Essential CISA Exam Guide: Updated for the 26th Edition

By: Phil Martin

Narrated by: Phil Martin

Essential CISA has been made with a single goal in mind - to present the CISA material in a way that is easy to absorb without leaving any content behind. Plenty of examples are included to drive the points home so when it comes time to take the CISA exam, you are ready!

This exam guide covers all five ISACA domains, including:

• The process of auditing information systems
• Governance and management of IT
• Information systems acquisition, development, and implementation
• Information systems operations, maintenance, and service management
• Protection of information assets

Instead of presenting both technical details and auditing information at the same time, Essential CISA breaks the topics down into their own chapters. This means you have a firm grounding in the technical details before diving into how to audit the various areas.

* Note that the chapter labels will not reflect the actual name of the chapters - they are simply labeled "Chapter XX" within the Audible app. When listening to the audiobook however, the chapter and section titles are clearly announced. This is a limitation of the audio publishing platform and is beyond the control of the author. If you wish to view an outline of the content, please visit the Essential CISA Exam Guide page on Amazon.

©2018 Phil Martin (P)2018 Phil Martin

Great Review of the CISA content

Studying for the CISA exam and the audio book has helped to better cement the concepts for me. I am almost done with the CISA book and already I can see the same concepts from the audio book being reiterated in the paperback copy. Would highly recommend this audio book for anyone studying for the CISA exam!

Helped me pass CISA

Because of my daily commute time, this audio book became a daily listen in the month leading up to the exam, and certainly helped me achieve a good score. Thank you Phil Martin.

I believe the best way to pass exams like CISA is to use multiple study resources. This audiobook alone is not enough for such a tough exam, but its a great addition to other resources.

Good material, besides being the currently only

First and foremost, this is not a true Exam Guide, this is not preparing for the test. In fact, the content that Phil narrates over the 22 hours from the audiobook are meant to you, the candidate, understand the concepts of all the topics that are presented elsewhere in other forms.
I saw reviews of other peoples claiming that his voice is not good, that a real voice actor should have spoken over it but, this is a technical audiobook, this content are not supposed to be read by Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellen. In fact, that scenario probably should sound funny because you will be aware that neither actor has the slightest idea about what is CISA and neither its exam.
I listened over the last months several times to Phil Martin's book and I can say that his vocal qualities are good, his voice rythm is appropiate and he truly understands the content, mostly in the technical fields of it.
Don't expect to be saved by listening to this or understand all this content. These are 22 hours of audio. You cannot understand in one listening, or one week. There are a ton of concepts to learn, but having read other material for the same purpose I can say that this one is one of the best (and as far as I know, the only audiobook about it). The good thing is that Phil accent is perfect so it is very clear. I tried to listen to other persons over youtube (i.e.) with other language accents and sometimes were very difficult to follow.
For me, it was very practical. I could listen to it on the phone when I was travelling, and also on the Windows 10 app when using my personal computer. If you want to hear about it with focus you can, and also if you want to listen to it meanwhile doing other stuff (like washing dishes) you will be able to.
My tip: Purchase this book and start to listen to it several months before your scheduled test. 4 months better. This audiobook only will not cover all the knowledge you need to know. Some topics like "data analytics" or "CMM" are not here at all, but the most content of it is.

Great Supplement

This is a great supplement to the ISACA CISA McQ Bank. Breaks down topics much better than the ISACA manual. I recommend buying the physical copy to follow along (it is word for word the same as the audible).

Valuable for Auditory Learners

While no one can say that the CISA is an easily accessible exam in terms of the breadth of content expected to be covered, the author/narrator does an admirable job of staying true to the majority of the review guide. As an auditory learner, I found it easier to listen to the CISA review manual as paraphrased in this volume, than it was to read and annotate it myself. The biggest challenge is when the author opines on the current state of the art in infosec or does not follow the order of the review manual, despite covering the vast majority of the content closely. These opinions I found, may diverge from preferred answers in "priority" type questions offered on the exam, and may distract from the correct answer. When the author covers material in a different order than the review manual, it generally took a while to find the section he was discussing to follow along. Other than those issues, it is the best bet for people who learn by listening and who would like to cover a great deal of material in a short period of time.