Keep Your Dream of Becoming a CISA Alive

Oftentimes people reach out to me sharing how they did not pass the CISA exam on the first or even the second attempt. As with any other exam, it’s disheartening not to pass because the majority count on passing the exam and tying it to a promotion, a career change, etc.

If the result does not go as planned, some give up, while others become discouraged or even consider themselves to be a failure. If this has happened to you and you have lost confidence or motivation to re-attempt the exam, I have written this blog post to encourage you to keep your dream of becoming a CISA alive. In Uganda, we have a proverb that goes “One fall doesn’t stop an eagle from flying.” There are relatively few CISAs in the job market—you wouldn’t want to miss out on the opportunity of becoming one.

Relating this to another aspect of life, some of the endeavors in our lives don’t happen as we might have planned, but when we change strategy or focus more, we can still triumph in the end. The same goes for your exam that you lost the urge to re-attempt. You can still achieve it—it’s never too late.

I have colleagues who have re-attempted the CISA exam more than twice, continued to do their best, and eventually passed. The caption below reminded me that we should learn to see the good in everything:

Below is some guidance for those who would like to give CISA another try:

• Keep in mind: you are not alone. Many exam-takers do not get it right the first time, so stop beating yourself up and find out the root cause of not passing: Did you prepare enough? Were you in the right mindset for the exam? How can you do better next time?
• Reschedule the exam for the next exam window.
• Dedicate more time to practicing the Questions, Answers and Explanations database, but avoid cramming questions and answers.
• Join the ISACA Engage CISA exam prep community group (CISA Exam Prep). For more information, visit the Engage platform. 
• Read the CISA Review Manual. Note that the CISA Review Manual is updated to keep pace with rapid changes in the information systems (IS) audit, control, and security professions. If it’s been a while since you attempted the exam, you may need to look out for the recent edition of the manual, because an international job practice analysis is conducted periodically to maintain the validity of the CISA certification program. A new job practice forms the basis of the CISA. The complete CISA job practice is available at isaca.org/cisajobpractice.
• Practice self-assessment review questions from the QAE database. You can choose to attempt 30 questions from each domain for 150 questions per day. The database consists of multiple-choice study questions, answers, and explanations arranged as per the CISA domains. With this study aid, CISA candidates can quickly identify their strengths and weaknesses by taking random sample exams of varying lengths and breaking the results down by domain. Sample exams also can be chosen by domain, allowing for concentrated study, one domain at a time, and other sorting features such as the omission of previously correctly answered questions are available.
• Understanding the material in the CISA Review Manual and QAE Database is one measurement of a candidate’s knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses and an indication of areas where the additional or focused study is needed. However, written material is not a substitute for experience. CISA exam questions will test the candidate’s practical application of this knowledge. Although every effort is made to address the majority of information that candidates are expected to know, not all exam questions are necessarily covered in the manual, and as a CISA candidate, you will need to rely on professional experience and professional judgment to provide the best answer during the exam.
• If you are challenged with self-study, consider enrolling for the ISACA online instructor-led course available on the ISACA Perform platform to attend the CISA course or enroll with an ISACA Accredited Training Organization (ATO).
• If, in complete honesty, the cause of not passing the exam was the result of external factors (maybe the exam didn’t launch at the right time, there were system interruptions, network failures, power outages, etc.), you can consider logging the issue to the ISACA customer support team.

Let your dream count!
Everyone has their own way of preparing for exams. Have a schedule that will work best for you but remember: preparation is key.

The CISA exam is relatively easy to pass if you adopt the mindset of a typical IS auditor when answering exam questions. When you choose to retake the exam, launch the exam with double confidence that you are going to ace it.

After you have passed the exam, remember to apply for certification so that you become CISA-certified. Once you become certified, you can then have the CISA designation after your name (for example: Veronica Rose, CISA). As mentioned above, there are few CISAs in the industry and they are paid well, so be persistent in your goal of becoming one.

I wish you success in your next attempt: The struggle continues/斗争仍在继续/la lutte continue/der Kampf geht weiter/ο αγώνας συνεχίζεται/la lucha continua/perjuangan terus berlanjut.