Customer Reviews

CISA Exam Cram: Certified Information Systems Auditor

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have been trying to prepare for the upcoming ISACA CISA exam using materials from ISACA, namely the 2005 CISA Review Manual and the ISACA practice questions on CD. I have personnally found the ISACA material a bit challenging to prep from since the CD questions refer to many sources besides the ISACA Review Manual.

This Exam Cram prep book is EXCELLENT. It maps directly to the exam objectives, and teaches the material in a way that I can understand and retain. The book is FILLED with "Exam Alerts" so you do not have to wonder if you've missed important key learning points for test prep.

The CD that comes with the book has some very good practice questions as well. The answers are even explained with audio/visual clips that often show the author's technique for ferreting the answer from the question itself. Nice.

The seminars on the CD were very informative too, and provided additional content beyond the book. Nice. For twice the price, this book would still be a must-have CISA prep resource.

Per the authors' intent, CISA Exam Cram 2 is not meant to be a comprehensive preparation for the Certified Information Systems Auditor exam, but a summary of its important elements. As such, this book does a fair job, and I would recommend the book as a cursory appraisal of one's knowledge to identify areas for further study.

There are some idiosyncrasies in the book, such as:
- "4GL languages are inappropriate for designing any intensive data-calculation procedures" (Page 259);

but the book appears to be reflective of ISACA test policy. The authors and the publishing company were responsive to my questions about content in the book.

CISA Exam Cram 2 also includes a set of practice multiple-choice questions on CD-ROM. Registration of the book online entitles one to a bonus set of questions. As the book is not comprehensive, neither are the practice questions - in that they mirror the material in the book, and in that they require less analytical reasoning than typical of the actual exam. The answers do not explain why a particular choice is right compared to other choices, and why other choices are wrong. Nonetheless, the practice questions are a good value, considering their price and that the actual exam may also ask basic questions.

One should look to other resources for in-depth preparation (one can ask for recommendations in the various Yahoo and Google Groups dedicated to the CISA exam), but CISA Exam Cram 2 deserves to be considered as an introductory part of a rigorous curriculum in preparation for ISACA's Certified Information Systems Auditor exam. It is probably best to use this book before December 2005. ISACA has stated that the 2006 exams will cover new practice areas.

I used this book and the associated test questions as my primary study resource for the June 11, 2005 CISA exam. I thought that the book was extremely well written and the practice test questions were very well aligned with the book; however, after just experiencing the test this past weekend, I am a bit concerned that the material in the book was not well aligned with the test. Sure, the topics were the same, but the real test hit on areas the book didn't cover. I would say that between 20 and 30 percent of the test was very well covered by this book and another 30 to 40 percent was fairly well covered; however, the remaining 30-50 percent was not well covered. It is possible that by using just this book to study that you will be able to pass the test; however, you will need to know quite a bit already and this book will need to fill-in areas you didn't already know about.

Incidentally, if I did pass using just this book, I will come back and report that....in a few months.

*****Returning to Continue Review*****

As I mentioned before, I indicated I would come back and say whether I passed or not (I passed). This book and the practice questions that were bundled with this book were my only study materials. I have been working for a big 4 accounting firm for nearly a year and have in addition to the CISA a CISSP, CWNA, and MCP. I've been working in IT for over 10 years.

As I alluded to in my first review, this book is not completely aligned with the test; however it is well written and the test questions are well aligned with the book.

I'm fairly sure that without my background that this book alone would not have been enough. I would suggest that at least you pickup alternate test questions from some other source or read alternate study materials in addition to this book. Although I did well on the test, significantly better than many others who passed, I did feel underprepared while taking the test.

Good luck on your studies.

I had three sources of study materials for my CISA exam which I took in June 2005. The CISA Review Manual, MicroMash and Exam Cram 2. Of the three the Review Manual was probably the most complete, but the Exam Cram 2 re-organized the materials better and made better connections between the information and real life. MicroMash was just too dense for my tastes. As a recommendation I would have to say for those of you planning to take the December test: get both the CISA material AND the Exam Cram 2 book. Read the section in the CISA book and then read the corresponding chapter in the Exam Cram 2. It really helps. I passed.

I just received my passing CISA score from ISACA's 12/05 test. I had both the official exam guide and this book. 90% of my reading was out of this book and overall I think the book is excellent. It seems to contain almost all of the information in the official book without all the superfluous text.

DISCLAIMER - I am a person with over 10 years of IT experience and over 6 in security specifically. This material is not new to me and therefore the Exam Cram worked well for me. It may not for you.

Lastly I'll say that the CD that accompanies this book left a bit to be desired. It's FAR better than the Boson tests I looked at, but in the cases where you want an explanation for an incorrect (or correct) answer, look elsewhere. In many cases the CD simply plays a movie that basically says "The correct answer is A". Very disappointing. The best questions seemed to be from the ISACA CD IMO. Hence 4 stars instead of 5.

I just received my passing grade for the June 11, 2005 CISA Exam. I used this book, in conjunction with the ISACA study manual, and passed. I am not certain how much different the December exam will be, but this manual will probably cover a good portion of the exam and will be worth the purchase.

My issue is less with the book than the content of the exam, which apparently feels that such arcane trivia as token ring networking is worthy of study and examination. Several sections of this book and the ISACA study manual, once the test is passed, may safely be used as bird cage liner (unless you are still working with a company using 1993 technology).

The book should be and is used in conjunction with Allen Keele's CISA Bootcamp. The seminar/bootcamp while somewhat expensive is excellent. Allen teaches the course personally and discusses with the students additional exam hints (about 235 additional which are not part of the book), testing techniques, and other slides that do not accompany his textbook. The seminar/bootcamp is very fast paced and Allen throws a great deal of material at the student. However, he also provides clear and concise answers to your questions that will only expand your knowledge. The book, slides, seminar and presentation map directly to the CISA/ISACA requirements. I belive his book is much better written than the ISACA manual. However, I also believe his book should be used in conjunction with the ISACA manual so that the examinee has a total perspective. My tact was to thoroughly read and study Allen's book, memorize and know thoroughly the "hints" Allen has given, practice, practice and more practice of exam questions, practice the ISACA questions available on CD-ROM (650), practice any other CISA exam questions I could find from the Internet, and finally read and study the CISA/ISACA Manual thoroughly for anything I might have missed.

I also took the CISA exam this past June and used the ISACA materials as well as the Exam Cram book. I believe the Exam Cram book was pushed out rather quickly and contained several mistakes - such as one of the layers of the OSI model missing from a table - that would have been caught in a review. What I did like about the book was the section on cryptography and the CD. The questions on the CD were easier than the ISACA questions and did not provide a lot of explanation as to why that answer was correct and the others wrong (like the ISACA CD). But, hearing the rationale that the author used in going through several of the questions helped in my studies.
One reviewer commented on the content of the exam. Next year's exam is going to be different then the 2004 exam (June and December). I was told by one of the exam preparers that the CISA exam runs on a 5 year cycle in order to keep up with practices and technology. This year is that last year of that cycle hence the mainframe / token ring questions.

Though I did have a financial internal audit background, I did not have a technical IS background or education. I used the text and found it very succinct and very helpful in assisting in my ability to pass the CISA exam on my first sitting. I would highly recommend the use of the text as it was a definite help in my preparation efforts.

The actual test and this book are poles apart. The book, practice questions and the simulated test makes you feel like you know what you need to know for the test. But the actual test is a lot different (I would not necessarily say "difficult"), but reading this book is almost a complete waste of time.