HSR Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the HSR exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
HSR exam key facts
- The CITI Program Human Subjects Research series has two tracks, Biomedical (Biomed) and Social-Behavioral-Educational (SBE), and the Foundations and Comprehensive courses in either track meet human subjects research training requirements. Source
- To complete a CITI Program Human Subjects Research course, learners must meet or exceed the minimum average quiz score set by their institution, and some institutions also set a per-module minimum. Source
- CITI Program HSR learners can retake quizzes; after a Completion Report is issued, the new scores appear only on Part 2 (the transcript report), not Part 1. Source
📋 HSR Exam Format at a Glance
📚 HSR Topics to Study (22)
✍️ Sample HSR Questions & Answers
1. How should challenges in industry best practices be addressed?
Systematic problem-solving combined with appropriate consultation and documentation ensures challenges are addressed effectively.
2. How should professionals apply assessment and evaluation in daily practice?
Consistent application of professional standards ensures quality outcomes and builds professional credibility.
3. When recruiting employees as research participants, the most significant ethical concern is:
Employees may feel implicitly pressured to participate by supervisors or fear negative employment consequences for declining, constituting undue influence.
4. A researcher wants to use a HIPAA limited data set that includes dates and zip codes but no direct identifiers. What is required?
A limited data set may be used for research without authorization if a data use agreement is in place.
5. Which characteristic is most important for DSMB members?
DSMB independence ensures objective review of accumulating safety and efficacy data.
6. How should sensitive participant data be stored?
Sensitive participant data, which often includes personal health information or other identifiable details, requires robust protection to maintain confidentiality and privacy. Storing this data in secure, encrypted systems with restricted access prevents unauthorized individuals from viewing, altering, or stealing it. This practice is crucial for complying with ethical guidelines and data protection regulations, minimizing the risk of data breaches.
🎯 Free HSR Practice Tests
📖 HSR Guides & Articles
What Practice Test Geeks adds beyond an AI chat for HSR
An AI chatbot can quiz you, but it can't reproduce the exam conditions or keep your record. Here you get:
- A timed, full-length HSR mock exam — 30 questions in 60 minutes with a 80% pass mark, modeled on the official exam's question count and time limit, followed by a score report broken down by exam domain.
- A fixed HSR question bank: the same test every attempt, so your score is comparable from one try to the next instead of changing with every regenerated quiz.
- Progress saved on your device: completed tests, scores and missed questions stay in My Progress, so you can retake only what you got wrong.
- A printable HSR cheat sheet you can print or save as a PDF.
- HSR flashcards built from the same question bank.
- Free HSR practice tests with the correct answer shown after each question.
How this page was made: written with AI tools and published by Nathan Beja, founder of Practice Test Geeks, who is responsible for its content. Exam facts are checked against the official sources listed below. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy
Sources & references
Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy
- about.citiprogram.org — Test delivery, eligibility, exam format, renewal, score validity, fees · verified Oct 2026
- support.citiprogram.org — Score validity, passing score, retake policy · verified Oct 2026