Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS) Mock Test

Overview of the Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS) Certification

The Scaled Professional Scrum (SPS) certification, developed and administered by Scrum.org, confirms an individual's deep understanding of how to scale product delivery across multiple Scrum Teams working from a single Product Backlog. Built on the principles of the Nexus Framework, SPS addresses the realities and complexities of scaling software and product development while preserving the foundational empirical process control of single-team Scrum.

While traditional Scrum functions with small cross-functional teams of ten or fewer people, real-world enterprise products often require between three and nine Scrum Teams collaborating simultaneously. Nexus introduces minimal additional framework overhead—focusing on dependency management, continuous integration, and transparent communication—to ensure that scaled development produces a valuable, integrated increment in every Sprint. Earning the SPS credential demonstrates to employers and agile leaders that you possess the advanced skills necessary to launch, optimize, and sustain scaled agile initiatives without succumbing to bureaucratic bloat.

Official Syllabus and Nexus Competency Areas

The SPS assessment tests both theoretical knowledge from the Nexus Guide and situational judgment derived from real-world scaling challenges. The primary knowledge areas covered in the examination include:

1. Nexus Framework Overview and Principles

• Foundations of empirical process control: transparency, inspection, and adaptation at scale.
• The core purpose of Nexus: scaling Scrum without abandoning the Scrum Guide foundations.
• The sizing guideline of Nexus: coordinating approximately 3 to 9 Scrum Teams working on a single Product Backlog.

2. Nexus Accountabilities and the Nexus Integration Team

• The role, composition, and focus of the Nexus Integration Team (NIT).
• Accountabilities of the NIT: coaching, consulting, highlighting dependencies, and ensuring an Integrated Increment is produced.
• How the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and cross-team Developers interact within the NIT.

3. Nexus Events and Cross-Team Cadence

• Refinement: Cross-team backlog breakdown to discover, reduce, and eliminate dependencies.
• Nexus Sprint Planning: Coordinating work across teams and establishing a cohesive Nexus Sprint Goal.
• Nexus Daily Scrum: Inspecting cross-team progress toward the Nexus Sprint Goal and uncovering cross-team impediments.
• Nexus Sprint Review: Demonstrating the unified, Integrated Increment to stakeholders.
• Nexus Sprint Retrospective: Identifying systemic, scaled challenges and multi-team improvements.

4. Nexus Artifacts and Commitments

• Single Product Backlog with multiple teams.
• Nexus Goal as a shared commitment.
• Nexus Sprint Backlog composed of individual team backlogs.
• The Integrated Increment and the non-negotiable Definition of Done.

5. Managing Dependencies and Technical Practices

• Detecting dependencies early during refinement rather than during Sprint execution.
• Distinguishing between functional, technical, organizational, and people-based dependencies.
• Test-driven development, continuous integration, automated deployment, and trunk-based development as mandatory scaling prerequisites.

Scaled Professional Scrum Exam Structure and Format

The SPS exam is an online, unproctored assessment administered directly through the Scrum.org platform. Key format specifications include:

• Total Questions: 40
• Allotted Time: 60 minutes
• Question Types: Multiple choice (single select), multiple response (choose multiple correct options), and true/false.
• Language: English (translation browser extensions are permitted by Scrum.org).
• Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced.

Unlike foundational single-team Scrum assessments, many questions in the SPS exam are situational scenarios describing conflict, hidden dependencies, integration failures, or team misalignments, requiring test-takers to identify the most empirically sound Nexus intervention.

Exam Rules and Assessment Environment

• Single Session: Once launched, the 60-minute countdown timer runs continuously and cannot be paused or restarted.
• Open Book Format: Candidates may reference the Nexus Guide, Scrum Guide, and personal notes; however, the strict time limit of 90 seconds per question makes thorough prior mastery essential.
• Navigation: Candidates can bookmark questions, skip questions, and review earlier answers prior to submitting the assessment.
• Technical Requirements: A stable internet connection, modern web browser, and an active Scrum.org user account are required.
• Password Expiration: Purchased assessment vouchers have no expiration date until the test is initiated.

Scoring Methodology and Passing Criteria

To earn the Scaled Professional Scrum credential, candidates must achieve a passing score of at least 85%. Out of 40 questions, this requires answering a minimum of 34 questions correctly.

Scoring is handled automatically by the Scrum.org assessment engine. In multiple-response questions, credit is only awarded when all correct answers are selected without choosing incorrect distractors. Unanswered questions are calculated as incorrect. Candidates receive immediate pass/fail feedback along with a breakdown of competency area performance upon submitting the assessment.

Practical Preparation Strategies for Passing the SPS Exam

1. Master the Nexus Guide: Download and read the official Nexus Guide multiple times until every accountability, event, and artifact relationship is second nature.
2. Review the Scrum Guide Foundations: The Nexus Framework relies completely on baseline Scrum. Ensure your understanding of the 2020 Scrum Guide is rock solid.
3. Practice the Scrum.org Open Assessments: Consistently score 100% on the official Nexus Open and Scrum Open practice tests.
4. Understand Dependency Elimination: Remember that the primary mechanism for resolving dependencies in Nexus is doing the architectural and structural decomposition work during cross-team refinement, rather than managing them with complex project tracking charts.
5. Time Management: Budget roughly 60 seconds per question to leave a 15-minute buffer to review flagged questions before the timer expires.