Studying for the PHR Exam-Week Two

This is week two of my twelve week preparation for the Professional in Human Resources Certification exam. This is the link to the first week, in case you would like to start at the beginning.

A New Resource

Well, my first real week of studying (and my second week overall) has gone by, and I feel pretty good. I had my PHR Study Guide and my HRM textbook, and I got through all of the pages I had scheduled with time to spare in the week. I have been looking around to see what others say online about how to prepare for the exam, and I found this blog on the topic. The writer is an industry expert who also sells SPHR/PHR exam study materials. Her blog has quite a few good tips for preparing for the exam, including a few posts where a close friend of hers actually took the exam and gave her own personal recap of her study habits and the exam questions. It was interesting (and quite helpful) reading.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

This week I studied Strategic Management. Strategic Management makes up about 12% of the total PHR exam weight. In the HRCI practice test, I scored a 67% on this section.

According to the PHR Study Guide, the Strategic Management section tests the HR professional's knowledge of:

1) Mission, vision, values, business goals, objectives, plans, and processes of the organization.

2) Legislative and regulatory processes.

3) Strategic planning process and implementation.

4) Management functions, including planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.

5) Techniques to promote creativity and innovation.

6) Corporate governance procedures and compliance.

*The above list is also found in the HRCI Certification Handbook, which is available as a free PDF file from the HRCI website.

The above list is a general overview. In the study guide, I delved deeper into some topics. I already knew a good bit about organizational functions (Production, Marketing, Research & Development, Accounting, etc.), but it was a nice refresher to see some of this information again in my studies.

Strategic planning was an area that I didn't know much about, so I made sure to study those sections especially well. The processes of a strategic management plan include pre-planning, environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation. As a part of the environmental scanning portion, I was sure to get acquainted with the ins and outs off SWOT analyses, PEST analyses, and Porter's Five Forces Model.

After the strategic part of the chapter, the study guide went into management principles, which I had already covered very well in my human resources management textbook. Also, the managerial ethics portion was very informative. Business ethics is a generally interesting topic, and I always enjoy getting to "put on my thinking cap" when trying to determine my solution to an ethical dilemma.

I also used my HRM textbook as a supplement to the study guide this week. Because the textbook is not written expressly for those taking one of the HR certification exams, I had to jump around in the book a bit to be sure I covered all of the material. I read several chapters. The topics they covered included strategic management, ethics, and HR's role in the corporate setting.

A Warm Glow

I was happy that I remembered a good bit of what I had seen in the text before. I hope that this means that I will be able to retain the information that I am studying better than I thought I would.

After studying the section on Strategic Management all week, I took the short practice exam in the PHR Study Guide and scored fairly well. I'd like to think that I'm getting the hang of the types of questions I'll see, but I am not sure. The multiple choice questions seem to have four good answers, and choosing "the best" one is often difficult. I need to brush up on my test-taking skills!

While this week was relatively easy, the next few weeks will be a bit tougher. The Workforce Planning and Employment section counts for more than one-fourth of the whole test, so I will be taking two full weeks of study to be sure that I fully cover this portion of the subject matter.