SPHR Testing Experience

This may be more information than you need, but I obsess over details like this so I thought someone else might appreciate it! :) I took the day before and the day of the test off of work. The day before the test I tried to relax, watched some trashy TV shows and went over my stack of I-don't-quite-know-these flashcards a time or two. I went to bed at a reasonable hour and hoped I could sleep in... yeah, right! I woke up early and had a cup of coffee, sent the husband and boy off to school and paced the house until my friend picked me up at 9:00am. Our test was scheduled for 12:30 at a Prometric testing center that was about 45 minutes away, but we wanted to make sure we found the place early! We located the building and then went out for a healthy lunch. We arrived at the testing center about 30 minutes early (as suggested) and checked in. We weren't allowed to take anything into the testing area, and had to stash our belongings in a locker (including our watches).

After a few minutes, we were called back to a check-in desk one at a time. The woman there explained the testing process, then checked my pockets and used a metal detector to check for cheating implements. She gave me a few sheets of scratch paper and 2 pencils, then escorted me into the testing room. The testing room contained about 20 cubicles and there were approximately 10 people in the room.

The testing system is very easy to use - my favorite part is the mark out feature. You can mark out the answers you know are incorrect and it will stay marked out even if you come back to the question later.

I went through all 225 questions in about 2 hours, answering all of them with my best guess, but marked about 25 of them for review. I took a short break then came back and looked over the marked questions again. I probably changed the answers on 3 of the questions, then pressed the button to score the exam. Even though I was warned ahead of time that the screen would turn white after you press the score button, it was still scary. I thought I was going to have a heart attack! The scoring seemed to take FOREVER! I used this time to say my prayers, because I didn't feel confident at all.

When the word 'Pass' appeared on that screen I almost couldn't believe it! Thank God!

I finished the test at 3:00pm ~ 2.5 hours total test time.

Then I called my family and went home to celebrate! Woohoo! :)

About the test - I felt that there was a good mix of all of the subjects we studied. Despite all the preparation, there were still concepts/terms I didn't remember seeing anywhere. I think having a good vocabulary and good test taking skills helped me on these questions.

The most important advice I can give you is to really understand the concepts to the point where you could put them into practice. Don't just study the glossary. Try to use the concepts at work so you have a deeper understanding of the material. Talk about them with a supportive group of people. Test, test, test and don't give up even if you fail. You can do it! :)

I Passed the SPHR Exam: How You Can Do It Too

After months of preparation, I finally passed the SPHR exam!

How I prepared for the SPHR exam this time around:

1) I convinced a friend at work to take the test with me. This is probably the single most important thing I did. We spent every lunch hour for the last 5 months reviewing material, taking practice tests, sharing memorization techniques and venting our frustration. Not only did we study together, we carpooled to the testing center, took the test and passed at the same time. Thank goodness we both passed, or that would have been an awkward ride home! Having someone to keep me accountable for studying, and struggling through the same material helped immensely.

2) I joined my local SHRM chapter, North Texas SHRM (http://www.northtexasshrm.org/), and started attending their monthly luncheons. One of the luncheons I attended featured Mike Poskey, a speaker who introduced me to the concept of Emotional Intelligence through his company Zero Risk HR (http://www.zeroriskhr.com/). I don't recall seeing the concept in the study material, but I did have several questions on the exam about the subject. Thank goodness I attended that meeting!

3) I joined the North Texas SHRM PHR/SPHR Study Group. Our group met every Thursday night from 6:00-9:00pm for about 10 weeks, as well as a few Saturday mornings for practice tests. Not only did I learn a ton of information at these meetings, I met the most phenomenal HR professionals and made some great friends.

4) I studied from several different sources of information. First, I read through and took notes from the PHR/SPHR Professional in Human Resources Certification Study Guide by Anne M. Bogardus (http://tinyurl.com/6nyqnch). Then I read through the SHRM Learning System and made flashcards for the concepts I was having difficulty with. I googled like crazy, and used some of the information from my friend's HRCP PHR & SPHR Study program.

5) I used an iPod/iPhone app called Flashcardlet. It allowed me to create my own flashcards on www.quizlet.com and to use flashcards that other users had already created. Check out all of the cards available that relate to the PHR/SPHR exam: http://quizlet.com/subject/sphr/

6) I used some interesting memorization techniques. I'll write more about them in an upcoming blog.

7) Practice test, practice test, practice test. I tested from so many different sources I can't remember them all. I practiced at home, in the office, and at a local coffee shop to be comfortable with testing and analyzing questions, and to learn to test through distractions. The testing centers are quiet, but there are still distractions, so I learned to ignore them.

It was a lot of work, but I'm so glad I decided to test again! Now to work on those recertification credits...

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.