CMA Pattern 2024: Know Marking Scheme & Exam Duration

Maximum marks in the CMA exam is similar irrespective of the course level. Papers under all three course levels have a maximum of 100 marks. Candidates answering all the questions correctly will get 100 marks. In the CMA Foundation eaxam, each exam paper has 50 multiple choice questions. Each question fetches two marks. Whereas, the CMA Intermediate and CMA Final have different marking scheme with descriptive and objective type questions. Marks for each question of Intermediate or Final exam paper ranges from seven marks to 15 marks.

The passing score for all three levels of the CMA course levels are as follows:

• CMA Foundation Passing Score: Candidates securing a minimum of 40 per cent in all test papers and a 50 per cent aggregate score passes in the CMA Foundation exam. 
• CMA Intermediate Passing Score: Candidates securing 40 per cent minimum score in each test paper of CMA Intermediate and 50 per cent in non-exempted papers of a particular group are considered pass.
• CMA Final Passing Score: Candidates securing 40 per cent minimum score in each test paper of CMA Final and 50 per cent in non-exempted papers of a particular group are considered pass.

CMA exam has three course levels, namely CMA Foundation, CMA Intermediate and CMA Final. CMA Foundation course has four test papers. Candidates need to appear for all four test papers. The Intermediate course of CMA exam have two groups. Candidates appearing for CMA Intermediate exam will have option to appear for both the groups in one exam session. Candidates planning to attempt both groups of CMA Intermediate course have to appear for eight test papers. Passing test papers in both the groups of Intermediate course is mandatory. Candidates can appear for one group in one session or both the groups in one session.

Identical to CMA Intermediate, CMA Final course also has two groups with four test papers each. Candidates can choose to appear for the test papers under both the course groups in one session. Passing all the test papers will be mandatory to get the CMA destination. 

The Institute of Cost Accountants of India conducts CMA exam twice in one year. CMA students can appear for both the sessions. However, for every exam take, candidates need to fill and submit the exam form. The exam form releases along with the exam dates of a particular session. The exam fees is released along with the exam dates and form. Candidates need to pay the exam fees based on the course level and the exam centre (inland or overseas). Along with the release of the dates, candidates can find the available exam centres for the CMA test session.

The type of questions in the CMA exam varies based on the course level. The space below mentions the course-wise type of questions in the CMA exam based on the course levels:

• CMA Foundation course exams have multiple choice questions. Candidates have to answer as many as 50 MCQs with four answer options. Out of the four options only one is correct.
• CMA Intermediate course exam has both objective types questions and descriptive type questions.
• Similar to the Intermediate level exam, questions in CMA Final course exams are both objective and discriptive. 

The Institute of Cost Accountants of India, also known as ICMAI, conducts the CMA exam twice in one year. The two terms of the CMA exam are conducted in December and June sessions. CMA students need to fill the exam form until a specified date to participate in the examination process under a particular exam session.

Candidates who need a new admission in CMA course must fill the regisatration form to enrol themselves to the course. Candidates must enrol themselves until January 31 to appear for CMA exam in June session. On the contrary, to appear for CMA December term exams, candidates need to complete the admission process until July 31. The registration deadlines for the CMA enrolment may or may not extend in a particular exam session.

CMA foundation course has four papers. All four papers of CMA Foundation exam will have 50 multiple choice questions of two marks each.

CMA Intermediate course have two groups with four papers each. Each paper of CMA Intermediate has eight questions. Out of these questions, the first question is compulsory, while candidates have to attempt any five questions from the remaining seven questions. While some papers have five questions, first question is compulsory, and out of remaining four questions, three are mandatory.

Similarly, CMA Final course have different question numbers in different test papers.

CMA exam is conducted at three course levels, namely Foundation, Intermediate and Final. CMA exam for all three course levels are conducted as an offline centre based exam. In the past sessions, ICMAI, the conducting body of the CMA exam, had conducted the Intermediate and Final course exams as an online centre based exam. While the CMA Foundation was conducted as a remotely proctored exam from home. However, the mismanegement in the online exams led ICMAI to shift back to the offline centre based exam.

ICMAI may change the mode of the CMA exams in the upcoming exam sessions. Stay tuned to shiksha's CMA exam pattern article for key developments in the test structure from time to time (https://www.shiksha.com/accounting-commerce/accounting/cma-exam-pattern)

CMA Intermediate course level has two different groups. Candidates can either take the test papers for both groups or a single group. The test papers included in the CMA Intermediate course level are as follows:

CMA Intermediate Course Group - I

• PAPER 5: Business Lawns and Ethics (BLE)
• PAPER 6: Financial Accounting (FA)
• PAPER 7: Direct and Indirect Taxation (DITX)
• PAPER 8: Cost Accounting (CA)

CMA Intermediate Course Group - II

• PAPER 9: Operations Management and Strategic Management (OMSM) 
• PAPER 10: Corporate Accounting and Auditing (CAA)
• PAPER 11: Financial Management and Business Data Analytics (FMDA) 
• PAPER 12: Management Accounting (MA)

CMA Final exam has two-course groups. Candidates can either appear for a single course group or both course groups in one session. The space below mention the test papers for both the course groups of the CMA Final exam:

Final Course Group - III

• PAPER 13: Corporate and Economic Lawns (CEL)
• PAPER 14: Strategic Financial Management (SFM)
• PAPER 15: Direct Tax Lawns and International Taxation (DIT)
• PAPER 16: Strategic Cost Management (SCM)

Final Course Group - IV

• PAPER 17: Cost and Management Audit (CMAD)
• PAPER 18: Corporate Financial Reporting (CFR) 
• PAPER 19: Indirect Tax Lawns and Practice (ITLP)
• PAPER 20: One of the following subjects
  
  • PAPER 20A: Strategic Performance Management and Business Evaluation (SPMBV)
  • PAPER 20B: Risk Management in Banking and Insurance (RMBI) 
  • PAPER 20C: Entrepreneurship and Start Up (ENTS)