Passing the CIA Exam - What Does it Take

When you have a goal, you do what you can to achieve it. Some will spend lots of money or time accomplishing their goal. Whatever it takes, you want to have confidence in yourself for what lies ahead. If you are pursuing a dream to become a certified internal auditor, you need to know the basics on what it takes to pass.

- Educational Requirements
The first set of requirements for taking and passing the CIA exam are educational requirements. The candidate must hold at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited university or college if you plan on applying for the CIA exam. It is customary for the candidate to submit a proof of degree, such as an official transcript from their school.

- Reference Requirements
All CIA exam candidates must be referred by a current CIA (or CGAP, CCSA, CFSA). The candidate's work supervisor or college professor will also be allowed to provide a letter of reference. The Institute of Internal Auditors provides the form for the referrer to complete.

- Relevant Work Experience Requirements
The final set of requirements for taking the CIA exam is work experience. At least two years of internal auditing experience is a minimum requirement to become a candidate at the Institute of Internal Auditors. The professional experience will validate the student's ability while providing extra training in preparation for the test. The candidate must also complete a form that verifies the completion of the work experience requirements for him or her.

To pass the CIA exam, the student must correctly complete every one of the four sections on the test. Those four test components cover all of the relevant areas of internal auditing: 1) The internal audit activity's role in governance, risk, and control, 2) conducting the internal audit engagement, 3) business analyst and information technology, and 4) business management skills.

The CIA exam is a multiple-choice test. Passing the CIA exam sounds easy until you realize that each of the multiple choices are skillfully arranged to seem like viable answers. Unfortunately, while most will seem like they could be answers, only one will be. Passing the certified internal auditors exam will require to be very knowledgeable on your material. Finding a software that will prepare you for the test is one of the best ways to see what it is like to actually take the test. The number of questions on the test will change slightly from exam to exam. However, there will be on average five hundred questions. Each one of the four sections has an equal number of questions. A passing grade is 75%.