Here is a list of Notes, Points to Remember, and References in preparation for the Scrum Master Certification Exam.

Before Proceeding, it's important to familiarize yourself with The Scrum Guide and The Agile Manifesto.

Points to Remember

Scrum Values

Focus
Openness
Commitment
Courage
Respect

Pillars of Empiricism

Transparency
Inspection
Adaptation

Characteristics of Product Backlog Items

Description
Order
Estimate
Value

Sprint Planning

Inputs

Product Backlog
Team Velocity
Constraints
Team Capability
Initial Sprint Goal

Outputs

Sprint Goal
Sprint Backlog

Sprint Review

Inputs

Sprint Goal
Sprint Backlog
Increment

Outputs

Groomed Product Backlog
Updated Release Plan

Sprint Retrospective

Inputs

Focus
Exercises
Objective Data
Subjective Data
Insight Backlog

Outputs

Improvement Actions
Insight Backlog
Improved Camaraderie

Scrum Highlights

The team model in Scrum is designed to optimize flexibility, creativity, and productivity.
Other than the Sprint itself, which is a container for all other events, each event in Scrum is a formal opportunity to inspect and adapt something. These events are specifically designed to enable critical transparency and inspection.
By the end of the Sprint Planning, the Development Team should be able to explain to the Product Owner and Scrum Master how it intends to work as a self-organizing team to accomplish the Sprint Goal and create the anticipated Increment.
The input to the Sprint Planning is the Product Backlog, the latest product Increment, the projected capacity of the Development Team during the Sprint, and the past performance of the Development Team.
The Increment is the sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during the Sprint and the value of the increments of all previous Sprints.
Product Backlog refinement usually consumes no more than 10% of the capacity of the Development Team.
There is no prescribed structure. The structure of the Daily Scrum is set by the Development Team and can be conducted in different ways if it focuses on progress toward the Sprint Goal. Some Development Teams will use questions, some will be more discussion based. It is still perfectly fine to use the questions, but other ways of conducting the meeting are also possible.
During each Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team plans ways to increase product quality by improving work processes or adapting the definition of “Done”, if appropriate and not in conflict with product or organizational standards.
The Product Owner tracks the total work remaining at least every Sprint Review. The Product Owner compares this amount with work remaining at previous Sprint Reviews to assess progress toward completing projected work by the desired time for the goal. This information is made transparent to all stakeholders.
The Development Team may invite other people to attend the Sprint Planning to provide technical or domain advice.
The Product Owner is responsible for inviting the Key Stakeholders to the Sprint Review meeting
Scrum does not require having aligned Sprints for multiple teams.
The Sprint Backlog makes visible all the work that the Development Team identifies as necessary to meet the Sprint Goal. To ensure continuous improvement, it includes at least one high-priority process improvement identified in the previous Retrospective meeting.
When the words “develop” and “development” are used in the Scrum Guide, they refer to complex work including software and hardware development, development and releasing of products and enhancements, development and sustaining product operational environments, research and identifying of viable markets and technologies, and even more.
The Development Team is responsible for all estimates in the Product Backlog. The Product Owner may influence the Development Team by helping it understand and select trade-offs, but the people who will perform the work make the final estimate.
The result of the Sprint Review is a revised Product Backlog that defines the probable Product Backlog items for the next Sprint. The Product Backlog may also be adjusted overall to meet new opportunities.
All events in Scrum are time-boxed. It means that every event has a maximum duration. However, the Scrum Guide does not require a minimum duration for any event.
If the definition of “done” for an increment is part of the conventions, standards, or guidelines of the development organization, all Scrum Teams must follow it as a minimum. If “done” for an increment is not a convention of the development organization, the Development Team of the Scrum Team must define a definition of “done” appropriate for the product. If multiple Scrum Teams are working on the system or product release, the development teams on all of the Scrum Teams must mutually define the definition of “Done.”
During each Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team plans ways to increase product quality by adapting the definition of “Done” as appropriate.
An earlier version of the Scrum Guide prescribed the practice of placing one improvement in the Sprint Backlog. This was removed in the 2020 update to the Scrum Guide because it was felt to be too prescriptive. However, if this practice provides value to you then you should adopt it. It is simply not prescribed anymore, but can still be valuable.
Removing developers is a responsibility of the SCRUM TEAM
The order of escalation might be: Scrum Team, Scrum Master, Manager, HR

Glossary

Hardening Sprint - a sprint focused on “catching up” on technical test debt and readying a Scrum-produced release. In this case, it typically focuses on completing testing activities such as integration, system, and full regression testing. Frequently it includes some final defect repairs as well. If the need for hardening exists, it should be accomplished a little at a time by using Cleanup Stories within Sprints, not by dedicating a complete Sprint to hardening.

Cone of Uncertainty - describes the evolution of the amount of uncertainty during a project

Spring Forecast - the team’s best guess about how many Stories, Tasks, or Story Points will be accomplished in the Sprint. There is no requirement for a Team to have a Sprint Forecast and, In any case, the Team is not accountable for achieving the Sprint Forecast; it is, at most, a best guess – it is not a plan, commitment, or promise.

Burndown Chart - is a graphical representation of work left to do versus time. The outstanding work (or backlog) is often on the vertical axis, with time along the horizontal. It is best used for illustrating work that is to be accomplished

Burnup Chart - tracks the amount of work to be completed as one straight line across the top of the graph (unless a scope change occurs). A second line is then used to track work completed, starting at zero and increasing to the right as more tasks are finished. It is best used for illustrating work that’ has been accomplished

Cumulative Flow Diagram - It is an area graph that depicts the quantity of work in a given state, showing arrivals, time in queue, quantity in the queue, and departure

BuildUp Graph - any graph that shows the completion of a Backlog as a function of Time.

Chief Scrum Master (CSM) - the Team Captain of a Scrum Master Team

Subject Matter Expert (SME) - somebody with specialized knowledge or talent that is needed by the Team

Paradigm-induced Blindness - when a person follows a process ‘blindly’ because the process is so convoluted it just overloads the person’s head

Actionable Story - ready stories

Business Value - a property of an item that simply indicates that some external Stakeholder wants it

CleanUp Story - A Story that apologizes to the Code Base about something bad that happened, and promises to fix it. It usually documents what is wrong and indicates what needs to be accomplished to fix it. A Cleanup Story is a story that tells us where the mess is and what we have to do to clean it up.

Doneness Agreement - Story Agreement

Epic - A Backlog Item that is too Complex, Unknown, Risky, or Big (CURB) for the Team to agree to do all at once

Freezer - The portion of the Backlog that contains Items that are ‘out of scope.’

Fridge - Results Backlog

Results Backlog - a prioritized list of Deliverable Results that a Business Owner hopes to deliver to Stakeholders. The Stakeholders and Business Owner maintain the Results Backlog by adding new Deliverables and prioritizing/re-prioritizing.

Gold-Plating - The incorporation of costly and unnecessary features or refinements into a product or structure

High Ceremony Agility - any Agile process that has many meetings, artifacts, or practices.