1. 3-Month
CISM Prep Guide
Prepared By: Wale Micaiah

2. This is a personal pro-bono contribution
towards a successful preparation for the
CISM examination. It is strictly my tips,
and tricks on how to prepare and
hopefully pass exam.
It is therefore provided and advised to be
used for informational purpose only as I
believe there is no substitute to spending
time studying for exam success.
Disclaimer!

3. Ask yourself:
Why CISM and not others Exams?
For Knowledge, Prestige or Money?
Do I know the Passing Score?
Do I have a Goal am aiming for?
What are my going to give up temporarily
to gain CISM?
For the Married/Hooked: Have I discussed
with my Spouse and secured his/her
support?

4. I did Self-Study, I prefer it! Still!
However, Study Centres are good
alternatives also.
Spent sleepless nights because I work
all day & could hardly read at work.
I crawled the net for every useful
information available and helpful.
Stayed clear of Pessimists and
Discouragers.
I had a Goal to PASS Convincingly!

5. This is a 3-month plan to pass the CISM exam.
Month Feb March April May Total
Day 2 31 30 31 92
Week 4 4 5 13
wk-1
wk-2 Getting This is your Study SPACE! – Exam:
wk-3 Set we’ll discuss weekly on each June 8,
2013
wk-4 Domain!
wk-5

6. CISM Study Aids
CISM® Review Manual 2013
CISM® Review Questions, Answers & Explanations Manual 2012
CISM® Review Questions, Answers & Explanations Manual 2012
Supplement
CISM® Review Questions, Answers & Explanations Manual 2013
Supplement
CISM® Practice Question Database v13
To order, visit www.isaca.org/cismbooks.
Additional Materials:
NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology
800 series publications

7. CISM has 4 Domains:
Information Security Governance (24%)
Information Risk Management and Compliance (33%)
Information Security Program Development and
Management (25%)
Information Security Incident Management (18%)
This means
Domain 2
requires more
attention!

8. Each CISM Domain is divided into:
Task statements and
Knowledge Statements
Task Statements: Knowledge Statements:
These are tasks These are areas a CISM
within this job candidate must have good
practice area that a understanding of, they are
CISM candidate the basis for the
must know how to examination.
perform

9. Task and Knowledge Statements
24% 33% 25% 18%
Domain - 1 Domain - 2 Domain - 3 Domain - 4
Task Statements 9 9 9 10
Knowledge Statements 15 19 12 14
Exam Questions 48 66 50 36
In the CISM Review Manual, a Task Statement to
Knowledge Statement mapping has been done for ease
of reference. Please refer to it.
Remember:
The Knowledge Statements are the basis for the exam!

10. Task and Knowledge Statements
24% 33% 25% 18%
Domain - 1 Domain - 2 Domain - 3 Domain - 4
Task Statements 9 9 9 10
Knowledge Statements 15 19 12 14
March April May
Week-1 1 – 5KS 21 – 25KS 41 – 45KS
Week-2 6 – 9KS 26 – 29KS 46 – 51KS
Week-3 10 – 14KS 30 – 34KS 52 – 57KS
Week-4 15 – 20KS 35 – 40KS 58 – 60KS
Week-5 Past Questions – CISM Questions
Total Weeks = 13 Total Days (Mar, Apr, May) = 92
Total Knowledge Statements = 60
In one Week, about 5 KS are
expected to be covered

11. Study Recommendations: (1)
- You may start with the Domain you are most familiar
with, but I prefer to start from Domain 1 as they build
on one another.
- Read the Task Statements (TS) and Knowledge
Statements (KS) before reading the rest of the
Chapter. You may also wish to print it out from the
CISM-Exam-Candidate-Guide-English-2013
document.
- The TS, KS is your CISM Syllabus! TS and KS are the
measurement of your understanding of each Domain.
Be sure you understand what you are required to
know in each KS.

12. Study Recommendations: (2)
- Next, read the Questions corresponding with each
Domain with special attention to understanding the
Questions and logic behind it. For now, do not bother
about getting the answers correctly.
- Take note of words like MOST, LEAST, BEST, FIRST,
PRIMARILY, MAIN, MUST, HIGHEST, GREATEST,
PRIMARY, LOWEST, PRIORITY, MAJOR, EXCLUSIVELY,
and NEXT. They are very, very, very vital!
- Refer to other materials of choice, if you need to seek
more clarification
- You should be able to connect the Review Manual
with the TS and KS before proceeding to the next
section/chapter.

13. Study Recommendations: (3)
- Try to lay your hands on CISM-Item-Development-
Guide. It will help you know how Professionals think
before setting CISM exam questions.
- Stick to what works for you. You know when you
understand better – Morning, Afternoon, Night, with
Music, Low Noise, Library, Room, Public places, etc.
- CISM CBT is also helpful – it is video – I don’t know if
the latest one is out but the old also helps.
- You can convert the video to audio so you can also
listen while in traffic, strolling, exercising,
etc….multiple sources of information makes it stick!

14. Do YOU have a goal for this
CISM exam?
What is it?
A goal keeps you Focus on a
Mark!
Let’s see how we can set a
GOAL!

15. CISM pass mark is 450 of 800.
450 is 56.25% of 800
CISM has 4 Domains; in order to pass you need
to score at least 56.25% in each Domain.
If you desire to really PASS (like me), your goal
must be well above the PASS MARK.
Let’s assume Mr. Mist wants to Pass with a
score of 550 of 800
550 is 68.75% of 800. Hence, Mr. Mist must
target in his Practice of CISM questions to
achieve about 70% at every trial!

16. Mr. Mist Targets is 70%.
CISM Domain Score Target (70%)
Domain-1 48 34
Domain-2 66 46
Domain-3 50 35
Domain-4 36 25
200 140
Whenever Mr. Mist attempts 10 CISM questions,
his target is to answer correctly 7 of 10!
Congratulations!

17. We have more to say, this is
just an APPETIZER
Join the conversation weekly!
I wish you a very successful
preparation and
Examination!

18. Wale Micaiah
m: 08078001800
Author of
Plan to w. www.statisense.info
Excel in e: walegate@yahoo.com
UTME2013
b: walemicaiah.blog.com
StatiSense ® - Wale Micaiah ©