New Study Tips for a New Year, Part 1: Certification Exam Myths Debunked

In our quest to provide support to candidates preparing to take the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP exam, we often engage the certification team directly to get answers to sometimes challenging or perplexing questions. We’re now passing on this sage advice to you to incorporate into your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP exam preparation. The following information provides common myths associated with SHRM certification exams and guidance on how to debunk them. Part 2, specific to situational judgment items (SJIs) myths, will be shared next month.

The ‘No Math Questions’ Myth

Math questions exist in the item bank. If the certification team must use a math question to build that testing window’s exams, there may be a math question or two on the exam. Ratios, metrics and calculating are common occurrences in HR, and they may appear as content in both the SHRM BASK and consequently, on the exams. To aid you in case a math question appears on the operational exam, a calculator is provided on screen.

Solution to debunk this myth: Please use the on-screen calculator. Don’t add to the stress of taking an exam by trying to complete calculations without a calculator. Metrics, ratios and data analysis are part of an HR professional’s world. Some of those metrics, ratios and analyses (through calculations) may appear on the exam because they are part of the SHRM BASK. Additionally, do your best to achieve a balance; do not direct an overwhelming amount of focus preparing for computational questions. The exam is only 134 total questions, and the SHRM BASK is vast. Keep everything in perspective regardless of the type of content fears that may plague you. Use the percentages of content that comprise the 134 questions from the SHRM certification website or the SHRM Learning System to determine approximately how many questions from a knowledge domain or competency cluster contribute to the 134 total. As you study, plan accordingly to retain perspective on approximately how much content on a particular topic is likely to be tested.

The ‘Look for the SHRM Answer’ Myth

Candidates often state they were specifically taught to “answer the question the way SHRM wants you to answer it.” Not even sure where to start on this one. This is completely false; there is no “SHRM answer.” The SHRM certification team does not write the exam questions; our expertise is test development. SHRM-certified professionals write all the questions which are validated by external resources that all examinees have reasonable access to read using the lists provided in the SHRM BASK. SHRM-certified professionals also write all response options to knowledge and situational judgment items, and the stories on which the situational judgment items are based. About 50 HR pros are involved in developing every knowledge or foundational knowledge item, and about 85 HR pros are involved in developing every situational judgment item.

SHRM provides the SHRM BASK to item writers as the basis for developing all test content. SHRM provides editorial guidelines on the length of questions, length of responses and length of stories that drive the SJIs. We do not provide any guidance that says, “write something like this because this is how SHRM wants the candidates to answer the question.” SHRM does provide guidance on linking the test question to a concept in the SHRM BASK to create a valid, reliable and fair exam by presenting the item clearly in language that will be understood by candidates all over the world, including many whose first language is not English. It’s also important to make sure the items are free of bias and culturally or socially sensitive topics. In other words, write respectful items that link to and represent content in the SHRM BASK. SHRM also provides an extensive list of editorial guidelines about grammar, punctuation, the use of acronyms and so on. The SHRM team is involved in reviewing the items at various stages to ensure all the writing guidelines were followed. If not, feedback is provided directly to the item writers that identifies the item-development standard that was missed with a directive to “please fix it.”

Solution to debunk this myth: Ignore misleading advice to look for the SHRM answer, because there isn’t one. Shift your thinking to focus on understanding you must rely on extensive knowledge of the SHRM BASK—the codified body of applied skills and knowledge derived from extensive research with thousands of HR professionals. If the topic is in the SHRM BASK, it is fair game to appear on the exam.  This applies to international examinees as well. Only the Workplace HR functional area of U.S. Employment Law and Regulation exam content will not appear to international examinees. Candidates must understand that the SHRM BASK applies to each and every person globally. It may not be something you do in your organization, but it is considered “fair game” as it pertains to global HR. So, know the content, know the content, know the content.

The ‘Read into Questions’ (aka ‘The Question Has to be More Complicated Than That,’ aka ‘That Cannot Be What SHRM Is Really Asking Me’) Myth

Another unnecessary source of angst in the preparation world is reading into questions too much.

 There is some unusual advice out there about how to figure out questions by using tricks or reading into what the length of questions or response options really tell you or what the words in the questions are really asking. Consider this: A consistent guideline given to item writers is “write clearly stated questions and responses in simple, easy-to-understand language.” There is no guidance to add unnecessary information or to purposefully try to confuse or trick test takers by adding unnecessary or misleading information. In short, there are no tricky questions.

SHRM certification advises candidates to think of it this way: For situational judgment items, SHRM-certified professionals write all the stories and vet them to make sure they are experiences most HR professionals across the globe have encountered. For both knowledge and situational judgment items, SHRM-certified professionals write all the questions and response options. SHRM does not know of any HR professional who would purposefully try to trip up another HR professional by writing tricky, nonsense, overly-complicated questions. Why would they do that? They wouldn’t. And if they do—see previous myth solution: We ask them to please fix it.

Solution to debunk these myths: Take the questions at face value. If it helps, SHRM sometimes tells the candidates to think of it this way: There are a host of HR professionals right there in the room with you while you’re taking your exam. They’re not there physically, but they are there in spirit, coming to you through the stories, questions and response options they wrote. Don’t read into the questions. Just answer the questions presented. Every single word you need to answer in each question is right there on the screen. Don’t add any words. Don’t take any away. Don’t argue with the question in your mind. Don’t say to yourself, “It can’t be that straightforward.” Sure it can. Just read the complete question and all the response options and answer the question being asked, not what you think is being asked.

The ‘Over-Preparing for Specific Content Areas’ Myth

Ensuring you understand the layout of the exam is extremely helpful if you are tempted to gravitate your preparation toward one or two specific content areas where you feel you need more help. The exam is created to be balanced. Operationally, there are 55 Knowledge Items (KIs) (Workplace, Organization and People domains) and 44 Situational Judgment Items (SJIs)/11 Foundational KIs (both stemming from Leadership, Business and Interpersonal domains). You are encouraged to maintain an appropriate balance when preparing, and utilize the SHRM BASK as your guide. If you feel comfortable with content areas, refocus study efforts on areas where you feel weaker. You should not focus completely on areas of weakness without knowing the full range of content topics. The 24 unscored, or field-test items, are also proportionally distributed, both between KI and SJI questions and across knowledge domains and competency clusters.

Solution to debunk this myth: Understand that the SHRM BASK is used as the exam blueprint for both SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP exams. This is critical to success. If you do not know what content may or may not appear on the exams, how can you prepare with confidence? You cannot. The SHRM BASK is vast, and there are a limited number of exam questions. This means that on a balanced exam, zero, one or two questions may appear for any “key concept.” Important note: knowledge items (KIs) are developed to test key concepts in the SHRM BASK. Proficiency indicators are also extremely important, as they provide context for the applicable exam level, as a lens to view from an operational (SHRM-CP) or strategic (SHRM-SCP) level.

These are the most common myths that the SHRM Certification Team hears directly from candidates. SHRM offers the suggested solutions in this article to candidates who provide feedback as a way to facilitate and support their success the next time they take the exam. Next month, we’ll discuss some myths specific to SJIs. We hope you find these myth busters helpful and are able to use them as you help prepare the next generation of SHRM-certification-testing candidates.

Nancy A. Woolever, MAIS, SHRM-SCP, is SHRM’s vice president, academically-aligned/certification programs, and Charles Glover, MS, is SHRM’s manager, exam development and accreditation.