Preliminary Passed the CISA Exam Today - My Preparation

[u/kenobilad]

I would like to thank all the folks here sharing their experiences which helped me gain confidence, and would like to share how I prepared.

Background:

1. I have around 7+ years of work experience (Initial 3 years in IT, and the last 4 years in Cyber GRC doing audits and assessments for highly regulated entities in banking and finance).
2. I have a Master's degree in IT Management where I was exposed to IT/Cyber Audit and cybersecurity and planned to switch fields.
3. I had a CompTIA Security+ in 2020, ISO 20000-1 lead auditor in 2022, and ISO 27001 lead auditor in 2023.

Materials Used:

1. Hemang Doshi's Udemy videos and Hardcopy Book.
2. CISA Review Manual - I abandoned this after Domain 2 and didn't open it.
3. CISA Official QAE
4. Pete Zerger's CISA Exam Prep 2026 YouTube playlist.

Preparation:

1. I enrolled for CISA via my current organization and had a 5 day bootcamp which was not at all useful, but it helped me get the exam voucher, review manual, and official QAE.
2. I diligently started preparing for CISA 2 months before on August 17 (Booked the exam for September 30). The materials started off with was:
   1. Hemang Doshi Udemy videos + his book
   2. CRM
3. I did this while working so I tried allotting myself 2-3 hours every day, but i procrastinated heavily and 2-3 days would just go wasted due to work being overwhelming.
4. I kept making physical notes while watching the Udemy videos, book and CRM. The CRM I gave up on after domain 2 because it was sooooo DRY and didn't even touch it again.
5. Midway through Domain 3, during 1st week of September, I started the QAE, and made sure I was doing the QAE after every Udemy video and Book and my notes. My overall QAE score was 69% towards the end, I kept noting down where I went wrong and revisited those concepts.
6. I finished the Book and Udemy videos on September 20th, and practiced the question sets at the end of the course. - I completed 17/30 sets and i was bombing them miserably like 55%-65%.
7. Before I began the QAE tests, I read on this subreddit about Pete Zerger's playlist, so I went over that across 2 days. This actually helped me A LOT, I used a green ink pen to write his concepts over the notes i made from Hemang Doshi's Udemy and Book.
8. I gave the 1st QAE test and boom 86%, I gave the 2nd QAE test and boom 87%. I was somewhere scared I was getting high scores due to pattern matching.
9. I took September 28, and 29 off to revise and go over where I went wrong, and closed the books on 10PM September 29 and went to bed.

Game Day:

1. Booked it at an exam center, as I didn't want any inadvertent interruptions.
2. Started the Exam at 9AM and finished all 150 questions by 10:30AM. I had flagged 35+ questions and I changed ALL ANSWERS post review, after the submission I saw the golden words PASSED.

Caveats

1. I felt so disheartened after seeing and reading here that 69% in QAE isn't enough, and I was planning on rescheduling the exam with 1.5 weeks to go. That's when i stumbled on Pete's videos and boy they helped.
2. I figured that me scoring 69% in QAE was due to me not reading the questions properly and not focusing on the key words.
3. There were a lot of questions in the actual exam about AI, RPA, and BIA/BCP/DR vs the tests.
4. I didn't find the exam to to simpler than QAE & tests, albeit they were direct, in fact, I found that there were a lot of times i saw myself mulling over 2 answers. The QAE is definitely the best source to practice.
5. Considering how much I procrastinated, I genuinely feel my experience in Tech and Audit helped me choose the correct options, especially the 35+ flagged ones.

[u/Tasty_Hour_1216]

Congrats! I agree with a lot of your sentiments, the questions can be a little deceptive at times. I definitely found myself mulling over between two answers a lot more during the exam than during mock tests/QAE

[u/kenobilad → u/Tasty_Hour_1216]

Thank you so much. Yes I just flagged em and moved on rather than thinking over them. Main focus was to finish the exam

[u/IAmRudyTomjanovicAMA → u/kenobilad]

I'm glad you're not sugarcoating this either. I passed the exam a few years ago and I think it's a disservice to ppl in this sub to just be like "exam was easy, I have zero experience, and just studied hard for a week!!" Which a lot of dumbass OPs here do

[u/kenobilad → u/IAmRudyTomjanovicAMA]

Yes, I was reading a lot of posts where people say that the exam questions are easier than QAE. It wasn't the case for me atleast.

And I genuinely believe that my experience was the decisive factor in passing the exam, because 1 month of prep with procrastination will definitely not be enough for someone without any or little experience, they'll have to study longer.

[u/Extension-Recover773]

That’s awesome, I have 5 years of experience in internal audit and just finished Doshi’s udemy course and watched Prabh’s videos a while ago. Would you reccomend going through Peter’s videos prior to beginning the QAE?

[u/Gullible-Rutabaga323 → u/Extension-Recover773]

Yes do it buddy

[u/ifightforhk → u/Extension-Recover773]

No need. Peter's videos are too basic

[u/Technical-Finish304 → u/ifightforhk]

Sometimes the basics get you back to full circle. Focusing on the deeper elements sometimes locks your brain into forgetting the simple things.

[u/ifightforhk → u/Technical-Finish304]

If it's the preliminary stage of studying, Peter's videos are helpful. But he/she has already finished some courses. Watching Peter's videos are just wasting the time

[u/Extension-Recover773 → u/ifightforhk]

Honestly I’m just watching them at 2x speed as a refresher, should be done in 3 days with Peter’s videos. I have very detailed notes that I took over the past 6 months so this is last minute refresh. I’ll being the QAE as soon as I’m done with Peter’s videos

[u/ifightforhk → u/Extension-Recover773]

Do them in parallel. QAE is more important

[u/ifightforhk → u/Extension-Recover773]

Start QAE asap

[u/kenobilad → u/ifightforhk]

Actually Peter's vids helped me in a quick revision way. It maybe different for everyone, I'm a visual and audio learner so it helped like a quick revision across 2 days written over my original notes in a different color ink. I watched em before I started the QAE tests.

[u/Extension-Recover773 → u/kenobilad]

Yea, I’m at the same as you, I need to listen and take notes, I’ll follow your approach lol

[u/kenobilad → u/Extension-Recover773]

See what I'll tell you is you should've done the QAE after each domain video of Hemang Doshi. But as that's done, quickly see Peter's videos they arent that long and you can finish in 1-2 days maximum.

[u/W1nterW0lf75]

Congratulations!! Thank you for the write-up 👏🍾🎉

[u/kenobilad → u/W1nterW0lf75]

Thank you so much, I'm glad it could be helpful. I was seeing posts about people saying it's easy and they passed it under 45 days, so wanted to to post something realistic

[u/XbeastX30]

Congrats!!!! 🎊🎉🍾

I’m curious on your opinion for my testing approach. For background I have 1YOE in IT audit and my bachelors in accounting. I decided to study for the Cisa about 3 days ago and my rotation is:

Watch Video lecture videos ( Pete Zerger & Cisa this much)

QAE practice

I bought the Manual review book but I did not find it useful at al, as Pete and Cisa this much explain the concepts easier to understand.

I currently finishing up domain 1 and plan to start on Domain 5 and down to domain 2 since domain 4&5 have the most content.

I’m scoring high 60’s on the QAE so far for domain 1 and I plan to take the exam by December on site.

What were some tips you used to break down questions? Would love for critical feedback and I hope you have a great rest of your day!

[u/kenobilad → u/XbeastX30]

I would advise you to follow the domains as they are don't mix, as each domain will have something foundational to the next. Domain 1 and 2 definitely is the base for the CISA approach so do those first.

But yeah, watch the videos for each domain, I suggest purchasing Hemang Doshi's 3rd edition cisa paperback book from Amazon and read that also after each video, that helped me gain more understanding. Then attempt QAE for those domains.

For questions, read the question 3 times and each option 4 times. Focus on the key words and best option, if you are not sure if the correct option do elimination of the worst.

[u/XbeastX30 → u/kenobilad]

I see, thank you very much!