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! :)