SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) Exam

The exam is 134 multiple-choice questions: 80 stand-alone knowledge questions and 54 scenario-based situational judgement items, weighted by item type rather than by topic:

• Situational judgement items — 40% of the exam, testing decision-making across the nine behavioural competencies
• Knowledge items — 50%, covering the 14 HR functional areas
• Foundational knowledge items — 10%, on the key concepts of the nine behavioural competencies

The knowledge half reads like a conventional HR exam — talent acquisition, compensation, employee relations, risk, technology, the legal framework — across fourteen functional areas. The situational half cannot be memorised: it rewards candidates who practise the format, reading a scenario for the competency being tested and choosing the response that best serves the organisation and the people in it, not the one that is merely permissible.

SHRM members pay a $399 standard exam fee; non-members pay $499. Every candidate also owes a separate $50 nonrefundable application fee and a $49 nonrefundable standard deadline fee. Check the official SHRM fee schedule for current pricing and any deadline-based discounts.

Testing time is 3 hours 40 minutes, divided into two 110-minute sections, for 134 questions. SHRM reports a scaled score against a fixed pass point rather than a percentage of questions correct.

Pricing depends on membership: the standard exam fee is $399 for SHRM members and $499 for non-members, plus a $50 non-refundable application fee and a $49 non-refundable standard deadline fee. Certification is maintained on a three-year cycle by earning 60 professional development credits, or by retesting.

The two sections run back to back with a break between them, and a candidate may not return to the first section once the second begins, so pacing is planned per section rather than across the whole exam. Results are reported as a provisional pass or fail at the test center, with the official scaled score following. Delivery is at a Prometric test center or by remote proctoring during SHRM's testing windows.