Study Skills & Test Prep Articles

Article / Updated 07-29-2022

The Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is a standardized test normally used to assess the analytical abilities of graduate school applicants. The test is composed entirely of analogies. To do well on the MAT, it helps to understand that its analogies fall into several different categories. MAT analogies are all about relationships, and familiarizing yourself with some of the general categories of relationships on the MAT can make it easier to identify them in questions. The MAT officially lists four types of relationships: Semantic, Classification, Association, and Logical/Mathematical. The names for these types are not as simple and descriptive as they could be, so it helps to group the MAT analogies into these five major categories: Description Type Parts Similar/different Playful It’s a good idea to get familiar with these five major categories and how they work by studying the following examples. Then you’ll know what’s coming on the practice tests and the real MAT. To identify description analogies, it’s helpful to understand what a verb is. A verb is a part of speech that expresses existence or action. Description analogies are quite common on the MAT. In a description analogy, one of the terms in the analogy describes the other term in some way. The description is usually accomplished by a verb, which can be any action. For example: DOCTOR : HOSPITAL :: FARMER : _________________ (A)crop (B)acre (C)labor (D)field In this 1:2,3:4 analogy, a doctor works in a hospital, as a farmer works in a field, so the right answer is Choice (D). A hospital is a description of where a doctor works, as a field is a description of where a farmer works. The description is accomplished by the word works. Here’s another description analogy example: CHICKEN : DOLPHIN :: _________________ : CALVE (A)green (B)hop (C)hatch (D)swim This analogy is a 1:3,2:4. A baby dolphin leaves its mother’s womb through calving, as a baby chicken leaves its protective egg by hatching. The answer is Choice (C). Calve is a description of how a dolphin is born, as hatch is a description of how a baby chicken is born. In this example, you can think of the description as being accomplished by the word born.

Article / Updated 07-28-2022

Individuals choose to take the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) or Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) exams and become professionally certified for many reasons, and those reasons come from multiple perspectives. More and more employers are looking for certified professionals to draw higher value from their HR talent. The HR industry is seeking to establish a common language and thus encourages professional certification as the way to link best practices and industry standards for work affecting both national and global commerce. From a personal perspective, individuals seeking certification by taking the PHR or SPHR exam believe that the credentials will validate both competencies and knowledge, allowing for more career opportunities and higher income. Regardless of the filter from which you’re viewing the need for certification, the following sections make the argument that those initials after your name are well worth the time, effort, and investment. Getting certified compared to obtaining a degree In some minds, career growth is a three-step process, staged as a hierarchy: get a college degree, intern at a large firm, and then obtain professional certifications to prove your status as a subject matter expert. The real truth however is that career development is more like a jungle gym than a ladder. You must be willing to go up, down, sideways, and under to create a career of passion and to maximize your natural talent. Countless examples abound of successful visionaries who lacked a traditional degree, and certification is a credible alternative for individuals who didn’t run the college track. More compelling is the fact that as organizations evolve so must their human resource advisers. In order to stay relevant (translation, job security), HR professionals must be valuable advisers to those companies and individuals that they serve. You can’t achieve it if you fail to keep pace with the emerging trends of business in general, which includes the need to develop both competencies and knowledge. The PHR and SPHR exams achieve this by providing credentials that are accredited in accordance with professional exam standards as rigorous as any other credentialed exam. The most impressive argument however is simply that the management of human talent is one of the most important issues facing competition in business today. HR professionals must commit to the process of continuing education and staying in front of trends that impact the lives of American and global workers. Certification is the baseline from which that expertise is built and the anchor of the committed professional. Competing certifications For individuals who dwell in neutral gear for a living, HR practitioners sure are opinionated about the industry’s certifications. In fact, some of you may be familiar with the recent dust up when the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) announced competing certifications to the PHR and SPHR exams. Change is not unfamiliar to the experienced HR professional, so avoid getting caught up in the drama playing out over which certification exam to take. There have always been multiple choices in the HR field, from certified safety professionals to certified compensation specialists. Stay the course and commit to excellence. Even better, focus on being the business partners and advocates that the people you serve are counting on. Take a few moments and give some thought to where you are in your career and where you want to go. Try not to think about only the next year or so, but further into your career future. Identify your passion and select the certification that will best build the foundation for a career made up of your own choices, rather than random acts of fate. The PHR or SPHR exam serves as an excellent foundation from which to build your career profile. These exams establish a baseline of knowledge that will serve you well in any human resource position. After you’re certified, you can identify other professional development activities that build toward your passion, such as in safety, training, or business management. Writing PHR and SPHR exam prep content The process of writing exam preparation material is a huge responsibility. Exam takers rely upon the quality of the material presented, giving their trust to book reviews and the word of others in selecting the best preparation resource on the market. For this reason, it’s important for you to understand how the material is developed so that you can make an educated choice about how to allocate your exam prep resources — time and money — for maximum effect. Here is a list of things to look for: Credible authors: Professional item writers exist and are able to effectively take words and translate them into exam items. This simply isn’t enough for the PHR and SPHR exams. Because the exam content is highly based on experience, you need authors who are both practitioners and educators. Understanding how a recruiting source impacts your ability to do your job is much different than writing questions about using newspapers or the Internet to find qualified candidates. All knowledge-based questions are useless, but context matters, which means that you must be asked to combine the knowledge of resources with the application of them to the job. Assessment tests: Two types of assessment tests exist. Review: Review tests sharpen the knife of your baseline knowledge, which means that you should understand the merits of a variety of recruiting sources, including the Internet, trade schools, and newspapers. Exam readiness: This type means that the questions are closely modeled after the retired exam questions made available by HRCI. This distinction is important, because you must utilize a combination of both types in order to have a well-rounded and prepared approach for the exam day experience. Exam bodies of knowledge: When looking at resources, seek to find content that is built to the exam bodies of knowledge (BOK). As with any industry, there are best practices to performing the day-to-day operations of the businesses you represent. There are also respected thought leaders whose ideas and processes are regularly applied across industrial boundaries. Although experienced HR practitioners understand these specifics, they aren’t specifically outlined in the exam objectives. One example is the exam objective that applies to motivating and modifying the behaviors of employees. Experts such as B.F. Skinner, Abraham Maslow, and Douglas McGregor are respected sources for best practices to do so and yet their names aren’t mentioned in the BOK. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Credible sources are highly interested in getting it right. For you, it’s probably personal. You take pride in your pass rates and want to positively impact your success by providing what you need to pass these exams. Selecting effective resources With thousands of test questions available and only 175 questions on your specific exam, you’re bound to have prepared for information that won’t show up on your test. Conversely, limiting yourself to only one resource puts you at the mercy of a single perspective. You can control information overload just slightly by avoiding redundancy of material and focusing your studying efforts on the exam specific content that is identified in effective preparation resources. For example, if you have a trusted resource for benchmark knowledge, seek out resources that add another dimension to your preparation activities. Here is a helpful online article that discusses the use of smartphone apps for another perspective. Furthermore, you must be prepared to go beyond the text when studying for both exams. Consider Michael Porter. He has written thousands of words about the competitive forces affecting commerce today. Yet most exam prep material will only allocate a section or two to his work. Use your resources as a starting point, a compass if you will that places you on the necessary path to follow to get ready. Finally, don’t shoot the messenger. There are so many moving targets when preparing for these exams, not the least of which is your own work experience and exam choice. What takes some people months to prepare for takes others only weeks. Where you may be strong in risk management, you may have very little exposure to strategic compensation. The goal of most exam prep materials is to give you a go-to resource to both learn exam content and serve as a guide to get you where you want to go. Take ownership of the process and be strategic in your decision-making when it comes to preparing for the exams.

Article / Updated 07-15-2022

The lure of “free” is everywhere — free shipping, free samples, free resources. The PHR and SPHR exams are no exception. Here are a few ways to access free and low-cost assessments to supplement your primary study materials as you prepare for these exams. Using your existing resources The best place to start is to ensure the exam prep materials you select come with free assessment exams. For example, PHR/SPHR Exam For Dummies comes with more than 700 questions for both the PHR and SPHR, including four total exams — two PHR exams and two SPHR exams. No matter what assessment guides you use, make sure that they mirror the content of the exam, which means that the question content should be approximately as follows: Functional Area Number of Questions SPHR Number of Questions PHR Business Management and Strategy 53 19 Workforce Planning & Employment 30 42 Human Resource Development 33 32 Compensation & Benefits 23 33 Employee and Labor Relations 25 35 Risk Management 12 14 Be aware that all assessment tests aren’t created equally. It’s no big deal if you spend time on tests that review key concepts, but make sure that isn’t your only source. As a general rule, chapter review questions review chapter content. They’re usually formatted in equal parts, such as 20 or 25 questions per chapter. The logical conclusion then is that the review questions aren’t exam simulators and may leave you underprepared if you rely solely upon them for practice. Maximizing HRCI resources The Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) as the exam administrator is the most reliable place to start when seeking exam simulation. For less than $100, students may purchase two practice exams that use retired exam questions for content, which is a realistic preview of what to expect when facing exam day format. Take one before you begin to study to identify areas of weakness and take the second one about two weeks before your exam to see where you still need support. Don’t underestimate these exams. They are difficult, and being overprepared is better than being underprepared. Check out hrci.org for more information. For less than $30, you may want to consider purchasing HRCI’s Certification Study Guide. You can find sample questions in all functional areas along with answer explanations. It’s a bonus because you’re taking an exam simulation while also learning content all at the same time. Tapping into free sources Other exam preparers offer free or low-cost assessments and worksheets such as upstarthr.com which also offers a bank of test questions. Consider joining HR forums such as at indeed.com to tap into other exam-taker recommendations. goconqr.com and quizlet.com have past student materials such as flashcards that you can study in quiz mode. Tapping into the experiences of others is an excellent way to get out of the textbook and round out your studying efforts.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 06-28-2022

The American College Testing exam (ACT) tests your knowledge of grammar, reading, science, and math. In addition, the ACT includes an optional writing test. Many colleges require or recommend and entrance exam, such as the ACT, as a component of your application for admission.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-26-2022

Getting into the graduate school of your choice is a whole lot easier if you score well on the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). This collection of GRE test-taking tips and key information can help get prepared so that you can perform well on the test, get into graduate school, and achieve your career goals.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-13-2022

Yes, this is an SAT cheat sheet . . . but it’s not about cheating. It’s more of a shortcut sheet, giving you the basics of the exam and some advice for improving your score. You'll also find time management tips and pointers for doing well on the reading, writing, math, and essay sections of the SAT.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-06-2022

The decision to become a U.S. citizen is one of the most important choices you can ever make. Before you can become a U.S. citizen, however, you first must be a lawful permanent resident of the United States. A lawful permanent resident is a foreign national who has been granted the privilege of permanently living and working in the United States.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-26-2022

The first step toward acing the Army Combat Fitness Test, or ACFT, is to study each test event and understand what Uncle Sam expects from you. From there, it’s all about functional fitness training and giving your body the right fuel to succeed.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-26-2022

The Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is an aptitude test used for admission to graduate programs. Although it's lesser known than the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), many universities base their assessment of potential students on the MAT score, and the test has been around for more than 50 years. Knowing how the test is structured, how to best plan your study regiment, and how to decipher and share your test results will help you earn a place in the program of your choice.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-14-2022

As any professional military commander will tell you, knowing your enemy is the first step in winning a battle. After all, how can you expect to pass the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) if you don’t know what’s on the test? Here are some test-taking tips and key info about ASVAB test formats and ASVAB subtests to help you score well on the ASVAB, get into the service of your choice, and qualify for your dream job.