As you read each question of the PHR or SPHR exam, try to anticipate the correct answer before you read the alternatives. This will help you locate the correct answer faster and will help you stay focused on each exam item. Always be sure, however, to carefully read all four alternatives before you select one. Just to be sure.
When you take the PHR or SPHR exam, you have four hours to complete the test. That’s 240 minutes to answer 225 questions. To be sure that you make it through the entire test, you should pace yourself. Recognize that this means that, on average, you need to answer a question every 60 seconds, which would leave you 15 minutes at the end to review your answers and to guess on any unanswered questions. Don’t become obsessed with the time any particular question takes you; recognize that some questions, like the scenario questions and those questions requiring mathematical calculations, will require more time.
LHF = low-hanging fruit
Okay, so you don’t really need to know about low-hanging fruit for the PHR and SPHR exams, but the concept itself might help you. On a fruit tree, the low-hanging fruit is the easiest to gather. No tree-climbing necessary. No ladders required. You just walk up to the tree and pick it. Some of the questions on the human resource certification exams are like low-hanging fruit. They are there for the picking, and it would behoove you to pick them first.
Passing the exam is about answering questions correctly. There is no additional credit for spending a lot of time on one of the really hard questions (especially if you end up answering it incorrectly). And really, which questions on the exam seem difficult varies from person to person based on background, preparation, and day-to-day job responsibilities. Don’t spend so much time on questions that are difficult for you that you sacrifice the chance to answer several other questions that would have been “gimmies” for you. You can always come back to the tough ones later.
For those of you taking the HR certification exam in the next two months, I hope you find bushels of low-hanging fruit.
Nineteenth-Century British essayist William Hazlitt said, “First impressions are often the truest.”
While clearly he was not referring to the PHR and SPHR exams, his statement is still applicable. If you have prepared well for the HR certification exam, your initial impression will often be the correct one. Trust yourself and your preparation enough to be confident in your impressions.
With that in mind, you need to be willing to change an answer if you recall another piece of information, if a later question helps you realize something you didn’t think of at the time you answered an earlier question, or if you can build a strong, analytic case for changing your initial response.
But by and large, you should stick with your first impression. It is likely the truest.
As you take the PHR or SPHR exam, you might encounter an item that completely baffles you. If you can’t eliminate any of the distractors and don’t have an impression of any kind as to the correct response, you can increase the likelihood of guessing the right answer by employing several techniques:
Remember, unanswered questions are counted as wrong on the PHR and SPHR exams, so there is no penalty for guessing. Don’t leave any questions unanswered. Even hurriedly answering questions randomly as the time expires gives you a twenty-five percent chance of getting credit for a correct response.
There is an old axiom that states, “When you hear hoof beats, don’t look for zebras.” Sometimes the answer may be as simple and straightforward as it seems. Don’t talk yourself out of a correct answer by assuming that it must be a trick question.
A number of years ago, I met a woman who had twice failed the SPHR exam. She was a veteran HR professional, the type everyone else went to for advice and explanation. She really knew her stuff. But she could not pass that darn test. I attempted to diagnose the problem by giving her a practice test and having her describe her process of choosing an alternative. Here was her problem: over-analysis. She could not accept that a question was that easy, that straightforward. There must be a trick in there somewhere. She literally talked herself out of the right answer by reading all sorts of things into the questions.
Some questions on the PHR and SPHR exams really are easy. Cinchy. A piece of cake. A snap. Duck soup. Don’t make them harder by looking for zebras.
HRCI allows students (within one year before or after their graduation) to take the PHR exam. Those who pass then have up to five years to obtain two years of exempt-level work experience and complete their certification. Is it realistic for a student or recent graduate to pass the PHR exam without having any work experience? For my part, the answer is a resounding YES. During the time that I taught an undergraduate HR course at the local university, every one of my students who sat for the PHR exam passed. Not one of them had an ounce of practical HR experience. I think it is a perfect time to take the exam. The concepts are fresh in your mind. You are accustomed to taking tests (and sitting still for long periods of time, which for me, is a significant challenge). I say, go for it! Give it the old college try.
I don’t know about you, but when I undertake an endeavor, I like to know what I’m shooting for. That’s one of the frustrations with the PHR and SPHR exams. We all want to pass, of course, but what exactly does it take to pass? With HRCI’s scaled-scoring, passing is not simply a matter of achieving a certain percentage. Here’s HRCI’s response to the question, “How many answers must be correct in order to get a passing grade?”
The number of correct answers will vary based on the version of the exam you receive, so unfortunately there is no direct answer to this question. A good estimate using basic mathematics tells us that 500 minimum/700 maximum is about 71%. So it can be said that you need to correctly answer about 71% of the questions. But please remember that this is a floating target.
Add to that the fact that 25 of the 225 questions on the exam are not scored at all; they are questions that are being evaluated by HRCI for possible inclusion in later exams. But these questions are indistinguishable from the 200 scored items, so you can’t eliminate them from consideration.
Here’s my rule of thumb: if you answer four out of five questions correctly, you should be okay. That would be 80%, of course, which gives you a little wiggle room. And wiggle room is good when you’re trying to hit a “floating target.”
My kids are on spring break this week, so we’ve been visiting a variety of wonderful locations that are within an hour’s drive of home. We’ve climbed sand dunes, visited the zoo, hiked to strange geological formations, seen mines (both active and abandoned), eaten ice cream, had an Easter egg hunt in the wilderness, and found the home where my great-grandparents lived. If you’ve never taken a vacation using your own home as a home base, I highly recommend it. We’ve had a fun week so far, and we’re off now for a few more adventures.
Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2008. Through the H-1B visa program, technology companies can seek permission from the U.S. government to hire temporary foreign employees. It is expected that 65,000 H-1B visas will be issued this year.
If you don’t see a question or two about the H-1B visa (or some other visa program) on your upcoming PHR or SPHR exam, I’ll be very surprised.
If you’d like to go right to the source for more information, here’s a link to the USCIS website.