[Anonymous]

I’m looking into getting the CIA and if possible, I’d like to get any information on the process, study materials, etc. on anyone who’s been through it. Thanks, guys.

[Anonymous]

I am working towards a CGAP. Go to the IIA website as that is where all the information is. They have a pdf booklet that explains the entire process.

[robkachelle]

baseballcpa — yes, i finished the CIA exam last year, so i can give you an idea of how it works. i purchased the complete “IIA CIA Learning System” which included books on each of the 4 parts in addition to internet access to the test bank and practice tests. if you are going to take it, i would highly recommend the books and the online software. the review is very thorough and systematically helps you stay on track.

AUD 94 04/2011
FAR 77 07/2011
BEC 80 11/2011
REG 81 01/2012

[Anonymous]

This is an exam I've considered as well. Does anyone know how it compares in difficulty to the CPA exam?

[robkachelle]

the CIA exam content was very similar to the AUD, BEC and REG sections of the CPA exam — a mile wide but only an inch deep. the overall style of the exam and the way questions were worded were both similar. also, once you have passed your CPA, you qualify to be exempt from taking part #4 of the CIA exam. as far as difficulty, there is no question about it — the CPA exam is more challenging for me than the CIA exam was. However, i took a review class for the CIA with about 10 other students and only 3 of us passed, so you absolutely have to apply yourself and be disciplined about studying.

AUD 94 04/2011
FAR 77 07/2011
BEC 80 11/2011
REG 81 01/2012

[Anonymous]

I've heard that if you've taken the CPA exam, the CIA exam is a joke. I serve in an internal audit market offering, so it's a niche certification that could just further the gap between myself and my peers, but I'm not too concerned about it. I mean, I already have the CPA and that's the most prestigious certification you can have; so I guess in the end it's just all about the scrilla!!! Haha so you all would recommend the IIA's study materials? My employer is paying for it, so I'm indifferent to what I use, but I've heard that most people use Gleim. Can anybody attest to Gleim's effectiveness?

[Anonymous]

*Bump* Gleim people! Has anyone used it? lol if not for the CIA, I'll settle for people who used Gleim for the CPA haha

[Minimorty]

@Baseball – you missed a lively discussion a couple weeks ago:

https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/pass-or-fail-whats-your-preference

[Anonymous]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OHHHHHH MY GOD….I'm so mad that I missed that! I started my job 3 weeks ago so I've been pretty busy lately; thus, my forum attendance has almost completely dropped off. I really really really want to know what comment posted by the OP got “edited” was…especially because Jeff followed it up with “enough…we're all friends here” hahaha I can only imagine. Thank you so much for keeping me in the loop! How's kicks? Congrats on the REG pass.

[Minimorty]

lmao. Knew you'd get a kick out of that one. I think the OP said something a little personal directed towards me. I actually forget what it was. Wasn't overly offensive though. I love threads like that. Entertaining as hell.

Congrats on the new gig. Enjoying it so far? I'm not a fan of auditing, hope its going well for you though.

Yeah, REG wasn't too bad. One more to go.

Make sure you stop by once in a while.

[Anonymous]

Oh, wow, that's outrageous…yeah, I would have definitely had fun with that one! I mean, seriously, what a jacka**…because people love throwing money at the CPA exam with the goal of failing. Haha oh well, trolls make this forum fun sometimes.

I am enjoying it, actually, but I should really give it longer than 3 weeks to make an accurate assessment 🙂

Well, you absolutely killed the two hardest exams, so BEC should be a breeze for you.

Yeah, I will try to stop by more often…I forgot how entertaining this site is!

[jeff]

It was completely out of line, trust me.

[senbi575]

I used Gleim for the CPA, CIA & CMA (old 4 part version) exams, test bank only. Cheap and well worth it in my opinion, actually I could have sworn I saw 1 or 2 of the exact same questions on the exam as I did in the Gliem review.

As far as the CIA exam goes, I had 3 years of audit experience prior to taking the exam so I found the majority of the 1st two parts to be a review of what I had been doing in audit. The third part is closer to BEC and probably comparable to the pre-simulation version and covers economics, and other business type sections. The CPA exam was the hardest of the three exams in my opinion, but again it depends on your strengths and work experience.

[NASBA_needs_BANDWIDTH]

I took the CIA (with the CFSA as my part 4– I work in banking) before taking the CPA, and after both experiences I'd for sure say the CPA is harder. No sims, not super specific material– in fact a lot of the topic content lines up well with the CPA (BEC matches CIA Part 3, AUD quasi-matches parts 1 & 2). Plus, when you take the CIA, you walk out with a result in hand– it's not “official”, but becomes official the next day usually.

I used the CIA Learning System, and it was totally worth it. I got several questions from the study materials *verbatim* on my actual exams, and many others that were similar. The IIA writes both the review system and the exam, so it makes sense.

REG- 79
BEC- 87
FAR- 84
AUD- 81

[momo5]

Hello guys,

I just took Part 1 of the CPA exam and JUST missed it! I'm so mad right now. I plan on taking Part 3 next, instead of Part 2, since I've heard that if I take Part 3, Part 2 will be easier. Is that true?

Also, I used Gleim for Part 1? Should I use the CIA Learning System for the other parts? I just got the gleim since it was cheaper, but reading from the comments on here, I guess I should go for the CIA Learning Sytem software? What do you all suggest? Please, any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[LongJourney]

@momo5 If it's any comfort for you, even though I passed the CIA three parts from my first try, I felt that Part 1 exam questions were extremely tricky compared to the other parts. If you missed it by a small margin then you should be able to pass next time with a little more effort. If part 1 is still fresh in your mind then I would recommend that you to take Part 2 first since it will assist you in preparing for Part 1 retake. Part 1 has some overlap with Part 2 (the last two units in Gleim books are exactly the same). Part 2 has some overlap with Part 3 in the area of IT (IT study units are more detailed in Part 3).

I felt that Gleim was enough for me to pass the exams. The test prep tool was great (a good portion of the actual exam questions were exactly the same as the ones in the software). It might be worth a shot to try your luck again with Gleim materials instead of going for another solution.

REG: 80 (02/02/2012)
FAR: 91 (02/06/2012)
AUD: 89 (02/09/2012)
BEC: 79 (02/12/2012)

Ethics: 90 (02/11/2012)

[Author]

Replies