Free notes, puzzles and practice for CISA, CIA and AAIA candidates. Start with a quick warm-up: most puzzles take 10 to 15 seconds, and there’s a new one each time you visit.
I come from accounting and finance. I sat the CA exams and failed more than once. It didn’t mean I wasn’t good enough; it was only a matter of time. In 2010 I took CISA without really understanding computing and all that IT jazz, with very little support in resources or people. By the grace of the Almighty, and by finding my own way through, I passed in my first attempt.
But I struggled, because everyone told me what to study and nobody showed me how. Now I pay it forward. Every module here is the structured approach I wish I’d had, for people studying alone, without the right guru or mentor in their life.
Chidambaram Narayanan, CISA Coach
Read my storyThey fail because they studied the wrong way: memorising frameworks and definitions, then hoping to match them to questions on the day.
The exam doesn’t ask you to recall. It asks you to judge, the way a senior, independent auditor would. Every question has one right answer and one close distractor that is technically correct but wrong for the auditor in the room.
It’s the same for CISA, CIA and AAIA. So the approach here is simple: learn the lens first, then the content. Once you can see a question the way the examiner does, the thick manual starts to feel a lot shorter.
The content differs; the skill being tested is the same professional judgement. Pick yours, or find out which suits you in five questions.
ISACA · 150 questions · 4 hours
Certified Information Systems Auditor
For IT audit, technology risk and security assurance. Popular with people from IT and from finance alike.
On the site: Accelerator Pack, flashcards, visual blueprints, Question Hub, two mock exams and the Last Mile Guide.
The IIA · Parts 1–3 or the Challenge Exam
Certified Internal Auditor
For internal audit, risk and compliance careers. Three parts, or one Challenge Exam if you hold a CPA, CA or CISA.
On the site: Accelerator Packs, Questions Hubs and Visual Blueprints for Parts 1, 2 and 3 and the Challenge Exam, moving to the site now.
ISACA · 90 questions · 2.5 hours
Advanced in AI Audit
For qualified auditors who need to audit AI. Every CISA holder qualifies.
On the site: Accelerator Pack, 250 flashcards, 1,000 exam-style questions and two timed simulations.
Every study pack, for every exam, follows the same path: understanding, then memory, then judgement, then a final sharpen.
Learn how the examiner thinks, then each domain through the auditor’s lens, with the distractors that cost easy marks.
Accelerator PacksShort, frequent recall beats long rereading. Flashcards and one-page visual blueprints.
Flashcards and Visual BlueprintsJudgement only grows by making calls and checking them. Practice sets and timed mock exams.
Question Hubs and Mock ExamsIn the last weeks, high-yield only, consolidated in one place.
Last-mile revisionStudying CISA? All six tools come together in the CISA Success Bundle.
Start with the free CISA Knowledge Vault, no sign-in needed. Sign up free to open the CISA Cheat-sheet Vault, a treasure trove of cheat-sheets for the exam.
“An audit exam is not about what you know. It is about how you think when you know the material.”
Notes on how the examiners think, and how to study without burning out. The first posts are on their way.
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