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Thread Title: CIA Part 3
Created On Tuesday September 20, 2011 3:37 PM

CIA Part 3

looking for study partner for CIA Part 3 and Part 4

Help on CIA part 3 financial

CIA Part 3

sallybell

Posts: 1
Joined: Sep 2011

Tuesday September 20, 2011 3:37 PM

Hi All. I wanted to add something to the forum about CIA exam Part 3. When I google search chat's about this the only thing that comes up is a thread here from 2010. I wanted to write this to hopefully help some others about to take this part. It is by far the most difficult of the 4 parts bc it has the Finance, Financial Accounting and Managerial sections. I took this part a year or so ago and only studied for about a month and didn't spend much time doing calculations. I did not pass. I got busy and did not take it again until recently. I used the Gleim 14th Edition study material (15th is out but I had already bought 14th). I studied A LOT! I thought it may be overkill, but now realized that I may not have passed had I not been so diligent. The study material had 1218 questions, about 600 of those were problems or required calculations. I studied for 2 months about 20 to 25 hours a week. I know seems a bit obsessive but I had a promotion riding on passing the test. I went into the test a little nervous. About 40% were identical questions from the study material. Problems calculations made up 10% of the exam, however had I not studied all 600 problems, I wouldn't have gotten them right. There were about 10 questions that I had never seen any info about in my study materials, I am blaming that on using an old edition. Study hard for this part and you will pass. If you have your CPA, have just finished an accounting degree or use these calculations daily, you may not have to study as hard as I did. I had to teach myself how to do a lot of the problems. What a wonderful feeling for it to be complete. I hope my advice helps someone in the preparation for the exam. Good Luck!

Edited: Tuesday September 20, 2011 at 3:40 PM by sallybell

Posts: 96
Joined: Feb 2009

Wednesday September 21, 2011 4:49 AM

Hi Sallybell,

Marvellous post and guidance. It is really helpful to all candidates preparing for part 3. Great Effort put by you in part 3 preps. You have studied for 200 hours + for part 3 and thats a superb hard work. Ccongratulations for passing part 3.

One thing i will like to say that there is no diference between 13th, 14th and 15th edition of Gliem. I have compared all 3 of them and found them to be same. The complete database of questions is similar. They have not added any new questions in 15th edition. They have simply shuffled few topics here and there. So, the 10 unfamiliar questions which you got were IIA surprise. IIA has a habit of giving surprises to candidates.

Posts: 18
Joined: Feb 2011

Wednesday September 21, 2011 8:07 AM

Hi Sallybell,

Congrats on passing Part III.

I too passed part III today. I completely agree with you on 10% of question which requried calculation/workings. Also 10% of question sounds completly out of mind. Approx 40 question will either be the same (or similar) questions from Gleim. I had also referred the IIA online resource, which also helped.

I would like to add couple of points.

1. Focus more on Info Tech (IT), since it covers upto 40%
2. Make one liner notes for all topics. I had about 10 pages of one liner notes for entire part III and read the same every day. I used to note for all the wrong answers in Gleim and IIA online.

Finally be confident, positive and take 3 to 4, 100 marks test exam before the final exam.

All the best.

Posts: 2
Joined: Oct 2011

Tuesday October 11, 2011 9:45 AM

Congrats!! to all who have passed, well I will be sitting the part 3 exam for the 4th time and I am inspired but discouraged at the same time. Because I have not started my online practise questions I am behind on my schedule, with 13 days to go I am just a mess. Has any one taken the exam this month any reviews? Sallybell and Makiia had good reviews something similar was is hard? how can I use the time I have left effectively.

One more question Makii can you post an example of you one line notes on each topic. Because I am horrible at taking notes I end up writing the whole book and since the IIA and Gleim dont have pass cards I can carry in my bag and look through when I am away from home it doesnt help much.

In my mind I think I am just torturing myself because if I keep on failing why bother

Anyhelp will be appreciated, anything to help me focus and inspired.

Thanks
Eli

Posts: 18
Joined: Feb 2011

Monday October 17, 2011 1:29 PM

Hi Eli,

One line questio can be as simple as defination of LAN (Local Area Network) or about Trojon horse. I generally make note of all wrong answers in Gleim or IIA online. I suggest you atleaset take 4 or 5 100 marks test before the final exam. Focus more on IT and Economics which covers approx 50% of total quesitons.

In the exam, some question (specially in the beginning) may be out of mind, flag all those and keep it in the end. Answer all the easy and known quesitons. And then slowely review all the flagged quesiton.

All the best for your exam.

Posts: 2
Joined: Oct 2011

Tuesday October 25, 2011 1:48 PM

Hi Makiia,

Your idea worked I did 100 questions 6 times (I was using the gleim practise disc selected all the chapters then let the software do its magic, select random questions, did all the questions until I was averaging 80%) and I passed I coudn't believe it when I got my results. I had given up by question 99 when I was sitting the exam because it was difficult I recognised some of the questions from the practise disc but I didnt recognise 95% of the questions. It felt like I was writting another out of this world exam. It seems I chose right answers how I don't know.

But I am glad it is over and done with. Only CPE left to do and I would trade that anyday to studying.

Thank you so much for your advise it helped. Keep at it you never know how it will go until the lady prints your results.

Cheers
Eli

Posts: 18
Joined: Feb 2011

Wednesday October 26, 2011 7:57 AM

Hi Eli,

Congrats on passing Part III. All your hard work has paid off.

Are you done with all the 4 papers or do you have any other papar. I have my final paper (Part II) left. In case if you have already passed part II, please do pass on some useful tips.

Cheers
Madhu

Posts: 96
Joined: Feb 2009

Monday October 31, 2011 2:56 AM

Hi Madhu,

I have just cleared part 2 today and have posted few tips in a new thread. If you need to know any thing else, do let me know.

Good Luck.

Posts: 18
Joined: Feb 2011

Tuesday November 01, 2011 12:55 PM

Hi Akhil,

Thanks for the message. I have seen your new thread and will get back to you for clarifications. I will start preparing for Part III by end of this month.

Thanks again
Madhu

Posts: 17
Joined: Jan 2009

Tuesday November 01, 2011 3:45 PM

It is wonderful to read so many positive comments. I, too, struggled with Part 3 as I don't have an accounting background. It took me three times to pass. I think I studied a lot - many, many hours devoted to various study materials and accounting references. I don't know why I was able to pass the third time and not the first two attempts. It is the luck of the draw on the questions that you actually get on the exam. I concur with others suggesting taking the online exam again and again. I firmly believe that although much of the material in this exam I may never use, it was a valuable process and it will help me to succeed professionally.

I do have a question concerning the revision to the testing beginning in 2013. I am glad that IIA did this, but is the testing going to be easier or more difficult?

Posts: 96
Joined: Feb 2009

Tuesday November 08, 2011 8:27 AM

How were IT Questions in part 3? I mean were they easy or difficult or similar like in Gleim software?

Posts: 18
Joined: Feb 2011

Wednesday November 16, 2011 3:09 AM

The questions relating to IT were similar but not same from Gleim. Some questions, specially in accounting were very tricky, which were never there in Gleim.

Overall a decent preparation from Gleim/IIA materials should be sufficient to clear Part III.

Posts: 96
Joined: Feb 2009

Saturday November 19, 2011 9:45 AM

Thanks Madhu...I appreciate your guidance. It is quite helpful.

Posts: 74
Joined: May 2009

Monday April 16, 2012 3:30 PM

My comments regarding part 3 after passing last week.

I procrasinated and only gave myself about 2 weeks of prep time.
I used Gleim 14th edition (book only) and the IIA's 2004/2010 Model Exam Book.

As far as the Gleim material I read Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 8, 9 and 10. (ran out of time for chapters 4 through 7).
However I did complete all 30 questions for each chapter. I never had a chance to go back and review.

The day before I took the 2010 Model Exam and scored a 69 out of 100. So the day of the exam I made sure to re-take it and got 100 out of 100.

Probably not the best approach but it got me by. I was really stressing about this part as I read some older threads on here stating there were roughly 30% calculations which is not my strong suit. This was far from the truth. As people mentioned above its more like 10% and maybe even less than that.

IT was very heavily covered. This was a blessing for me as I perform our Company's ITGC testing on an annual basic.
I expected maybe 30% of the exam to be IT as the syllable suggests but in all honestly it seemed like it was more in the 40-45% range. The Gleim and Model Exam book had a good feel for the IT questions covered on the exam. A couple curveballs but I think I guessed right.

During the exams, I always mark the # of questions that I have seen before verbatim. I ended up with 5 questions word for word from the 2010 Model exam book and 3 from the Gleim material. The ones from the Gleim material had the answers moved around. So be careful when you read the question because what was answer A in the study material might be C on the exam.

Good Luck !!!

Posts: 3
Joined: May 2012

Monday May 21, 2012 10:21 PM

Recently I passed CIA 3 Exam in 1st go so i would like to share some of my thoughts with you people which you might find Helpful....

1.I used Gleim 15th edition books,software and Audio(lambers videos as a supplement)and in my opinion gleim cover every aspect of syllabus so u can trust it blindly..

2.Every third question on paper was from IT portion(35+ questions)so do focus on IT topics.

3.Do practice software at least three times before exam and you must see question you marked while revising for final paper.(10-15) questions will appear directly from book or software)

4.Don't over focus on numerical portions as there were about 10 computational questions out of 90 and were straight forward...

5.And finally Grab the concepts rite.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

Posts: 6
Joined: Aug 2012

Tuesday August 07, 2012 3:30 PM

I took part 3 yesterday (passed) and there were probably about 12 math questions total, and none were any that I remember from the Gleim books. I used the 14th-16th editions. Even so, if I had not worked the math questions over and over, then I would not have understood the concept. You MUST understand the concept when it comes to the accounting and finance! I cannot stress this enough.

There were probably about 10 questions that did come straight from Gleim, but they were not the math questions.

I read and worked every question in every chapter but went very light on the managerial accounting chapter (and it almost cost me). There were a lot of IT questions as well. You must know your IT!

My best advice, study until you are absolutely sick of it!!!

I used the whole Gleim package as well as the ExamMatrix software.

Posts: 16
Joined: Dec 2008

Wednesday September 12, 2012 2:44 AM

Hi Sallybell,

I have just come back from my last part of the CIA Exams, being Part 3 and.... wait for it..... passed!!
I (almost entirely) agree with your statements made.
I have had some similar experiences as you and, despite being a CA, had to study very diligently to pass this part.
In fact, I failed it about 17 months ago (achieved 594 points!) and had to 'reconvene'. I have ordered the latest version of Gleim online which helped a bit; however, unlike you, I found that the majority of the questions were quite different to the one that I have studied. There were a few similar ones but they were by far the minority. You really have to understand the underlying concepts as recommended by Gleim.
I thought that the IT component was the toughest part and also thought that I did not particularly better than the first time but must have just made it over the 600 point mark....
One thing which I did not particularly like was the fact that other people (eg Gleim staff) 'lectured' me (for selling purposes??) to order the entire study suite again after I failed the unit on a 'knive's edge'.
I do have 2 advises for other potential candidates would need to sit a failed part again. Start as soon as feasible with the next one and don't rely on cramming or memorising answers.

Wooohooo... out come a few champagne bottles now after this 5 year journey.... with some interruptions.
Cheers,
Roger4ever

Posts: 5
Joined: Sep 2012

Thursday September 13, 2012 2:49 PM

I took Part III this morning and passed on my first attempt (whew!).

I used the IIA's Learning System and felt it prepared me well. I read both books for Part III and did several rounds of practice testing (unfortunately after a while you memorize the questions as there are not as many with IIA's Sytem as there are with Gleim).

As a backup I inherited Gleim 12th edition on my work PC from the previous auditor and would work through problems there to get some variety.

To me, the exam more closely resembled the IIA practice questions in style and wording. There were two calculation problems that were exactly the same as the practice tests and overall I'd say there were 5 questions that matched exactly. In my opinion the Gleim questions were more complex than what ended up being on the exam (I do realize I'm using an old version of Gleim) however that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The calculations would be similar to practice questions in that the setup and information given was the same as practice tests only you would be solving for a different variable in the actual exam (i.e. instead of solving for inventory turnover in the practice exam the actual exam had you solving for net sales). This goes back to the original point of understand the concept!

Overall I studied for about 10 weeks at approximately 2-4 hours a week. Best of luck to everyone!

Posts: 2
Joined: Dec 2011

Thursday October 04, 2012 6:40 AM

hey,
if its not too inconvenient, would you send me these 1-liner notes that you've made??
i would be eternally grateful

Posts: 4
Joined: Jan 2012

Monday October 22, 2012 12:47 PM

Passed part 3 this morning.

I had a descent amount fo financial questions and a lot of IT.

Studied for 2 months. Took every IIA and Gleim question possible.

Posts: 5
Joined: Jan 2011

Friday October 26, 2012 11:14 AM

I am planning to take part 3 and 4 within one month, any one wants to join? email me at yuxiangx@yahoo.com

Posts: 5
Joined: Jan 2011

Thursday November 08, 2012 11:56 AM

Any one has any tip on CIA part 3 financial , so many formula I need to remember, how do I study these calculation?

Thanks
Cathy

Posts: 14
Joined: Jul 2012

Tuesday November 13, 2012 1:34 AM

hi everyone.....require some tips on the i.t. section of part 3....how were the questions in xam??? coz theis section constitutes of 30-40%....but wht i see in the resources...mostly it emphasizes on financial section...

Posts: 3
Joined: Oct 2011

Saturday November 17, 2012 4:32 AM

Thanks for your invaluable advice and congratulation for making it.

Any reading materials for Part 3 will be highly appreciated antonymusundi@yahoo.co.uk

-------------------------
MUSUNDI

Posts: 1
Joined: Feb 2013

Wednesday February 13, 2013 8:25 AM

Hi all,

I found this post very helpful and wanted to add my two cents for future exam takers. Key points:
- Exam prep time: 75 - 100 hours
- Heavy focus on IT (43 out of 90) questions
- 11 problem solving questions (nothing too deep; variance analysis + financial ratios + calculus level stock and bond questions)
- Study materials: Gleim questions sets from 2006 (1315 questions), 2008 (1363 questions), and 2010 (1312 questions) + Hock 2012 questions set (1516 questions) - I bought the question sets off of 3 previous test takers I found online (total cost - 55 CAD). Two sets were in PDF and the other two sets came with the software.
- Almost 60% of the questions seemed familiar (either same format as the ones in question sets OR slightly modified questions with exact same answer)
- The problem solving questions were fairly straight forward, but only because of the prep (which included solving close to 2000 problems).
- My basic accounting concepts were fairly decent (although, I haven't applied them in the last few years). I worked on Financial Accounting section at the basic concepts level only.
- My work experience has been extensively in IT General Controls. I focused more on beefing up on this strength and it paid off.
- IT questions were not too technical. The exam covered all aspects mentioned in the syllabus and had about 10 - 12 questions (out of 45) that I had not seen before.
- 100% of economics questions were familiar to me from my prep of the Hock questions set

Hope this helps. Good luck with your prep!

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