HOW TO PREPARE FOR PAL I

PAL I is a Level I exam. Despite this, it comes as a challenge to many people who have focussed either on Scrum on the team level or on conventional leadership styles so far. The PAL I exam requires you to take the principles you may be familiar from Scrum and consistently apply them beyond the individual Scrum Teams into the organizational level.

To prepare for the exam, the following actions are recommended:

• Read the Scrum Guide multiple times until you are confident in your understanding of its terminology and the concepts it describes. Special focus should be placed on the roles, artifacts, and events. For assistance in understanding the Scrum Guide, my book may be helpful.
• Read the Agile Manifesto multiple times until you feel confident that you understand the core concepts it describes.
• Take the free Agile Leadership Open assessment. The questions presented in it are part of the exam pool for the PAL I and representative of the questions overall in terms of formulation and style. A good rule of thumb is to practice it enough until you can pass it with a perfect score three times in a row, using less than 10 minutes each time.
• If you are new to Scrum, take the free Scrum Open and if you are not very familiar yet with the role of the Product Owner the Product Owner Open assessment until you can pass them with perfect scores three times in a row, using less than 10 minutes each time.
• Ready my book The Definitive Guide to PAL I: Passing the Professional Agile Leadership™ exam on your first try.