PSK-I Exam Prep: Complete Study Guide Overview
The Professional Scrum with Kanban I (PSK-I) is one of the more nuanced Scrum.org assessments because it tests two overlapping bodies of knowledge: the Scrum Guide (2020) and the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams. Getting both right — and knowing where they interact — is what separates a pass from a near-miss.
This series is a topic-by-topic breakdown of everything the exam covers, built for people who already have some Scrum experience and want to go deep rather than wide.
The exam at a glance
| Questions | 45 |
| Time | 60 minutes |
| Passing score | 85% (≈ 39 correct; you can miss ~6) |
| Question types | Multiple-choice, multiple-answer, true/false |
| Format | Short scenarios + direct knowledge checks |
| Free practice | Scrum with Kanban Open on scrum.org |
What’s actually testable
Everything comes from two sources:
- The Scrum Guide (2020) — roles, events, artifacts, rules
- The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams — the four Kanban practices, flow metrics, Definition of Workflow, SLE
A few deeper topics (Monte Carlo simulation, Little’s Law assumptions, percentile mechanics) come from PSK courseware and flow literature that builds on the Kanban Guide. When in doubt, the guide wording is what’s graded.
The one principle that prevents most wrong answers
Scrum is still Scrum.
Kanban adds four practices that improve flow. It never adds roles, events, or artifacts. It never changes Scrum’s structure. Any answer option implying Kanban alters how Scrum is organised is almost always wrong.
How this series is organised
Each post covers one part of the exam syllabus, with the same structure throughout: precise definitions, mechanics, nuances, common misconceptions, worked examples, and exact “how questions come” breakdowns.
| Post | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Part A — Scrum Foundations | Empiricism, the three pillars, lean thinking, Scrum values, Scrum as a framework |
| Part B — The Scrum Team | Structure, Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers |
| Part C — The Events | Sprint, Planning, Daily Scrum, Review, Retrospective + timeboxes |
| Part D — Artifacts & Commitments | Product Backlog / Goal, Sprint Backlog / Goal, Increment / DoD |
| Part E — Kanban Core | Definition of Kanban, relation to Scrum, the four practices, Definition of Workflow, WIP limits, pull systems |
| Part F — Flow Metrics & Forecasting | WIP, Cycle Time, Work Item Age, Throughput, Little’s Law, the four charts, SLE, Monte Carlo |
| Part G — Kanban in the Scrum Events | How flow metrics slot into each event without changing the events themselves |
| Part H — Exam Reasoning Patterns | Trap taxonomy, calculation shortcuts, tie-breakers, exam-day tactics |
How to use this series
- First read: go in order (A → H). Each part builds on the one before.
- Drilling a weakness: jump directly to the relevant part and work through the “how questions come” blocks.
- Before the exam: work through Part H last — it’s the meta-layer that makes the rest click faster under time pressure.
- Benchmark: aim for 95%+ on the Scrum with Kanban Open repeatedly before booking the real assessment.
Start with Part A — Scrum Foundations. +++