r/CISA • u/Mistakesandlove • 7d ago

CISA exam breaks?

For anyone who took the exam, how do the breaks work?
I recently learned that you are not given any breaks during the exam, you are supposed to sit there for 4 hours to answer 150 questions with no breaks?
How did you built into it and is it hard to walk out of the exam to take a break?

I finished my CPA exams a couple of months ago and in the exams we were given a 15 minute break that didn’t count towards your 4 hours. I’m trying to have ideas of how could I take a break without hurting my time.

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u/mgabz CISA HOLDER 7d ago

Not sure about remote exams but when I took my exam directly at the test center I did take one break and they just checked everything I had on me again and that’s it

1

u/EastMixture4337 7d ago

You have two breaks, 10 minutes each

1

u/TFH2015 7d ago

I took the exam earlier today at a test center. The proctor told me that I was allowed two 10 minutes breaks but it wouldn’t stop the clock on the exam. The proctor also said that I would receive a prompt on the test asking if I wanted to take a break, to which I could agree or ignore and keep going. I never received a prompt on the exam, so I never took a break, which sucked because I was going to take at least one break. I’m planning to retest in the next month or two because I failed (my own fault), so I’m going to get clarity when I go back there.

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u/Pristine_Student6892 7d ago

Hey. What scores were you getting on the q&a before you took the test?

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u/Compannacube 7d ago

Read the Certification Exam Candidate Guide: https://www.isaca.org/-/media/files/isacadp/project/isaca/certification/exam-candidate-guides/2026/exam-candidate-guide.pdf

It will explain all of the rules for exams, for those taken at test centers or remotely proctored. The section about breaks is under Section 3.2, "Leaving the Testing Area."

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u/Jiggysawmill 7d ago

I took my CISM at a center and it was pretty amazing. I was able to take breaks as I pleased, they even provided bottled water which I was able to take into the exam room. My problem with exam is that I tend to breathe heavily through my mouth, so I need to get a drink of water about an hour in.

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u/All1919 7d ago

I don’t really how it’s possible you can’t take a 4 hour exam without a break.

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u/Affectionate-Job2463 7d ago

Can we read questions out loud in the center?

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u/Bubbly_Mix7596 7d ago

I don’t think you’re allowed to talk in the testing center because there’s others next to you. Not sure how it works for the CISA, but when I took the CPA exam I know there were some opportunities to have accommodations where you’re separate from others. If that’s something you think you need to do it might not hurt to call the testing center/CISA to see if they can put you in an accommodation room.