PSM II · Scrum.org · Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework · Bank updated 2026-10-20
PSM II practice questions: Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
5 free questions from 21 on this area · answer and explanation for each · no sign-up
These 5 questions come from the Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework section of our PSM II bank (21 questions on this area, which carries 20% of the real exam). Every question is original, with the correct answer explained and linked to the source it is drawn from.
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1/5 · Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
A music-streaming company is moving its delivery teams from a home-grown method to Scrum. One team already relies on pair programming, continuous integration and estimating in story points. Its new Scrum Master asks the Developers to set all three aside for their first Sprints, quoting the Scrum Guide: 'Scrum is simple. Try it as is.' The Developers ask what the Guide expects of them here. What is the most accurate answer?
ATrying Scrum as is means starting with the framework alone; practices from outside it can return once the team understands Scrum itself.
BPractices the Guide mentions itself, such as burn-downs, can stay from the start, while ones it does not name wait until the team knows Scrum.
CSuch practices can be part of Scrum, but a new team should reintroduce them one at a time, as improvements chosen at its Sprint Retrospectives.
DTrying Scrum as is leaves room for such practices: the Guide leaves techniques like these out on purpose, to be used within the framework.
Answer: D. In the Scrum Definition section, the Scrum Guide calls Scrum simple and asks people to try it as is, then describes the framework as purposefully incomplete, only defining the parts required to implement Scrum theory, and says various processes, techniques and methods can be employed within it. The End Note adds that Scrum functions well as a container for other techniques, methodologies and practices. Asking a team to try Scrum as is therefore does not mean asking it to set aside techniques used within the framework; whether they stay is for the Scrum Team to inspect like any other process or tool.
Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org Professional Scrum Competencies - Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
2/5 · Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework · hard
In a five-person startup, the Product Owner is also a capable engineer and, in the current Sprint, is building two of the items in the Sprint Backlog. The Developers ask the Scrum Master whether the Product Owner should keep attending their Daily Scrum: they worry that having the person who orders the Product Backlog in the room will turn the event into a progress report. What should the Scrum Master tell them?
AAs long as those two items are in progress, the Product Owner joins the Daily Scrum as one of the Developers and plans the next day with them.
BThe Daily Scrum is an event for the Developers; the Product Owner coordinates the two items with them outside the event instead.
CThe Product Owner may attend the Daily Scrum as a silent observer, leaving the discussion of progress toward the Sprint Goal to the Developers.
DThe Scrum Master should coach the Product Owner to hand the two items back to the Developers and stay focused on the Product Backlog.
Answer: A. The Daily Scrum section of the Scrum Guide describes the event as a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team and adds that if the Product Owner or Scrum Master are actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, they participate as Developers. The Product Owner therefore joins the Daily Scrum on the same footing as the other Developers for the items they are building. Keeping them out, making them a silent observer or asking them to give the items back conflicts with that rule or goes beyond it.
Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org Professional Scrum Competencies - Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
3/5 · Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
The Sprint Backlog of a Scrum Team at a car-sharing company lists the Sprint Goal and the seven Product Backlog items selected in Sprint Planning, each marked 'in progress' or 'done', and nothing more. The Developers decide day by day who takes what and keep the details of the work in their heads. Most items finish in the last days of the Sprint, and until then nobody can tell whether the Sprint Goal is on track. Which response from the Scrum Master is most accurate?
ATheir Sprint Backlog is complete: it holds the Sprint Goal and the selected items, and how the Developers break down the work is up to them.
BLeave the Sprint Backlog unchanged, and coach the Developers to use each Daily Scrum to check their progress toward the Sprint Goal.
CTheir Sprint Backlog should also hold their plan for delivering the selected items, in enough detail to inspect progress at the Daily Scrum.
DCoach them to split future items into smaller Product Backlog items during refinement, making progress toward the Sprint Goal visible at each Daily Scrum.
Answer: C. The Sprint Backlog section defines the Sprint Backlog as the Sprint Goal (why), the Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint (what) and an actionable plan for delivering the Increment (how), and says it should have enough detail that the Developers can inspect their progress in the Daily Scrum. How the Developers plan stays their decision, but the plan belongs in the artifact; a better-used Daily Scrum or smaller items can help, yet neither supplies the missing plan.
Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org Professional Scrum Competencies - Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
4/5 · Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
Partway through a Sprint, the Developers realize that two Product Backlog items originally planned will not fit, but completing them is not necessary to achieve the Sprint Goal. The Developers want to take those two items out of the Sprint Backlog. Which statement best reflects Scrum Guide guidance about this situation?
AThey agree with the Product Owner to take the items out, and the Sprint Goal crafted in Sprint Planning stays unchanged.
BThey take the items out themselves: the Sprint Backlog is a plan by and for the Developers, and the Sprint Goal stays unchanged.
CThe Product Owner decides whether the items come out, and the Developers then update their plan accordingly, with the Sprint Goal unchanged.
DThe Scrum Master facilitates a session with the Product Owner and key stakeholders to agree on the items that come out, keeping the Sprint Goal.
Answer: A. The Sprint section of the Scrum Guide says that during the Sprint no changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal and that scope may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned. Commitment: Sprint Goal adds that the Developers collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate the scope of the Sprint Backlog within the Sprint without affecting the Sprint Goal. The change is therefore neither the Developers' alone, nor the Product Owner's alone, nor a decision for a wider stakeholder session.
Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org Professional Scrum Competencies - Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
5/5 · Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
It is the last day of the Sprint for a Scrum Team at a travel-booking company. Two Product Backlog items are reported as '90 percent done': the code is written, but the regression tests and the accessibility review that the Definition of Done requires are still open and cannot be completed before the Sprint ends. How should the Scrum Team handle these two items?
ACarry them into the next Sprint's Sprint Backlog as they are, with the open regression tests and accessibility review as their remaining work.
BLeave them out of this Sprint's Increment and put them back in the Product Backlog, where the Product Owner can consider them again for a later Sprint.
CSplit off the coded part of each item and count it as Done in this Sprint's Increment, with the open tests and review becoming new Product Backlog items.
DShow them at the Sprint Review as work in progress, giving stakeholders the real state of the Sprint, and leave their next step to the Product Owner.
Answer: B. Under Commitment: Definition of Done, the Scrum Guide says that if a Product Backlog item does not meet the Definition of Done, it cannot be released or even presented at the Sprint Review, and that it instead returns to the Product Backlog for future consideration. A '90 percent' item is therefore neither carried straight into the next Sprint Backlog, nor split so that its untested part counts as Done, nor shown at the Sprint Review as work in progress; the Product Owner considers it again in the Product Backlog.
Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org Professional Scrum Competencies - Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework
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