7 Golden Rules to crack CMA, USA Exam
7 Golden Rules to crack CMA, USA Exam
First of all, the student needs to realize that CMA, USA is a professional exam and there has to be a level of seriousness and importance to be given to qualify the exam. It is a professional exam with competitive qualification parameters. As per the latest trends, only 45% is the global passing rate. Over time this percentage will fall. In early 2004-2005 the passing percentage was above 75% and to keep the demand for the qualification this percentage of passing has been controlled like any other professional bodies such as ICAI, AICPA etc.
Now let’s look at the key 7 steps you need to follow to ensure your success in CMA Exam.
1.Ensure to use right materials
Education is an investment and not a cost. The fund you invest in education will be recovered over time with the career growth that you earn out of it. I have observed many a time students follow shortcuts like using friend’s CMA USA coaching materials, pirated copies with old syllabus etc. All these things are not helpful for you to qualify the exam. If you look at the percentage of students passing with such shortcuts it will be very less compared to an organized student or someone who has invested in CMA USA coaching in India. There were many a time I have seen students using 4 to 5-year-old materials without realizing that the syllabus has been changed two times in last 4 years.
Next point is you need to ensure that when you chose the resources materials along with it the software containing question bank has to be obtained. Many a time students choose only study materials without support of software. CMA USA Coaching in India recommends the use of Software which helps you to practice questions and to take exams. If you don’t use software the chances of passing the exams is 50% less compared to usage of software. In other words, you can’t miss the usage of Software.
There are well established materials available in the market like Wiley, Hock, Gleim etc . I have observed that Hock material explanations are in detail and simple to understand however from software perspective Wiley is better as it contains advanced questions with decent explanation of concepts. Models from Wiley software questions are often replicated in IMA Exams possibly because of the toughness expected in exam, for this reason Wiley materials are the most preferred choice by many CMA USA online classes.
2. Make a Good plan. (A good plan is 50% Success)
3 months of systematic preparation is good enough to qualify the exam. Along with CMA USA online classes you need to ensure that every day two to three hours being dedicated for exams with a bit of extra time on weekends. I generally recommend students to make a calendar of topics and software to cover. For example, make an extensive chart to understand at a glance the number of questions you need to cover from the text book and software which will help you to identify the volume to cover and you can plan the daily actions accordingly. Even if you miss to study few days don’t get panic your CMA USA coaching will help keep the momentum which is important
3. Step by Step approach while preparing for exam
The following steps is desired while preparing
i) Complete topic wise concept from text book/with the support of CMA USA online classes
ii) Complete the software questions relating to that topic
iii) Once all topics are covered as mentioned for a particular part, then start doing consolidated mock exams (5 to 10 mock exams are preferred)
iv) Most of the CMA USA coaching in India simulates the exams few days before the exams. For instance you may write 4 hours exams from home or institution at the same time zone in which you schedule the exam. It is preferred to do one or two simulated exams prior to one week of actual date of exam
4. Register in advance for Exam
It is always recommended to register for exam well in advance. This helps you in two ways
i) You will get the exam dates of your choice; some students prefer to write the exam at the end of window and registering in advance will help you do so. If you register late then the exam slots in prometric may not be available. Students often travel to different cities because they don’t get the comfortable dates in their city and this could have been avoided with early planning
ii) A fixed date well in advance gives you the CMA USA coaching pressure required for exam and helps you to stay focus in preparation
5. Take care of your identity requirements & Calculators
It is noticed that students often face challenges with changes in ID with respect to first name last name etc. when compared to the exam application form. It is unfortunate that this happens half an hour before the exam and they get in to a complete stressed mind set. Student has to ensure that the names as per exam application via a vis ID is perfectly matching and if required go and visit the prometric few days before the exam and cross verify so that no last moment confusions.
With regard to calculator most of the prometric insist on using the calculators provided by them. If you are taking CMA USA Coaching they will ensure that you use normal calculators while preparing for the exam also so that on the day of exam there are no surprises. Many times students use big calculators for comfort and later on they realize that in prometric they get a normal size calculator and find it difficult to use it
6. Steps to take care at the time of Exam
i) Take care of the fact that you have only 180 minutes for objective type question which mean 1.8 minute for exam question (Total 100 objective type questions). This means that you should not be spending too much time on any questions
ii) You need to ensure that questions from your strength area to be tackled first .i.e. you have a choice to mark the question and move to the next one so if you find a question which is not of your comfort mark and move on. CMA USA coaching in India suggest to answer the questions from your strong areas which will help to increase the confidence and later part of the exam when you try to crack the not so comfort questions, the confidence from the initial stage will help you to crack the later questions
iii) While writing the exam ensure that your explanation should be understandable even to a layman. In the sense, it should be very detail and in a systematic order. If you are writing 4 and it is 2X2 please write so. More often than not the explanations help to get marks even if the final answer is wrong. CMA USA coaching suggest that you try to give an introduction, workings and conclusion model more like a consultant report wherever possible, this carries a very good impression.
7. A healthy mind to crack exam
This is a very important factor, you need to realize that every student who writes exams undergo the pressure and the better you handle the pressure it increases the chances of passing the exam. CMA USA coaching can help you deal with such pressure. A positive and calm mind set helps you to appear for the exam in a better way. The following may keep in mind
i) Ensure that you have enough sleep before the day of exam.
ii) The food you eat (not so heavy), the dress you wear (comfortable not very tight) all these matters in your preparation time and on the day of exam
iii)Try to be less engaged during the preparation time as you need more concentration and better to be in “Tapas Mode” for some time
Last but not least understand that exam results are dependent on many factors and your preparation and approach to exam is one of the many of the factors. So, approach the exam with the mindset that “I will give my best and leave the rest to almighty “. This will greatly help you.
All the best for your exams, looking forward to see you as CMA, USA professionals!
CA Vinod Chandran, Chartered Accountant & Holder of Specialized Executive Program from IIM, Lucknow. Corporate professional, International Trainer of CMA, USA program since 2005, Founder Director of Logic School of Management .Contact: [email protected] www.mylogicvideos.com