Validates knowledge of internal audit fundamentals, ethics, engagement planning and performance, and managing the internal audit function.
The CIA is three separate multiple-choice exams. Part 1 covers internal audit foundations, ethics, governance and fraud risk; Part 2 covers planning and performing engagements; Part 3 covers managing the internal audit function. Questions are mostly situational, so study the Global Internal Audit Standards until you can apply them, not just recall them.
The rows are the three exam parts, each with its own syllabus and weights.
Example scenario: The chief audit executive reports to the CFO, who also approves the audit budget. Which independence concerns should the board consider?
Example scenario: A new engagement covers vendor onboarding after a payment fraud elsewhere in the industry. Which risks and controls would you put in scope first?
Example scenario: Management accepts a finding but its action plan date has passed twice. What should the chief audit executive do next?
CIA exam syllabus · 2025 syllabus
Multiple choice. Choose the one correct answer from four options.
Which situation most clearly impairs the independence of the internal audit function?
The audit plan must be approved by the CFO before it goes to the board. Management approval of the plan lets the people being audited shape its scope, so the plan should go to the board for approval.
Apply in The IIA's CCMS portal with proof of education and photo ID. Once approved, buy each part and book it with Pearson VUE within 180 days.
Take one part at a time. Start with Part 1, because Parts 2 and 3 build on its concepts.
Most candidates spend 60–130 hours. Hours are per part, so all three parts take about three times as much. Plan for the low end if you already work in internal audit; plan for the high end if audit is new to you, and for Part 3.
Choose one review course for all three parts and use the official syllabus as your checklist.
Best IIA partner courseBecker CIA Exam Review
Best question bankGleim CIA Review
Best budget courseSurgent CIA ReviewLearn the Standards' vocabulary. Many questions turn on the difference between objectivity, independence and conflicts of interest, or on words like most, least, primary and next.
Use your course's question bank throughout, then finish each part with The IIA's own practice questions.
See all 5 CIA practice tests →The CIA is taken at Pearson VUE test centres only. Check these points before you go.
Passers describe the real questions as mostly situational, so memorizing review material is not enough. Several found Gleim's questions harder or more direct than the exam and said The IIA's practice questions were closer to its style.
Candidates report passing with Gleim, Becker and HOCK, and suggest using the free trials to pick one, then adding The IIA's practice questions.
An auditor with more than ten years of experience passed all three parts on the 2025 syllabus with 5 to 10 days of preparation per part, using flashcards and the course summaries. He found Part 1's length tiring and the Part 3 mock much easier than the real exam.
A CPA who sat the Challenge Exam in June 2026 found it far more situational than Becker or IIA practice questions, followed the audit process from mandate to conclusions, and left almost no time to review flagged questions.
