[lauramaria]

Hi,

I am looking for some advice into the best (cheapest, too) materials to prepare for CIA exam :IIA materials , Gleim or Wiley ?

I recently passed the CPA exam and I only need to pass the first three sections of CIA.I also need to make an idea of the time I need to put in each section and other important information.I kept looking for a CIA blog outthere , but I did not find any, so I here I am …back to my first love – Another71.com.

Any suggestions will be kindly received.

[LongJourney]

I took the CIA exams one month after I was done with the CPA exams. There is a good overlap especially with AUD though the CIA has an overall different perspective (internal instead of external). I really recommend Gleim books & software; a good portion of the MCQs will be the exact same questions you will see in the actual exam.

For the time required it really depends on you (i.e. when did you pass the CPA exams, studying style, exposure to internal audit, etc…) if you need an arbitrary number then use this formula: if four parts of CPA required 400 hours then three CIA parts would require 150 hours.

CIA exams much simpler than CPA though some questions can be tricky. On the plus side, there are no TBS problems, 100% MCQs, calculations are few and mostly shallow, get the results immediately. Study properly from Gleim books and solve as many MCQs as possible (don't worry about publisher adapted questions) and you'll be OK.

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)

[lauramaria]

@LongJourney,

Thank you so much for the input. I found Gleim`s Book & Test Prep Software Download. $69.95 per part. Is that what you recommend ?

Thanks so much, again.

[LongJourney]

@lauramaria

Yeah that's the one and it includes everything you need to pass.

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)

[Anonymous]

@LongJourney you said do not worried about publisher questions. What about CMA and CPA adapted? those calculations take forever. I purchased the IIA CD with 100 mcq per part and it was so simply and easy I could not believe it.

Have you seen the questions I am talking about? If so, how close is the real exam to the 100 IIA mcq?

My exam is coming soon and I am nervous I do not want to fail and wait three long months for re-take. That's insane.

[LongJourney]

@Certified Public Accountant I meant all adapted questions including the CMA & CPA ones. I know that each exam is different -and without disclosing any question from my exams- I didn't use the calculator function at all in part 1, used it a couple of times in part 2, and approximately 10 times in part 3. The CIA exams are fairly shallow when it comes to calculations. I'll never tell you to ignore the calculation questions during your study time, but I certainly wouldn't worry too much about it especially since you passed your CPA exams recently. Whenever I faced a Gleim question that required long calculations, I basically ignored it and told myself that even if it did show up in the actual exam I'll simply try to recall the CPA materials.

I'm sorry that I'm not familiar with the IIA questions but judging from what you said, they do seem close to the actual thing.

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)

[Anonymous]

Thank you LongJourney. I will be doing mcq until 8/27 and reviewing weak areas. I will skip publisher “half page story/multiple steps calculation” and move on. It seems Gleim is the best for CIA but some mcqs are beyond comprehension.

Thanks again !

[Author]

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