AAIR exam format: questions, score and cost
Here is what ISACA publishes about the AAIR exam.
| Credential | ISACA Advanced in AI Risk (AAIR) |
| Number of questions | 90 |
| Domains | 3 |
| Eligibility | A recognised designation — see prerequisites |
| Exam fee — ISACA member | US$459 |
| Exam fee — non-member | US$599 |
| Application processing fee | US$50 after passing |
| Eligibility period after registering | 6 months to sit |
| Window to apply after passing | 5 years |
| Duration | Not published on ISACA’s AAIR pages |
| Passing score | Not published on ISACA’s AAIR pages |
Domain weighting
| Domain | Weight | Approx. questions |
|---|---|---|
| AI Risk Governance and Framework Integration | 37% | ~33 |
| AI Life Cycle Risk Management | 21% | ~19 |
| AI Risk Program Management | 42% | ~38 |
Counts derive from ISACA’s percentages against the 90-question total.
Four fifths of the exam is governance and programme management. The lifecycle domain — design, training, testing, validation, implementation, decommissioning, data and asset management — is the smallest at 21%, despite being the part that sounds most technical and the part candidates worry about most.
Plan accordingly. You need working literacy in how AI systems are built, but depth belongs in the risk disciplines.
Two deadlines
Six months to sit. Registering starts a six-month eligibility period. Register when you are ready to study.
Five years to apply. Passing is not certification. You must apply, with a US$50 processing fee, within five years.
How ISACA questions read
The house style, consistent across ISACA credentials:
- Scenario-led, from the perspective of the risk professional advising the business.
- BEST, FIRST, MOST qualifiers, usually capitalised and always load-bearing. Several options are defensible; one fits the stated priority.
- Business-outcome framing. Even control questions ask which control addresses which risk, not how to configure it.
Two ISACA reflexes matter especially on a risk exam:
Acceptance is a legitimate treatment. A documented, owned, in-threshold accepted risk is often the best answer. Candidates who always reduce risk lose marks.
Sequence matters. “FIRST” questions usually hinge on a step the scenario skipped. If nothing has been assessed or identified yet, implementing a control is rarely first.
What ISACA does not publish
Neither duration nor passing score appears on ISACA’s AAIR pages. Treat specific figures found elsewhere with suspicion unless they cite ISACA. Scaled scoring means “how many can I miss” is the wrong question regardless.
What the weighting means for revision
Because the two risk-discipline domains total 79%, the efficient approach is to treat AI as the context rather than the subject.
Work through your existing risk method — identification, assessment, treatment, controls, metrics, monitoring, reporting, supply chain, continuity — and at each step ask what changes when the asset is a model. That question has a real answer at every step, and those answers are the exam.
Reserve a smaller, defined block for the lifecycle domain. You need to know what happens during design, training, validation, deployment and decommissioning, and what risk each stage introduces. You do not need to be able to do any of it.
Membership arithmetic
US$459 against US$599 is a US$140 saving, a meaningful share of ISACA membership. Worth pricing before you book, especially if you already pay maintenance on a qualifying designation.
Maintaining it
AAIR carries its own continuing professional education requirement, and your qualifying designation must remain active. That is two credentials and two CPE obligations indefinitely — confirm the current hours and maintenance fee with ISACA before certifying.