What Makes The US CMA Exam Difficult? - LinkedIn

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What makes the US CMA exam difficult?

Certified Management Accountant or CMA is the high level of certification in managing accounting and financial professionals. Passing the CMA Exam is one of the most critical steps in earning a CMA credential.

So, how hard is the US CMA Exam? With pass rates as low as 45%, there is a high difficulty level in the CMA examination. However, the right CMA review course and proper guidance and preparation will not hamper your ability to pass the US CMA exam on the first try.

What makes CMA exam difficult?

Understanding the difficulty of the CMA exam helps to prioritize your study time, motivates you to stay focused, and appreciates the value of the CMA certification. Therefore, here are the main factors that affect CMA exam difficulty.

1. Exam Structure

As per the guidelines of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA), the CMA exam consists of two parts:

· Part 1: Financial, Planning, Performance, and Analytics

· Part 2: Strategic Financial Planning

Each part contains 100 MCQs and two essay scenarios containing 8-10 written response questions. Thus, the CMA exam process is quite long, and to answer all these, candidates get 4 hours of total testing time: 3 hours for the MCQs and 1 hour for the essays.

2. Exam content

Part 1 of the US CMA exam is about financial accounting, including planning, budgeting, forecasting, cost management, and internal controls. Part 2 includes financial statement analysis, corporate finance, decision analysis, investment decisions, risk management, and professional ethics.

The information in each part of the CMA exam is enormous, and it is one of the reasons for getting a passing score is difficult. Therefore, choosing a CMA review course is one of the best choices to crack the CMA exam.

3. Skills levels tested

There are different levels of skills to be assessed by each part of the US CMA exam. Specifically, the candidate must have these six cognitive skills to pass the CMA exam.

· Knowledge: The ability to remember previously learned topics such as criteria, techniques, and procedures.

· Comprehension: The ability to grasp and interpret the meaning of the material.

· Application: The ability to use learned material in concrete situations.

· Analysis: The ability to break down the material to understand the organizational structure.

· Synthesis: The ability to relate ideas and formulate hypotheses.

· Evaluation: The ability to judge based on consistency and comparison to standards.

Demonstrating your ability in these six cognitive skills during the essay part of the US CMA exam is critical to success.

How to pass CMA exam part 1 and part 2 with ease?

Indeed, the content covered in each part of the CMA exam can make it difficult to pass, but there are ways to pass the CMA exam easily.

For freshers, understanding the MCQs section and what to expect during the essay section of the CMA exam process can be incredibly beneficial. In addition, the more familiar you are with the US CMA exam structure, the more likely you are successful.

You have enough time to pass both parts of the CMA exam as the exam is conducted in three testing windows, i.e., January/February, May/June, and September/October. You can only sit for the CMA exam in those windows, and if you fail any section, you have to wait until the next testing window to sit for that section again.

To conclude, Simandhar Education would like to reassure you that the US CMA exam s not hard if you are under the right guidance. The right CMA review course is the key to cracking the US CMA exam due to its typical content and wide scope.

For more inquiries and guidelines to clear CMA, contact us at [email protected] or call on +91- 7780273388.

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