20 free SHRM-CP practice questions

Correct answer: B · Say the reason is confidential and share only what the manager needs, like the return date

The 2026 SHRM BASK lists privacy principles, including confidentiality, and the protection of employee confidentiality among the key concepts of Ethical Practice. Medical information is shared on a need-to-know basis: the manager needs to know that the employee is on approved leave and when they are expected back, not the condition behind it. Declining politely, explaining why, and giving the work-related facts protects the employee and still lets the manager plan. A hint about the general nature of the condition is still a disclosure. Sending the manager to coworkers invites speculation. Emailing the leave paperwork discloses even more, in writing. In the United States, laws such as the ADA and the FMLA also require medical information to be kept confidential and apart from personnel files.

Look for this next time: Share medical information only on a need-to-know basis; managers usually need leave status and return dates, not diagnoses.

Correct answer: D · Replace it with the English proficiency the job needs, assessed the same way for all

A "native speaker" rule screens people by where they learned a language rather than by whether they can do the work, which can exclude qualified applicants on the basis of national origin. Inclusive hiring, part of the Inclusive Mindset competency in the 2026 SHRM BASK, defines requirements by what the job actually needs: here, the level of spoken and written English the calls and chats require, measured the same way for every applicant, for example with a short work sample. In the United States, the EEOC's Enforcement Guidance on National Origin Discrimination (2016) says an English fluency or proficiency requirement is generally permissible only if it is required for effective performance of the position. Posting the wording unchanged keeps the problem, dropping all language requirements ignores a real job need, and an EEO statement does not cure a discriminatory requirement.

Look for this next time: Define language requirements by the proficiency the job needs and assess them consistently, not by where a person learned the language.

Correct answer: B · Ask pilot managers what got in the way, adjust training or setup, then confirm the plan

A pilot exists to surface obstacles before a full rollout. The 2026 SHRM BASK describes Managing HR Initiatives as including identifying and developing solutions for obstacles and adapting when project requirements or constraints change. Talking with the pilot managers shows whether the problem is training, the software's setup, or workload, and the fix can be built in during the three weeks before launch, with leaders told about any change to the plan. Launching unchanged repeats the pilot's problems across the company, and reminders do not fix confusing steps. An open-ended delay stalls the initiative without diagnosing anything. Tying bonuses to completion may raise the numbers, but it pressures managers to complete steps they do not understand, which undermines the quality of the check-ins.

Look for this next time: Use pilot results to find and fix obstacles before a full rollout, instead of launching unchanged or stalling.

Correct answer: A · Expectancy: the belief that effort will lead to the required performance

Expectancy theory, one of the motivation theories listed among the Leadership & Navigation key concepts in the 2026 SHRM BASK, holds that motivation depends on three beliefs: that effort will produce the required performance (expectancy), that performance will be rewarded (instrumentality), and that the reward is worth having (valence). The reps value the bonus, so valence is strong, and the company has always paid as promised, so instrumentality is strong. What fails is expectancy: if the target cannot be reached, extra effort seems pointless, and the bonus will not motivate. Equity is a different theory, about comparing one's own outcomes and inputs with other people's. Setting a target the reps can reach, for example by adjusting it to territory potential, repairs the weak link.

Look for this next time: Expectancy theory needs all three links: effort to performance, performance to reward, and a valued reward; an unreachable target breaks the first.

Correct answer: A · Bring them together to agree on a shared rule based on each one's needs

This is a task conflict over a shared resource, and both supervisors have legitimate needs. Collaboration, one of the conflict resolution strategies the 2026 SHRM BASK lists under Relationship Management, brings them together to share their constraints, such as peak volumes and staffing, and to agree on a rule both can follow. That removes the cause and strengthens the working relationship. HR deciding for them may end this dispute, but it leaves them dependent on HR for the next one, and the rule may not fit operating realities. Telling them to work it out alone is avoidance, and it has not worked so far. Moving a supervisor is a drastic structural step taken before any real attempt to resolve the conflict.

Look for this next time: For task conflict over shared resources, facilitate collaboration on each side's needs instead of imposing a fix or avoiding it.

Correct answer: C · Use shift meetings, printed English and Spanish materials, and HR drop-in hours

Communication works when the channel, timing, and language fit the audience. The 2026 SHRM BASK lists creating communication plans and choosing among media such as face-to-face meetings, reports, and town halls among the key concepts of Communication. These employees rarely use email, work three shifts, and include Spanish speakers, so short meetings on every shift, printed materials in both languages, and drop-in hours give everyone a way to hear the message and ask questions before enrollment. Email and the intranet miss most of the workforce. A single day-shift town hall excludes two shifts, and a recording still depends on access they may not have. Leaving it to supervisors whenever convenient produces inconsistent, possibly inaccurate messages about an important benefit.

Look for this next time: Match communication channels, timing, and language to how employees actually work, especially for important benefit changes.

Correct answer: B · Coach the supervisor to prepare for and hold the conversation, offering to attend

Addressing attendance is part of the supervisor's role, and the employee needs to hear the expectation from the person who manages the work. The HR generalist adds the most value by coaching: helping the supervisor plan specific, factual points from the documented lateness and the policy, practice the conversation, and agree on follow-up, with HR present only if the situation calls for it. The 2026 SHRM BASK lists giving feedback among Communication's key concepts and coaching among people management techniques. If HR delivers the message, the supervisor's authority and the employee's trust in the supervisor both weaken, and the problem returns. A written warning from HR skips the conversation and the policy's steps. Waiting for the annual review lets the problem run for months.

Look for this next time: Coach managers to deliver their own performance messages; HR supports the conversation instead of taking it over.

Correct answer: D · Review turnover and exit data with the director to confirm the causes first

The 2026 SHRM BASK describes consulting as moving through discovery, analysis and solution, recommendation, and implementation. The director has proposed a solution before the problem is understood, and the exit notes point elsewhere. Reviewing turnover timing, exit data, and perhaps stay interviews with the director builds a shared view of the causes, such as scheduling practices or training, and leads to a recommendation that addresses them. A pay increase might help, but adopting it without analysis risks spending money on the wrong cause. Declining outright dismisses the director's concern and damages the partnership. A companywide pay survey is broader than the problem and delays action on a call center issue.

Look for this next time: In consulting, diagnose the cause with the client before recommending a solution, even when the client arrives with one.

Correct answer: C · The data do not show a program effect, since both sites improved equally

Evidence-Based Decision-Making, a sub-competency of Analytical Aptitude in the 2026 SHRM BASK, means comparing results with what would have happened anyway. Turnover fell 8 percentage points at the program site (30% − 22%) and 8 points at the comparison site (31% − 23%). Because both sites improved by the same amount, something affecting both, such as a change in the local labor market, is the likelier cause, and the data show no added effect from the buddy program. Crediting the program with the full 8 points ignores the comparison site. Nothing suggests the program made things worse, since turnover fell at both sites. Comparing similar sites is a useful design, not a meaningless one; the next step is to look for what changed at both and keep measuring.

Look for this next time: Judge a program's effect against a comparison group; if both groups improve equally, the program has not been shown to work.

Correct answer: B · The median, because a few very high salaries distort the mean

Descriptive statistics are among the basic statistical concepts the 2026 SHRM BASK lists under Analytical Aptitude. The mean adds every salary and divides by the count, so the two $190,000 salaries pull it well above what most of the 25 employees earn. The median is the middle value when salaries are ranked, the 13th of 25 here, and it does not depend on how far the extreme values sit from the rest, so it better represents a typical employee. The mode is the most frequent value, not the highest, and with salaries there may be no repeated value at all. The range describes spread, not a typical value. Reporting the median with the range or the high values gives leaders a fuller picture.

Look for this next time: Use the median for skewed data such as pay, where a few extreme values pull the mean away from the typical case.

Correct answer: A · 0.95: paid 5% below the range midpoint

Compa-ratio, a total rewards metric listed in the 2026 SHRM BASK, compares pay with the midpoint of its range: $57,000 ÷ $60,000 = 0.95. A value below 1.00 means the employee is paid below the midpoint, here by 5%. Dividing the midpoint by pay ($60,000 ÷ $57,000) inverts the ratio and gives about 1.05. Dividing by the range maximum ($57,000 ÷ $72,000 ≈ 0.79) answers a different question. The 0.38 figure is range penetration, a separate measure: ($57,000 − $48,000) ÷ ($72,000 − $48,000) = $9,000 ÷ $24,000 = 0.375, or about 38% of the way from minimum to maximum. A compa-ratio alone does not show that pay is wrong; it prompts a look at experience, performance, and time in the role.

Look for this next time: Compa-ratio is pay divided by the range midpoint; below 1.00 means pay is below the midpoint.

Correct answer: D · Structured interviews: the same job-related questions, scored on a common scale

Structured interviews ask every candidate the same predetermined, job-related questions and rate the answers against the same scale and standards. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management describes them as giving candidates equal opportunity to provide information and as assessing candidates accurately and consistently, and research on selection methods has long found them more predictive of job performance than unstructured interviews. Requiring notes improves documentation but leaves each manager's different questions and standards in place. Dropping interviews removes a useful source of job-related evidence. A second unstructured interview adds another inconsistent judgment, not a better one. The 2026 SHRM BASK lists methods for selection assessment, including interviews and scoring, among the key concepts of Talent Acquisition.

Look for this next time: Structured interviews use the same job-related questions and rating scale for every candidate, improving consistency and prediction.

Correct answer: A · Analysis, which identifies the performance gap and what learners need

ADDIE, a design model the 2026 SHRM BASK lists under Learning & Development, runs through analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Analysis comes first: it defines the performance gap, its causes, and what learners need, including whether training is the right fix at all. Here the course addressed general service skills while the actual gap was finding answers in the knowledge base, so the problem started in analysis. Design and development produced a polished course, but they could only work from the needs they were given. Evaluation did its job: it is how the company learned that complaints had not changed. A needs analysis using interviews, observation, or data on complaint causes would likely have pointed to knowledge base training or a better search tool.

Look for this next time: In ADDIE, analysis defines the real performance gap; skipping it produces training that may be polished but misses the need.

Correct answer: C · Job enrichment

Job enrichment adds depth to a job: more responsibility, autonomy, and control over planning and decisions, sometimes called vertical loading. Planning year-end, approving corrections, and working directly with auditors all raise her responsibility and authority, which can make the work more meaningful and support retention. Job enlargement adds more tasks at the same level, such as processing more types of payroll, without more responsibility. Job rotation moves an employee among different jobs over time. Work simplification breaks a job into simpler, more routine steps, which would likely deepen her boredom. The 2026 SHRM BASK lists job enrichment, job enlargement, job rotation, and work simplification among the job-design techniques under Employee Engagement & Retention.

Look for this next time: Job enrichment adds responsibility and autonomy; job enlargement adds more tasks at the same level.

Correct answer: C · Mediation, then arbitration

Mediation and arbitration are the two alternative dispute resolution methods the 2026 SHRM BASK names under Employee & Labor Relations. In mediation, a neutral mediator facilitates discussion and helps the parties reach their own agreement; the mediator has no power to impose a result. In arbitration, a neutral arbitrator hears evidence and arguments and decides the dispute, and when the parties have agreed in advance to accept the decision, it is binding. Reversing the order mislabels both steps. Fact-finding produces findings or recommendations rather than a settlement the parties negotiate. A grievance hearing is usually an internal step, often under a union contract, rather than a decision by an outside neutral.

Look for this next time: A mediator helps the parties reach their own agreement; an arbitrator hears the case and decides it.

Correct answer: C · Current performance and potential for future roles

The nine-box grid, a succession planning tool the 2026 SHRM BASK lists under Workforce Management, plots current performance on one axis and potential on the other, each usually rated low, moderate, or high, which creates nine cells. High performers with high potential are candidates for accelerated development and succession slates, while a high performer with lower potential may be a valued expert in the current role. Tenure and salary grade describe history and pay, not readiness. Engagement and absenteeism are useful retention signals but are not the grid's axes. Skills and job level matter for fit, but the grid's purpose is to separate how someone performs now from how far they could grow.

Look for this next time: The nine-box grid compares current performance with potential to guide succession and development decisions.

Correct answer: A · A center of excellence

Many HR functions are organized in three parts: business partners who work with the leaders of each unit, shared services that handle high-volume transactions, and centers of excellence (also called centers of expertise), made up of specialists in areas such as compensation or learning who design programs and advise across the organization. The specialist team is the center of excellence. The shared service desk already handles routine transactions. Business partners are generalists embedded in divisions, not specialists serving everyone. Nothing in the scenario moves work to an outside provider. The 2026 SHRM BASK lists centers of excellence, shared services, business partners, and matrix structures among HR structural models.

Look for this next time: Centers of excellence hold HR specialists who design programs for the whole organization; shared services handle routine transactions.

Correct answer: D · Storming

Tuckman's model of group development, whose forming, storming, norming, and performing stages the 2026 SHRM BASK lists under group dynamics, describes a team moving from polite orientation to conflict over roles and approach, then to agreed norms, and finally to effective, self-directed work. The team's early caution was forming. Open disagreement about roles, priorities, and decision rights is storming. In norming, members settle on shared expectations and ways of working, and in performing they work smoothly toward the goal. Storming is normal. HR and the team leader can help by clarifying roles and decision rights and agreeing on ground rules, which moves the team toward norming.

Look for this next time: Conflict over roles and approach after a polite start marks Tuckman's storming stage; clear roles and ground rules help teams move on.

Correct answer: B · No, because she has fewer than 1,250 hours of service in the past 12 months

Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, as the U.S. Department of Labor summarizes it, an employee is eligible only if all three conditions are met: at least 12 months of work for the employer, at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before the leave starts, and work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles. She meets the 12-month and 50-employee tests, but 1,100 hours falls short of 1,250, so she is not eligible for FMLA leave now. Meeting one or two of the conditions is not enough, and there is no 24-month requirement. She may still have rights under a state leave law, company policy, or the ADA, so HR should check those before answering.

Look for this next time: FMLA eligibility needs all three: 12 months of employment, 1,250 hours in the last 12 months, and 50 employees within 75 miles.

Correct answer: D · Risk sharing

The 2026 SHRM BASK lists four risk treatments under Risk Management: avoidance, reduction, sharing, and retention. Buying insurance shares, or transfers, the financial consequences of a risk with another party, here the insurer, while the event itself can still happen. Avoidance would mean stopping the activity that creates the risk, such as no longer storing the data. Reduction lowers the likelihood or impact, for example with encryption, access controls, and training. Retention means accepting the risk and absorbing any loss, often with a budgeted reserve. In practice, organizations combine treatments: the policy does not replace the security controls that make a breach less likely.

Look for this next time: Insurance is risk sharing: it transfers financial consequences to another party but does not prevent the event.