maintain consistency.

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Report all team issues directly to the Release Train Engineer without telling the team.

Question 20

Refer to the exhibit. As the Scrum Master during the middle of the iteration, how should you coach the team regarding their commitment?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with the Product Owner to renegotiate scope based on current capacity.. The exhibit shows the team is currently over-committed based on their velocity of 10 points. The Scrum Master must coach the team to reprioritize their focus with the Product Owner. This is critical in SAFe to ensure the team produces high-value, quality increments rather than attempting to finish everything poorly. It encourages the team to practice radical transparency and effective scope management during the iteration.

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Encourage the team to work overtime to ensure all stories are completed.

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Advise the team to drop Story A and focus on completing Stories B and C.

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Ignore the velocity discrepancy as velocity is only an estimate and not a guarantee.