CIA Exam Preparation

Exam Journey

Put in a lot of time and effort in the process
Answer the question: "why do you want to become a CIA?"
Tips: Ultimate CIA Exam Preparation Guide: 38 Tips

Before Starting

Back to the question: Why do you want to be a CIA?

Increasing Internal Audit skills
Not qualified for CPA (US only exam). CIA exam recognizes bachelor degrees around the world
Lookign for additional credentials to get a better job. Evaluate CISA, too (if you have not already)

For your further reading today:

Persistence more than Intelligence

Persistence and not intelligence is often the bigger success factor when it comes to professional exams. Keep up with the good work.

Today I'll just be highlighting some of the posts on my site that gives you the basic idea of the CIA exam, such as how much it will likely cost you, when you can take the exam, when you should apply etc. If you have any questions on any of these, feel free to drop a note in the comment section.

CIA DIfficulties

The CIA Exam in a Nutshell: The CIA exam is a three-part test that you can take in any order. All exam parts are 100% computerized and you can take the exam in any of thexx Pearson VUE centers around the world. Part 1 has 125 multiple choice questions; Part 2 and Part 3 have 100 questions each. There are no essays, case studies and task-based simulations that you may encounter in other accounting exams. This is a specialized exam for internal audit, and therefore, you can expect the syllabus covering important topics in this area. Specifically, you will be tested on internal control and risk, how to conduct an audit engagement, managing the internal audit function, fraud risks and control, as well as general knowledge required that one should know as an internal auditor.
Is the Exam Difficult?: The IIA never discloses pass rates, but based on sharing from other readers, Part 1 and 2 are relatively straight forward if you have an internal audit background. The coverage is wide but it doesn’t go deep and exam content stays within your “comfort zone”, that is, within internal audit. However, complexity increases considerably for Part 3. Not only that the questions are more lengthy, it tests on content that is beyond internal auditing. If you don’t want to get off guard, please allocate sufficient time in reviewing, practicing, and getting mentally prepared for the last part of the exam.
If You Don’t Have a Background in Internal Audit or Even Accounting: The CIA exam has a low barrier of entry – it allows anyone with a bachelor degree to sit for the exam. Therefore, it attracts people outside of the internal audit and accounting circle to give it a try. It doesn't mean that these candidates are doomed -- many can actually pass on their first attempt -- but the flexible requirement leads to a large number of casual exam takers who just wanted to take the exam without really preparing for it. As long as you take this exam seriously, you have a much better chance of success.
So Why is This Any Good To Me?: Well, if you pass, you become the one among the prestigious league of CIA. According to a 2012 study by the IIA, CIA certification holders earn 40% more than their counterparts. This impact is cumulative! When someone challenge your opinion, the Audit Committee tend to give you the benefit of the doubt if you are CIA qualified.

Let's focus all our energy in passing the CIA exam on your first attempt -- and we'll talk specifically how you can achieve that tomorrow.

For Your Further Reading Today

Best Review Course

Let's talk about how to pick a CIA review course. While I have my general recommendation, the "best" CIA review course is the one that fits your own personal background, learning style and budget.

Please take the time to understand the pros and cons of each so you can be confident in picking the course that best fit your needs.

1. Gleim CIA Review

Gleim is one of the most well known courses for CIA exam preparation. In fact, Dr. Gleim, the founder is one of the earliest CIAs around!

Quality of lecture/notes: 3-5
Quality of practice questions: 5
Quality of customer service: 4
Cost and free trial offers: 5

Gleim is a CIA exam review course that provides a full solution to CIA candidates. It is widely known to have the best test prep software, so the 5-star shouldn't be a surprise.

On the quality of guided review, you may be wondering why there is such a wide range of 3-5? Well, you either find it just ok or loving it depending on your learning style.

Gleim offers an audio-visual presentation. I find the summary quite helpful, but some readers thought it’s simply a voice over. For these readers, it would be a 3-star for them.

If you are good at self-studying or that you want to learn how to self-study, Gleim Online is a thoughtfully designed program that actually TRAINS you, e.g. on how to think on your feet so you can get prepared for unexpected questions that come up in the actual exam. If you are this type of learner, I can expect 5-star quality.

Gleim doesn't encourage you to memorize using mnemonics but want you to really learn something useful out of this experience.

For those who appreciate this teaching method, they will certainly award Gleim with a super 5 star.

On customer service, each student has a counselor who takes active part in helping students in everything from handling software glitches to suggesting study tactics.

Lastly, you can sign up for a free trial which gives you full access for study unit 1. There is no time limit. I don't think you can get a more generous offer than that. It also shows how confident Gleim is on their product.

2. IIA’s CIA Learning System

Quality of lecture/notes: 4-5
Quality of practice questions: 3
Quality of customer service: 3
Cost and free trial offers: 2

This is the official review materials from IIA. The review materials to match exactly with the CIA exam syllabus, and the textbooks are actually a pretty good read. I can see these are the topics that IIA really wants you to learn, and I do find it quite interesting. So I give it a 4-5.

However, the test prep software is not as useful -- some readers find the questions not comprehensive enough, and that features are lacking compared to other providers.

If you are like me who learn most by working on practice questions and rely on the explanation to learn a concept, you may want to have second thoughts on this review course.

Price wise, it is more expensive than the other providers. There are no free trials and money-back guarantees.

3. Hock International

Quality of lecture/notes: 4-5
Quality of practice questions: 3
Quality of customer service: 4
Cost and free trial offers: 3

Hock is quite popular among international candidates. The notes are easier to read and comprehend so I give Hock a 4-5 star (a range as it depends on your study style).

The limitation however is their set of practice questions. Given their relatively short history they are doing great, but when it compares to Gleim the questions seem to lag behind in terms of comprehensiveness and depth.

By depth, I mean the variety of questions. Gleim has the benefit of providing review courses of CPA, CMA, CIA, EA and even to tax preparers. The knowledge base is so vast that they can come up with all those "tricky" questions with no problem. Whereas for Hock it's more or less a pure-play in CMA and to a lesser extent CIA so as a student you can feel the difference here.

In terms of price, it is comparable to Gleim. You can download free samples but full-access free trials is not available.

Your Homework Today

I know some of you haven't decided to pursue the CIA yet; but for those who have, it's about time to commit to a review course.

It's too long to cover every provider here, but there are other review courses from Wiley to Exammatrix that may suit your wallet and study style.

Please take a look at the CIA review courses comparison on the pros and cons of each program.

Multiple Choice Question Tactics

The CIA exam is meant to test your knowledge on a wide range of topics. Given the breadth they aren't going to go real deep. Therefore, if you understand the basic concept and know how to think on your feet, you will do well. In this regard I would recommend the following strategies:

1. Don't blindly memorize

Many candidates fall into the trap of memorizing questions. It doesn't work when you think about it -- how can you possibly memorize all the 2,000+ questions available in a typical CIA review course?

Understanding the fundamentals and concepts is the key.

2. Embrace your mistakes

We tend to put much emphasis on how many questions we did right. Although I know it feels more at ease if you reach a certain "score" in your test prep, the biggest value-add of this software is identifying your mistakes.

Why? Because without identifying the wrong questions, you won't be able to know your weaker areas; without improving your performance in these areas, you will never pass.

You will almost always get the right ones correctly the next time around, so time shouldn't be spent on them but instead on the questions you did wrong.

3. Learn how to learn from your mistakes

More importantly, once you have identified the wrong questions, you will need to rework on them until you get them right for the right reason.

Better yet, get the software that can differentiate the ones you did wrong (say a red flag), with those you tried based on educated guess (say with a yellow flag).

The reason why you need the yellow flag is that you may also want to identify and review questions you got them right but without fully grasp the concepts behind them, yet.

4. Practice under stress

It is important to occasionally take the practice questions in the "test mode". Yes you are timed in this case and you won't get the answer until you complete that particular section, i.e. same as what you can expect in the actual testing environment.

By training yourself to work on questions under some sort of stress, you can learn how to think on your feet and take each question seriously. It is also a good way to train your ability to make good educated guess, which you've got to make quite a few times in the upcoming exam.

5. Save time for immediate review

If you need 20 minutes to work in the test mode, allocate at least 30 minutes for this study session because you can then spend the last 10 minutes reviewing the answers and explanation. It is more effective to take the review immediately vs next day.

I hope you find these tips useful. If you have good tips to share please let me know!

For your further reading

My Ultimate CIA Exam Prep Guide (with 38 tips!)

Attitude

This is probably the most understated reason of failing to pass the CIA exam, or any professional exam for that matter.

Let me explain.

A Positive Attitude could mean a lot of things.

1. Stay focused

It is no brainer that if you stay focused, you can greatly increase your ability to retain the study material. The better question is -- how?

(a) Get a good CIA exam prep

This is crucial. With a good CIA review course you are less likely feel frustrated because you have a better chance of understanding a concept and you feel good about making progress of your study.

(b) Take a break

Yeah, why not? You deserve it. Sometimes a 5-minute break of taking some snacks, a bit of stretch and a nice cup of your favorite drink can super-charge you for the next couple of hours.

2. Stay motivated

I know it's kind of hard to stay motivated sometimes. Here are a few practical suggestions:

(a) Write down your favorite motivational quotes on post-it and stick it around your work area. I am going to send you a link on exam motivational quotes later in the newsletter.

(b) Tell yourself that the current situation won't last forever. A typical CIA candidate spends 10-20 hours per week for the studying. Without the CIA exam those 10-20 hours would have been spent on something much nicer -- like spending time with your family, hanging out with friends, or potato-couching in front of TV :)

Anyway my point is that acknowledging your sacrifice but tell yourself that this sacrifice won't be long.

Another way to put it: if you don't work hard you may need to sacrifice even longer...

(c) Read about stories of successful CIAs. I am going to gather success stories from my readers as well.

(d) Dream (a little bit) of what you can do after getting the CIA. Head of internal audit in your corporation? Setting up the compliance department in an up-and-coming company? Chief Auditor Executive in your dream job?

3. Stay confident

If you achieve 1. and 2. of the above, you are confident in passing even before you take the exam. Yes, some candidates know they will pass, as simple as that. At the same time, as you gain confidence during your study, it is much easier to stay focus and motivated.

Study Efficiency

I know, and that's why I present the findings in the perspective of an exam candidate (you!) The topics are very relevant. For example:

I've got 15 articles in this series. Check them out and let me know which is your favorite article!

Certification Comparison

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