The National Knowledge Exam®

To prove you have the knowledge required to become a CPHR, you must register for and pass The National Knowledge Exam® (NKE). The NKE assesses your understanding of HR knowledge and skills. 

Each provincial member association administers the NKE for their members. You must register with your member association as the first step. The cost of writing the exam varies from province to province.

The NKE is held once per year in the Fall. Exceptions will be made when these dates coincide with a major holiday or holiday weekend. Please check with your provincial HR association for the dates and additional information regarding upcoming exams.

The NKE is comprised of 150 multiple choice questions. 3 hours and 15 minutes are allotted to complete the exam. Prep Courses are available to writers with the theoretical knowledge and test-taking strategies needed to effectively write the NKE. These are not mandatory.

Once completed, results will be sent out within 8 weeks. Those who pass the exam become CPHR Candidates and can represent themselves as such. The next step is to complete the Validation of Experience. 

NKE Ready

An Associate Member must be NKE Ready prior to registering for the exam. This means that transcripts and courses have been verified and meet CPHR Saskatchewan's coursework requirement. Failure to have all documentation assessed prior to the NKE registration deadline will result in the inability to register for the NKE. 

NKE Waiver

Graduates of CPHR Accredited Post-Secondary programs will be one step closer to receiving their CPHR designation and may be eligible to waive writing the NKE. There is no waiving the NKE for international education or experience.

Check the Accredited Post-Secondary Program listing here. 

National Knowledge Exam Attempts Policy:

Exam writers who fail the NKE three (3) times will be required to wait a full year before attempting the NKE for a fourth and final time. A fifth attempt may be permitted following a review process¹ by the appropriate provincial HR association.

During the break period between the third failure and a fourth attempt, writers are encouraged to complete a NKE preparation course and/or review the material which their NKE results indicate require more study. Prep Courses are available to writers with the theoretical knowledge and test-taking strategies needed to effectively write the NKE. These are not mandatory. 

Scoring the National Knowledge Exam:

The NKE is a multiple-choice assessment of knowledge in human resources. Of the 160 questions on the examination, 150 are designated as operational (intended to be scored), and 10 unscored are included for field test purposes. A candidate’s total score is calculated as their number of correct answers.

Candidate responses are extracted from the line test delivery tool, and imported into a scoring and reporting software. Then, a preliminary item analysis study is conducted in which the statistics that describe the quality of each question is used to identify if any questions demonstrate unsatisfactory measurement properties. Such questions are then reviewed one-by-one by experts in human resources, and these experts decide whether or not the questions should be scored. Thus, the number of questions that ultimately are scored may not equal 150. Once these decisions are made, they are recorded in the answer key and an additional item analysis study is conducted to verify that the decisions were recorded correctly.

Using the approved answer key, the answer records are then scored and equated. Equating is a statistical process used to be sure that everyone is held to the same passing standard. This is necessary because there are multiple versions of each exam, and these versions may vary slightly in difficulty. Thus, scores that result from this process account for the number of scored questions answered correctly by each individual as well as the difficulty of the version of the NKE used in the given test administration, such that scores represent the proficiency of each candidate relative to the standards established for the NKE. These scores are then scaled to a distribution that ranges from 200 to 800, with the criterion-referenced passing standard anchored at 500. A scaled score is a score that has been mathematically transformed from one scale to another scale that is used for reporting purposes. This transformation is similar to converting from pounds to kilograms. The weight of the object has not changed, only the units being reported. The scaling is performed by multiplying the raw score for each candidate by the expected standard deviation of the scaled-score distribution and then adding a constant that places the passing standard at 500.

NKE Score Verification Policy:

Candidates who do not successfully pass the NKE have the right to request a manual score verification. Candidates must submit requests to their provincial association within 20 business days after the results have been sent out. The cost for the manual score verification is $65 and payment must be received at the time the request is made.  

1. Email: info@cphrsk.ca to complete the request

2. Pay the $65 plus GST non-refundable NKE Score Verification Fee

Accommodation Requests

Should you require any special accommodation(s) to write the exam, please advise CPHR Saskatchewan at the time of registration. Verification of the requirement by an appropriate authority must be submitted along with the registration. Accommodations are subject to CPHR Saskatchewan approval. Please review the Accommodations Handbook for Writers should you have any questions.

Please complete the Accommodation Form, and email your request to info@cphrsk.ca.

Fall 2025 NKE Exam Details
You will receive a registration email closer to the exam date, containing specific details about the exam day, and confirming your writing time.

Upcoming Exams