Guest Blogger: Three Lists for the SPHR, by Jim Foord

My friend Jim Foord was the BEST study buddy ever... I just wish we lived closer to one another (we're in opposite sides of the country!) so that we could open a bottle of champaign together.  Jim sent the text below with three lists: a) Things I wished I had known about the testing facility, b) Things I wished I had known about the exam, and c) Things I am glad I knew! Thanks, Jim, for the great contribution and for your FANTASTIC help during the study time!

THREE LISTS, by Jim Foord

Things I wished I had known about the testing facility:


• That I did not need to worry about what I brought with me, as they have lockers for anything that is not allowed at your test workstation
• That I would not be allowed water at the test workstation.  I hydrate a lot, and not having water was like not having my security blanket :)
• That I could show up early and start before my assigned time.  I was cooling my heals waiting for it to reach 11:30am.  When I went in, they allowed me to start right away.
• That bathroom facilities would be available in the center, but that any breaks you take counts against your 4 hour time allotment.
• That I would have to basically show the test center staff, each time I entered/reentered, that I had nothing in my pockets by literally turning them inside out.  This was required each time I reentered after using the bathroom.
• That I would not be allowed any snack at the testing workstation.  I could, of course, take time to eat something during a break, but again that counts against your allotted time.

Things I wished I had known about the test environment:

• That you get up to 15 minutes to learn how the computerized test interface works, and that is way more than enough time for anyone to become comfortable enough to start the exam.
• That one of the best parts of the computer interface was that you are able to electronically line out answer choices that you know are not correct.  When taking a paper exam, we take this for granted, so it was very nice that they have built this function into the exam.  I can’t imagine taking the exam without this feature!
• That I would be allowed to either mark questions that I was not sure about, or simply leave them blank, and the system would keep track of these for me.  Also, it would have been helpful to know that when you go back to a previously marked question, and submit your final answer, you need to click the mark button again to turn it off.
• That you can choose to leave a question completely blank.  And, if you do so you will have a group of questions at the end that will be categorized as no response.  This helps you gauge how much time you will need on your second time through to get these questions answered.  Note, I knew about the marked feature, however, it is probably something we should write about as many people might not learn this in the course of their preparation.
• That I could have brought ear plugs.  There were quite a lot of people making noise, which at times became distracting.  I learned about this after I took the exam.
• That one of the staff members would be walking in and out of the room about every 15 minutes.  It took me a few of her trips until I was able to tune her out.

Things I am glad I knew about the exam:

• That I would most likely need the entire 4 hours, even though in the practice exams, with a full 225 questions, I barely took 3 hours.  It takes longer in the real environment, probably due to second guessing and stress.
• That practicing for the exam by answering questions is probably the best way to prepare for the exam;  after you have completed your reading.  And, that practicing with a clock to ensure you stay within the time allotted for each question is a great way to get a feel for the timing your need to achieve to finish in time.
• I am glad I tried a few different strategies for taking the exam, so that I was able to decide what the best strategy for me, personally, was the best way to go.  This strategy turned out to be to go through the exam on my first pass answering only the questions I either absolutely knew, or was pretty confident I knew.  For the later, I marked those, and for questions that for whatever reason made my head spin, I simply clicked next.  By doing this I had 3 categories when I completed my first pass; answered questions, marked questions and no response questions.  My second pass consisted of a review of all the questions that I did not respond to, some of which I answered and some I answered and marked.  On my third pass, I reviewed all marked questions.  After my 3rd pass, all questions were answered and all marked questions were no longer marked.