Experience Registered Information Security Specialist Examination in Japan 【2024/Autumn】

Target Audience

• Users who are familiar with the overview of the IPA Registered Information Security Specialist Examination in Japan and are interested in taking the exam
• Users interested in the field of information security in Japan and aiming to obtain certification
• Users who want to refer to the experiences of other examinees in Japan
• Users who want to know the atmosphere of the examination venue in Japan in advance

What This Document Explains

• The experience of one examinee who took the IPA Registered Information Security Specialist Examination in Japan
• The atmosphere of the examination venue for the Registered Information Security Specialist Examination in Japan

What This Document Does Not Explain

• Specific content of the IPA Registered Information Security Specialist Examination
• Details of the exam questions for the IPA Registered Information Security Specialist Examination
• Efficient exam methods for the IPA Registered Information Security Specialist Examination

I Took the IPA Registered Information Security Specialist Examination

The Registered Information Security Specialist Examination (情報処理安全確保支援士試験) I took is one of Japan's national qualifications related to information processing. It is designated as the highest level, Level 4, and is a test that proves advanced information security knowledge. (Official IPA exam overview here)

It is the only qualification among Japan's information processing qualifications that has a registration system allowing one to call themselves a professional.

From my experience, I felt that it was generally a difficult exam. However, if you study for the exam in advance and do not make mistakes in solving the afternoon questions, there are questions that can be answered.

Personally, I spent a lot of time preparing for the afternoon session, but since there were many questions in the Morning II session that I was not good at, the Morning II session was the most challenging for me.

• Profile:
  • Age at the time of the exam: 31 years old (born early in the year)
  • Main exam venue: Tokyo Tama area
  • Work experience at the time of the exam: 5th year as a system engineer
  • Qualifications held:
  • Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination: 基本情報技術者試験: FE
  • Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination: 応用情報技術者試験: AP
  • Introductory qualifications from cloud vendors such as AWS/Azure
• Reason for taking the exam:
  • A former boss who helped me at a previous workplace had passed and registered as a Registered Information Security Specialist Examination Engineer, and I thought that if I passed the same exam, I could interact with other Registered Information Security Specialist Examination Engineers like my boss.
  • In short, I wanted to make friends with capable engineers.
• Exam history:
  • First attempt in Fall 2024 (Reiwa 6 Fall), exempt from Morning I
  • Exempt from Morning I due to passing the Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination in Spring 2024 (within 2 years)
• Study history:
  • From August 2024 to October 2024 (about 3 months)
  • Mock exams:
  • Correct answer rate for Morning II mock exams: about 80%
  • Number of Afternoon I~II questions studied: about 20 questions from Spring 2024 to Spring 2021
  • Reference books read:
  • Revised Edition Quick Understanding Information Security Management Engineer Pocket Guide
  • Support Engineer R5 Spring/Autumn
  • Studied IPA's Vulnerability Learning Tool AppGoat
• Exam results on the day:
  • Morning I: Passed due to passing the Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination
  • Morning II: 68 points (self-assessment)
  • Afternoon: Felt like I got about 60%, no blank spaces in the answer sheet

Atmosphere of the Venue and Examinee Demographics

• Atmosphere of the venue: Since it was an exam, it was quiet, and many people were studying or preparing until the exam started.
• Examinee demographics:
  • Unlike the IPA Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination or the pre-CBT Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination, there were few empty seats (no-shows on the day).
  • The age and gender of the examinees varied, from vocational students to university students, and from young system engineers to mid-career and senior engineers.
  • There was an impression that about 10% of the examinees were women.
  • Most of the examinees were native Japanese speakers.

Summary

The IPA Registered Information Security Specialist Examination is a high-level certification exam, and the atmosphere of the exam venue was such that many people were studying hard. The demographics of the examinees included people of all ages and genders.

The results will be announced in December, so I plan to update this document with the results.

Additional Information

• This article was created using GitHub Copilot.
• The cover picture is drawn by me.