aleks1981
Posts: 3
Joined: Apr 2009
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Thursday March 07, 2013 10:54 AM
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So...I finally passed Part 3. Failed it 3 times before and decided to go all in while studying this time. It paid off. Here is a brief summary, hopefully it will help some of you:
Attempt #1. Used IIA prep material to study. Found IIA books to be very disorganized and not easy to understand, especially Financial Accounting and IT sections. They seemed to assume that a candidate is familiar with these topics, and only offered a brief overview. While taking the exam, I remember seeing the questions on the material that was never discussed in the books. I do think however that IIA questions are a good resource since they acre actual exam questions and will help you prepare. I got 594 or 74.25% on the exam. Was probably 1 or 2 questions short.
Attempt # 2. Same as attempt #1. Got 590.
Attempt # 3. This time, I purchased Gleim questions database (about 1000) and Gleim book. Their book is much better than IIA, the material is easy to understand and very well organized. Questions are well structured as well. Got 588...this time I began thinking that maybe I was doing something wrong.
Attempt #4. Purchased Gleim 16th addition package (includes the book, 1000+ questions, audio summaries of each study unit, online T/F questions and quizzes) and Exam Matrix package (includes the book and 600+ questions). Continued reviewing IIA questions from the IIA prep material. Studying for about 8 weeks, 1-2 hrs a day on average. Long story short I passed, below are my comments and suggestions:
1. Gleim - make sure you understand the topic and how to solve a problem using the material. Example: it is not enough to read the book and understand how EOQ/Depreciation/Installment Sales Method/Absorption Costing/etc work. Make sure you can apply these concepts and solve the problems. But also make sure that you're comfortable with 95%+ of questions in their database.
2. Exam Matrix - their book is terrible and goes way too deep into concepts that you will never see on the exam. I did not read it - only glanced at it. It confused me a lot more it helped. Their software package is very slow and is not the most user friendly, however some of their questions (about 600) did help me study and learn the material. Make sure you are comfortable with their questions as well.
3. I continued reviewing IIA questions (my membership to their online tool expired, but I printed out all of the questions).
Some tips:
For me, one package (Gleim, IIA or Exam Matrix) would not be enough, and I think that they complement each other very well, but each one does have a weakness. Please keep in mind that you will see actual questions (up to 10% in my experience) from IIA, Gleim and Exam Matrix database, so make sure you review their questions multiple times.
You will encounter Financial Accounting questions in Gleim database that take 10-15 minutes to solve and will drive you crazy (unless you are a CPA). I skipped those questions, but made sure I knew the concept behind it. You should never see a question on the CIA Exam that take more than 4-5 minutes to solve, so keep that in mind while studying.
Know IT inside and out. At least 50% of questions are IT related.
What sucks is that maybe 10% of what you will study is actually on exam, but that's the way it is structured.
This is not an easy exam, but it is passable. Contact me at aleks.lang@gmail.com if you have any additional questions.
Good luck to everyone!
Textpassed
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deedeeinamsterdam
Posts: 2
Joined: May 2013
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Thursday May 23, 2013 5:40 AM
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Dear candidates
Here is my experience. Passed part 3 a couple of weeks ago (first try) after a massive efforts to stay awake, work at the same time and midnight cramming.
I registered for the exam without realising how technical it is. So I read 2 chapters, found it boring and then procrastinated for a long time.
When I had 3 weeks left, I panicked and tried to make a clear schedule of study. Sometimes i could read the whole chapter per day as planned, but some chapters are long and complex and took 2 or 3 days to just read.
I used CIA Gleim study book, not the most recent edition, but worked fine. Its very finely tuned with the only comment that IT questions are really 50% or more of the exam which is a great thing, because once you learn the concepts, you will remember them at the exam.
3 days before exam i started doing full exam simulation with CIA test prep (really old version). Those simulations have many accounting and finance questions that require computations and take a long time to solve. You won t see those in the exam (maybe 2 or 3 but not so annoying). You can afford to mess up those, IF and only if you ace the IT questions. Focus on those first, and re-read your formulas for the technical chapters in the last days, to refresh your memory.
The Management accounting chapter i didnt even finish reading, on the last day, 2 hours before the exam I barely finished the finance chapter. But I did the test prep questions, with the timer (exam mode) and always tried to guess in a smart way. Sometimes you guess it right. Always do a full study test if you have the test prep, it shows the answer immediately and you learn A LOT by actually solving questions, thats my strategy.
Always solve the questions without making too many written comments on paper. at the exam you will only have the lousy board and thick marker that arent much help. Ask for the calculator, the incorporated one sucks. I was so nervous I had to use the calculator for even the most basic stuff  )
Dont panic on exam day, if you dont know the question, make the best guess fast and move on, I wasted quite some time and then had to speed through the last questions with ZERO time to review. Dont rely on the fact that you have sufficient time to review. You dont!
Read whenever you can, wherever you can. I read in the bus on the way to work. Quite productive if you find a seat !
Good luck!
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