Human Resource Certification Overview
Certification is a voluntary action by a professional group to establish a
system to grant recognition to professionals who have met a stated level of
training and work experience. Certified individuals are usually issued a
certificate attesting that they have met the standards of the credentialing
organization and are entitled to make the public aware of their credentialed
status, usually through the use of initials (i.e., PHR or SPHR) after their
names.
Certifications differ from certificate programs because certifications
include an experience component. Certificate programs, on the other hand, award
certificates once a course of study has been completed and do not require
previous work experience.
Why should you take an Assessment Exam?
- The assessment exam is designed to help you:
- Assess your level of HR knowledge and experience.
- Expose you to the types of questions you will see on the actual
certification exam.
- Determine if you have the right experience and knowledge to attempt
certification as either a PHR or an SPHR.
What you need to know before taking the Assessment Exam?
- You may take the assessment exam at anytime, any place, using a computer
that can connect to the Internet using Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- The assessment exam will not run on Netscape Navigator.
- The exam fee is $45, payable only by credit card.
- You may take the exam as many times as you like; however, you will be
charged the full assessment exam fee each time you register for an exam.
- The 75 questions will remain the same each time you take the exam.
- You will have the choice of 80 or 120-minute time allotment for each exam.
The exam clock compensates for slow modems or busy web periods.
- You will receive your overall score at the end of the exam. Answers to the
exam questions are not provided.
- A passing or failing score on the assessment exam does not guarantee a
similar outcome on the actual exam. It can, however, be a good indication of
your preparedness.
Human Resource Certification Exam Scores
The assessment exams have been equated to the same standard of the actual
certification exams to provide an indication of your level of preparedness. At
the end of the assessment exam, the overall score will be presented to you in
terms of the number and percentage of questions you answered correctly.
You will also be provided with the minimum percentage of questions you must
answer correctly in order to receive a passing score and the percentage of
questions you answered correctly broken down by each functional area. This is
to help you assess your strengths and weaknesses in each functional area.
Your overall score represents the sum of your scores in each functional
area. The minimum passing score for each functional area is calculated by
applying the passing percentage required for the overall exam to each
functional area. Your scores are stored permanently and you can retrieve them
again at any time free of charge. HRCI does not provide answers to the
individual questions contained in the assessment exams.
For the actual certification exam, you do NOT need to obtain a minimum
passing score in each functional area to be successful on the exam. Strong
performance in one area can compensate for weaker performance in another. The
overall score for the actual certification exam is expressed as a scaled score
ranging from 100 to 700, with 500 as the minimum passing score.
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