Planning For CRISC

The_AM

Hello Everyone,

Though there are already plenty of similar topics, however, I am still daring to create a new one, I would really appreciate if members provide their feedback on following.

I have extensive software application development background and for last 4 years or so I am working as an IT Auditor, I am CISA certified and now looking to gear up for CRISC, I am focusing more on ISACA's provided CRISC QA&E bank  than the official review manual (75% QA&E:30% Review Manual) as I noted during my CISA attempt that QA&E provides more insight.

I would like to hear from fellow aspirants/professionals about their view on this approach.

Regards,
Ahsan

COBOL_DOS_ERA

You are good there with the QA DB and the RM. Since, you already have CISA, CRISC is no different than CISA with a caveat that it is more focused on Security.

Sulybaba

Good day all, am new here and I need more guide from members. 

edsern

I am also contemplating on getting CRISC next to my CISA which I just cleared yesterday - only that I am a CPA with 2 years System Implementation and 3 years IS audit experience. 

The_AM

 I appeared for CRISC exam on 20th, didn't pass, felt like a sucker punch as I was confident(overconfident?) that I have prepared myself for it, now waiting for detail result to find out what exactly went wrong. Sharing the experience so others can pinpoint any gap in or pick a thing or two for their own preparation as a do or don't. 

Preparation: 

Gave myself 3 weeks for preparation, read CRISC review manual once (an older 2015 edition) and practiced ISACA's online QA&E database rigorously (27 Hours), I was getting well over 85% marks in Q&A sessions, at the end took 3 practice exams with similar or higher scores, but I guess it turned out to be a false positive, one reason could be the fact you tend to memorize the correct answers and go for it straight away, and sometimes scores achieve through this routine sets a false sense of comfort. 

Exam:

 A lot of questions were single liners, but the available options to pick from were a little tricky as in a lot of questions I felt that, instead of usual apparent twins (narrow it down to two close answers, pick the Best) out of four, it seemed there were triplets (3 similar choices out of four) but still I thought I was getting enough of them right, clearly there was a misunderstanding somewhere. 

I will review the detail result, evaluate the missing link and will hunt this down. 

@edsern
Congratulations on CISA, good luck for CRISC.

edsern

The_AM said:

 I appeared for CRISC exam on 20th, didn't pass, felt like a sucker punch as I was confident(overconfident?) that I have prepared myself for it, now waiting for detail result to find out what exactly went wrong. Sharing the experience so others can pinpoint any gap in or pick a thing or two for their own preparation as a do or don't. 

Preparation: 

Gave myself 3 weeks for preparation, read CRISC review manual once (an older 2015 edition) and practiced ISACA's online QA&E database rigorously (27 Hours), I was getting well over 85% marks in Q&A sessions, at the end took 3 practice exams with similar or higher scores, but I guess it turned out to be a false positive, one reason could be the fact you tend to memorize the correct answers and go for it straight away, and sometimes scores achieve through this routine sets a false sense of comfort. 

Exam:

 A lot of questions were single liners, but the available options to pick from were a little tricky as in a lot of questions I felt that, instead of usual apparent twins (narrow it down to two close answers, pick the Best) out of four, it seemed there were triplets (3 similar choices out of four) but still I thought I was getting enough of them right, clearly there was a misunderstanding somewhere. 

I will review the detail result, evaluate the missing link and will hunt this down. 

@edsern
Congratulations on CISA, good luck for CRISC.

Did you study full time for that 3-week prep? I think it's short in my opinion. But anyways, I know you could clear the exam on your next attempt.

I'm just curious on how you plan to acquire the CRISC certification requirement since you are a developer and CISA? I still want to figure out how could I attain the requirement before investing on any resources (time, money and effort).

Thanks man and good luck to us.

The_AM

edsern said:

Did you study full time for that 3-week prep? I think it's short in my opinion. But anyways, I know you could clear the exam on your next attempt.

I'm just curious on how you plan to acquire the CRISC certification requirement since you are a developer and CISA? I still want to figure out how could I attain the requirement before investing on any resources (time, money and effort).

Thanks man and good luck to us.

 I studied 2-3 hours a day & 3-5 on weekends, mostly spent time on QA&E database, indeed it seems short in the hindsight.

The answer to your second query is yes, I used to be an application developer earlier in my career but for the last 4 years, I am working as IT auditor, risk assessment & advisory is kind of part of the routine due to a crossover in the responsibilities of the intra-organization consulting, betting on that as certification's experience requirement.

I am not sure about the percentage of risk management work you do in your current role to claim the required work experience for CRISC, still, you can clear the exam first and complete the experience requirement in due course, as according to ISACA and I quote:

"Experience must have been gained within the 10-year period preceding the application date for certification or within five years from the date of initially passing the examination." 

Don't worry, Your investment (time, money and effort) will be safe and since You recently passed CISA therefore that knowledge will also come in handy (especially networking & security concepts), so I would suggest don't delay or over think it too much.

I hope you will nail CRISC in the first attempt as you sound like a guy who knows what he is doing, good luck.  

Regards,
AM