CISA is a paper based / scantron exam? Why no CBT? & why only x3 a year? / no late

coffeeisgood

Ok, just passed the CISSP & now looking at the CISA

I sort of, ok really I do not understand why no CBT?

In my head, the only reason I can see ISACA restricting their testing is to create a extra barrier to certification. Harder to obtain, higher value it is perceived.

Someone please explain into why only 3 tests available a year & why one must preregister a month+ just to sit for the thing?

on ISACA website they state
* controlled environment (they can control it better if they do it, well by limiting to x3 a year & them doing it ok I guess?)
* test fees would go up if they offered CBT - (but it costs more than CISSP & is a shorter test? huh?)


this is just a vent & maybe someone can enlighten me

636-555-3226

computer based testing? they don't want people to ****. all of these organizations have a limited bank of questions. if just one person a year leaks out 150 questions, that instantly invalidates a substantial portion of the questions they use on tests.

if they only have 1000 questions in the CISA test bank then 15% of the questions are useless. that's a big number and means that people who do want to **** are going to get a big leg up over others on the exam.

those cheaters will then get certified and use that certification to get a job that anticipates them using the knowledge they don't actually have in real life.

their bosses find out those people don't have the skills the certification proves they do/should have and the certification loses value for employers.

once the certification loses value people stop asking for it. if people stop asking for it then people will stop taking the exam. if people stop taking the exam the certification body loses money. if the body loses enough money it goes out of business and everybody who has the certification loses the value of that certification when 5 years later employers are like, what's a CISA?

3 tests a year because there aren't a ton of people who take these tests. when you show up to a testing center you'll see maybe 20 people taking the CISA, 10 taking CISM, 5 taking CRISC, and 1 taking CGEIT. That's close to 40 people three times a year. if they offered the test 6 times a year then only 20 people would be taking the test at each location. ISACA would double their costs without filling more seats.

you have to preregister because 1) rooms have to be booked at hotels to take the tests and 2) proctors need to be hired from professional testing companies. both of these steps require a certain amount of pre-notice so the hotel can prepare and testers can be prepped.

as far as testing fees going up, i don't know the specifics, but my guess is Pearson Vue (or whoever) takes a bigger cut of the pie as opposed to the conference room & proctor.

While I personally would prefer the computer test since it's easier and more convenient, I can't knock ISACA for the procedure since it makes sense. ISC2 used to be the same way until a few years ago. I had to drive 90 minutes to take my CISSP on a scantron back in the day. Didn't like it, but I know why they did it.