Guidance on taking high-stakes exams was recently shared in a white paper from the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), the global body for the testing industry. High-stakes exams measure the test-taker’s knowledge or competence regarding a given subject, and the beneficial results of passing high-stakes exams usually includes awarding the taker with a credential, license, or other similar qualification.
High-stakes certifications are in high demand as they are likely a requirement listed on job descriptions and contracts or necessary to getting a promotion or raise. This white paper, Guidance for Test Takers Taking High Stakes Exams, shares key factors that test-takers should consider while preparing to take a high-stakes exam such as CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC and CDPSE.
The integrity and security of ISACA’s exams is paramount—creating trust in the process and results is crucial for our candidates to demonstrate their accomplishments. ISACA’s Exam Terms have been implemented in multiple places, including prior to registering for an exam, within our Exam Candidate’s Guide, and prior to taking the exam. This is to ensure that everyone who takes the exam understands and acknowledges the rules of doing so, and that they are aware of the consequences of breaking those rules.
When preparing to take any high-stakes exam, it is essential for test-takers to avoid unauthorized training materials and outside offers for someone to take the exam on their behalf. ISACA has chapter training and authorized trainers that use authorized materials for your training purposes. Also, websites that offer access to supposed “live” test questions are either deceptive or violating copyright laws, and this would be considered a breach of the test-taker agreement.
The white paper is meant to highlight other red flags to avoid, like guarantees to pass and individuals who encourage sharing questions from the latest exam.
“ISACA understands the value that our certifications bring to those that are certified and the enterprises they work for. Because of this, ISACA continuously looks for leading-edge security controls to mitigate against the risk of exam fraud,” says Kim Cohen, ISACA’s senior director of credentialing. “This white paper serves to educate the test taker of the tactics taken by deceitful training organizations to attract test-takers to purchase their services.”
ISACA has implemented many security controls to mitigate against the risk associated with exam fraud. The most recent is the deployment of a data forensic analysis process to identify individuals that have (knowingly or unknowingly) studied/memorized breached items from entities who have breached ISACA items. Per ISACA’s Exam Terms, any exam passer identified via data forensics will have their exam scores nullified. ISACA has nullified over 200 exam scores since the implementation of this analysis process. Certifications received based on nullified exam scores will be revoked and the candidate can be banned from future ISACA exams or face legal prosecutions for copyright infringement or fraud.
Breaking any exam rule is strictly forbidden—doing so will likely result in the termination of your exam session by proctors who are trained to identify exam rule violations.
For more information about high-stakes exams, including best and worst practices, please see the full white paper here. To report fraudulent exam activities, please visit ISACA’s Test Security and Fraud Reporting webpage https://www.isaca.org/go/test-security-and-fraud-reporting. For a list of available ISACA credentials and exams, visit https://www.isaca.org/credentialing.