The AAISM exam fee is US$459 if you are an ISACA member and US$599 if you are not. On top of that sits a one-time US$50 application processing fee, which does apply to this exam, so the number that actually leaves your account before you sit is US$509 as a member or US$649 as a non-member. Budget for that pair, not the figure on the registration button.
Both parts are nonrefundable and nontransferable. Neither covers ISACA membership dues, which you pay separately to earn the member rate. Neither covers a retake, which costs the full exam fee again. And neither covers the thing that makes AAISM different from most exams you can buy: it sits on top of an active CISM or CISSP, so the running cost of holding it includes the running cost of the credential underneath it. If you are still working out whether this credential is the right one at all, start with what the AAISM certification is and come back to the money.
What the fee actually buys
One registration gets you one scheduled sitting of 90 multiple-choice questions in 150 minutes, delivered in English, Spanish or Japanese, and a six-month window in which to use it. Your result comes back as a scaled score between 200 and 800, with 450 as the pass mark. Domain-level feedback appears on the report, but it is informational only, because the scoring does not work off domain percentages.
That is the whole product. There is no included retake, no included study material, no rollover if the window closes. The six-month eligibility period starts when you pay, which is the single most expensive assumption candidates get wrong, and I will come back to it.
The full cost table
Here is everything ISACA can charge you in connection with AAISM, and whether it hits once or keeps hitting.
| Item | Member | Non-member | One-off or recurring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application processing fee | US$50 | US$50 | One-off, first exam application |
| Exam registration | US$459 | US$599 | Charged again for every attempt |
| Eligibility extension | US$75 | US$75 | Once only, if you need it |
| Rescore, only if you did not pass | US$75 | US$75 | Per request |
| Annual maintenance | US$20 | US$35 | Every year you hold it |
| CISM or CISSP upkeep | varies | varies | Every year you hold AAISM |
The last row is not a number ISACA publishes as part of AAISM pricing, and it is the row most people leave off their spreadsheet. Check your own credential's renewal terms for the real figure.
Does ISACA membership pay for itself?
Run the arithmetic rather than guessing. Membership saves you US$140 on the exam fee and US$15 a year on maintenance. In your first year, that is US$155 of savings from these two items alone.
So the test is simple: add up one year of ISACA dues, international plus your local chapter, and compare it to US$155. If dues come in under that, membership has paid for itself before you even sit, and it keeps paying US$15 a year afterward. If dues come in above it, membership only makes sense for reasons beyond this one exam. Dues vary by chapter and change, so pull the current figure from ISACA rather than trusting any number you read in a blog post, including this one.
The prerequisite you have to keep paying for
AAISM is not a standalone credential. Eligibility requires an active CISM or CISSP, and that word "active" is doing real work: the AAISM maintenance process asks you to submit proof that the underlying credential is still current. Let it lapse and you have a problem with AAISM too.
Practically, that means the annual cost of holding AAISM is US$20 or US$35 to ISACA, plus whatever your base credential charges in maintenance fees, plus the continuing education hours both of them want. Neither figure for the base credential is something I will invent here, because ISACA does not publish CISSP terms and the AAISM pages do not restate CISM ones. Look them up for your own credential and add them to the table above before you decide this exam is cheap.
The continuing education side is its own line item, measured in hours rather than dollars. AAISM asks for 10 CPE hours a year and 30 across each three-year period, and all 30 must align with the AAISM exam content outline. That last word matters: a generic security webinar may count toward your base credential and not toward this one. The reporting period begins on 1 January of the year after you certify, and hours earned during your certification year do not need to be reported. For the eligibility and upkeep rules in full, see the AAISM requirements post.
One useful thing about the maintenance fee
If you hold more than one ISACA Advanced in AI credential, the maintenance fee does not multiply. ISACA's AAISM maintenance page states that the total annual maintenance across all your Advanced certifications is US$20 for members or US$35 for non-members, not per credential. AAIA plus AAISM plus AAIR together still cost US$20 or US$35 a year.
That changes the economics of adding a second one later, which is worth weighing if you have been going back and forth on AAIA versus AAISM. The exam fee is still per exam. The upkeep is not.
One honest caveat on timing. ISACA describes the fee as due annually by 1 January and required to renew you through the upcoming calendar year, while its own CPE Policy PDF says payment and CPE reporting are due by 31 December. Those two statements do not sit comfortably together, and no AAISM page resolves them. Treat it as an annual renewal keyed to the calendar year, and confirm your first-year due date with ISACA directly rather than working it out from published text.
Booking, PSI, and the six-month clock
You pay ISACA, then you schedule with PSI, which delivers the exam. Two delivery modes exist: a PSI test center, or online with live remote proctoring from your own room.
With one exception, and it is a real planning constraint. ISACA states on the AAISM registration tab that residents of India, Mainland China and Hong Kong can sit the exam only at a testing center and cannot use live remote proctoring. Worth flagging that the AAISM candidate guide's delivery section describes both modes with no carve-out, so the two sources disagree by omission. The registration tab is the more specific and more recent statement, so plan around it: if you are in one of those regions, your scheduling problem is test center availability, not bandwidth.
Your six-month eligibility period runs from payment. Inside it you can book, and you can rebook, as long as you cancel a booked sitting at least 48 hours ahead. If the window is about to run out, ISACA sells exactly one six-month extension for US$75, and the option appears in your account 30 days either side of the expiry date. One extension. After that the money is gone.
The money candidates waste most
The US$75 extension, and it is avoidable in almost every case.
The pattern is predictable. Somebody registers early because paying feels like commitment, treats the six-month window as motivation, does nothing for four months, then spends US$75 to rent three more months of the same behavior. Two extensions are not available, so the second time this happens the whole US$459 or US$599 is forfeit and you start again from the registration page.
Pay when you have a study plan with dates on it, not before. Most candidates with a current CISM or CISSP need a fraction of six months, and a realistic AAISM study plan will tell you what your own runway looks like. If you want the material in one place while you work that schedule, the ISACA AAISM Simply Certified Study Guide covers all three domains with practice questions and full explanations.
Exam day itself
Ninety questions, 150 minutes. That is about 100 seconds a question if you spend your time evenly, which nobody does, so the practical advice is to move briskly through the ones you know and bank the surplus for the governance scenarios that need a second read. Leave nothing blank, and use the review flag rather than stalling on a single item.
The scale runs 200 to 800 and 450 passes. Do not try to reverse-engineer that into a number of questions you need right, and be skeptical of anyone who tells you they have. The domain breakdown on your report is there to guide future study, not to explain your result. For what the questions feel like under time pressure, see how hard the AAISM exam is.
If it goes wrong
You get four attempts in any rolling 12-month period, with mandatory waits of 30 days after the first failure, then 90 days, then 90 days again. Each attempt is the full fee. The US$50 application processing fee is one-off, so at least that does not repeat.
There is also a rescore, at US$75, requested in writing within 30 days of your results and carried out by PSI. It is available only if you did not pass. It is not a service you can buy to check a passing score, and it is not a route to a better mark on a pass.
If it goes right
You then have five years from your pass date to submit the AAISM application, and during that window you are barred from re-sitting the same exam. So a pass you never turn into an application is not something you can quietly refresh later by paying again. Apply, or let five years decide for you.
After that it is US$20 or US$35 a year, 10 CPE hours a year, and proof that your CISM or CISSP is still alive. For a three-domain exam bought on top of a credential you already maintain, that is a light annual load. Just make sure you counted it before you registered rather than after.
FAQ
How much does the AAISM exam cost in total?
US$509 if you are an ISACA member and US$649 if you are not, for a first attempt. That is the exam fee of US$459 or US$599 plus the one-time US$50 application processing fee. It excludes membership dues, study material, and any retake.
Is the AAISM exam fee refundable?
No. ISACA states the exam fee is nonrefundable and nontransferable. If your six-month eligibility period is running out, the only relief on offer is a single six-month extension at US$75, and the option only appears in your account within 30 days either side of the expiry date.
Do I pay maintenance separately for AAIA and AAISM?
No. ISACA's AAISM maintenance page states that the annual maintenance fee covers all the ISACA Advanced certifications you hold, at US$20 for members or US$35 for non-members in total. Holding two or three of them does not multiply the fee, although each exam is still paid for separately.
Can I take the AAISM exam online instead of at a test center?
Usually yes, through PSI live remote proctoring. The exception is that residents of India, Mainland China and Hong Kong can sit AAISM only at a testing center and cannot use remote proctoring. If you are in one of those regions, check test center availability early, because that becomes your scheduling constraint.
What does it cost to retake the AAISM exam?
The full exam fee again, US$459 or US$599. You are allowed four attempts per rolling 12 months, with waiting periods of 30 days, then 90, then 90. The US$50 application processing fee is charged once and does not repeat on later attempts.
Studying for AAISM on top of a CISM or CISSP? The ISACA AAISM Simply Certified Study Guide works through all three domains in plain English, with practice questions and an explanation for every answer.
Simply Certified is an independent publisher. AAISM, CISM and ISACA are trademarks of ISACA. Our books are independent study material and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ISACA.