How to clear Professional Scrum Master 1 (PSM 1) exam (First attempt)

I cleared Professional Scrum Master 1 (PSM 1) exam recently. I scored 96.3% (77 correct out of 80) in the first attempt. It is a great feeling. It was long overdue for me since I got the Scrum Master training in Q1, 2017 and have been working with Scrum ever since - first as a developer (Team member), followed by Scrum Master and then as a Product Owner. Overall, It took me 2 weeks to prepare for this exam.

So, how did I do this? Below is the step by step guide -

1. Read SCRUM guide (Read again!) from scrum.org. Here is the link, https://www.scrumguides.org/index.html. I read the guide 5-6 times to understand the concepts thoroughly. I made one mistake in the beginning, I did not download the latest version. As I mentioned above that I did my training in 2017 (Q1) and I had the Scrum guide since then (hard copy) but revised Scrum guide was released in Nov. 2017. I did not realised it until I saw some questions on Scrum values. So, please download the latest guide.
2. Take the scrum open assessment exam repeatedly. Here is the link, https://www.scrum.org/open-assessments/scrum-open. This assessment helped me in understanding the format of the questions. Take it until you can complete the exam within 5-10 mins with 100% score. It will give you lot of confidence. Best part is that its free! I also tried Product Owner Open and Scrum Developer Open to verify my knowledge about PO and Developer role within Scrum. I found PO open assessment particularly interesting. 
3. Another great help was Mikhail Lapshin's website. I highly recommend that you take the Scrum Master quiz - both as learning and exam mode. Here is the link, https://mlapshin.com/index.php/scrum-quizzes/sm-learning-mode/ . Also read this, https://mlapshin.com/index.php/blog/scrum-questions/.
4. I also tried some 'trial' exams & questions online but I do not think that they added any additional value for me.

About the exam -

• Exam is 60 mins and 80 questions. I felt that the time was enough. I used it all since I had doubts over some questions (around 10). I had 8 mins remaining to go through them.  
• There were direct & indirect questions from Scrum guide and if you read it thoroughly then you will be able to answer direct questions within seconds which will save you 'precious' time for other questions. 
• At the end of the exam it is not shown which questions were answered incorrectly. Although, they do send the 'Results by focus area' like Scrum values, Roles etc which can be used to relate with different topics. 

Did it help to be working with Scrum since 2017?

Yes, I think so but I believe that there is a difference between giving theoretical exam and practically implementing and experiencing Scrum. As the Scrum guide says, Scrum is easy to understand but difficult to master :-). I have also learnt few things that I would really like to look into, for example, improving sprint review meeting within our project. I will definitely discuss this with team.  

Next, I am preparing for PSPO 1. Will keep you posted. 

Please let me know if this blog helped you in your preparation for the exam. Feedback about this blog is also welcome. Thank you & good luck!