CISR Risk Management

All CISR courses are available in three formats: self-paced online instruction, live in-person classroom instruction, and online instructor-led webinars. Each course consists of seven hours of classroom instruction, and online courses are accessible by computer, tablet, or smartphone. Pick the format that fits your schedule; the exam is the same one-hour proctored final.

The final exam is one hour and is proctored. In the classroom format the exam is described as optional to sit, but passing the exam is required to earn the designation and to receive designation credit for the course. Plan to complete it soon after the instruction while the material is fresh.

You must complete five of the nine CISR courses and pass the examination that follows each one. You have three calendar years following the year in which you pass your first exam to finish. Because Elements of Risk Management can be your first course, map out your remaining four early so the deadline never surprises you.

CISR is an intermediate-level program that assumes some working knowledge of the applicable policies. Elements of Risk Management is process-oriented rather than forms-oriented, so the challenge is vocabulary and sequence: knowing which step of the risk management process a scenario describes. Candidates who handle commercial accounts often find the exposure-identification material the most demanding.

Follow the order the course lists: Introduction to Risk Management, Risk Identification, Risk Analysis, Risk Control, Risk Financing, then Risk Administration. Each step feeds the next, and exam scenarios frequently ask you to place a client action at the correct stage. Skipping ahead to financing before you are solid on identification and analysis is a common source of missed questions.

Two patterns dominate. First, confusing risk control with risk financing: control addresses frequency and severity before a loss, financing addresses how losses are paid after. Second, treating risk administration as paperwork rather than the implementation and monitoring step. Read each scenario for whether the client is avoiding, reducing, retaining, or transferring a loss exposure.

The source material does not publish a retake policy, so confirm the current procedure with the program sponsor before you register. What is documented is the timing rule: your five courses and their exams must be completed within three calendar years following the year you pass your first exam, so a delay affects your whole designation timeline.

State CE credit is approved in all states for CISR courses. To determine the specific credits approved for your state, consult the CE Guide referenced on the program's course pages. Credit amounts vary by state, so verify before you rely on this course to satisfy a state filing deadline.

Yes. A CISR course is listed among the programs that satisfy the annual update requirement, alongside CSRM courses, William T. Hold courses, CIC, CRM, and CPRM courses, and Ruble, MEGA, and Dynamics Series programs. Designees must complete an annual update program to keep the designation current; some options provide up to two years of update credit.

After earning the CISR designation, you can pursue CISR Elite by completing the four remaining CISR courses and passing their exams within a three-year period. If Elements of Risk Management is one of your original five, it does not count again toward Elite; you would take the other four courses you have not yet passed.