Beyond spelling
As a school child, I liked spelling tests, which is strange considering the fact that I’m not a particularly good speller. I think what I liked about spelling tests was the absence of surprises. We had a list of words, and we were tested on our ability to spell those words. I was pretty good at memorizing, so I fared well in spelling despite my lack of natural ability in the area. Some questions on the PHR and SPHR exams are not so different from grade school spelling tests. We memorize facts and identify correct definitions or concepts on the exam.
The tough questions are the ones that ask for more than facts. And there are a lot of them. The items on the HRCI certification exams may be classified into three cognitive types:
- Knowledge/Comprehension. These items are designed to assess your ability to recall facts or interpret a concept. (The “spelling test” questions.)
- Application/Problem Solving. These items assess your ability to solve real-life problems by applying familiar principles or generalizations.
- Synthesis/Evaluation. These items assess your ability to accurately and logically use critical judgments to combine distantly-related elements into a whole.
HRCI attempts to include items from the three cognitive types on the exams using the percentages shown in the following table:
| Cognitive Types | PHR Items | SPHR Items |
| Knowledge | 25% | 15% |
| Application | 50% | 50% |
| Synthesis | 25% | 35% |
Just as acing your spelling tests has limited usefulness until you’re able to put those words to use in sentences, the facts and knowledge you learn in preparation for the PHR or SPHR exam only get you part of the way there. You need to push yourself beyond the facts and into application and synthesis.