Scrum Alliance offers a certification program for wanna-be Scrum Masters who can put their knowledge of Agile and Scrum practices into practical use after attending the two-day training provided by the Certified Scrum Trainers (or CSTs). 

The candidates must be aware of the roles and responsibilities of the various Scrum team members that include- Product Owners, Development Team, Testing Team, and Business Analysts, and also the CSM Exam format to be able to clear the certification. 

CSM Examination Format

• The CSM certification is an online exam. 
• The CSM test is available in the following languages: English, Latin American Spanish, Spanish (Castilian), Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Danish, Czech, Polish, Russian Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. 
• It is an open book examination where candidates can refer to the materials that are part of the two-day training.
• The CSM exam format consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. 
• In order to successfully clear the exam, the candidate has to correctly answer a minimum of 37 questions within 60 minutes.
• The candidates are allowed to skip or bookmark questions and review them later however there is no provision to pause or restart the test.
• The ‘go back’ option is enabled throughout the test and the candidates can go back to the previous questions at any time and review the same.
• The bookmarked questions can be reviewed before submitting the test for evaluation.
• If there are any unanswered questions and the candidate submits the answers, a warning message will appear allowing the candidate to evaluate all answers before the final submission.
• On submitting the exam, the score pops up immediately on the computer screen and the minimum score required to pass is 74%.

How to prepare for the test?

• The candidates need to go through the latest edition of the Scrum Guide and the Scrum Alliance Learning Objectives. 

• Certain weights are assigned to each learning objective and the questions from each focus area are pre-decided.
• Let us now see the CSM domains and the % of questions contributed by each domain:

How to take the test?

• The candidates receive an email from Scrum Alliance with the test link within 48 hours of completion of the training.
• The candidates can take the test within 90 days of receiving the email.
• If the candidates fail to take up the test within 90 days of course completion, they will have to re-attend the course.
• If the candidate cannot clear the test on the first attempt, they will be provided with another chance to retry.
• If the candidates fail to clear the test even on the second attempt, a retest can be booked by further paying a fee of 25 USD.
• It is recommended to re-enroll for the CSM course if the candidate has failed the exam thrice in a row.

What next after passing the test?

• On passing the test, the candidates have to create a profile on ScrumAlliance.org.
• Further, they need to accept the licensing agreement that is available under Settings🡪 Certification Dashboard 
• On accepting the license agreement, the certificate is available to download in PDF format
• This certificate is valid for 2 years from the day of accepting the license agreement and must be renewed annually later.

References:

1. https://dev.scrumalliance.org/ScrumRedesignDEVSite/media/pdfs/CSM-Test-Content-Outline.pdf
2. https://www.scrumalliance.org/get-certified/scrum-master-track/certified-scrummaster
3. https://support.scrumalliance.org/hc/en-us/articles/208753776-What-can-I-expect-from-the-CSM-test-How-many-questions-are-there-and-what-is-the-passing-score-#:~:text=The%20CSM%20test%20contains%2050,the%2060%2Dminute%20time%20limit.