The CISM exam must be booked separately to the course through ISACA. The exam is carried out three times a year, in June, September and December. This exam has 200 multiple choice questions with four hours to complete them. The marks are out of 800 with a requirement of 450/800 in order for the candidate to pass.
There is no pre-requisite for the exam itself, however in order to apply for the certification at all, the delegate will need at least five years of industry experience. Although if they do not have this experience, this isn’t a problem, the candidate can take part in the course, pass the exam and then get the experience afterwards, as long as it is within a period of five years.