HRCP Blog

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:

1. If two of the alternatives are very similar, choose one of them; one of the two is likely correct.
2. If the item calls for you to complete a sentence, eliminate any alternatives that do not sound good when combined together with the stem.
3. If the answer calls for you to select a number, choose one from the middle range, rather than the extremes.
4. Select alternatives that are longer and more descriptive.

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.