CMA Exam Tips

Prepared by
HOCK international

Multiple-Choice Question Tips

The CMA exams are not all theoretical, nor are they all calculations. Both of the exams will require
you to know formulas and to do various calculations. In each exam, though, some questions will be
theoretical and will require less time to answer. It is generally best to go through the multiple-choice
questions once, doing the questions that you can answer quickly and skipping the ones that will take
longer. When you finish that, then you will have a chance to view the numbers of the questions that
you have skipped. You can then count them and calculate how much time you have left to spend on
each one of them, and you can pace yourself. Then start answering them one by one. If you come to
one that still looks too hard or is taking longer than your allotted time for it, skip it again. Prioritize
according to how quickly you think you can complete each question. That is the way to get the most
questions answered in the time allotted. If you have questions left to do and only a minute or so left,
then go through the remaining unanswered questions and guess. The probability is that you will get 1
out of 4 right. Never leave a question unanswered.

If you have worked on a question but have not been able to come up with one of the answer choices
given, leave it and go on after the second try. But before you leave it, draw a circle around your work
on your worksheet and label it with the number of the question, so that when you come back to it
you will be able to easily find what you have already done on it. About half the time, when you come
back to it, you will see immediately what you have been doing wrong and will be able to answer it
right away.

Essay Question Tips

We know that preparing for the essay problems may seem intimidating, so we have prepared some
tips that we hope will help you feel more comfortable with the essay portion of the exams.

First, preparing for a specific essay problem topic is very risky. The essay portion of the exam is a bit
of a lottery, because there are a lot of topics that may be covered, but you will only be asked about a
few of them. There will be some topics on the exam that you know better than other topics. If you
are “lucky” and the exam asks you about the topics you know, then that is good. However, it is
possible that you will be asked about topics that you are not as strong in. In this case, you will have
more difficulty answering the questions, but do not panic. Answer what you can to the best of your
ability, and move on to the next question. Come back to it later if you have time.

Secondly, remember that you do not need to get 100% correct on the problems; you will receive
partial credit for what you do correctly and are not penalized for what you do incorrectly. Do not
worry if your calculations do not “balance” perfectly. If you are working on a problem that has
multiple steps to it and you make a mistake on the first step, you will not automatically lose all credit
for the remaining steps. When evaluating your answer, the grader will say, "Let us assume that the
answer from step one is actually correct. If that is the correct answer, did the candidate perform step
2 correctly?" If you have extra time after you have completed all of the steps, then you can go back
and try to make an answer “perfect.”

Next, you want to be certain that you answer every part of each question. Any part of the question
that you leave blank will be a 0. If you write something, you at least have the chance to receive
partial credit. It is much better to receive 25% partial credit than no credit at all, and that could make
the difference between passing or failing.

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 CMA Exam Tips
Prepared by
HOCK international

Finally, be prepared for a qualitative question as part of an essay question. For example, it is an easy
multiple-choice question to ask, "What is the maximum price we will pay to an outside supplier?"
There is a formula and a correct answer. However, in a problem, it would be possible that the first
step is to ask you to calculate something, and then the second step asks a conceptual question, for
example, "Why is this important?" Continuing the example about the maximum price we would pay,
the second part of the question could be, "What other factors would need to be considered in addition
to the price?"

General Exam Tip

The last tip is about the tutorial at the beginning of the exam. Use it! Take the tutorial. First, you will
need to know how to answer the exam questions and how to access any additional information that
may be needed to answer a question, such as the Present Value and Future Value factor tables. But
beyond that, you probably won't need as much time for the tutorial as you will be allowed to take. So
scroll through it quickly, but don’t close it out before your time allowed with it is up. Instead, spend
the extra time allowed for the tutorial that you don’t need for it doing a "brain dump." Make notes on
your scratch paper of any formulas you expect to need or anything else you want to have at hand to
refer to during the exam. That way, you won't have to worry about remembering the formulas at the
proper time. You can just go to your notes and find them. Write those down while the tutorial is
running, and then when you need them for the exam, you will have them and you won't have to try
to remember them.

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