Study Plan for CMA Professional exams [CMA Foundation, inter and final]

Study Plan for CMA Professional exams:

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Applicable for CMA Foundation, Intermediate, and final students.

Hello, Students Welcome back to the CMA knowledge blog, how are you all, I hope all of you are safe and healthy. I know you all are busy with your exam preparation. So, in today's article, I am going to discuss the study plan for the CMA Professional Exam 2022. While preparing for the exam you need to understand and review the following important factors, that will help you to clear your CMA Exam, confidently.

• Remember Pareto 80/20 Rule, this universal rule applies to your Institute study notes/ textbooks as well.
• Your Initial Study should be to find out the most important 20% of Content in your book which can generate 80% marks.
• It is never possible to examine everything in the book, examiners will focus on the more important.
• Effectively your question paper will just cover a portion of the 20 % most important topics.
• Combine Ebbinghaus and Pareto's theories in your study.
• You can take 1 chapter at a time, in the first round complete, a plain reading of the entire chapter, while highlighting important points. So one chapter assuming 50 pages should take about 5 hours.
• In the next phase, immediately Prepare notes using a technique suitable to you. Your notes should be in such a way that they should be a maximun1/of 10th pages of the book, this exercise can take another 2 hours.
• Effectively a subject might take around 40-50 hours and a group can take about 200 hours.
• You should be ready with your notes at least 2 months before the exam.
• During the last 2 months just focus on your notes, additionally, also practice Revision Test Paper that is issued by the Institute. You can easily make 3-5 revisions in the last 2 months, so the entire study goes into your permanent memory.
• The average time is taken for 1 group with the above tasks, assuming you start 6 months in advance, would hardly be 2 hours per day in the first 4 months (200 hrs study+notes over 120 days) and around 3-4 hours per day in the last 2 months (200 pages notes*5 times/10 pages an hour for 60 days+ a couple of hours for RTP)

The last Revision is on the day before the exam and exam day. By this time you have all the necessary weapons to crack the exam.

You can invest the first 10-15 mins in scanning, the question paper and prioritizing the questions.

You can prepare some answer structure templates, well in advance, this will guide you in answer planning and writing, keep in mind over and underwriting is a trap, the thumb rule is you should write a 1 page for 5 marks questions.

Always remember the fact, Theory questions help you in averaging and numerical scoring, many times numerical questions, ask your analysis or suggestion and this carries more marks than mere calculations.

Build a habit of reading the question properly, first find out the question statement (usually the last para) and then read the facts and figures so that your brain will start planning the answer in the backend.

Attempt your strong areas first, you should always start with your strength area after that go in an attempt for other questions.

Don’t waste much time on Objective questions, if you don’t know the answer keep some space and move ahead.

It is fine to allocate a few more minutes for your best questions, as against the ones in which you are lesser comfortable.

Keep in mind, there are high chances, that you might not complete the paper in a given time, this is very normal, and don’t get stressed.

You should target at least 80% paper in the first 150 minutes.

Keep the last 30 minutes to complete the remaining objectives and a few incomplete parts, this is the time when you have to struggle for every mark, even if you don’t fully know some answer, start with the parts that you know in it, once you start writing there are chances that you automatically start remembering something.

Always remember there is step marking, so if you are stuck with any question at least write whatever you know and is relevant to that question, you will at least get something.

General Tips for CMA Study:

•  Discover your strengths, no one knows you better than yourself.

•  Set your mission and Long term goals

•  Begin with the end in mind, use imagination techniques.

•  Sharpen the Saw, (take an appropriate break at regular intervals)

•  Stay away from negative thoughts and negative people.

•  Control distractions. Stay away from non-value-adding activities like politics, TV, daily sops, unnecessary arguments, debates, etc.

•  Program your mind for success, and repeatedly tell yourself that “you can and will do it.” by doing this you will get motivated all the time.

•  The more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war. Remember a soldier prepares himself throughout his life for that Final Examination day. Associate this with your study plan.

•  Make yourself fully equipped for the exam day.

•  The fact remains that, your exam day revision plays a major role in success. Make your short note for the exam day preparation.

•  At times, let your body rest and mind work.

•  Avoid studying continuously for long hours, take a break of 10 mins after every 50 mins, and never see your mobile/TV at this time, you can do some deep breathing, stretching, or even take a rest with closed eyes.

•  Avoid heavy and spicy food during exam days.

•  The last thing you do before sleeping is recorded by your subconscious, You will be surprised to experience if you think of some complex issue before sleeping, the mind will process it in the subconscious and give you a solution by morning, hence study something for 10-15 mins before sleep.

•  Again and again, remind your mind of the targets and objectives.

If possible Have plan B ready with you. Plan 'B' means if the question paper is set by the institute very hard and you are not able to answer all the questions, you need to attempt only those questions which will give you at least 40-50 marks. By following all the points mentioned in this article you can definitely Crack your CMA Exam. 

Thanks for Reading. If you like the article, please do mention it in the comment box & share it with your friend, so that they can also, get the examination preparation tips.

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