Certification exam FAQ
Pass marks, formats, costs, renewals and how long to prepare — for every certification covered here.
General
Yes. All 2,091 questions, the courses and the timed mock exams are free and require no account. Progress is stored in your own browser and never leaves your device.
No, and you should be sceptical of anyone claiming otherwise. Awarding bodies do not release live questions, and sites that offer "real exam dumps" are usually selling copyright infringement of dubious accuracy. Our questions are written against the published syllabus to match the format, difficulty and reasoning the real exam requires.
It depends on what you do rather than on which is easiest. If you work on or alongside a Scrum team, PSM I. If you decide what gets built, PSPO I. If you run or support IT services, ITIL 5 Foundation. If your organisation runs projects under a defined method, PRINCE2 7 Foundation. The comparison pages set out the trade-offs in detail.
For a Foundation-level certification, most candidates need 15 to 25 hours across two to four weeks, assuming some working exposure to the subject. Advanced assessments such as PSM II and PSPO II depend far more on real experience than on study hours — they test judgement, which reading does not supply.
Only loosely, and only if the practice was taken under real conditions. Our mock exams use each certification's actual question count, time limit and pass mark, so a timed score is a reasonable signal. An untimed score with the explanations visible is not.
Scrum.org certifications (PSM and PSPO, at every level) never expire and carry no renewal fee. PeopleCert credentials (ITIL and PRINCE2) carry a three-year renewal. Scaled Agile certifications (SAFe) renew annually with a fee. This ongoing cost is worth factoring in before you choose.
PSM I
You need 85%, which is 68 of 80 questions. This is a high bar by certification standards, and most candidates who fail are within a few questions of it, so precision on artefact commitments and event timeboxes matters more than breadth.
60 minutes for 80 questions, which is 45 seconds per question. Time pressure is the most commonly underestimated part of the assessment, so practising against a running clock matters as much as knowing the material.
Technically yes, since the assessment is taken online and unsupervised. In practice the timing makes lookups impractical: if you have to search for an answer, you have already lost the question.
No. Scrum.org certifications do not expire and carry no renewal fee, unlike PeopleCert and Scaled Agile credentials.
PSM I is assessment-based with no mandatory course and no renewal. CSM from Scrum Alliance requires attending a course and renewing every two years. PSM I is generally regarded as the more rigorous assessment.
PSPO I
You need 85%, which is 68 of 80 questions, in 60 minutes.
No, there is no prerequisite. But roughly a third of PSPO I covers the Scrum framework itself, so candidates who already know it well have a real advantage.
PSM I tests the framework and the Scrum Master accountability. PSPO I tests the same framework plus value, Product Backlog management, stakeholders and forecasting. The overlap is substantial, which is why many candidates take them back to back.
No. Scrum.org certifications are permanent and carry no renewal fee.
ITIL 5
65%, which is 26 of 40 questions, in 60 minutes. It is a markedly lower bar than the Scrum.org assessments.
No. It is closed book and proctored, whether you sit it online or at a test centre.
PeopleCert issues ITIL certificates with a three-year renewal date. You keep it current by logging CPD points, taking another certification in the suite, or resitting.
ITIL 5 launched in February 2026 and is the current version. Take ITIL 5 unless an employer specifically requires the older credential. Much of the ITIL 4 core carries forward, so existing study material is not wasted.
Most candidates need 12 to 20 hours across two to four weeks. The vocabulary is the hard part rather than the concepts, because the exam tests precise definitions.
PSM II
85%, which is 26 of 30 questions, in 90 minutes. Only four wrong answers are allowed.
PSM I asks what Scrum says. PSM II asks what you should do when Scrum does not say. Scenarios run to several paragraphs, several options are plausible, and multi-answer questions award no partial credit.
Not formally, but the assessment assumes complete command of the framework and spends none of its 30 questions testing it. Passing without that foundation is unlikely.
Most candidates who pass have real Scrum Master experience plus 20 to 30 hours of scenario practice. Reading alone rarely gets there, because the skill being tested is judgement.
PSPO II
85%, which is 34 of 40 questions, in 60 minutes.
Evidence-Based Management in depth, product discovery and validation, stakeholder conflict, and forecasting under genuine uncertainty. The framework recall that fills much of PSPO I is assumed rather than tested.
They are comparable. PSPO II gives you 90 seconds per question against 3 minutes for PSM II, so the pressure is different: less deliberation, more instinct built from practice.
SAFe POPM
80%, which is 36 of 45 questions, in 90 minutes. That is a higher bar than SAFe Scrum Master, which passes at 73%.
No. Scaled Agile requires attendance at the official course, and the first exam attempt is included with it.
PSPO I is about the Product Owner accountability on one Scrum Team. POPM covers a product role inside a train of many teams: the split between Product Owner and Product Management, WSJF prioritisation, continuous exploration and PI-level planning, none of which appear in the Scrum Guide.
Multiple choice, single select, closed book with no outside assistance. Every question has exactly one correct answer.
Yes. SAFe certifications renew annually and carry a renewal fee.
SAFe SSM
73%, which is 33 of 45 questions, in 90 minutes.
No. Scaled Agile requires attendance at the official course, and the exam attempt is included with it. This is the main structural difference from Scrum.org, where anyone can sit the assessment.
PSM I is about Scrum on one team. SSM is about a Scrum Master operating inside a train of many teams: PI Planning, cross-team dependencies, the Agile Release Train, and Lean-Agile principles that have no equivalent in the Scrum Guide.
Yes. SAFe certifications renew annually and carry a renewal fee, unlike Scrum.org credentials.
PRINCE2 7
60%, which is 36 of 60 questions, in 60 minutes. It is the most forgiving pass mark of the certifications covered here.
No. Foundation is closed book. Only the Practitioner exam permits the official manual.
The 7th edition added a people element, reframed themes as practices, and put sustainability alongside the traditional performance targets of cost, time, quality, scope, benefits and risk.
PeopleCert issues PRINCE2 certificates with a three-year renewal date, maintained through CPD points or resitting.