A Comprehensive CMA Review for CMA Exam Confidence
If you’ve made the commitment to taking the CMA exam and started your research, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the information out there. What topics are covered on the exam? Which of those topics count the most for your score? How do the essay questions work?
With Gleim CMA, you don’t have to worry; we’ve got you covered. As a CMA Review provider, our job is to take that information and distill it into a learning program that will prepare you for exam day success. Let’s break down the CMA exam, look at what this means for you as a candidate, and show you how Gleim gives you a comprehensive CMA review with everything you need to pass with confidence.
What Topics are Tested on the CMA Exam?
The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) is responsible for the administration of the CMA exam. The certification branch of the IMA, the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (ICMA), handles exam development, writing, and implementation. The ICMA creates Content Specification Outlines (CSOs) to establish the foundation for each exam’s development.
The CSOs list the major topics covered, along a percentage that approximates that topic’s representation. For example, in the Part 1 exam, Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting accounts for about 30% of the exam and thus about 30% of your total score.
The major topics are further broken down into subtopics, but the ICMA is careful to note that, “No relative weights have been assigned to the subject areas within each major topic.” This means no one knows with certainty how many questions will be allocated to subtopics, but a successful review provider is still able to prepare you for what to expect on exam day by combining what we know from the CSOs with careful reading of the Learning Outcome Statements (LOSs).
LOSs provide a detailed outline of the skills a CMA should possess and the ICMA requires for certification. For example, CMAs should have the ability to “describe how industry competitive structure (i.e., pure competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, or monopoly) can impact an organization’s strategy.” They are highly specific and there are a lot of them!
Although the combination of CSOs and LOSs may feel a bit complex, you can prepare for the exam headache-free with study materials that are deliberately mapped to them by professional educators. We design our materials to equip you with the skills needed to be successful, both on the CMA exam and in a professional setting.
How Topics are Tested on the CMA Exam
The exam will test a candidate’s depth of understanding at three different levels:
- Level A, understanding and comprehension;
- Level B, application and analysis; and
- Level C, synthesis and evaluation (the most involved level).
Level A simply requires candidates to understand concepts and terms. For Level B, candidates must apply learned material to scenarios and be able to break information down into its component parts. At its most difficult, Level C, the exam requires candidates to formulate hypotheses and solutions from learned principles, as well as draw judgmental conclusions with regard to specific scenarios.
The Gleim Premium CMA Review System is organized to maximize a candidate’s ability to learn the topics tested while ensuring comprehensive coverage of the ICMA CSOs and LOSs. Our focus is to prepare you for every question, no matter what level it tests you at.
Expertise and Experience from a Comprehensive CMA Review Course
Our expert authors develop study materials that candidates can rely on. They are distinguished professors from top universities and experienced accountants who are active in the field.
To appeal to different learning styles, we employ a variety of learning options for a more efficient and effective review experience.
With our Gleim signature approach, you will have diagnostic quizzes to help you focus your studies and an exam-emulating bank of multiple-choice and essay questions to give you the most realistic exam experience on the market, so you feel at home on exam day.
Our Online Review Course also gives candidates access to our highly-acclaimed video lectures, which provide an overview of the CSOs while guiding you step-by-step through multiple-choice and essay questions to give you a solid foundation of knowledge.
The Gleim CMA Mega Test Bank is the largest test bank on the market. Having access to the depth and breadth of the questions will let you test your knowledge while you practice your test-taking techniques, and you can do so without the fear that you will memorize the answers to questions without fully understanding the concept, making it easier to exercise those Level B and Level C skills.
Our detailed outlines, which include many comprehensive examples, are available in a physical book or digitally within your Gleim CMA Review Course. You choose how you want to access it!
CMA Study Guides From the First in CMA Exam Review
Gleim set the standard with the first CMA course over 35 years ago by creating the very first CMA prep course. It’s the most widely used CMA review, having trained more CMAs that any other course on the market. Our extensive experience with candidates has helped us develop an innovative and effective review system. Dr. Gleim’s proven study approach has always emphasized learning and understanding, and we use a distinctive outline method that helps students retain knowledge and understand concepts. We use decades of experience to position you to pass your CMA exam.
Gain access to the free, unlimited CMA exam review demo, which will give you samples of our online course, online CMA books, video lectures, practice CMA questions, audio lectures, and more.
Don’t feel overwhelmed by all the information out there about the CMA exam. Take control of your commitment to becoming a CMA and know your exam prep options. Gleim CMA will give you all the tools you need so you go into your exam with confidence.
