CISA Preliminary Pass (My 6-Week Study Plan)
I recently took the CISA exam and received a preliminary pass. I have a few years of relevant experience, work full time, and wanted to minimize total calendar time spent studying (which I was able to limit to 6 weeks)
What I Used
- Hemang Doshi CISA Study Guide (3rd Edition) – Main resource (Kindle with text-to-speech at 2x)
- ISACA QAE
- Udemy – CISA Exam Pack: 900 REALISTIC Practice Tests 2026
- Pete Zerger – CISA Exam Prep (YouTube)
What I Would Do Differently
My initial plan was to watch one domain of the Hemang Doshi CISA Exam Masterclass on Udemy, then complete all ISACA QAE questions for that domain before moving to the next. I only followed this strategy for Domains 1 and 2 before abandoning it. I don't recommend this approach. The videos were difficult to follow at 2x speed due to the accent, weren't comprehensive enough to prepare me for the QAE, and I ended up getting many questions wrong. In hindsight, it was a poor use of my first week of studying.
What Worked
I switched to listening/reading along to the Hemang Doshi CISA – Certified Information Systems Auditor Study Guide 3^(rd) addition on Kindle. After each domain, I completed 20–50 practice ISACA QAE questions and reviewed every explanation.
After finishing the book, I took multiple full-length practice exams from different sources (Udemy, Packt [the book's mock exam], and one ISACA QAE mock). I then watched Pete Zerger's CISA review and finished with additional practice questions and mock exams.
My Biggest Recommendation
Read one good CISA book first, then do lots of practice questions and supplemental studying
The explanations are where most of the learning happens. I learned far more reviewing why answers were right and wrong than I did simply reading.
I also recommend using multiple question banks. The ISACA QAE practice exam uses the same question pool as the practice questions, so if you've already worked through much of the QAE, your mock score may be inflated because you recognize questions.
My Practice Scores
- ISACA QAE Mock: 69%
- Udemy full mocks: 56, 69, 70%
- Packt mock: 73%
Despite Udemy noting 80% pass on mock and many people recommending 80% on ISACA QAE mock before testing, I scheduled my exam because my scores were consistent across fresh question banks rather than based on memorization.
Final Thoughts
Don't obsess over hitting 80% on every mock. Focus on understanding why each answer is correct.
I found the real exam more straightforward than the ISACA QAE tests and Udemy questions were often trickier than necessary & included errors, but they forced me to slow down and read every question and available answer choices, which helped on exam day.