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.

GPHR Exam
Globalization is the defining political and economic force in the world today. It requires new ways of thinking and responding. For HR professionals, recognizing and understanding this phenomenon is fast becoming a job requirement. The purpose of the new Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR®) certification is to assess your mastery of the necessary knowledge to be successful in this worldwide marketplace.

Exam questions reflect the most recently published test specifications. The exams are multiple choice and consist of 150 scored questions plus 15 pretest questions randomly distributed throughout the exam (a total of 165 questions). Each question lists four possible answers, only one of which is the correct or “best possible answer.” The answer to each question can be derived independently of the answer to any other question. Three hours are allotted to complete the exam.

Pretest Questions

Pretest questions are not counted in scoring. They are, however, essential in building the PHR, SPHR and GPHR item (or test question) banks and are on the exam to statistically assess their difficulty level and effectiveness at discriminating between candidates who meet the passing standard and those who do not. The information gathered in the pretest process determines whether or not the question will be included on a future exam.

On Test Day

On test day, answer questions that are easy first and mark the more difficult ones to return to later. There is no penalty for guessing, so try to answer all the questions. Unanswered questions are counted as incorrect.

There are survey questions at the end of the exam that candidates are encouraged to answer. These questions are optional. Responses are confidential. The information collected is used for statistical purposes only.

Exam questions represent the following functional areas in HR. The percentages indicate the extent to which each functional area is emphasized in each exam.

PHR AND SPHR Exam Functional Areas

	PHR	SPHR
Strategic Management	12%	29%
Workforce Planning and Employment	26%	17%
Human Resource Development	17%	17%
Total Rewards	16%	12%
Employee and Labor Relations	22%	18%
Risk Management	17%	17%

GPHR Exam Functional Areas

Strategic HR Management		22%
Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Development		14%
Global Staffing		10%
International Assignment Management		28%
Global Compensation and Benefits		16%
International Employee Relations and Regulations		105

Exams reflect the percentages listed above and are reviewed by a panel of certified HR professionals with subject matter expertise to ensure that the questions are up to date and reflect the published test specifications.

Passing Score

The passing score for each exam (based on a scaled score) is 500. The minimum possible score is 100. The maximum possible score is 700. For more information about scaled scoring, please see “Understanding the Score Report” and “How the Passing Score Was Set” in the handbook.

Certification Denial and Revocation

Certification may be denied or revoked for any of the following reasons:

- Falsification of work experience or other information on the exam application.
- Misrepresentation of work experience or other information on the exam application.
- Violation of testing procedures.
- Failure to pass the certification exam.
- Failure to meet recertification requirements.

Candidates whose certifications are denied or revoked should contact HRCI for more information about how to appeal the denial or revocation. There is no appeal based on failure to pass the exam or to recertify.

For more information, please visit www.hrci.org.

Human Resources Certification Institute
1800 Duke Street · Alexandria, VA 22314 · (866) 898-HRCI · (703) 548-3440
HRCI is an affiliate of The Society for Human Resource Management

 

 

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.