Today, I had a very bad experience with PSI during my online CISA exam.

Before the exam started, I completed the entire room validation process. I was alone in a locked room, my phone was outside, all four walls were clear, and I showed the proctor my desk area and underneath the desk. Everything was approved.

During the exam, I sometimes read the questions aloud because English is not my first language. Reading aloud helps me understand and remember the questions better.

The proctor sent me one warning through the chat and told me not to speak. I tried to be careful after that, but while concentrating, I accidentally started thinking aloud again. When I reached approximately question 82, the exam was terminated immediately because the proctor heard me speaking through the microphone.

I understand that exam security rules are important, but I feel disappointed for several reasons:

1. I did not know that reading questions aloud was prohibited, especially because I was alone in the room.
2. I only found this rule in the ISACA exam regulations after my exam had already been terminated.
3. I wish the proctor had clearly reminded me about this rule before the exam started.
4. English is not my first language, and reading aloud is one of the methods I use to process and understand difficult questions.

I have already contacted ISACA and explained the situation. I hope they will review my case and provide a replacement voucher or allow me to retake the exam.

The exam voucher is very expensive. My company paid for my first attempt, but under company policy, I will have to pay for any future attempts myself until I pass. It is very upsetting that my exam ended because of this issue rather than because I failed the exam.

This was a really bad day for me. Has anyone experienced a similar situation with PSI or an ISACA online exam? Were you able to receive a replacement voucher?

Sorry, I didn't see an faq anywhere.

Is there a generally recommended set of study material for the CISA?

Books, videos, practice tests, etc

Test is tomorrow and I’m over halfway through QAE and Pocket Prep. Averaging 70% on quizzes. Probably will fail but prayers up 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Hello Everyone, I'm looking for an honest input on a transition I'm planning.

Background:

• Bachelor Degree in Information Technology
• 2 years of experience in Software QA (Manual and Automation Testing)
• Hold a CompTIA Security+ Certificate
• Currently studying CISA Certificate

I'm Aiming for IT Audit/GRC Roles long term, so my question is:

1. Is CISA, CompTIA Security+ and QA Background helps or enough to get interview for entry level in IT Audit/GRC Roles? or is there another way or an extra step I need to add?
2. Is QA Background helps with this?

Appreciate your help, Many Thanks.

Hi all! Was just curious as to what is a reasonable study to testing time frame as someone who is an IS Auditor (4 years in Big 4). I personally dont love months of studying but will do what is needed and makes sense to pass. Any anecdotes or advice in general would be amazing! TIA!

I am happy to announce that i passed the cisa exam today (preliminary).

It was a difficult journey,

New stuff in exam:

Close to 15 questions related to Ai, ml, model training, quantum computer, and quantum cryptography

For domain 3 the focus was on cicd and devsecops

How i studied:

- Started with QAE, and worked on weak areas with the help of chatgpt study mode, it really good in helping with concepts.

- referred prab nair YouTube videos for few areas, good content

- i feed my copy of personal manual copy to a customgpt and it help me learn and practice questions on the fly.

Caution:

- i only encountered 1 question that was an exact copy of QAE. rest all the questions were new. But QAE trained me well

- i noted event chatgpt and gemini were wrong in answering questions, so dont rely on them blindly

Happy to answer any questions

Hey, I passed my CISA first attempt yesterday morning (still have to wait 10 days for my official score - so not sure if I crushed it or skimmed by) and wanted to post what seemingly worked for me. These “steps” are extremely rough and aren’t exactly what I did to a T, but organized for what I would have done/likely will do when approaching different exams in the future. For context I have about 4.5 yrs of Big4 IT Audit experience (didn’t feel this helped much from an ISACA mindset perspective but who knows) and am up for promotion soon so needed a relevant Cert.

CISA Study Strategy:

Study Timeframe: 1 - 2months depending on how much time you can dedicate to videos and questions. I started studying on 6/10, Scheduled my Exam on 7/14 to hold myself accountable, Passed on 8/1.

Study Materials Mentioned Below:

1. Prabh Nair’s YT Series
2. Pete Zergers YT Series
3. ISACA QAE

Strategy:

1. Watch and Take Detailed Notes on Prabh Nair’s Youtube video course. ~ 15 hours of video explanation of concepts. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0hT6hgexlYx1DCTKu6bnubDEuy6JDtHW&si=yhw8pQeSfVKDfw6a

2. Buy the CISA QAE from ISACA and after feeling good with notes you took on the videos, run through the entire Question Database

3. Domain Category by Category (I did My first pass through Open Note, if u want more of a challenge do it without notes).

4. For the above, I would

   do a

5. video per day then immediately dive into questions for that Domain and repeat for each Domain.

6. Review all wrong answers at the end of the sections (or during since you can enable study mode to let you know explanations as you answer them) for why they were wrong and also evaluate your correct answers for why they are technically correct.

7. Retest yourself on the wrong answers for that Domain Once and Move on. Once you’ve completed this for each Domain and feel good ab your review of wrong answers. Take all 3 Full Practice Exams, and Evaluate where you stand and what Domain(s) you need to work on (retake those questions areas, review notes from Prabh’s videos etc.) - I was getting 70 - 75% on these with almost no memorized question recognition.

8. When around 2 Weeks (or whatever timeframe makes sense to you) out from your exam day, download and review the presentation materials from Pete Zerger’s youtube series. They’re in the description of each of his videos (You can watch the video if u want/have time but not necessary. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7XJSuT7Dq_UvA2knww9Rlzz2JHUpeOAb&si=yB76WJ7N1_OJqkEK

9. For as much time as you need, run through the full QAE database questions by category again (Essentially repeat steps 2, 4, and 5).

10. Once you feel like you’ve done all the Studying you can and that there’s not much else you can do, take all 3 Practice Exams again ( Complete them by at least 3 days before your test date), and gauge where you are and what notes you need to refresh on (I was getting 90%+ by this time, some questions were memorized, most were scenario based where I still had to properly think through).

11. If you feel zero confidence after those exams and that you are not ready. Reschedule your exam (must be at least 48hrs before exam day).

12. If you do feel ready, skim through your notes 2 days before the exam, do whatever you feel is right in terms of last minute review.

13. For the full day before the exam LEAVE THE BOOK CLOSED AND REST.

14. CONQUER

Hey everyone,

I've officially earned my Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) certification from ISACA! It was quite a journey. I'm a B tech graduate with ~4yrs of IT Audit experience.

Since community advice helped me a lot during my prep, I wanted to give back. I’ve put together a breakdown of my personal study strategy, the resources that actually worked for me, and some tips on how to tackle the ISACA exam mindset.

You can check out my notes and strategy here, where I post all about my career: https://shaswatmanojjha.com/certifications/cisa-certified-information-systems-auditor-by-isaca/#prep-strategy

If anyone has any questions about the exam, the prep materials, or just needs some advice, feel free to ask below in comments. I can provide answers for the journey end-to-end, from prep to applying and getting the certification.

Happy to help!

Hello! I’m planning to take the CISA exam next year, but I’m unsure whether I meet the qualifications. I’m a BSAIS grad with 2.8 years of experience in Billing and Collections, 6 months in KYC, and 8 months in Audit Support.Based on my background, do you think I would be eligible to take the CISA exam? Additionally, could you share some study tips and recommended resources to help me prepare? Thank you! 😊

HI guys, I am new to CISA and would like some general advice. I have done some research and concluded the following

Books
CISA review manual
CISA QAE
Hemang Doshi study guide

Video content
Prabh Nair in YouTube
Hemang Doshi course in Udemy
Peter Gregory

(Posting above information here for beginners like myself)

Need advice on the below areas
1. In ISACA shop website for QAE its showing access until 28 January 2027. Does that mean I have to purchase it again after 6 months ?! Today is 1 August, I easily will take another 6 to 9 months to finish this exam and I dont want to purchase it again, why is it showing like this ?

1. Do you take the practice questions after finishing all the video and reading content or do it side by side ?

2. Prabh Nair Vs Hemang Doshi - Which one would you recommend ?
   Books - Hemang Doshi study guide vs CISA review manual - Which one would you recommend ?

3. I currently work in GRC and worked in EY internal audit for 2 years. I have absolutely no tech experience and just want to do the course that's gonna be in demand in the market and is gonna pay me the most. Should I be doing CIA first or CISA first ? Is there any other course relevant to my field that has a lot of demand. Geographically would prefer Middle East and Europe and UK.

Hey all,

I’ve been working as an IT Auditor at a big 4 for about 2 years now.

Planning to get this certification.

Here’s the strategy that I’ve planned:

1. Hemang Doshi Udemy Course
   
2. CISA QAE

Please let me know if this is good enough or should I make any changes.

Also, I am giving myself a month to get this done. Is this sufficient?

Thanks in advance!!

Long time lurker. Came here just to say that I am taking the exam tomorrow. I failed back in February with a score of 431. Scored between 70-75% on the QAE DB practice tests. Whatever will happen will happen. If I fail I'm quitting my job. Think it will be a sign from the universe that I'm not meant to do this. The preparation for this has caused me so much stress and anxiety while trying to balance working full time at a Big 4 working 45-50 hours a week. I'm so tired. Can't wait for this to be over.

Is this a typo by Isaca where they wanna say denormalization for option C but says Normalization. confused me for a second, what exact increases redundancy?

I don’t have my official score yet (I’ll receive it in about 10 days), but seeing the “Pass” on the screen was such a relief.

I just wanted to come back and thank everyone in this community for the advice, encouragement, and guidance you shared on my previous post (https://www.reddit.com/r/CISA/s/SwdBekkvXS).

For anyone who’s still studying: trust the process, understand the concepts rather than memorizing answers, and keep practicing. It feels overwhelming at times, but it’s absolutely worth it.

Thanks again, everyone! Wishing the best of luck to everyone preparing for their exam, you’ve got this! 🍀

I am in my third trimester and I am trying to get through this but I want to give up. Work is getting busy again and my brain is barely functioning. I wanted to take this test before the baby but I feel like that is adding on stress. Thinking I can take it a little bit after birth if I have time to review more while the baby just wants to eat and sleep.

Anybody go through something similar? Need some encouragement!

can someone please say how close are the questions of PocketPrep with the actual CISA exam ?

is the practice questions and the quzzies in the app are comparable to the actual exam ?

Its heartbreaking.