CSM Practice Test 9 — 10 Questions

Question 1

During the Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team identifies a major systemic impediment involving company HR policies that is slowing down delivery. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Take accountability for resolving the organizational impediment by collaborating with leadership to influence changes outside the team.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by leading, training, and coaching in Scrum adoption, which includes helping remove organizational barriers. When impediments lie outside the team's immediate sphere of control, the Scrum Master must champion the issue upward, working with organizational leaders to enact structural changes that enable high performance.

Answer

Instruct the team to ignore HR policies because Scrum rules supersede all standard corporate governance and compliance frameworks.

Answer

Discard the impediment from the Retrospective action plan because organizational culture changes are strictly impossible to achieve.

Answer

Mandate that the Product Owner rewrite the Product Backlog to include tasks specifically assigned to HR department personnel.

Question 2

Which of the following best describes the Product Owner's accountability for the Product Backlog?

Accepted Answer

They have the final say on the ordering of the Product Backlog.. The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog. This includes clearly expressing items, ordering them, and ensuring the backlog is transparent, visible, and understood. This accountability is vital because it creates a single source of truth for what the team should build next, preventing confusion and ensuring the team always works on the highest-value items first.

Answer

They must write every user story personally to ensure quality.

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They are responsible for the implementation details of the backlog items.

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They must update the Product Backlog every time a Developer suggests a change.

Question 3

If a Scrum Team finds that their Scrum Master is absent, can they still hold their Scrum events?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the Scrum Team is self-managing and can run their events.. Scrum events are required for the Scrum Team to function, regardless of whether the Scrum Master is present. The team is self-managing and capable of facilitating their own meetings. While the Scrum Master helps ensure the events are productive, the team's commitment to the process should not depend on the presence of any one individual, reinforcing their independence and maturity.

Answer

No, because the Scrum Master is required to facilitate all events.

Answer

Yes, but they must record the meeting for the Scrum Master to review later.

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No, they must reschedule all events until the Scrum Master returns.

Question 4

Which action is required by the Scrum Master during Sprint Planning?

Accepted Answer

Ensure the event occurs and that participants understand its purpose.. The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the Sprint Planning event takes place and that the participants understand its purpose. They act as a facilitator, ensuring the team stays within the timebox and understands the goal. Their role is to coach the team on how to conduct the event effectively, ensuring the collaborative creation of the Sprint Backlog and clear definition of the Sprint Goal.

Answer

Assign tasks to individual developers based on their technical skills.

Answer

Select the highest-priority items from the Product Backlog for the team.

Answer

Estimate the effort required for all Product Backlog items in the Sprint.

Question 5

Which TWO conditions must be met for a Sprint to be officially canceled before its time-box expires? (Choose TWO)

Accepted Answer

The Sprint Goal becomes obsolete due to significant shifts in company strategy or market conditions.. A Sprint can be canceled only by the Product Owner, and only when the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete due to drastic changes in business conditions, market forces, or technology. This extreme mechanism protects the organization from investing effort in work that no longer holds value. The decision must be based on a clear strategic pivot rather than minor delivery delays or internal team disagreements.

Answer

The Development Team realizes they will finish all backlog items two days ahead of schedule.

Answer

Key developers fall ill, causing a temporary reduction in team velocity for the current iteration.

Answer

The Scrum Master and senior executives mutually agree that the team is moving too slowly.

Question 6

Which statement best describes the primary purpose of the Sprint Retrospective?

Accepted Answer

To identify improvements to increase the quality and effectiveness of the team.. The Sprint Retrospective is the event dedicated to process improvement. By inspecting how the last Sprint went regarding people, relationships, processes, and tools, the team identifies actionable improvements. This is a critical feedback loop for the team's professional growth and velocity improvement. Without this dedicated time for self-reflection, teams are prone to repeating the same mistakes and failing to leverage their collective experience to become more efficient.

Answer

To demonstrate the increment to stakeholders and gather feedback on the product.

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To plan the work for the upcoming Sprint and define the new Sprint Goal.

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To provide a status update to management regarding the team's velocity.

Question 7

A Scrum Master observes that the team's Daily Scrum frequently lasts over 30 minutes, with the team getting lost in technical deep-dives. Which TWO actions should the Scrum Master take to improve the effectiveness of the event?

Accepted Answer

Interrupt long discussions and ask that those topics be moved to a separate 'after-party' meeting.. A Scrum Master focuses on the event's purpose: synchronizing activities and creating a plan for the next 24 hours. By enforcing the timebox and coaching the team on offline discussions, the Scrum Master helps the team maintain focus. These actions are essential for keeping the Daily Scrum efficient and ensuring the event serves as a planning opportunity rather than a status report or technical design session.

Answer

Facilitate the Daily Scrum personally to ensure it stays on track.

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Require every team member to provide a detailed status report to the Scrum Master.

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Extend the Daily Scrum to 45 minutes to allow for full technical discussions.

Question 8

A Scrum Master observes that the Developers are taking too long to reach a consensus during their Daily Scrum. What should the Scrum Master do to support the team?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team on the purpose of the Daily Scrum and help them identify ways to keep it time-boxed.. The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers to synchronize and plan the next 24 hours. When it exceeds this time, the Scrum Master should coach the team on the event's purpose. By reminding them that it is a planning session rather than a problem-solving meeting, the Scrum Master helps restore the event's efficiency while respecting the team's self-management and autonomy.

Answer

Facilitate the meeting and force everyone to speak in a strict rotation.

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Limit the number of people who are allowed to speak during the meeting.

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Suggest that the team move the meeting to an asynchronous communication tool.

Question 9

A team has decided to shorten their Sprint length to one week to increase feedback. What should the Scrum Master ensure the team considers?

Accepted Answer

That they must maintain the effectiveness of all Scrum events within the new timebox.. Shortening the Sprint significantly increases the overhead of the Scrum events. The Scrum Master must ensure the team realizes that the events must be kept lean to fit within the new, tighter timebox. This is a critical competency because the Scrum Master needs to guide the team through the implications of process changes, ensuring they don't sacrifice the quality or the purpose of the events for the sake of speed.

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That they can skip the Retrospective to save time.

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That velocity will naturally double.

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That they should stop using the Definition of Done.

Question 10

During a Sprint Planning event, the Development Team realizes they cannot complete the forecast without understanding a complex third-party API integration. The Product Owner insists the item must remain in the Sprint Backlog. How should the Scrum Master facilitate this resolution?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion to help the team and Product Owner adjust the Sprint Goal and forecast to include a spike for investigating the API.. The Scrum Master facilitates collaboration to align the Sprint Goal with realistic capacity while protecting the Product Owner's accountability for ordering the Product Backlog. Forcing unwanted items compromises sustainability, whereas removing the item or scaling back the forecast allows the team to commit with confidence. This ensures adherence to empirical process control and realistic delivery expectations without undermining trust between the roles.

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Direct the Development Team to work overtime to investigate the third-party API and meet the original commitment without changes.

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Remove the Product Owner from the Sprint Planning meeting until they agree to reduce the scope of the disputed backlog item.

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unilaterally delete the ambiguous backlog item from the Product Backlog to eliminate technical risk for the upcoming Sprint.