This PHR cheat sheet distills HRCI's Professional in Human Resources exam into a printable rundown of the facts examiners test most, from functional-area weights to the US employment laws behind the scenarios. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free PHR toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
PHR exam at a glance
- Certifying body: HR Certification Institute (HRCI)
- Questions: 115 items (90 scored + 25 unscored pretest)
- Time: 2 hours testing (~2.5-hour total appointment)
- Passing score: Scaled score of 500 on a 100–700 scale
- Delivery: Pearson VUE test center or OnVUE online proctoring
- Cost: $100 application + $395 exam ≈ $495 (verify at hrci.org)
What’s on the PHR cheat sheet
- Employee & Labor Relations (20%) — the NLRA and Section 7, unions and collective bargaining, OSHA, discipline, and key leave laws — the single largest area.
- Employee Engagement (17%) — measuring and driving engagement, performance management, and retention across the employee lifecycle.
- Total Rewards (15%) — the FLSA and exempt/non-exempt rules, building pay structures, and benefits law (ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA, ACA).
- Business Management (14%) — HR metrics, organizational culture and risk, and the EEO foundations (Title VII, disparate treatment vs. impact).
- Workforce Planning & Talent Acquisition (14%) — federal hiring law (FCRA, Form I-9), sourcing, workforce planning, and valid selection.
- Learning & Development (10%) — the ADDIE model, adult learning, Kirkpatrick's four evaluation levels, and succession planning.
- HR Information Management (10%) — the HRIS, HR analytics, data integrity, and data security.
How to use it in your final week
- Memorize the employer-size thresholds cold — they drive the most 'does this law apply?' questions: 15+ for Title VII and the ADA, 20+ for the ADEA and COBRA, 50+ (within 75 miles) for the FMLA, and 100+ for the WARN Act.
- Front-load Employee & Labor Relations (20%) and Employee Engagement (17%) — together over a third of the exam. If you master two areas from the sheet, make them these.
- Drill the FLSA exempt-vs-non-exempt logic: overtime is 1.5× over 40 hours a week for non-exempt workers, and exemption needs all three of the salary-basis, salary-level, and duties tests.
- Read the sheet the morning of the test to refresh the scoring facts — 500 scaled to pass on 100–700, 115 items in 2 hours — then pair each review pass with a short timed practice set to keep your pacing sharp.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your PHR practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
PHR cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the PHR cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no account and no sign-up. It sits alongside Career Employer's free PHR practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your entire review layer costs nothing.
It condenses the highest-yield HRCI facts into a single quick reference: all seven functional areas with their exam weights, the federal employment laws the PHR leans on (Title VII, FLSA, FMLA, ADA, ADEA, NLRA, OSHA, ERISA, COBRA), the employer-size thresholds those laws trigger at, and the scoring and eligibility numbers you need on test day.
Yes. It reminds you the PHR is 115 items (90 scored plus 25 unscored pretest) in a 2-hour testing window, and that you pass with a scaled score of 500 on a 100–700 scale — not a fixed raw percentage. Answer every question, since scored and pretest items look identical.
No — the cheat sheet is a cram and last-week review aid, not a full curriculum. Use it to lock in the law thresholds and area weights, then work full weighted practice tests and the study guide to actually apply US employment law to scenarios, which is how the PHR tests you.
Click the download button or the preview card near the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark the page so you can pull it up again the morning of your exam for one last pass over the memory hooks.
References
- 1.HR Certification Institute. “Professional in Human Resources (PHR) Certification.” hrci.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.HR Certification Institute. “PHR Exam Content Outline (2024).” hrci.org, 2024. ↑
- 3.U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “Laws Enforced by the EEOC (Title VII, ADA, ADEA, Equal Pay Act, GINA).” eeoc.gov, 2026. ↑
- 4.U.S. Department of Labor. “Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).” dol.gov, 2026. ↑
- 5.U.S. Department of Labor. “Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).” dol.gov, 2026. ↑
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