CIA Part 3 Study & Exam Tips

First of all, all candidates should know that the preparation for Part 3 will differ totally from Part 1 or 2.

In Part 3, we are talking about at least 3 areas grouped together to form Part 3. We have IT&Date Analytics , Accounting & Finance, economic & business Concepts, a bit of governance, risk and management concepts.

So, in order to be well prepared, you have to study smart not just hard and my tips are as follow;

1. Study by weight, for example, IT & Data Analytics (55 - 60% weight) are always heavy on exam so start by IT, skim the material quickly but thoroughly then practice from Gleim or HOCK or CIA Excel, avoid to solve by order or you will memorize the answer. Solving less than 3 times is not even an option!! I mean it.
2. If you are with accounting and financial background, then push the financial part till the end, this includes (Basic/Intermediate/cost/managerial accounting) plus the finance module (WACC, Payback and ratios). Make it your desert at the end or the relief from theoretical parts. Still don't go deeply, questions tend to be simple and straight forward.
3. Treat each of the 3 areas as a part by itself, run exams and practice mode on each area individually before you undertake exams on the whole part.
4. Again Monitor your time while solving all questions and especially the numerical one. If you find during the exam a MCQ taking longer time in guessing how to answer and from where to start, please mark it for review and move to the following question.
5. Prepare yourself at home to sit 4 hours solving at least 250 MCQ non-stop. Part 3 is a 2 hours'exam; most of us already lose concentration after 45 minutes if not earlier, so please get used to maintain focus for 2 hours at least.
6. Don't feel hesitant to take a break of 3 minutes during the exam, this is not wasting time, it is just re-charging your battery by giving your mind the chance to clear its cache and boost the Rams.
7. Finally, if you have studied hard, then you will have enough self confidence during the exam which is all needed to pass; if you didn't, it is not the end of the world, ask yourself what went wrong then continue studying. I didn't pass from the 1st try, my score was 575 but in my next try, i knew exactly what went wrong and I fix it.

These are the four domains as stated in the IIA’s CIA Exam Syllabus (https://na.theiia.org/certification/CIA-Certification/Pages/CIA-2019-Exam-Syllabus-Part-3.aspx).

If you are studying from Gleim, read this.

1.     Information Security (25%) – Unit 8 & Information Technology (20%) – Unit 5, 6.

3.     Business Acumen (35%) – Unit 1, 2 , 3, 4 and unit 7 – with units 2, 3 are the only units covering areas need a proficient cognitive level.

4.     Financial Management (20%) – Unit 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 – with Unit 9 being the most important unit with average weight 14% alone out of the 20%!!! 

Good luck and remember, failing to plan your study look like you are planning to fail, so please be smart and plan ahead.