SHRM-SCP guideStudy & preparation
Failed the SHRM-SCP? How to Choose Between a Retake and the SHRM-CP
After a SHRM-SCP result that isn't a pass, you can retest in any later window at the full fee, or apply for the SHRM-CP instead. Here are SHRM's actual retake rules, how to read the SCP feedback report, and how SHRM's own advice helps you choose.
Short answer
If you don't pass the SHRM-SCP, you can test again in any later window, but not in the window you just used. You apply as a new candidate and pay the full exam fee; SHRM's handbook sets no limit on attempts and no other waiting period. You can also choose the SHRM-CP next time, since it has no experience requirement, and SHRM's own guidance favors it for candidates whose experience is mostly operational. Your official result and feedback report arrive about two to three weeks after the exam and show which of the six areas fell short.
SHRM's published SHRM-SCP pass rates have run between 50% and 56% per window, so in recent windows close to half of all candidates received the same result you did. That doesn't make it easier to take, but it does mean the next steps are well defined. The rules below come from the 2026 SHRM Certification Handbook, checked on October 27, 2026.
SHRM-SCP retake rules
| Question | What the handbook says |
|---|---|
| When can I retest? | In a future window. Testing for the same exam in the same window is prohibited |
| How do I register? | As a new candidate, with a new application |
| What does it cost? | The full exam fee; $399 for members and $499 for nonmembers at standard rates as of October 27, 2026 |
| How many attempts? | No limit |
| Is there a waiting period? | None beyond moving to a later window |
| Can I contest my score? | A results review costs $100, requested within 30 days of official results; SHRM says changes rarely occur and none have in the last eight years |
| Can I challenge a question? | Within five calendar days of your exam date; even if the item is flawed, the score isn't changed |
Two points worth knowing before you plan:
- There is no 45-day rule. Some third-party pages describe a 45-day wait between attempts. The 2026 handbook doesn't contain one; the limit is the window.
- Don't count on a second attempt in the same window, at either level. The handbook's list of prohibited conduct includes applying to retest in the same window after taking and not passing the exam. Its wording isn't limited to the same level, so don't plan a switch to the SHRM-CP in the same window without asking SHRM at shrmcertification@shrm.org first.
Reading your SHRM-SCP Candidate Score and Feedback Report
About two to three weeks after the exam, SHRM emails you to collect your official result from the My Resources tab of your SHRM Certification Portal. The handbook's sample report is a SHRM-SCP report, so its explanation applies to you directly:
- Your scaled score. Results run from 120 to 200, and every pass is 200, so any lower number means the standard wasn't met overall.
- A graph of the six areas. The dashed line marks the performance expected of a SHRM-SCP in each cluster and domain. Gray means performance consistent with that standard, blue an area of strength, yellow the greatest potential for improvement.
- Distance from the line is an approximate measure of how far above or below the standard you were in that area.
- Final status is based on overall performance, not on any single area.
The report shows areas, not questions, and a results review doesn't release item-level detail either. The SHRM-CP passing score guide covers the scale and the results timeline in more depth. As you study again, planned SHRM-SCP prep that names your weakest cluster or domain as you practice is designed to keep checking the areas the report flags.
Retake the SHRM-SCP or switch to the SHRM-CP?
SHRM's Choosing the Right HR Certification page is unusually direct about this decision:
- Historically, many HR professionals with non-strategic backgrounds who attempted the SHRM-SCP were unsuccessful, and SHRM recommends that they start at the SHRM-CP level.
- Taking the CP first acquaints you with the exam's structure and question format, and SHRM says it helps candidates with test anxiety or a long time away from academic settings.
- An eligible candidate can still choose the SCP, and SHRM then recommends spending a significant amount of time studying strategic HR.
- SHRM's own self-test: if your daily work most resembles the BASK's proficiency statements for advanced professionals, the SCP fits; if it resembles those for all professionals, the CP does.
Turning that guidance into a choice is Passy's editorial reading, not a SHRM rule:
| Your situation | Where SHRM's guidance points |
|---|---|
| Your daily work matches the all-professional indicators, and the report shows shortfalls across the behavioral clusters | The SHRM-CP, which tests the operational lens your work already uses |
| Your work is clearly strategic, and shortfalls sit in one or two areas you don't handle day to day | A second SCP attempt with hours weighted toward those areas |
| You qualified with a short or narrow strategic history | Weigh SHRM's warning about non-strategic backgrounds against the 80 to 120 hours SHRM's staff cite for the SCP |
| Anxiety or time away from exams affected you more than the content | SHRM suggests the CP first; it doesn't close the door on the SCP |
What a switch does and doesn't change:
- Same fee, same format. Both levels cost the same and share the 134-question format and 2026 weights.
- No experience barrier. SHRM says the SHRM-CP requires no HR title, degree or previous HR experience.
- The SCP stays open. SHRM's Eligibility Criteria page accepts three years of strategic HR work, or three years holding the SHRM-CP plus a strategic role. If you already meet the experience route, holding the CP doesn't make you wait.
Rebuilding for a second SHRM-SCP attempt
- Wait for the official report. Base the plan on the six-area graph, not on how the exam felt.
- Pick the window. If you tested in the May–July 2026 window, the next is the current one, December 1, 2026, to February 15, 2027, with standard applications closing December 24, 2026. After the December–February window, the next is May through mid-July 2027 by the handbook's pattern; SHRM hadn't published its dates or deadlines as of October 27, 2026, and in 2026 early-bird applications for the May window ran January 5 to April 30.
- Re-plan the hours. Start again from SHRM's 80 to 120 hours, add time to the yellow areas, and keep studying the rest. SHRM's certification staff warn in a March 2024 article against focusing only on weak areas, because any key concept may produce zero, one or two questions.
- Rework the scenarios. If the behavioral clusters fell short, study the advanced proficiency indicators competency by competency; the SHRM-SCP situational judgment guide shows how they change the best answer.
- Rehearse the full length. Sit at least one complete timed run of 134 questions in two 110-minute blocks before the new date.
The SHRM-SCP study plan has 10-, 12- and 16-week schedules to adapt. For the review loop, full prep planned for launch keeps missed SHRM-SCP questions saved for another try until you get them right.
If your preliminary SHRM-SCP result surprised you
The decision at the test center is preliminary; the official result in the portal is what counts. SHRM doesn't publish how often the two differ, so there is no honest way to estimate whether yours will change. The handbook does say that SHRM uses data forensics to check score validity. For a candidate who tested under the rules, the practical step is to wait for the portal email and then plan from the report.
Your next step after a SHRM-SCP result
Rate each cluster and domain from your report in the free SHRM-SCP retake planner to get a week-by-week plan for the next window, and test your weakest area with the free SHRM-SCP practice questions. If you're leaning toward the SHRM-CP instead, the SHRM-CP vs. SHRM-SCP guide compares the two levels in full.
If you stay with the SCP, pick a planned SHRM-SCP access period that runs to your next window; the SHRM-SCP pass rate guide explains what SHRM's numbers can and can't tell you about a second attempt.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.