All what you need to know about CMA exam

IMA Institute membership

The IMA Institute has 4 types of membership. The most important of them is the student membership, and professionals membership. You must pay for your own membership to obtain your CMA certificate. 

There are various types of memberships, which are:

Student membership

This membership is for undergraduate students, who are still at the stage of bachelor ‘s or master ‘s. This membership is a discounted one, compared to the professionals membership. Be aware that if you are graduate and tried to sign up for this membership, the Institute compares between the date of graduation with the date of registering for membership, which will lead you to lose your accredited certification.

Professionals membership

It is more widespread and popular, as most of those interested in the certificate are either graduates or employees who want to rise in their work and gain experience and skills through obtaining the certificate.

If you finished the exam and your membership has ended, it is not necessary to renew it. The institute will send you the certificate at the end.

Membership fees and exam

  • The CMA exam has 5 different fees, which are:

Membership fees

The fees of joining the certification program

Part one exam fees

Part two exam fees

Administrative fees

  • The fees vary depending on the membership type
  • Student membership fees

Membership fees: $39 annually

Fees for joining the program:  %188, valid for 3 years

Part one exam fees: $ 311, that gives you one-time access to the exam

Part two exam fees: $311, that gives you one-time access to the exam

Administration fees: $15, paid only once

That is to say, the total is $849 , and if you take the discount for Egyptians, you will pay $440  only

Professionals membership fees

Membership fees: $230 annually

Fees for joining the program: $250 for 3 years

Part one exam fees: $415, which gives you only one time to enter the exam

Part two exam fees: $415, which gives you only one time to enter the exam

Administration fees: $15, paid only once

That is to say, the total is $1325 , and if you take the discount for the Egyptians, you will pay $680 only

Deduction of exam fees (for Egyptians)

There is a discount code for Egyptians, of about 50% of the fees, which is (Egypt01) But when you register, you can get the discount without the need to write the code by clicking on “Apply Reduction” , on the page that appears to you before the process of choosing expenses and payment method

 

And if you already had registered for membership in another country other than Egypt, you will not be able to benefit from the discount, unfortunately because the discount appears only to the countries that have the discount

Steps to register for the exam

To register for the exam, it requires you to go through 3 stages of registration, namely:

  1. Membership registration stage in the institute
  2. Stage of paying the exam fees
  3. The stage of choosing the time and place of the exam

Membership registration stage in the institute

  1. Enter the main page of the institute’s website, through this link

         www.imanet.org

  1. Clickon “Membership”  Then, choose the membership type.
  2. Click“Sign Up” , next to the membership you chose
  3. Enter your email address
  4. After this you will see a page, to fill in your information:

Email location    

Leave it blank

First name          

First name only

Middle name

Your father’s name

Family name        

Write the rest of your full name

Suffix                 

Leave it blank

Gender              

Choose female or male

Country             

Your country

Address type      

Leave it blank

Number type and name   

Write your address in detail

Address 2           

Leave it blank

Governate name   

Governorate

Post code             

11311 (Egypt)

Phone                

Your mobile number

Date of birth       

Your birthdate must match your date of birth in the national number

Password           

Type your password

  1. After that, you will be asked to agree to the terms and conditions
  2. You will see a membership selection page and “Add to card” to pay the fees later with the exam fees
  3. In the event that you chose topay now, the payment page will open, and you will get Egypt’s discount. After that, enter the payment information, such as the name on the card, its number, expiration date, and the secret number; and this includes4 numbers in the back of the card. Then, click “Submit”
  4. If you choose”Add to card”, membership fees will be added to the post payment, and if you would like to find it after this, click on the “Cart”, at the top of the page and pay through the check out

Stage of paying the exam fees

 According to the institute, you can pay one month before the exam to guarantee the place and time you want. If you haven’t found a place, you can wait for someone to drop.

The institute gives you the possibility to change the exam timing, but you must be aware that you will not be charged, unless it is only less than a month for the date of the exam, and if it is less than 3 days, you lose the fees completely

Here are the steps of registering and paying the exam fees:  

  1. You can pay all costs by clicking on “Store”,at the top of the site, which will show you another page and you will find “Shop by” and a list to choose CMA Certificate
  2. You will see 4steps to complete your registration

 CMA Program Registration   choose the fees for the membership which you subscribed, then click “Join”

Find a professional chapter    determine the country where you will take the exam, then click “Next”

CMA part 1 registration     choose the date of test, then click “Add to cart”

 CMA part 2 registration    You can book part 2 by adding it to “Add to card” and pay later, and if you want to register for the first part only, you can skip this step and click “Skip”

  1. After you set the date for the exam, you will see apage with all the fees required for you and written the total costs, you will click on mecheck out A page appears with your data like
  • Address informationif there is no change, proceed with the remaining steps
  • Item summary you will see the discount available to your country, then click on agree to the conditions for joining the certification program, and then click “Next”
  • Payment You will see the total costs, complete your payment card information and complete the steps
  1. The Institute will send you an email through which you will set the date for the examination on prometric website

The stage of choosing the time and place of the exam 

  • After you book your membership and pay the exam fees through the Institute’s website, you should choose the time and place for the exam, andthrough the official website of prometric
  • The exam is done 3 times per year, each two-month period you can register for an exam
  • First period: January& February
  • Second period: May & June
  • Third period: September & October
  • You can take the first part, then the second part, or vice versa, but in order to obtain the certificate, it is necessary to finish the two parts and pass them
  • Registration steps:
  1. After you enter prometric website,  choose the CMA exam and   Click on “Schedule”

2-. Select your country and after that you have to accept the terms and conditions, then click “Next”

Enter your national number that the institute sent to you via your e-mail after paying the exam fees on the institute’s website, then enter the first four letters of your last name

 3. You will see some instructions, click on “Schedule an appointment”

  1. Choose the city youwant to test (located in Cairo and Alexandria), and you will see the available places in the governorate. Choose where do you want to test in accordance with the period or month that you chose on the institute’s website. If you find some days closed, this means that the exam is not available in it.
  2. You will see a page to review your data and make sure that all your information is correct before confirming the registration. In the event of an error clickon “Back” and correct the error and if your data is correct click “Schedule an appointment”
  3. You will receive a confirmation email, bring it with you to the exam
  4. You will see a16- digit number that you can use if you wish to change or cancel the exam date

8.Keep in mind that your name must be identical to the Passport that you will take with you during the exam. Match your name on prometric website, to be identical to your name on the institute’s website.

Exam form

 

  • The exam will be through thecomputer basis in your place
  • The exam consists of100 multiple choice questions and 2 essay questions; each question has about 6 sub-sections
  • Duration of the exam is4 hours (3 hours for the elective questions and 1 hour for the two essay questions)
  • You must solveat least 50% of the elective questions in order to move to the essay question
  • Each optional questionshould take you8 minutes for each question and each essay question an hour
  • The results are out about 6 weeks after the end of the month in which you took the exam, and the institute will send you the results via email
  • In order to pass, you should score at least360 degrees out of 500 and you are not required to score a specific degree in either of the two sections

Requirements to obtain the certificate

  1. A university degree
  2. Practical experience of not less than two years in the field of management accounting or financial management

    3.To be a student at the Faculty of Commerce

  1. To obtain a membership at the IMA institute, and pay thefees for joining the certification program and exam fees for each part
  2. To pass both parts so you can get the certificate

Tips for the exam

  1. Try to be present before the exam, as if you are late, will not enter the exam
  2. Get rid of the anxiety and fear. Always remember that God will never let you down.
  3. If you feel that you forgot what you studied, it’s fine. As soon as you enter the exam and you see the questions ,you will remember everything, God’s willing.
  4. For the MCQs, try to start by solving the short and easy questions first, which you are sure of, and then solve the long questions. The question that you solve will change its color, so you will not be confused and forget a question.
  5. . Try to read first the requirements of the long questions,and then read the givens, in order not to waste your time and focus on how to give the required through the data.

6.If you get nervous, try to take a break for a few seconds and keep your eyes away from the screen, because you may be familiar with the answer, but being nervous will make you forget everything.

  1. For the essay questions, answer as long as required only from you, because too much writing will not guarantee you high grades. There are two questions, but each one has from 3 to 6 parts, try not to forget any of them.
  2. Relax and keep calm, so that you can organize your thoughts and answers.
  3. Try to have your answers organized and keep spaces between them and answer in the form of points.
  4. Take care of your spelling and grammar to avoid in change in the meaning of the words.
  5. Never leave a question, even if you are not sure, whether in MCQs or essay questions.