CISM Pass!

Let me tell you this exam isn’t for the faint of heart. It truly is challenging from start to finish. I had taken the online proctor version and it was a nightmare to say the least. Just a word of caution, contact tech support immediately if you have issues during the exam. I had the psi browser give me issues about 4 times. Turns out Windows Defender was blocking outbound traffic to their psi connection.

I had used the following as my primary study material:
The q&e database
The ISACA manual
The all in one practice test and test hub practice test
Thor’s videos and practice test

Once you understand the concepts and understand what the question is asking it will all start to make sense. Take a practice test to gage yourself. It’s probably the best indicator of how well you’re prepared for the exam. The ISACA manual is really the best fall back to item for studying. There was some items on the exam that I would of never thought that would get asked. Thank god it’s over! Now to wait for the results.

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Comments

Oztexs

Well done !

I am currently watching the Thor vids on Udemy now, hes quite good. I think hes better then Kelly on Cybrary .. i used Kelly for my CISSP and CRISC but i found Thor makes good use of technology ie adding links, using symbols to mark importance etc .. and you dont get to hear screaming kids in the background !

charismaticx

I don’t think Kelly Henderson’s videos are offered anymore for free on Cybrary. Thor explains the concepts so much better than the ISACA Manuel that the concepts finally made sense. It’s truly a hard exam and worth having.

Azt7

I have Thor's courses too but stopped it because I found it very technical while the exam was ''apparently'' more management related. I guess I have to at least focus on some topics I'm completely clueless about.

Did it bring you guys that much value ?

charismaticx

It’s his way of explaining the concepts that really helps. The isaca manual is quite dry and it didn’t really click for me right away. His material was the ice breaker that helped me understand my weak areas.

DZA_

Congrats! I always wondered how the testing experience would be moving these exams online. Well deserved.

tkcomp

Congrats on the pass!! I passed the CISM exam yesterday and I had the same issues with the PSI secure browser. Trying to do the 360 room scan using a 27 inch iMac was sure a pleasure

Regarding study prep, the most helpful thing for me was the 1000 question test bank from ISACA. Well worth the money. Glad that sucker is over

charismaticx

It disconnected on me twice during the exam. The second time was the worse. I just got my test results back today and I will be submitting my application shortly.

JDMurray

Have either of you ever taken a remotely-proctored exam before? I've taken several for online school courses. An external USB Webcam on a stand (tripod, etc.) is a must for positioning so the proctor can see your face, keyboard, and screen all in the same shot and (as mentioned) show the proctor a 360-degree sweep of the room before the exam. After installing the exam browser, they should have you run a browser-based test for your Internet connection, connectivity to the exam server, etc. Also, they (should) have a look at your running processes list to check if you have any foreground programs running other than the browser and remote access software. Programs that record video memory during your exam are a no-no.

Was your pre-exam procedure anything like that? How did you find/solve the Windows Defender problem?

tkcomp

JD. Can't help regarding Windows Defender due to me using a Mac. It was my first time taking a remote proctored exam. You are correct about the internet connection test, as soon as the secure browser is installed its automatically ran. I did have to make some security preference changes in Mac OS in order for the Proctor to remote monitor via the secure browser but that was the only issue I experienced. Next time i will not be using the internal webcam on the iMac

charismaticx

When I uploaded everything prior to the exam the secure browser wouldn’t upload the photos and video. I had to contact tech support. Turns out it was windows defender blocking outbound connections to the proctor. Once we disabled it, the upload was successful. That was my second remote test proctor experience. The prechecks were nothing new for me. I started my test about 30 minutes late but I was able to take it still.

Oztexs

i wonder if CISM is easier than the CRISC ? I am also a CISSP .. and was surprised how difficult the CRISC was even though its 150 questions compared to the 250 i sat for to do the CISSP.

UnixGuy

Congrats and well done!

charismaticx

Just waiting on my application to get approved by ISACA.

JDMurray

Oztexs said:

i wonder if CISM is easier than the CRISC ? I am also a CISSP .. and was surprised how difficult the CRISC was even though its 150 questions compared to the 250 i sat for to do the CISSP.

The fewer the questions the more difficult the questions are then?

bubble2005

JDMurray said:

Oztexs said:

i wonder if CISM is easier than the CRISC ? I am also a CISSP .. and was surprised how difficult the CRISC was even though its 150 questions compared to the 250 i sat for to do the CISSP.

The fewer the questions the more difficult the questions are then?

That's because the difficulty of ISACA exams comes from asking it in a way that seems extremely off and not aligned. It's definitely intentional to confuse the exam taker because the lack of clarity may cause the candidate to analyze the question with the incorrect thought process.

charismaticx

The exam isn’t too difficult. The hardest part is learning the ISACA way. That’s when you realize how much their way of doing things makes sense.