CRISC - Exam preparation (study materials, tips, mindset, etc)

Hello world,

I'm preparing to sit for the CRISC exam either sometime in May or June. I'm currently using only the Q&A database review questions from ISACA and nothing else.

For those who've passed the exam, is this good enough to pass or should I purchase the CRM (CRISC Review Manaual) from ISACA as well?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

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Comments

Distord

vynx wrote: »

i'm plan to take CRISC exam in June 2017,
i just want to know the CRISC QAE is worth or not for exam?
since i have plan to just learn from QAE day by day ..

The manual is quite dry - read it just once. Now my focus is on QAE - went through all questions, now I am re-taking them.
I have the exam next Monday. Fingers crossed

asiru77

Congratulations @SecurityGuru23 really surprised about your journey for CISSP , but i believe after getting 3 ISACA certs you are also a completely different candidate and hopefully will clear CISSP too this time , CISM is my next target and your story has given me so much confidence

thanks for sharing your experience

SecurityGuru23

@ Asiru77,

Thanks! The CISSP really messed up my mentality during that time, I felt defeated and just about every shitty feeling under the sun that you can name. This time around, I plan on really studying and learning the materials and not rush through anything before I attempt to retake it again.

Hopefully with my hardwork, dedication along with God's blessing, I will finally pass this time around...

As for the CISM, I've used soley the DB online questions from ISACA and nothing else. Aim for 75-90% for all domains, take 1-2 practice exams and you should be fine when exam time comes.

-SG

Sonu7007

@SecurityGuru23

Congrats and thank you for sharing your experience. I would also agree with you that CISA was the most difficult from CISM from my experience. I plan on taking CRISC also in June but was not sure if I needed to study CRM along with CRISC DB.

Thanks

Sonu

SecurityGuru23

@ Sonu7007,

Thanks! I'm not sure about others that have passed the CRISC, as for me, I've only used the CRISC DB questions from ISACA and nothing else. However, this is not recommended, as some that took the CRISC (in another thread) has mentioned that the exam was extremely difficult for them but experience and miles vary so it's differenet for everyone. This worked for me but might not work for you, vice versa. Hope this helps and good luck!

-SG

SecurityGuru23

@ pinksj,

Thanks! Good luck on both CISM/CISSP. I myself is also currently studying for the CISSP, best luck to the both of us!

-SG

Craps_Shooter

@Securityguru, what % were you scoring on the CRISC DBA questions before you took the exam?

CyberMarshall

I passed CRISC today on first attempt and I solely studied the Q&A database. The database questions however might not be sufficient to succeed as I noticed there are many questions beyond the domains of the database. The questions are from everything "Risk Related". While at it, I recollected seen risk related questions from CISA & CISM Q&A. You just have to read widely. If you have the field experience you should be fine with just the database Q.

For me, the questions are straight to the point. But I know everyone might differ on that. The exam center was nothing to write home about. They aren't prepared at all. My station lost connection about 3 times lasting over an hour in total. In all, it wasn't a bad experience.

I hope this helps. I've been reading on this platform for a while. I decided to sign up to share my CRISC experience as I have been combing here the past few days without seeing anything tangible.

SecurityGuru23

@ Craps_shooter,

I was hitting about 75-90% consistently before taking the exam.

-SG

tphan3

@SecurityGuru23

I am currently working on my DB questions. Do you recommend the adaptive learning mode for practice? Did you get your 75-90% score on new questions only? Thank you so much.

asiru77

i passed CISM yesterday my assessment is , i knew for most of CISSP exam what i am doing and and was sure that i am going to pass , in CISM most of questions were like the analogy of which come first ? an egg or chicken and i was not sure till end this i will pass although i was confident so i believe it totally depends upon past experience and background that which exam we feel is hard for us and there is no hard and fast rule

SecurityGuru23 wrote: »

@ Sonu7007,

I just got back from the PSI testing center, happy to say that I did managed to pass the CRISC exam (1st attempt - Thank you God!). For those whom have taken an exam at either Pearson Vue/Prometric, it's similar set up/environment except you can bring a drink inside with you.

I've only used the DB questions online from ISACA to study and leveraged all of my experience/knowledge I acquired from other certs. I was done in 2 hours 1/2, took the remaining time to do a final review before hitting submit. Some questions were straightforward, others you had to do a process of elimination, and some were simply a guessing game.

Received "you provisionally passed the CRISC examination". Out of all three (CISA/CISM/CRISC), I have to admit, CISA was the hardest out of the bunch IMO but I'm sure that's up for debate. I'm just happy and relieved that it's over and now I can start studying for the CISSP!

Happy Monday and Good luck everyone!

-SG

asiru77

CyberMarshall wrote: »

I passed CRISC today on first attempt and I solely studied the Q&A database. The database questions however might not be sufficient to succeed as I noticed there are many questions beyond the domains of the database. The questions are from everything "Risk Related". While at it, I recollected seen risk related questions from CISA & CISM Q&A. You just have to read widely. If you have the field experience you should be fine with just the database Q.

For me, the questions are straight to the point. But I know everyone might differ on that. The exam center was nothing to write home about. They aren't prepared at all. My station lost connection about 3 times lasting over an hour in total. In all, it wasn't a bad experience.

I hope this helps. I've been reading on this platform for a while. I decided to sign up to share my CRISC experience as I have been combing here the past few days without seeing anything tangible.

congratulation and thanks for sharing

JoJoCal19

tphan3 wrote: »

@SecurityGuru23

I am currently working on my DB questions. Do you recommend the adaptive learning mode for practice? Did you get your 75-90% score on new questions only? Thank you so much.

I started out doing adaptive for CISM but I think it wastes too much time. I started just doing custom exam for one domain at a time. Did "new questions" until I had attempted all. Then re-did only the ones I got wrong. Doing the same for CISA now.

tphan3

@JoJoCal19

Thank you. Since I only have less than 2 weeks, that is what I have been doing these days. However, I am not sure if I can pass the exam when every time I attempted a set of totally new 100 questions, I only got around 73%. Adaptive learning is much easier to get above 85% since I already know the answers, so I don't think it would be a good indicator. I mean I read and understand all those explanations I got wrong, but there are still questions I could not wrap my head around. I feel like for some questions, I need more details to answer correctly. Indeed, some questions themselves do not contain the details needed, but the explanations imply I should know them when I read the questions. Does it make sense? Does 450 over 800 equal to 70%?

SecurityGuru23

tphan3 wrote: »

@SecurityGuru23

I am currently working on my DB questions. Do you recommend the adaptive learning mode for practice? Did you get your 75-90% score on new questions only? Thank you so much.

What worked for me:

-I made sure I've completed/reviewed ALL the questions from all 4 domains with 100% completion
-Understand WHY you got it wrong and WHY you got it right
-Googled terms and concepts that I didn't know and/or had issues with understanding and read about them in greater detail online
-Continue tackling ALL of the questions that you kept getting wrong and try to really focus on the "WHY" you got it wrong
-Took 1-2 practice exams and pretend it's the actual exam

Hope this helps and good luck!

-SG

Distord

woohoo CRISC passed as well. a lot of Business Continuity questions but i was somehow expecting that.
Read the book once, went through all DB questions and i also watched the Cybrary videos.
There was this tip i had from the Cybrary videos: when you see talking about cost-benefit analysis through the answers, most of the time that's your answer:) .
Passing the CISA in December surely helped.

JoJoCal19

tphan3 wrote: »

@JoJoCal19

Thank you. Since I only have less than 2 weeks, that is what I have been doing these days. However, I am not sure if I can pass the exam when every time I attempted a set of totally new 100 questions, I only got around 73%. Adaptive learning is much easier to get above 85% since I already know the answers, so I don't think it would be a good indicator. I mean I read and understand all those explanations I got wrong, but there are still questions I could not wrap my head around. I feel like for some questions, I need more details to answer correctly. Indeed, some questions themselves do not contain the details needed, but the explanations imply I should know them when I read the questions. Does it make sense? Does 450 over 800 equal to 70%?

For what it's worth, I scored low to mid 70s on my QAE DB. I passed the CISM with a scaled score of 606 after two weeks.

rams1981

Just took the CRISC. Read part of the manual in late April and didn't finish it as I lost the book. Reminder of the time I spent doing database questions having read on here the book isn't as important.

I finished all the questions and re-did them several times. I took quite a few of the practice exams scoring over 90%.

The exam took me 2 and a half hours or so as I took my time. Went through all questions for a final review before submitting with 30 mins to go.

Got a provisional pass at the end so am delighted. This is my first exam of this type. I assume a provisional pass like this is unlikely to be incorrect?!?!

JoJoCal19

rams1981 wrote: »

Just took the CRISC. Read part of the manual in late April and didn't finish it as I lost the book. Reminder of the time I spent doing database questions having read on here the book isn't as important.

I finished all the questions and re-did them several times. I took quite a few of the practice exams scoring over 90%.

The exam took me 2 and a half hours or so as I took my time. Went through all questions for a final review before submitting with 30 mins to go.

Got a provisional pass at the end so am delighted. This is my first exam of this type. I assume a provisional pass like this is unlikely to be incorrect?!?!

Congrats rams!! Was the actual exam just like the QAE database?

rams1981

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Congrats rams!! Was the actual exam just like the QAE database?

Thanks.

Yes I found the style similar. There were quite a few questions you could eliminate 2 answers immediately so even if you weren't sure you were left with a 50/50 guess.

My best tip is to go through the whole thing, marking the ones you're not sure about (it gives you that option). Then on review go through those first before going through the lot for a final pass.

Practicing the database was incredibly helpful. Especially why you got the questions wrong (or right if you guessed).

Good luck to anyone else taking it.

nelly_jacob1101

Unfortunately I don't have access to the CRISC online database. Is there any alternatives to the database? What I have now is the CRISC Review Manual as well as the Q&A Manual. I intend to take the exam this September. Any review materials you might want to suggests or share? Thank you so much!

Rehana44

Hi, i am using CRISC Q&A manual from ISACA and not online one. How many questions are there in online database? do you find any difference between online db and book?

vynx

Rehana44 wrote: »

Hi, i am using CRISC Q&A manual from ISACA and not online one. How many questions are there in online database? do you find any difference between online db and book?

if i'm not mistake is 500 Q&A

Rehana44

Thank you

Rehana44

@SecurityGuru23 - Congratulations!! I am giving the exam this late June and can you please tell me how did you find the questions in the actual exam? are they similar to ISACA CRISC Q&A db? are they scenario based like CISA?

SecurityGuru23

Rehana44 wrote: »

@SecurityGuru23 - Congratulations!! I am giving the exam this late June and can you please tell me how did you find the questions in the actual exam? are they similar to ISACA CRISC Q&A db? are they scenario based like CISA?

Thanks! There were a mix bags of questions from both CISA (scenario-based) and ones similar to CRISC (fact-based) which IMO is similar to the Q&A DB questions from ISACA. It isn't as difficult as the CISA but that's up for debate. Good luck!

-SG

Rehana44

SecurityGuru23 wrote: »

Thanks! There were a mix bags of questions from both CISA (scenario-based) and ones similar to CRISC (fact-based) which IMO is similar to the Q&A DB questions from ISACA. It isn't as difficult as the CISA but that's up for debate. Good luck!

-SG

Thank you

mmelgarejoc

My exam is on June 30. Already finished the database and my last 20 scores are between 95-80, however, I'm so nervous, I failed the exam on December by 18 points...

SecurityGuru23

mmelgarejoc wrote: »

My exam is on June 30. Already finished the database and my last 20 scores are between 95-80, however, I'm so nervous, I failed the exam on December by 18 points...

You got this! You just need to remain calm during the exam, I know easier said than done. Exam anxiety, we all get them, some just know how to handle better than others. Continue reviewing up until the day of the exam, try to sleep early the night before, and take short breaks (5 mins) after every 50 questions and you'll do fine. Good luck! Again, you got this! Bring it home!

-SG

Navneet1972

hi is it possible to share the 2015 Manual for CRISC.... thanks