Customer Reviews

Wiley CIA Exam Review (4-Volume Set) (v. 1-4)

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

 

 

This is an excellent series for assisting in obtaining my CIA. The number of self exam questions really helps in preparing and understanding the concepts. This is a better product then the GLEIM books

I purchased the series to assist in preparation for the upcoming CIA examinations and must admit the books are very confusing. Ideas are presented in a very disjointed manner and I am unable to determine the main trend or ideas shared after having read a couple of pages.

There is also information overload as the ideas do not flow naturally from one to the other, and it takes along time to complete one chapter.

The content is good but the explainations are not very clear as to how they all fit together.

Overall I think these books are well worth it and I would recommend them to others. The CIA exam is not overly difficult, but it does require studying. My workplace had the Gleim materials for free, but after looking at them, I didn't like them--I found the Wiley books easier to work with. I found that a lot of the questions in the Wiley materials were exact questions from the exam. I recommend not reading the actual materials, but just ripping out the pages with questions, highlighting the answers, and then reviewing those on a daily basis. I studied for about an hour or so every night, and I was able to pass parts 1 and 2 using about 2 weeks each, part 4 using about 1 week, and part 3 using about 4 to 5 weeks.

This book is well conceived and really help in preparing the exam. It gives an answer to key issues.

In short, I passed the CIA in 4 months. This book really could use some improvements especially breaking up the material to make it easier to read. I think in many parts the author went on for many more pages than was necessary. If you look at the back of the book you'll understand that perhaps he was just trying to show off his knowledge of things unrelated to the CIA exam (i.e. manufacturing processes).

This set is very comprehensive with good details on the theories of each section of the exam as well as in-depth practice questions.

This book contains quite outdated information. For example, the CIA exam for each part consists of 100 multiple-choice questions to be completed in 2 hrs and 45 min. But the book states 125 multiple-choice questions in 3 and 1/2 hours.(see Preface) The other problem is that a lot of questions attached to each chapter are not related to the topics the chapter is covered. For example, question 42 to 47 regarding ERM in chapter 3. ERM is actually covered in chapter 5. Things like this really discourage my study motivation and efficiency. DO NOT BUY IT!!!

Briefly, the textbooks are worthless (see previous comments). I did not expect it from Wiley. Preparation software is confusing, many explanations are questionable, the language is terrible. The program does not save the remaining time if you leave a tutorial and the most stupid is that it cannot display the testing results on the monitor, it requires a printer! So, if you practice on your laptop while in a plane, for example, look for a printer to see what you done!

P.S. After IIA issued new standards, the book became out-of-date. I would try Gleim, it updates the books regularly.