How I re-lived my CA moments with CISA ..

How I re-lived my CA moments with CISA ..

A quick background – I am a Chartered Accountant with 8 years of experience, across practice and employment. It is 2020, and ‘keeping yourself updated’ is the norm.  So, in pursuit of updating my skill set, after some self- research and discussion with my mentors zeroed down on CISA. I knew it was not going to be a cake-walk considering my non-technical background, and the nightmares I had for the Information Systems paper in CA final! But I decided to take the leap, and here I am.

Spoiler Alert : Secured 2nd Rank in Chennai ISACA Chapter in my first attempt ( Yeah, it’s a CA’s habit of counting attempts ??)  

The PREP  

Once I decided the course, the next worry was how easy it would be to manage preparing without hindering my work and family. Was even scary when you add a toddler to the equation.   

But I was clear on one thing. Every woman does faces such challenging situations at several stages in their lives. And nothing should stop because of these. It is all about, how you take up everything with a ‘can-do’ attitude. I was sure that I will not give up at any point. I believe  it is all the mindset that matters, than anything else. Thinking this, and with loads of self-motivation, started my preparation.

Once I got the materials, I created my plan for preparation, which was practically feasible to complete considering the time I would be left with post office work and the normal chores. To start with, the Subject felt dry- to say the least, and I even dozed off occasionally.  

My husband suggested that I take up classes considering it was not my area of expertise, and the efforts I put it should be fruitful. That was the best thing I could have done to myself and I signed up for a virtual classroom session. Helping to balance my work, I chose the weekend batch. I had a clear mindset – No entertainment/enjoyments till I clear exams. I never went on vacation, cut down on movies and weekend outing.  

Classes were Evening 6 to 11 PM. I made a point to be interactive in classes and get the utmost benefits out of the classes. Some brief moments of grief when my kid keeps banging the door wanting to sit with me, would slightly get me emotional. But then I knew why I was doing all this, and there was a purpose, and it was just for a few days.

Days went off, Office for Monday to Friday and virtual classes on weekends for one and half months. Classes got over with a thank you note for the tutor.

Now that I was ready with all the notes, clear on the concepts, it really required continuous practice. There were around 1200 to 1300 questions. I practiced them at-least 4-5 times. I would take up 100-150 questions per day. This is how I did it – Revision of a chapter, then attempting the questions for that chapter , then making a self-assessment on your attempt, revisiting the ones which were wrong. Make a pen and paper assessment. This really helped me in making a self-assessment on where I exactly stand on my preparation and when to take up the exam. Post the classes were over, I took about 40 days before I appeared for my exam. Did get help from my trainer as well throughout my preparation as I used to reach out to him with the explanation for answers which did not sound very convincing to me.

Booked my exam and came to know that this was the first batch in the new edition of CISA. (But it wasn’t a panic moment though, as there were no major changes compared to the old edition, except for the change in the weightage for each chapter).

The D-Day

A flashback of CA days where you will be super-tensed on the examination. I had the same feeling after 8 years. But, I had confidence in myself that I would give a really good attempt. Exam was at 9 AM. I started from home at 7.30 AM. Throughout my travel to the center, suddenly I don’t know from where all the pessimism in the world crept into my mind! Too many thoughts were running through - what if I fail in exam, how can I fail despite so much efforts, what is the financial loss – CISA classes cost, CISA exam registration etc. And once I reached the exam center, pretty early, just calmed myself for a few minutes and went in for the party. The very first thing – All the questions were very  descriptive, none of them were straight forward. I used to think during my preparation – why at all would I require 4 hours of time. I realized that I need to read the question at least 4/5 times to understand and digest the question and then answer.

In the midst of exam, when I had no clue for a few questions continuously, I really lost my confidence and decided that I would really fail in the examination. But, still I had a little hope and belief in God. I slowly read the questions, tried to understand the concept behind every question and then answered. I completed the paper within 2 hours. The next two hours was more crucial, when I revised/checked my answers, I found that there were some key words in the question that I have missed. Elimination method helped me a lot – Eliminate the options that are irrelevant and then finalize on the correct answer. Mostly importantly, remember that you are writing an exam to qualify as an IS auditor. So, imagine yourself as an IS auditor in each question and decide on what you would do, if you were in that situation.

At last, pressed the exit exam and surprise, saw the magic word – “PASS” . I came out crying and called my husband. Hearing me cry, he was ready with his speech to console me. I had the same feeling which I had when I got my CA results!  Goose-bumps !!

There is no shortcut to success! Believe in yourself! Be self-motivated! And you will be there !