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Giving my feedback here in case someone is researching this certificate from IIBA.
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Happy to say I passed the IIBA-CCA exam. I used the exam simulator from Adaptive US. It did help in my preparation for the real exam. I would say maybe 75-80% of the concepts tested on the exam were included in the 4 exam simulations available from Adaptive US. For some questions, I had to rely on my PM background. And to my knowledge and quick search after the exam, I could not find references in the CCA guide book for those questions. So maybe a way for IIBA to find out how 'rounded' is your project, organizational, financial management knowledge.
The Adaptive US CCA simulator has basic Q&A with a minimal explanation which is a copy/paste from IIBA's CCA reference book like 99% of the time. There was no other explanation given besides what is in the textbook. In each simulations, there were 1-2 questions that required you to think about the concepts behind the question. Those were refreshing.
I found maybe 4-5 questions in error. For example : Say the answer to a question should be B. They say answer should be C but provide an explanation corresponding to answer B. And I did cross-check with the reference material to make sure I was correct.
I also found quite a few typos in the Q&A and one explanation was 'NULL'. Obviously someone should go through the content and make the necessary corrections. So just be mindful of that if you go for this simulator.
I bought the IIBA's bundle that included the e-course with the exam fees. Being an IIBA member you get to download the CCA guide for free.
Be warn that the e-course is not that great. There are 9 modules, one for each chapter in the book. Each module is subdivided to match the subsections in each book chapters. At the start of each module/subdivision, there is a 1 maybe 2 minutes video introduction. But the rest, you have to READ the text yourself. There is minimal animation. Sometimes, there is an electronic voice that says a text... again word for word from the book. That's the extent of the animation. Along the way there are Q&As or mini quizzes. But I found them not that helpful. To have a list of like 15 items and ask you to check which ones are right or wrong?! Not constructive or conductive to learning... for me anyway!
The only moments when you feel like the course is really an e-course... it's at the start of the first module and the end of the last module. It's like the usual webinar, slides and a presenter. However, the slides contained the exact same text as the book and the presenter was retelling word for word the text. So nothing extraordinary there.
So if you want to take that exam, I suggest becoming a member of IIBA and reading the book first before buying the exam. And see if this is something you want to pursue. Because I would have gone for another provider that offered a course with exam simulations.
If you buy IIBA's bundle expecting something like PM PrepCast or Watermark, you'll be disappointed like me.
Besides that, it was quite a journey to dig deeper into NIST cybersecurity framework, risk framework, 800-30, 800-37... and to understand a bit more about the infrastructure... what is done, implemented behind the screen to make the systems, applications, networks work together and how to protect those assets from cybersecurity risks.
I learned new knowledge along the way... because I explored the frameworks from NIST, ISO, or even did searches online to understand different concepts that were not explain in detail in the materials provided.
As for the real CCA exam. PSI (psiexams.com) offers the proctor exams for IIBA. The checkin was what we expect for that type of exam. Took maybe 15-20 minutes to download, install their software, then follow the instructions such as scanning the room/desk from different angles, providing a photo of you ID, etc. The proctor did asked me to show them again my desk, under it, above it... my ears, glasses, etc. Even ask to see where I had put my cellphone, far away from me on airplane mode! Compare to Pearson where you can use your phone to checkin, with PSI you really need an external webcam or a laptop which is easier to maneuver. Because I did an IIBA exam last year with PSI and I had to move my iMac to show them under the desk. Not that easy to do. I did ask IIBA's support prior to exam day if an external webcam was required and they said no. I was not really happy on exam day when the proctor asked me to, you know, move my computer around to show them the room, the floor, the ceiling, under the desk... But I digress.
The CCA exam itself is 75 questions to answer in 90 minutes. First pass took I would say 50 minutes, then I did a second pass. And press the End button with about 10 minutes left. There were situational questions, some questions that were not specific to cybersecurity, and others that were very specific to a framework.
After ending the exam, I got a message on the screen saying I succeeded! The proctor congratulated me and instructed me on how to exit their software.
About 10-15 minutes later I got an email from PSI saying I had pass the exam and IIBA would be sending me an email within 48 hours. Not even 10 minutes later, IIBA sent me 2 emails. One with my results, the other for the certificate/badge. And my name was already in their registry.
Voilà! Hope this is helpful to someone out there.
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