CISM - Failed twice, need better strategy to 3rd try

Guys,
I know it was my fault which is not really in preparation for the exam. All those two exams consider less than a month of preparation and use my own 10 years IT security experience and sometimes a grammar when answer the questions.
1st exam without QADB but complete Udemy CISM course. marks 438. 2nd exam with QADB and less than month inconsistency study plan marks - 422. I'm planning to re-take next mid-year since the QADB still valid till Sept 2019. Any advise and what the best study plan should i use. I'm planning to do other cert as well next year. If anyone can suggest 3 months study plan will be great.

Find more posts tagged with

cism exam

Comments

kaiju

What was your score on the QA&E DB? If you can consistently score 85% or above you should be able to pass CISM without any issues.

JoJoCal19

You bought the QADB and your score got worse. This tells me that you cannot rely heavily on your experience in passing this exam nor can you rely just on the QADB. You will need to dedicate a serious amount of studying, especially with a score of 422. I recommend purchasing the Review Guide as well. Read that through once quickly. Then do another read through more slowly. Then start doing the QADB questions and see where your score is. In your situation just doing the QADB over and over and memorizing the questions and answers isn't going to help. So read the Review Manual a couple of times and then take a practice exam with like 20-25 questions from each domain and see how you do. If you hit at least 80% on that, then I'd say you can move over to just working on QADB questions.

COBOL_DOS_ERA

I'm just going to add on top of Jojo's advice, read the read the manual at least 3-4 times, and highlights the stuffs that you think need further reading. You could also buy CISM all in one book from e-bay or Amazon . Read that AIO book at least twice. As fo AQDB, can't argue with JoJo's advice. Good luck with the next try. Also, look into the exam score break down, and see where did you do bad, and concentrate on those area little more.

rasli79

Thanks guys, absolutely i need to start with the Manual before jump back into QADB.

SecGuy22

for my CISM, I used many sources....
-ISACA Q&A Database (30 hours of study over a month and a Half),
-All in one CISM book, with practice questions and test engine that came with it.
-Cybrary.it video training - full CISM course (Cybrary is free!),
-as well as the CISM course, Cybrary has CISSP and CISA which will help with your CISM (if you have time)
-a short YouTube video by Sean Hanna on ISACA exam webcram (also free).
-CISM Course on Lynda.com (I get this free through my public library membership - many places do - but you could take the free 30 day trial if you don't get access via your public library).

So, my suggestion would be to use many sources...
Ed.

PJ_Sneakers

I use experience, prior study for CISSP (I haven't taken the exam yet), and the online Q&A DB.

You might find Sean Hannah's CISM/CISA video useful too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_74Kk3b8hQ

andyveazey

I watched as many Cybrary videos as I could, taking notes, and used the database until I was scoring close to 100% on the full test simulation.
I think my actual hands on experience played the biggest role in my passing. If you don't have the experience I would agree with others to read and watch versus using the database test simulator as much.

Info_Sec_Wannabe

While experience is helpful, do take note that not everything that happens in real-life is consistent with the ISACA mindset. Depending on the question and the available choices, go with what is theoretically more or most correct, not the most practical. The Q&A DB should be sufficient for your purpose.

ganbayar

Hi,

I got exam result failed got 447. will try again in may.

I think we should more focus on complete understanding of content.

kaiju

Methodically read the official study guide.

Read it again and take notes.

Try the QA&E DB again and refer back to the official study guide for any troublesome questions/answers.

cyberguypr

ganbayar said:

I think we should more focus on complete understanding of content.

Well, that is true for any exam. One thing to keep in mind, security experience does not necessarily mean risk management experience, which is critical for this test.

Z0sickx

So I watched the cybrary CISM videos and read some of the CISM AIO book. I’d also would read the NIST documentation related to those domains and think it’s a much better read on how they break down the concepts

the right answer is generally is how it impacts the business, senior management or some variation of it

Dont have any direct Management experience per se and passed on 1st try. Really think the NIST documents got me over the edge because I was scoring 60% ish on practice test, I thought QAE questions were “harder” then actual exam

hope this helps

rasli79

Z0sickx said:

So I watched the cybrary CISM videos and read some of the CISM AIO book. I’d also would read the NIST documentation related to those domains and think it’s a much better read on how they break down the concepts

the right answer is generally is how it impacts the business, senior management or some variation of it

Dont have any direct Management experience per se and passed on 1st try. Really think the NIST documents got me over the edge because I was scoring 60% ish on practice test, I thought QAE questions were “harder” then actual exam

hope this helps

Does anyone know percentage different in Cybrary video of CISM which refer 14th edition compare with current version - 15th?

Z0sickx

Not sure I follow, I think the cybrary CISM follows information from 15th edition since it was updated recently, if you haven’t already buy the official guide and take notes in a test question format then that should help to. It will be tedious and long but I think it will do you well

Z0sickx

I forgot to add you'll want to look at the entire CRISC series on cybrary to cover Risk Management

ganbayar

Dears, today I passed CISM exam.

There is no Braindump for CISM exam. You have to understand content of chapers. So that I assure you can pass exam.

Thanks,

Artemisa

ganbayar said:

Dears, today I passed CISM exam.

There is no Braindump for CISM exam. You have to understand content of chapers. So that I assure you can pass exam.

Thanks,

Congratulations ganbayar. What was your study method? I failed CISM too but want to retake it.

Artemisa

Z0sickx said:

So I watched the cybrary CISM videos and read some of the CISM AIO book. I’d also would read the NIST documentation related to those domains and think it’s a much better read on how they break down the concepts

the right answer is generally is how it impacts the business, senior management or some variation of it

Dont have any direct Management experience per se and passed on 1st try. Really think the NIST documents got me over the edge because I was scoring 60% ish on practice test, I thought QAE questions were “harder” then actual exam

hope this helps

Would you mind sharing the NIST documentation link .