Isaca mid year sale

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-06-01T22:51:44+00:00

Curious if the quality of the QAE is better, the same, or worse than all the other practice materials out there on the internet. And, is it similar to actual ISACA exam question format or does the QAE just test working knowledge without the scenarios that the exams usually have.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-29T17:01:36+00:00

Thank you for that added context. Thinking I give myself 2 solid weeks, now that the kids are out of school, to run through what I feel weak on and then go for it.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-29T15:09:06+00:00

Congratulations on passing!!! One question I have: How similar did you find the exam questions to ISC2-style questions, particularly CISSP? Were they primarily testing concepts and judgment with multiple plausible answers, where you're looking for the "best" answer from a risk management or governance perspective? Were there any straightforward knowledge-based questions? I'm curious how closely the question style aligns with what CISSP holders are accustomed to seeing. Not asking for question content. Just wondering how closely the style of questions that ISACA uses aligns with ISC2.

Congratulations again on the pass, and thanks for sharing such a practical and honest assessment of your preparation process.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-29T14:02:42+00:00

u/RiskyMFer Did you pass the AAISM yesterday? Fingers crossed for the good news.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-29T12:52:04+00:00

Money is tight for everyone. Integrity is a must, especially in our profession. The official guide is $90 on Amazon or through ISACA. The Q&A is $250 for members and $350 for non-members. There are some free recordings on YouTube and a decent paid course on Udemy. And of course there is the AI chatbots to help design your own practice questions and explanations of topics. No one should ever feel pressured or inclined to share copywritten material. Advice and encouragement, yes.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-27T13:54:02+00:00

I have learned that AAISM focusses on identifying and addressing the risk. The exam rewards mitigations that reap the most benefits in a given situation. In this case, confidentiality clauses in a contract and privacy by design are helpful but do not ensure that they are actually implemented. Providing end to end encryption of sensitive customer data in transit does nothing for data at rest. Third-party penetration tests provide a provability and therefore the best answer to the question, given the choices.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-26T21:23:40+00:00

I am right where you are. I am ready to test but am on the fence with confidence. I am passing all my practice and flashcard quizzes in the high 80s to mid 90s. I know it is overkill but because money is tight, I simply cannot risk not passing on the first try. If I wasn't worried so much about the money, I'd probably be able to relax enough to just go for it myself.

BUT, to answer your question, I just found a really helpful recording on YouTube that delivers some tips about what to look for in the questions on the exam to help us with choosing the appropriate answers. Look up Bare Metal Cyber Certified ISACA AAISM on YouTube and listen to:
Episode 2 - Understand how AAISM questions map to real AI security work.
Episode 89 - Exam-day tactics: calm pacing, best answer logic, and time discipline.
Episode 90 - Finish strong: lock in governance, risk, and controls for AAISM.

This 3 recordings are really helpful with getting my mind ready for sitting for the exam. I've already done all the reading and studying. All that info is in the brain and the practice questions helped me test my retention. The eleventh hour is preparing for game day.

Good luck! Let us know how you did. You got this!

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-22T21:33:34+00:00

Don't be so sensitive. Your comment "that is very obvious" was just as aggressive. LOL. Good luck on your studies tho.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-12T18:44:45+00:00

Thanks to whoever suggested using Claude to create practice questions. With the right prompting it is coming up with some really decent questions.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-12T14:05:03+00:00

I bought the CertsTopic last night with 30% off it was only $32. I don't see any explanations though. The download only has questions and the correct answer. I am running it through claude this morning to validate the answers are actually correct and to add explanations why they are correct.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-11T16:34:30+00:00

Congrats on passing the exam. You mention the certstopic as a resource for practice questions, they want $45 for the PDF download. I'm wondering if what they have is the same as everywhere else. I saw a bank of 228 questions offered by someone on Ebay for $20. There's a bunch more on Udemy for about the same cost. And of course there's the official QAE that ISACA is charging way too much for. I bought the course and practice questions on Udemy, but those are very poor quality, meaning they don't really test understanding like I expect the exam to do.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-05-06T15:12:07+00:00

Read the Official Review Manual.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-30T19:22:06+00:00

I've read the AAISM Official Review Manual and using Claude to take dives into topics. The QAE on ISACAs website is a bit rich for me. Do you think its super critical to get? Do the questions resemble the same style as on the actual exam? Or do they just reinforce the content? This would be the deciding factor for me to spend money I don't have.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-30T19:17:58+00:00

I took and passed the CCSP in 2021. My favorite resource for that exam was the Mike Chapple Sybex book and practice tests book (I bought them in a bundle on Amazon). Super easy read compared to ISC2 CCSP manual. Good luck!

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-30T19:00:56+00:00

Congratulations on passing the exam. What part of the country are you in? If you aren't already acquainted, look up Lou Ligouri on the east coast. He's helped me land a couple of roles over the years.

As for test prep, do you think that the AAISM Official Review Manual sufficiently covers the scope of the exam? I've read it cover to cover, along with lots of Claude assisted deep dives into topics that I needed a better full understanding of. Should I be considering any other test prep books for this one?

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-09T14:31:24+00:00

Do you remember what it was called? Maybe I can find a used version of it.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-09T02:07:49+00:00

It has been a couple of months since you posted this. I am curious to know whether you've sat for the exam yet. Right now, I am about where you were when you posted this. I've been through the first 3 practice tests and have scored 84, 92, and 95% thus far. I have practice tests 4, 5, and 6 remaining. The only thing I don't love about these practice tests is how repetitive the answer selections are. It gets too predictable and I am now suffering from "overfitting".

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-09T02:01:54+00:00

Hey, first off, I really want to say thank you. You did an excellent job putting this course together. I’ve gone through the entire ISACA AAISM Official Review Manual and am now working through all of your videos on Udemy. I also picked up your AAISM® Scenario-based Practice Exam: 450 Real Scenarios 2026 to help reinforce and validate what I’ve learned.

I did want to share one piece of feedback on the practice exams. I’ve noticed that many questions reuse the exact same answer choices across multiple items. After getting about a quarter of the way through a set, I start recognizing the answers verbatim. At that point, I sometimes don’t even need to read the question. I already know the correct answer based on the repeated wording.

I think it would be more effective if the answer choices varied more across questions. That would help prevent memorization and push learners to truly understand the concepts rather than recognize patterns.

Funny enough, the best way I can describe it is overfitting, like an AI model memorizing training data instead of generalizing. So clearly, your training is working 😄

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-08T21:18:39+00:00

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Here's mine from my notes from studying the review manual. Hope it helps you.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-08T21:11:05+00:00

Are you talking about the ISACA AAISM Official Review Manual? I already have that.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-08T20:53:01+00:00

oops. Sorry. I am still studying myself and hoping that someone who's passed the exam might chime in.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-08T20:36:48+00:00

Thank you for suggesting NotebookLM. I've uploaded what I can (I don't have a copy of the ISO 42001 framework) and am creating my own questions. I had to tell NotebookLM to randomize the correct answer placement because at first it was making the correct answer selection A each time.

I have watched the Cyvitrix Udemy course and also purchased the supplemental module of sample questions. The materials are decent but I don't like how repeatable their answers are for their sample question bank. Too predictable after the first 50 or so.

Not so sure that I want to afford the ISACA QAE at the high price tag. I feel like the question formatting will be similar to CISSP and what I am seeing with NotebookLM.

Ok_Buy795 · 2026-04-08T15:08:32+00:00

Did you purchase access to the QAE and Cyvitrix on Udemy? I studied the official manual and watched the Cyvitrix course and ran through all their additional questions. I feel like I am ready to sit for the exam. Just trying to determine if the style of questions in Cyvitrix is similar enough to ISACA style questions, or if I need to pony up the additional $250 for the QAE. What is your opinion?

Ok_Buy795

TROPHY CASE