IAPP Exam Tips

Whenever I attend a privacy-related professional development event, inevitably the most common question asked is a request for tips on how to most effectively study for the IAPP privacy exams. Knowing there are so many people looking for the same information, I’m happy to share my perspective and advice.

If you’re like me, you might prefer to get a full picture of what to expect before, during, and after your exam to help you prepare. When I was studying, I was surprised at the dearth of tips and helpful information found online about the CIPP/CIPM/CIPT exams. I hope I can fill some of those gaps and help you build confidence to pass your exam.

Below are answers to common questions I’ve been asked about the exam study and testing experience, as well as lessons learned. (If you’re only interested in quick tips on the exam itself, skip down to the Lessons Learned section at the end of this post.)

I took the CIPP/US in October 2019 at an in-person testing center and the CIPM in May 2020 remotely in my home during the pandemic. I detail both experiences below to help you prepare for whichever testing method you’ll use.

Study Materials

From the start, be honest about your learning style. If you are someone who learns well by being taught directly, and you’d like to have the materials laid out for you, consider taking an IAPP training class. The trainers are experienced professionals, you’ll get a chance to engage with the material, and the training will distill a lot of information in a short amount of time. The flipside, of course, is cost.

I learn by reading, so the cost/benefit analysis weighed in favor of self-study via the textbook and online materials. I used:

1. IAPP Textbook:
   1. CIPP/US (3^rd ed.)(2020)
   2. CIPM
2. IAPP Exam Preparation resources
3. Supplementary flashcards from Quizlet.com
4. Google search for state privacy laws and summaries of federal privacy laws, such as which have safe harbor and private right of action 

Study Process

The IAPP recommends you study for a minimum of 30 hours. I believe the purpose of that recommendation is to signal the difficulty of the exam and the seriousness required for preparation.

I decided to focus less on the amount of time it took me to go through my process and, instead, focused on repeatedly reviewing the material in different ways. Since I generally need to read and write something in order to retain it, I likely studied longer than 30 hours.

I read through the textbook once and highlighted key facts. The book is arranged such that important details can be found mid-paragraph (rather than called out in bold font or bullets), so careful reading is critical.

Then, I went through the textbook a second time and transcribed the highlighted facts into a notebook. That notebook then became my main study material, as it contained all the facts I sought to learn for the exam, organized as a detailed outline. I reviewed the notebook a few times and marked topics which I felt needed extra attention or clarification. I made flashcards for those topics (for example, I had a flash card for each U.S. privacy law).

I next reviewed the flashcards found on Quizlet. Keep in mind, any resource you find online is likely outdated, so use those materials as a supplement to the updated IAPP materials. As you know, privacy is a fast-moving area!

I used a basic internet search to find additional details about which privacy laws have a private right of action or safe harbor and state law summaries that were not easily found within the IAPP textbook. 

A few days before my exam date, I purchased the practice exam from IAPP. It is 25 short multiple choice questions that are representative of the subject areas covered by the exam. Based on my internet searches, it would appear these are the only practice questions available online.

Exam Experience – Testing Center (CIPP/US)

Scheduling an exam time and location was simple, though keep in mind you can’t book an in-person exam less than 48 hours in advance. The online reservation system autofills the New Hampshire address and phone number of the IAPP, which confused my testing site when I arrived to take the exam. In fact, because the address on my exam reservation didn’t match my license, I was sent away without being able to take my exam. I called to confirm with IAPP that the autofill was standard practice, but I had to wait an additional 48 hours before I could try again at a more knowledgeable testing site. If you didn’t know, now you know.

When I checked in at the testing site, I was asked to provide my ID and to sign an acknowledgement of the testing rules. I was instructed to lock all my belongings in a locker before entering the testing room. I sat in a small room with three other people in the midst of their respective tests. Luckily, there were relatively tall cubicle walls and noise-canceling headphones to block any distracting habits of the other testers.

Exam Experience – Remote Testing (CIPM)

I was able to schedule my remote exam for any available timeslot, regardless of advance notice. Before the exam, I was asked to provide real-time photos of my test-taking location from multiple angles. Obviously, you can’t have study materials or other written materials in your workspace. You can have water, but it must be in an unlabeled container. The exam program locked out my computer except for the camera and microphone.

It is made clear that if anyone enters your testing area at any time, the exam immediately will be forfeited. Secure your room!

I was wholly unaware of the proctor monitoring my actions until, about halfway through my exam, I received a pop-up chat asking me to stop blocking my mouth with my hand. The interruption was unobtrusive (and an unfortunate reminder that, despite the pandemic, I still touch my face too much).

The exam program was exactly the same as the program at the in-person testing center.

Exam Format

In each exam, there are 90 multiple-choice questions with a 2.5 hour time limit. I had ample time to answer every question in one round and methodically review each question in a second round. I never felt rushed. After submitting the exam, my score was revealed on the screen immediately.

Lessons Learned

Difficulty: The questions on the actual exam are significantly longer and more difficult than the practice exam. I was expecting this because one of the few exam tips I found online warned the exam was hard, but “not as difficult as the bar exam.” Since the only thing I’ve found harder than the bar exam has been childbirth, I didn’t find that metric to be the most helpful! Despite expecting a difficult CIPP/US exam, I was still taken aback at its initial complexity and it took me about a dozen questions before I fell into a groove. 

I was relieved that the format and difficulty were comparable for the CIPM. No surprises!

Testing Program Tools: The testing program has a toolbar in the top header that allows you to flag or skip a question. At the end of the exam, the final page has a table labeled 1-90 and indicates which were skipped or flagged. From that page, you can navigate back to those questions. In the interest of timekeeping, I recommend you flag any questions that you can’t immediately answer. By the end of the exam, you might have encountered a hint that will help you answer those questions you couldn’t answer the first time around.

Hints Within Exam: Say you’re stumped by a question that asks about which law applies to a situation in which a company sends out autodialed robotexts without express consent. Skip/flag that question and move on. Later in the exam, you might be asked a reverse question, in which a scenario is described where the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) applies to abandonment in robocalls. That question might jog your memory that the TCPA is the correct answer to your earlier skipped question.

Even if the hint isn’t as obvious as my example, a later question might help you eliminate one of the multiple choice options in the question that stumped you, thus allowing you to narrow down to a better guess. If you think a question might be helpful, flag it on the toolbar so you can more easily find it later during your review of the questions you skipped.

I hope these tips are helpful! If you have any other helpful tips, please share them. Most importantly, good luck!