Cisa december 2015 results

ozzy99

cisagirl1 wrote: »

Congrats Cisum!! Happy to hear that .
I received my result and did not make it. This is my first attempt. I do not have audit experience but has IT background. Was looking forward to launch my career in IT Audit.
I did a self study and spent around a month on CISA review manual and practiced all the questions on CISA Review questions, Answers and Explanation manual and its supplement multiple times by reviewing the concepts. I was hoping that I would clear this exam. Not sure how i study going forward. Can you please provide me some feedback or suggestions. Any help is really appreciated.

Hi cisagirl1,

Let this result not put you down rather lead you to success. I am from a it background and not having experience in IT or audit. I started my study from the review manual 3 months before the exam date. The review manual was a big help though the words and explanation was more tough to grasp than anything i have studied before (mostly because of the vocabulary used). The question bank was of very little help to me as nothing similar had appeared on the paper. (the qb mostly gave me a feel of how isaca asks questions).

I felt the exam was very tough. The main reason for my success was when ever i learned a new technology lets say about IDS or even decision systems, i would ask my self how would an auditor audit this system and what would be his first step.

those two questions made me google a lot of answers and gave me a deep insight on how to approach. as well as learn those tricky words and their meanings which are stated in the crm. This all prepared me for the exam and i was able to eliminate two answers from most the questions asked.

TheFORCE

Congratulations to all who passed. From the passing scores for both CISA and CISM seems like December is the right time to take the exam. Not many people take it then i guess so the scores for passing are low since they are based on a scale grading system.

astudent

TheFORCE wrote: »

Congratulations to all who passed. From the passing scores for both CISA and CISM seems like December is the right time to take the exam. Not many people take it then i guess so the scores for passing are low since they are based on a scale grading system.

The difficulty of exam does not correlate with numbers of exam takers. If it did, this exam would be worthless.
Normally, more people take the exam on December because there are more exam locations available.

astudent

cisum wrote: »

I would be inclined not to seek endorsement until i was job seeking, we have 5 years to register for endorsement, one less credential to maintain. Would anyone else be of the same approach?

I will not seek endorsement until finding a "financial sponsor". My CISSP is good enough

astudent

jcundiff wrote: »

Congrats to all those that passed the CISA exam today! You could still have 3 weeks to go like me (CRISC)

Waiting is painful. No pain no gain. More pain more gain. CISA guys can laugh now, but CRISC guys will get last laugh

TheFORCE

astudent wrote: »

The difficulty of exam does not correlate with numbers of exam takers. If it did, this exam would be worthless.
Normally, more people take the exam on December because there are more exam locations available.

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. Lets say that 1000 people or even 10000 people take the exam. And the highest percentage of passing the exam has scored 700 points, this will create the peak and the baseline for the rest. So someone scoring 550 could translate to a passing score. Now imagine that out of those 10000 the big percentage scores in the 900s, this would mean that the peak is higher and people that might score 550 might not necessarily be in the passing "scale". At least this is how i understand that the isaca grading system works. When it comes to the scale system, its to your benefit for less people to have high scores because you arr competing againts a scale, not a standard passing grade where you would noy care if other people scored high or not.

jcundiff

astudent wrote: »

Waiting is painful. No pain no gain. More pain more gain. CISA guys can laugh now, but CRISC guys will get last laugh

Doesnt really bother me The CRISC was something I decided to sit because I had training $$$ left over for the year at work. Since I believe in taking full advantage of the funds my employer provides us, the CRISC made sense to me and fit my remaining allocation even though I have moved from the Risk/Governance role to Threat Intelligence. If I find myself in a similar spot next year, I will most likely sit the CGEIT (Provided I pass the CRISC)

Unlike the CISSP, which is stressed by our CSO as the bare minimum for a serious InfoSec resource, there was 0 stress on me to pass the CRISC other than what I placed on myself

astudent

TheFORCE wrote: »

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. Lets say that 1000 people or even 10000 people take the exam. And the highest percentage of passing the exam has scored 700 points, this will create the peak and the baseline for the rest. So someone scoring 550 could translate to a passing score. Now imagine that out of those 10000 the big percentage scores in the 900s, this would mean that the peak is higher and people that might score 550 might not necessarily be in the passing "scale". At least this is how i understand that the isaca grading system works. When it comes to the scale system, its to your benefit for less people to have high scores because you arr competing againts a scale, not a standard passing grade where you would noy care if other people scored high or not.

Your understanding is not correct. The passing score is 450. It is fixed. We are competing against a standard passing score. I pasted official statement for how the exam is scored.

ISACA uses a 200-800 point scale with 450 as the passing mark for the exams. A scaled score is a conversion of the raw score on an exam to a common scale. It is important to note that the exam score is not based on an arithmetic or percent average. For example, the scaled score of 800 represents a perfect score with all 200 questions answered correctly; a scaled score of 200 is the lowest score possible and signifies that only a small number of questions were answered correctly.

A candidate must receive a scaled score of 450 or higher to pass the exam. A score of 450 represents a minimum consistent standard of knowledge as established for the exam by the respective ISACA Certification Committee. The passing score of 450 represents the minimum number of questions that must be answered correctly by the candidate in order to demonstrate practical application of the job task and knowledge statements. A candidate receiving a passing score may then apply for certification if all other requirements are met.

TheFORCE

Thats even better then. I should look into the cisa too then.

dustervoice

cisum wrote: »

I would be inclined not to seek endorsement until i was job seeking, we have 5 years to register for endorsement, one less credential to maintain. Would anyone else be of the same approach?

Yes no planning on endorsement for me until next job or 2020

cisum

dustervoice wrote: »

Yes no planning on endorsement for me until next job or 2020

Yep, CISSP is enough to maintain, I plan to keep progressing but CPE's are a pain 😄 i want to focus on comer tcp/ip from a pure interest rather than a certification point of view. Certs are a great incentive/goal but not the be all end all, i'm just so happy to have developed a real interest in how it all works. Looking into sdn too, loving it!! On a different note, find rain sounds on youtube held a whole lot. Keep it up all who did not make it, true strength is to keep the pursuit. Good luck to all

cisum

chellex wrote: »

Well done Cisum, that's fantastic news. Congrats

Can assume the worst, would gladly be a study partner if you are looking to take the exam again

corpsec

astudent wrote: »

Your understanding is not correct. The passing score is 450. It is fixed. We are competing against a standard passing score. I pasted official statement for how the exam is scored.

ISACA uses a 200-800 point scale with 450 as the passing mark for the exams. A scaled score is a conversion of the raw score on an exam to a common scale. It is important to note that the exam score is not based on an arithmetic or percent average. For example, the scaled score of 800 represents a perfect score with all 200 questions answered correctly; a scaled score of 200 is the lowest score possible and signifies that only a small number of questions were answered correctly.

A candidate must receive a scaled score of 450 or higher to pass the exam. A score of 450 represents a minimum consistent standard of knowledge as established for the exam by the respective ISACA Certification Committee. The passing score of 450 represents the minimum number of questions that must be answered correctly by the candidate in order to demonstrate practical application of the job task and knowledge statements. A candidate receiving a passing score may then apply for certification if all other requirements are met.

While the there is a fixed passing score is 450, I thought ISACA will scale the point system and possibly even weight questions differently or remove question based on a large amount of people answering correctly or incorrectly. This means if the majority of people in the group answer more questions correctly your chances of passing and reaching a 450 passing score will be even more challenging.

lekchan

Dear All,

Can anyone please suggest me the ways to clear the exams?
I didn't clear it.. so your suggestions would help me a lot.
Thank you very much

lekchan

FOR CISA.. I missed it..

Tongy

lekchan wrote: »

FOR CISA.. I missed it..

Firstly, sorry to hear that you didn't pass this time.

What was you study method? how long did you study for, what's you background, what material did you use?

Also, when they broke the scored down into domain areas which were your weakest?

fanie

This was my first attempt and couldn't clear the exam.

Overall score 341




Scaled Score



The Process of Auditing Information Systems
329



Governance and Management of IT
458



Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation
383



Information Systems Operations, Maintenance and Support
458



Protection of Information Assets
200







Out of the scaled score,how do I know,the number of questions I answered correctly and which area should I focus more in detail?

Any help will be appreciated.I am new to this and could study only for a month as my work schedule was very tight

Tongy

Hi Fanie,

I didn't take CISA (I did CISM) but the scoring is done the same way. It appears that you passed 2 of the individual components - but not by much. I would certainly concentrate on getting to grips with the concepts of all 5 domains in the review manual, and invest in getting the DB of questions to test your understanding.

You'll never know the number of questions you answered correctly unfortunately. Study and be strong all areas and you won't have to worry about it

When you register for the retake of the exam - take into account your workload, build your study around what is achievable and aim for that date - rather than go in badly prepared. The June exam is 6 months away which should be plenty of time if you're focussed.

There are lots of helpful folk who can guide you!

fanie

Tongy wrote: »

Hi Fanie,

I didn't take CISA (I did CISM) but the scoring is done the same way. It appears that you passed 2 of the individual components - but not by much. I would certainly concentrate on getting to grips with the concepts of all 5 domains in the review manual, and invest in getting the DB of questions to test your understanding.

You'll never know the number of questions you answered correctly unfortunately. Study and be strong all areas and you won't have to worry about it

When you register for the retake of the exam - take into account your workload, build your study around what is achievable and aim for that date - rather than go in badly prepared. The June exam is 6 months away which should be plenty of time if you're focussed.

There are lots of helpful folk who can guide you!

Thank you so much for your valuable inputs

MacHexSet

Well done to all those who passed the exam and commiserations to those who didn't. I realize it is an expensive blow but getting the CISA will over the course of you career hopefully bring in more returns than paying the exam fee twice if you chose to repeat it. Consider this first time just a down payment on your future success.

I passed the CISA last December on my second try first time wasn't great but second time all I did was do every question in the online ISACA offical Q&A DB correct correct once then deleted its info in the DB configuration and repeated a second time. The reference manual is ok if you don't understand some of the wording or concepts but use it for skimming at best. The second time with this method I scored in top 5% so a marked improvment is possible ! Good luck

rohit10

fanie wrote: »

This was my first attempt and couldn't clear the exam.

Overall score 341




Scaled Score



The Process of Auditing Information Systems
329



Governance and Management of IT
458



Information Systems Acquisition, Development and Implementation
383



Information Systems Operations, Maintenance and Support
458



Protection of Information Assets
200







Out of the scaled score,how do I know,the number of questions I answered correctly and which area should I focus more in detail?

Any help will be appreciated.I am new to this and could study only for a month as my work schedule was very tight

I had a lower score my first attempt Dec 2014, I believe it was 329. I completely underestimated the exam and only studied for a week. I passed in June 2015, I started studying in April, I did the QA DB over and over. Also, for domain 5, I looked up the specific topics I didn't understand (encryption) on youtube, which helped a lot. Good luck next time. It looks like you had trouble with domain 1 and 5, I would review those real hard.

dustervoice

I passed CISA but not with the score i was expecting.. its really strange as there were only about 5 questions i didn't know the answer to immediately. I'm not sure how Isaca does their scoring but its really strange the score I received. anyway this is behind me.

naxdee

Hi all, passed with score of 510. Of all the certs I have done this was one I couldnt wait to finish, it was an absolute snooze . I found it very very dull, for prep I did one pass of thd 2015 review manual and once over the question/answer manual. I also had acces to the iscaca online review course but didnt bother with it. I used knowledge from cissp and work experirnce to finish the exam.

shadowsong22

will you get a certificate for scoring in the top 5, 10 or 20%?

wd40

Not a certificate, but it will be mentioned in your official score report for example that you are from the top 10%.

Mike7

Understand there is also top 1% and someone I talked to mentioned he came in 3rd during his CISA exam.

Anyway, gentle reminder from the exam mail

Until your application is received and approved, you are not CISA certified and cannot use the CISA designation

spena

Mike7 wrote: »

Understand there is also top 1% and someone I talked to mentioned he came in 3rd during his CISA exam.

Anyway, gentle reminder from the exam mail

can i submit my application via email with scanned documents/application or it has to be physically mailed?

andhow

You can send an email.

Email address: certification@isaca.org
Include your Exam ID, application, and supporting materials if needed (CISSP certificate).

Make sure you pay the processing fee prior to sending the email.

danilogti

andhow wrote: »

You can send an email.

Email address: certification@isaca.org
Include your Exam ID, application, and supporting materials if needed (CISSP certificate).

Make sure you pay the processing fee prior to sending the email.

Do you have to pay it before or after the application?

andhow

According to the FAQ, it appears you need to pay to apply:
[h=4]Is there a fee to apply for certification?[/h]For certification applications received on 1 June 2012 and forward, an application processing fee of US $50 will be required to apply for certification. The application processing fee will support our dedication to efficient and proper processing of certification applications according to industry standards. The fee will also help support the integrity of the application process, which in turn reinforces the strength and reputation of the overall certification programs.
Payment for the CISA application processing fee can be made online atwww.isaca.org/cisapay.