Spock
Posts: 7
Joined: Dec 2012
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Monday December 10, 2012 12:02 AM
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I promised myself if I passed all four parts of the CIA exam and became certified, I would try to help others to achieve the same objective by recounting my study methodology (assuming it was successful.) One could say it was successful in that I passed all four parts of the exam on the first attempt; however, it should be noted that my exam dates spanned approximately 2.5 years as follows:
Part 1 April 2010
Part 2 January 2011
Part 4 June 2011 (Yes- I skipped Part 3 because I heard it was the hardest section.)
Part 3 December 2012
This is not to say that I studied for the entire time in between exams. I moved and had other things going on in my life, but I wanted to provide a complete picture of my exam history. An estimate of the amount of study time I put into each test would probably be more helpful, so here it is:
Part 1 80 hours
Part 2 80 hours
Part 4 60 hours
Part 3 100 hours
In all 4 cases, I used the IIA Learning System as well as purchased a Wiley book for each exam part. The Wiley book was intended only as a “secondary” study aid. I read the IIA learning system books at least two times in their entirety. I then worked through the IIA web-based question modules until I was achieving at least a 95% on every part of the software. If a question/answer relationship wasn’t clear, I went into the books until it became comprehensible.
With Wiley, I took a less serious approach, since I was using it only as a “supplemental” study aid and most people really only use one. After I would spend a few hours on the IIA learning system, I would devote a small amount of time to Wiley. I quickly and minimally skimmed through the narrative parts of the Wiley book, instead opting to focus on the practice questions at the end of each section. In some cases, I tried to answer the Wiley questions, but many times I was so tired by the time I got to Wiley that I simply read the questions and then flipped over to the answers, without actually trying to answer it myself. This was valuable, however, because Wiley explains why the wrong answers are wrong; the IIA software only does this for a finite number of questions. I found this helped to understand the reasoning behind the correct answers, which brings me to the final point:
You have to understand the concept behind the question and answer relationships. The exam is cleverly worded to make you “think through it” to determine the correct answers. There are no short cuts to understanding the concepts involved. Make sure you understand “why” ‘B’ is correct (for example), instead of the three alternatives.
Part 3 is worth mentioning because it was the hardest section for me, since it covered I.T. concepts I had never seen, as well as financial accounting subjects I had not seen since college. However, it is passable with the right amount of studying. I definitely spent the most number of hours studying for Part 3, as I indicated above.
Remember, repetition is the key. At the start of each new Part, my practice scores in the IIA software were demoralizing. Working through the questions and the material repeatedly, the “unfamiliar” became “second nature” and I eventually attained 95 or above. I would not try to take the exam unless you reach this point as well.
Stay positive and have confidence in yourself (but not too much confidence…) It is a very difficult exam, but you can do it if you work hard and don’t give up on yourself.
Hopefully this information will help someone out there in some small way. Of course the IIA will be using a new three-part test next year, so I cannot provide any insight into the new test, but hopefully the study methodology that I used (IIA Learning System, with some limited review of Wiley Q&A's as a supplement) will continue to be applicable. Good luck to you all !!
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Spock
Posts: 7
Joined: Dec 2012
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Wednesday December 12, 2012 6:01 PM
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Hello, MuneebBhai,
Thank you for your e-mail and for the congrats. As many people on the forum have indicated, about 1 out of every 3 questions in Part 3 was I.T. related. This was certainly in-line with the IIA's syllabus on Part 3, which indicates 30-40% for I.T. One thing you might also notice about the syllabus is that it indicates either "A" for "Awareness" or "P" for Proficiency on each individual topic. For I.T., the entire section is tested at the "Awareness" level only. This makes sense, because, although the entire exam was hard, the I.T. questions on the exam were not as "in depth" as they were in financial and managerial accounting topics, SOME of which you are expected to know at the "Proficiency" level.
You didn't say if you were using the IIA Learning System, or some other system, like Gleim. I used the IIA system and worked through each section (including I.T.) until I achieved a 95%. For I.T., I'm sure there was some terminology in the Wiley book that was not referenced in the IIA learning system, since Wiley covers substantially more than the IIA system. If you have time, I recommend getting the Wiley book or maybe purchase the old test questions that the IIA bookstore sells just to review some extra I.T. questions if you can.
I tried to focus a lot on I.T. because I thought it might make up for some questions I wouldn't do so well on - (i.e.: bonds, leases, pensions in financial accounting). Even though "COBIT Control Frameworks" might be dry, boring and hard to memorize, it's still easier for me than doing pension calculations.
Hope this helps-
Edited: Wednesday December 12, 2012 at 6:06 PM by Spock
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