So I recently started a new job, and one of the requirements is to get your CISA certification within the first year. Luckily they pay for it, so I don’t have to worry about that part. I’ll be heading off to a CISA bootcamp in December, but decided that I want to study for it beforehand as well. I’ve been studying for the CISSP, but I’ll put that on hold for now and focus on the CISA since it is required.
I think overall the CISSP will help me out more, but whatever. The CISA is the certification these guys decided they want everyone to have, so that's the one I’ll get first.
I’m studying from a book, the CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor Study Guide that I got off Amazon. I took the pretest today, and here are the results:
Correct 45
Incorrect 35
% correct 56.25%
The incorrect by Chapter results are:
1-3
2-7
3-3
4-2
5-3
6-5
7-4
8-8
And the list of chapters are:
Chapter 1 Secrets of a Successful IS Auditor
Chapter 2 Audit Process
Chapter 3 IT Governance
Chapter 4 Networking Technology
Chapter 5 Life Cycle Management
Chapter 6 IT Service Delivery
Chapter 7 Information Asset Protection
Chapter 8 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
As you can see, I’ve got some studying to do in order to pass. I’m not too worried though, I actually did better on the pretest then I thought I would. I’m not an auditor (as you can see), so those chapters will probably have the most new material for me.
Schedule
As far as schedule goes, right now I’m thinking that I can probably read a chapter a week, which will put me finishing the book by end of September, leaving plenty of extra time before December to review and attend the bootcamp and take the test. I’ll be updating my progress here, along with chapter notes, tips tricks and other useful bits that I find along the way. If any recent CISA’s out there have anything to share as well, feel free to shout out in the comments!
