SPHR · exam facts · checked Oct 25, 2026
SPHR exam dates and rules, clause by clause
There are no SPHR exam dates to wait for: testing is year-round, and the clock that matters starts the day your application is approved. The table holds every rule in full with its source. The sections under it explain what those rules mean for a senior exam that runs 2 h 30 min with no scheduled break.
Updated Oct 26, 2026 · Not affiliated with HRCI or SHRM.
- Year-roundwhen you can test
- 2 h 30 mintesting time
- 500 (scaled)passing score
- 2,993 (2025)tested in 2025
All exam facts
| Fact | Detail | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certifying body | HR Certification Institute (HRCI) | HRCI: individual certifications [1] | |
| Application processing | 1 business day; 10 business days for an application selected for audit or one with a testing-accommodation request | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| When you can test | Year-round; you test within 180 days of application approval, with one 60-day extension available for a feeHRCI describes itself as the only HR certification body offering year-round online exams. | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Moving your test date | No transfer to a later window; one 60-day extension of the 180-day eligibility period, requested before day 170, for a fee HRCI does not publish | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Where you test | Pearson VUE test center, or online with OnVUE remote proctoring (for select exams and locations) | HRCI: SPHR certification page · HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) · HRCI: online testing [2][3][4] | |
| Reschedule | Pearson VUE’s nonrefundable fee each time (amount not published by HRCI); reschedule at least 2 business days before a test-center appointment or 1 hour before an online one, or all fees are lost | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Late arrival | Arriving more than 15 minutes late counts as a no-show, and all fees are lost | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Breaks | No scheduled breaks; an unscheduled break counts against the testing time (none at all in an online session) | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Languages | English; HRCI’s Spanish-language exams are the PHRi and SPHRi | HRCI: exams in Spanish [5] | |
| Questions on the exam | 140 questions (115 scored + 25 pretest) | HRCI: SPHR certification page [3] | |
| Scored questions | 115 scored questions | HRCI: SPHR certification page [3] | |
| Unscored questions | 25 unscored pretest questions, unmarked and mixed in | HRCI: SPHR certification page · HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2][3] | |
| Question types | Knowledge-based, mostly multiple choice, including scenario items | HRCI: SPHR certification page · HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2][3] | |
| Testing time | 2 hours 30 minutes of testingPlus 30 minutes of administration time (tutorial and survey). | HRCI: SPHR certification page [3] | |
| Which laws are tested | Questions follow the US laws and regulations in effect on your exam day | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Passing score | Scaled score of 500Set by the modified Angoff method and equated across exam forms. HRCI publishes the cut score only, not the top of the scale. | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Score scale | Scaled score; only the passing mark of 500 is published | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Results | Pass/fail on site at a test center, with the result in your HRCI account in 1–2 business days; online, the result appears in your HRCI account about an hour after the session and the report arrives by email in 24–48 hoursA failing report shows how far the score was from 500 and how you did in each functional area. | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Results review | No review fee listed; a failed result can be appealed with a Request for Reconsideration within 10 business days | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Retake | Wait 90 days after a failed attempt, then re-apply and pay all fees again, unless you bought Second Chance Insurance with the application | HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [2] | |
| Pass rate | 76% in 202570% in 2024, 55% in 2023 and 53% in 2022. | HRCI: exam pass rates · HRCI pass rates as of Dec 31, 2024 (Wayback, 2025-02-08) · HRCI pass rates as of Dec 31, 2023 (Wayback, 2024-05-29) · HRCI pass rates as of Dec 31, 2022 (Wayback, 2023-11-30) [6][7][8][9] | |
| People tested | 2,993 people tested in 20252,970 in 2024 and 3,139 in 2023. | HRCI: exam statistics · HRCI exam statistics, 2024 test-takers (Wayback, 2025-03-23) · HRCI exam statistics, 2023 test-takers (Wayback, 2024-04-18) [10][11][12] | |
| Credential holders | 40,672 SPHR holders as of January 5, 2026 | HRCI: exam statistics [10] | |
| Recertification cycle | Every 3 years, ending on the last day of your birth month; after that a 12-month suspended status (extra $100) before the credential expires | HRCI Recertification Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) · HRCI: recertification fees and deadlines [13][14] | |
| Recertification credits | 60 credits in 3 years (45 HR + 15 Business, 1 of them ethics), or retake the exam | HRCI: SPHR certification page · HRCI: ethics recertification requirement [3][15] | |
| Ethics credit | 1 ethics credit required in every cycle since January 1, 2021, counted inside the total | HRCI: ethics recertification requirement [15] | |
| Recertification fee | $169 for one HRCI credential, plus $50 for each additional one (up to $369 for five or more) | HRCI: recertification fees and deadlines · HRCI Recertification Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) [13][14] | |
| Accreditation | NCCA (National Commission for Certifying Agencies)Every HRCI exam except the aPHRi is NCCA-accredited. | HRCI: exam pass rates · HRCI: individual certifications [1][6] | |
| Content outline in force | 2024 exam content outline (5 functional areas) | HRCI: SPHR exam content outline (2024) [16] | |
| What changed recently | In 2021 the exam went from 150 scored + 25 pretest questions in 3 hours to 115 + 25 in 2 hours 30 minutes; the 2024 outline has 5 functional areas, led by Leadership and Strategy at 33% | HRCI SPHR page, March 2021: 150 + 25 questions, 3 hours (Wayback) · HRCI SPHR page, July 2021: 115 + 25 questions, 2 h 30 min (Wayback) · HRCI: SPHR exam content outline (2024) [16][17][18] |
Dates: the window after approval
Applications are processed in 1 business day, or longer if picked for audit (see the table). From approval you have a fixed number of days to sit the exam, booked with Pearson VUE. If life gets in the way, the only way to move that deadline is one paid 60-day extension, and refunds stop at approval. So choose your test month before you apply, not after.
HRCI calls itself the only HR certification body with year-round online exams. SHRM, by contrast, tests in 2 windows a year (SHRM-CP exam facts).
Test day
You choose a Pearson VUE test center or an online session, where one is offered for your location. Two rules shape the day more than the format does. There is no scheduled break in 2 h 30 min: any break you take comes out of your testing time, and an online session allows none. And arriving more than 15 minutes late counts as a no-show, which forfeits the fees.
Moving an appointment costs a Pearson VUE fee whose amount is not published; the cut-off for changes is in the table.
Format
115 questions count and 25 don’t, and nothing on screen tells them apart, so pace yourself at a little over a minute a question for all of them. HRCI’s FAQ says each question carries the same weight and there is no partial credit.
Law questions follow the rules in force on the day you test, which matters at this level: outline responsibility 1.12 asks how US federal law bears on strategy, so a rule that changed last month is the one that counts. The exam is given in English only; the table notes where Spanish is offered.
Passing score
HRCI sets the pass mark, a scaled score of 500, with a modified Angoff study, in which experts judge each question, and equates every exam form to it, so no fixed number of correct answers guarantees a pass. The top of the scale is not published; a 100–700 range quoted elsewhere is not in the current handbook.
Results and appeals
At a test center you leave knowing whether you passed; after an online session the result reaches your online account within about an hour. A failing report is the useful one: it shows how far you were from the pass mark and how you did in each of the five functional areas, which tells you where the second round of study should go. If you believe something went wrong, a failed result can be appealed with a Request for Reconsideration; HRCI lists no fee for it, and the deadline is in the table.
If you fail: retakes
The rule in short: 90-day wait, pay again. That wait is enough to rebuild the weakest area or two from the failing report, and not much more. A second full attempt costs $595 again unless you insured the first one when you applied: the cost of failing.
Pass rate by year
The published yearly figures: 53% in 2022, 55% in 2023, 70% in 2024 and 76% in 2025, with no reason given for the climb. The number of people testing barely moved over the same years: 3,139 in 2023, 2,970 in 2024 and 2,993 in 2025. With 40,672 holders it is a smaller credential than the PHR, which has 63,311.
Recertification
The credential runs 3 years and ends with your birth month. Credits: 60 (15 Business). The Business share is what sets the senior credential apart: the PHR asks for 60 credits with no Business minimum. One ethics credit sits inside the total. Plan where the Business credits will come from early in the cycle. Fee: $169 for one credential. How the cycles compare across HRCI and SHRM: HR recertification.
What changed
Two changes, five years apart. In 2021 the exam got shorter and lost a block of scored questions. In 2024 a new outline arrived: Leadership and Strategy went from 40% to 33%, Learning and Development and Employee Relations and Engagement stopped being areas of their own and moved into Talent Management, and HR information management, safety and security became a new area. A book built on the 2018 outline will not match the current chapters: study guide.
Practice for the senior exam on your phone
SPHR: practice questions with every answer explained, in a study app. Not affiliated with HRCI or SHRM.
- SPHR What the senior HRCI exam covers, who can sit for it, fees and pass rates
- SPHR practice test Questions weighted like the 2024 outline, every option explained
- SPHR cost One fee for everyone, what a failed attempt adds, the exam-switch fee, recertification
- SPHR eligibility requirements Degree × years, what counts as professional-level HR work, audits, switching exams
- SPHR study guide Study by responsibility, what moved from the 2018 outline, a study order
Sources
- HRCI: individual certifications hrci.org · checked Oct 25, 2026
- HRCI Certification Policies and Procedures Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) hrci.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI: SPHR certification page hrci.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI: online testing hrci.org · checked Oct 25, 2026
- HRCI: exams in Spanish hrci.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI: exam pass rates hrci.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI pass rates as of Dec 31, 2024 (Wayback, 2025-02-08) web.archive.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI pass rates as of Dec 31, 2023 (Wayback, 2024-05-29) web.archive.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI pass rates as of Dec 31, 2022 (Wayback, 2023-11-30) web.archive.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI: exam statistics hrci.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI exam statistics, 2024 test-takers (Wayback, 2025-03-23) web.archive.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI exam statistics, 2023 test-takers (Wayback, 2024-04-18) web.archive.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI Recertification Handbook (PDF dated 2026-10-01) hrci.org · checked Oct 25, 2026
- HRCI: recertification fees and deadlines hrci.org · checked Oct 25, 2026
- HRCI: ethics recertification requirement hrci.org · checked Oct 26, 2026
- HRCI: SPHR exam content outline (2024) hrci.org · checked Oct 25, 2026
- HRCI SPHR page, March 2021: 150 + 25 questions, 3 hours (Wayback) web.archive.org · checked Oct 25, 2026
- HRCI SPHR page, July 2021: 115 + 25 questions, 2 h 30 min (Wayback) web.archive.org · checked Oct 25, 2026
SPHR exam rules, quick answers
When are the SPHR exam dates?
There are none. HRCI tests year-round, and you book your own appointment inside the window that opens when your application is approved.
How long is the SPHR exam?
2 h 30 min of testing for 115 scored and 25 pretest questions, plus time for the tutorial and survey. There is no scheduled break.
Can I take the SPHR exam online?
Yes, through Pearson VUE’s OnVUE remote proctoring, offered for select exams and locations; otherwise you test at a Pearson VUE center. Online, no breaks are allowed at all.
How do I keep the SPHR?
Recertify every 3 years. Credits needed: 60 (15 Business), or a retake of the exam. The fee is $169 for one credential; miss the deadline and a suspended period follows before the credential expires.