HRCI (the HR Certification Institute) offers a family of HR credentials. This course targets the two most common: the PHR (Professional in Human Resources) for HR professionals working in operational and tactical roles, and the SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) for those working at a strategic and policy level. Both are US-focused (there are separate international PHRi/SPHRi versions).

SAME MAP, DIFFERENT ALTITUDE Both exams are organised around the same five functional areas — Business Management; Talent Planning & Acquisition; Learning & Development; Total Rewards; Employee & Labor Relations — but the weights and the depth differ. PHR questions ask "how do I run this correctly?"; SPHR questions ask "how do I design and decide this for the organisation?"

Business MgmtStrategy & HR's role

TalentPlan & acquire

L&DDevelop people

RewardsPay & benefits

ER/LRRelations

The PHR exam is roughly two hours with about 90 scored questions (plus unscored pretest items); the SPHR is longer, around 2.5 hours and 115 scored questions. Both report a scaled score (HRCI's passing standard), not a simple percentage — but in this prep course your practice exam passes at 80%.

🛠️PHR = operational

🧭SPHR = strategic

🇺🇸US law focus

📊5 functional areas

EXAM TIP Read every stem for the verb. "Implement / administer / process" signals a PHR-style operational answer; "develop / evaluate / align with strategy" signals an SPHR-style answer. The best choice matches the altitude the question is testing.

📑 PHR / SPHR Exam Prep (HRCI)