I *Passed the CGRC Exam. But Many Other People Must Take the Exam?

[moorerl]

Hello Fellow ISC2 Members,

I am celebrating in a subdued sort of way.

This past Saturday, I sat for the CGRC exam. I read something to the effect that a certain volume of people must take the exam before ISC2 will fully validate my test result. I cannot find the text again. Did I see that in a dream, or worse in a nightmare?

[AlecTrevelyan]

Sometimes after a significant change to an exam, ISC2 requires a certain number of people to have their results psychometrically analysed to ensure the exam is performing within expected tolerances - I had this in 2015 when the CISSP changed from 10 to 8 domains.

If this is applicable to your situation, then you should not have received notification of provisionally passing. The notification should have just said you need to wait for further analysis.

Although, I seem to remember a snafu with the online CISSP pilot a couple of years or so ago, where some folks did erroneously receive a provisional pass notification when their results should have been held back for psychometric analysis.

This caused a lot of consternation when some of these provisional passes were later revoked. Hopefully, ISC2 have learned their lesson on that front!

I believe the CAP changed to the CGRC in Feb 2023, so I suspect if there was any holding period then it would be over by now. I believe it was also just a name change at that point so should not have been subject to this extra analysis period.

NB - there's a new version of the CGRC exam due next month, although I don't know enough about the changes to say whether or not that will be subject to psychometric analysis.

Given the above, I think it's probably safe to say congratulations!

[moorerl]

Thank you for the insights. Time will tell 😀 I hope the you are correct.

The fine print text states that I would be notified in "3-5 days." I assume I am on day five today. Looking forward to sharing good news.

[riffjim4069]

First, congratulations!  I've been a member for 20-years...have six active certifications...and have a similar, but not identical, experience about exam validation.  Perhaps the CGRC exam was recently updated (April?) and they're awaiting for more exam taker data in order to validate the new exam questions?  Regardless, the the process shouldn't hurt your final score and, if anything, only help it should some questions be invalidated.  It may just take a little longer than expected.
 
When I took the the ISSAP in January (another exam I was meaning to take...for the past 10-years) when I hit the Submit button the screen flashed something like, "Your exam is being tabulated/verified and you will receive written notification from ISC2 within three weeks"...but when I checked-out I was handed a letter stating I passed, and receive a congratulations email within the hour.  Go figure!   
 
Again, Congrats!!!

[Kaity]

Hello @moorerl 

Congratulations on passing your CGRC exam! I believe you're thinking of this information, written in the Candidate Information Bulletin: 
"ISC2 conducts a thorough statistical and psychometric analysis of the score data to establish the pass/fail
score before releasing scores. We need a minimum number of test takers before this analysis can be
completed.

Depending on the volume of test takers for a given test, there may be times when scores are delayed for
approximately six to eight weeks to complete this critical process."

This situation is very rare, and as you said, we typically send emails with the next steps to take to those who pass the exam within 3-5 business days. I'll send you a private message as well. 

[waliji]

Hello @moorerl 

Congratulations on your CGRC exam passing

I hope the above is sorted out now with exam clearance email.

[moorerl]

Thank you. Several ISC2 team members graciously explained all to me. Just waiting for the final review of my application now. Thank you.

[CyberLead]

@moorerl, first, congratulations on passing the exam.

I'm not sure where you read that, but I believe its related to the follow-up that's done behind the scenes before results are verified, as others have noted.

For what its worth, I've been teaching the CGRC (formerly the CAP) and the other certifications I hold for years and many students have reported back to me that they not only passed the exam, but upon completing the endorsement process, signing the Code of Ethics, and paying the AMF, were officially notified that they had attained the certification, although it does take time.  

I hope this helps.