IAPP CIPM exam Advice?

slandry

Can anyone offer advice on the new CIPM exam? I am planning on taking the CIPM soon and am studying the text book but it has not been updated to reflect the updated exam. any advice on studying materials?

Thanks.

jamespsmith4

Study method for me that worked. Read the book twice or three times. Then notes, that make sense to you to remember. Then flash cards on definitions, life cycles, and the flow of the book. on the test, each question has a clue to the answer, re-read if you need too. It should come to you if you know the content. Hope this helps.

vCISO2017

Also read some IAPP \ other privacy blog's - they do reference some questions that are topical and not in the books.

sunto

I spoke with IAPP at RSA. Seems like the CISM is fairly straight-forward and relies heavily on their Privacy Management book. 

gdprstudent

I’ve taken this exam and failed - twice.

i think on each occasion I’ve tried to read too deep into the question which has probably led to the incorrect conclusion. Hopefully 3rd time lucky...!

AlwaysStudying

What Study materials are you using?

gdprstudent

The iapp official privacy mgmt book. Also read the iapp website a bit more since the 1st attempt. Any other suggestions greatly welcome!

AlwaysStudying

I'm taking the CIPM in next 2 weeks...
I'm using :
Privacy Program Management Book
Privacy Program Management (Participant Guide)
Quizlet
IAPP website\bloggs

I'll let you know result.....; 

gdprstudent

Thanks - wasn’t aware of quizlet. Wasn’t aware that there was a participant guide either...(?)

I’ve been averaging between 80-95% on quizlet today but those qs aren’t a true reflection of the actual test (imho) however I’m going to book again so let’s see!

suranand

I strongly recommend IAPP's prescribed book for CIPM. Reading it a couple times while trying to imagine similar scenarios in your work place and how you would react to them if you were the privacy manager. This style of studying makes you confident with the material. 

Also, there are several places in the book which talk about Data protection across the globe -- regulations in USA, Australia, etc. And other guidelines like OECD. When I studied, I downloaded each of them and studied at least the intro part. There were questions from outside the book, although very few. 

Good luck. 

AlwaysStudying

Further, ensure you are covering each and every point on the CIPM Body of Knowledge (BoK) from the IAPP, maybe overkill, but better to be fully prepared and confident,
rather than seeing questions that stump you. Bear in mind as Suranand says, there will be questions outside the book, so lets keep uncovered\unknown items to a minimum.

gdprstudent

I took the CIPM and passed with 83%. Some of the scenarios are a little confusing but my advice is to read, read and re-read the IAPP book (I re-wrote the book as revision notes - twice). Also the CIPM tests on quizlet helped me a lot. Now trying decide if I should do CIPT for the hat-trick...

AlwaysStudying

Nice One!!!

rihang

gdprstudent said:

I took the CIPM and passed with 83%. Some of the scenarios are a little confusing but my advice is to read, read and re-read the IAPP book (I re-wrote the book as revision notes - twice). Also the CIPM tests on quizlet helped me a lot. Now trying decide if I should do CIPT for the hat-trick...

@gdprstudent, great to hear you cleared! I passed CIPP/E yesterday, and now I'm planning to appear for CIPM next month. A lot of useful study tips here; will be helpful. By and large, I gather that reading the IAPP textbook carefully should stand you in good stead for the exam.

LAWYER2

Aiight, I'm ready to tacke the CIPM exam after the CIPP/US. From what I've gathered, best practice is to just read and re-read the book from iaap. Anyone have any further insight on exam prep, should I pull this off in 3 weeks before they make changes to this years exam?

rihang

LAWYER2 said:

Aiight, I'm ready to tacke the CIPM exam after the CIPP/US. From what I've gathered, best practice is to just read and re-read the book from iaap. Anyone have any further insight on exam prep, should I pull this off in 3 weeks before they make changes to this years exam?

I plan to appear for the exam on 19 Aug myself with the same intention to clear it before the changes. Same strategy. Read the Privacy Management book twice and browse through some of the relevant looking member resources from the IAPP website. More so than other exams, if you have practical experience of developing and implementing privacy frameworks in organizations, the content should be more relatable and easy to digest. I must say the book makes for extremely dry reading. All I can do to keep it interesting is to imagine scenarios while reading.  

LAWYER2

rihang said:

LAWYER2 said:

Aiight, I'm ready to tacke the CIPM exam after the CIPP/US. From what I've gathered, best practice is to just read and re-read the book from iaap. Anyone have any further insight on exam prep, should I pull this off in 3 weeks before they make changes to this years exam?

I plan to appear for the exam on 19 Aug myself with the same intention to clear it before the changes. Same strategy. Read the Privacy Management book twice and browse through some of the relevant looking member resources from the IAPP website. More so than other exams, if you have practical experience of developing and implementing privacy frameworks in organizations, the content should be more relatable and easy to digest. I must say the book makes for extremely dry reading. All I can do to keep it interesting is to imagine scenarios while reading.  

Thx for the input. Is THIS the book you got to prepare with. Last time I ordered a book from iaap, it took weeks to arrive and I had to call to complete the order. Have you found any other resources floating around like outlines on the web?

rihang

@LAWYER2 - Yes, this is the one. There are some flash card questions on this app called Quizlet, but they are quite poorly framed. You can still check them out, because they might give a tiny bit of insight on the kind of questions you can expect in the exam.
There aren’t so many other online resources for CIPM, unfortunately. I am preparing my own notes, which are basically a summary of the important points from the book.
Why don’t you order an electronic copy of the book? You’ll get it instantly once you finish the payment.
The Legal Counsel of my company had a print copy lying around, so I’m using that. 

rihang

Cleared with a score of 91 and 83, overall 389. 
Questions uploaded on Quizlet are poorly worded. But by all means, go through them, as they focus a lot on terms and definitions, and this will come in useful to consolidate your knowledge, and also while interpreting exam questions.
To get a feel for what kind of questions you can expect in the exam, I would recommend  purchasing the 22 sample questions from the IAPP store. It will give you a very good idea, and help you focus your efforts while revising. If you are lucky you’ll get the same question or two in the exam too. 
Cannot stress this enough - read the textbook carefully (Privacy Program Management by Russell R Densmore), and it should be enough to get you through.
It will help in this exam if you have had a smidge of practical experience in privacy work or consulting. 

LAWYER2

Yay, congrats!! This motivates me to get it in gear. How much study-time would you say you logged?

rihang

LAWYER2 said:

Yay, congrats!! This motivates me to get it in gear. How much study-time would you say you logged?

Thank you!
I put in one solid weekend of study - say a total of 22 hours - just enough to read the book once carefully and take notes (20 hours), brush up on the notes (1 hour), go through Quizlet (30 mins), and the CIPM sample questions (30 mins). 

new2privacy

Hello! Came across this thread, and wanted to share my experience with the CIPM exam. I passed the exam last week. I’m new to privacy, and had no idea what to expect on the exam. I read the Privacy Program Management book once. I did record very detailed notes as I reviewed the chapters. The practice quiz from IAPP is very helpful. It allows you to become familiar with the question style on the exam. Very scenario based and practical. The exam was very similar to other exams I’ve completed where you have to determine what’s the best answer, when all of the responses are practical. Also, review the outline provided by IAPP. It was very helpful during the exam. I spent approximately 40 hours preparing for the exam. Also, the glossary on IAPPs website is KEY!!! Create flash cards and become VERY familiar with the terms and concepts they provide. Best of luck to all.

LAWYER2

Thanks for the further input rihang, and thank you for sharing yoru experience new2privacy, congrats again to both of you guys!

LAWYER2

Might be a shot in the dark, but anyone find any CIPM outlines online?

new2privacy

Nothing outside of what’s posted on their website. 

PrivyProf

Hi All,

I am planning for CIPM exam and I have already purchased Privacy Program Management book from IAPP website. Here within this thread I have seen few valuable tips regarding the CIPM Exam and I am just trying to sum it up here within this post. Please let me know if anything else that has to be added or if I missed something:
1) Read the book thoroughly
2) Prepare short note or list down all the keypoints while reading the book
3) Read through the questions of Quizlet to gain the understanding for the type of questions
4) Optional: Purchase sample questions from the IAPP website to have a feel of the questions
5)  Go through the book and the keypoint notes prepared before the exam

I have understood the above steps from the information shared herewith. Anything else anyone would like to add from their experience would be highly appreciated.

PrivyProf

Hi All,

I have completed my preparation for CIPM but still not confident enough for exams. Any suggestions or any other resources apart from official book needs to be referred? 

Any inputs will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

LAWYER2

What aren't you feeling confident about? I actually just scheduled my exam. I started a new positions and have been too busy to concentrate on exam prep, but decided to get this one over with so I can move on to the next. (I need three to qualify for a Privacy Fellow and certification at the state bar level). Oddly enough, most of what I do for a living is what the exam covers but I'm still not taking it for granted. 

abcda1234

I studied and studied and cleared all my concepts and still did not pass the CIpm. I am bummed. Sont know what went wrong 

LAWYER2

Where do you think things went wrong?

LAWYER2

I passed, barely. I'm not sure if it was the luck of the draw with the questions I got, but MANY were on very narrow areas lightly covered in the book. It certainly was no walk in the park.