Selecting CMA Exam Dates and Allocating Time to Study

Today, Vinoth is writing about his CMA exam time table. Vinoth is one of our CMA exam bloggers, and he documents his CMA journey every Wednesday. 

I hope everyone read my last week’s blog about various tools available for the CMA exam to help our studies in a better way.

How (and When) I Select My CMA Exam Time Table

This week, let me talk about how I planned my CMA exam dates, my overall CMA exam time table, and how to register for the same.

First, let me touch upon membership in the IMA. Before you register for the exam, you need to be a member of the IMA. For that, my suggestion would be to wait for some time to avail discounted offers from the IMA for your membership. During winter time, you can get more discount offers from them. Once you have enrolled in the IMA membership, you are eligible to take up the exam.

Based on your planned exam date, you can buy the exam voucher from IMA and make an appointment on the Prometric website. But please make sure that you have blocked the appointment date 1 or 2 months earlier because there might be a chance of seat unavailability at your chosen Prometric test center.

My Personal CMA Exam Time Table

I plan to take up my exam during the last week of October 2014. After all, I did the exam registration in mid-August 2014. Plus, I didn’t need to rush till the end to get my seat at the exam center.

Before my exam date, I plan to devote my full time to the CMA exam for at least ten days. This way, I have enough time to revise the subjects and practice as much as I can. As I mentioned earlier, we need some 3 to 5 months’ time to prepare ourselves for the exams and allocate time for our studies.

During this time, everyone will have a hard time managing their official and personal life as well, but we need to sacrifice something to get something in our life, such as this professional certification. I will share my experience about how I managed my time during the exam preparation.

From Stephanie — Thoughts about a CMA Exam Time Table

Once again, thank you, Vinoth, for detailing his first-hand experience from registration to scheduling your exam. As you can see, successful candidates like Vinoth plan months in advance, so they have sufficient time to study and get physically and psychologically prepared.

Which phase are you in regarding your CMA exam journey? Love to hear news and updates on your end!

• Vinoth’s Next Post on Jan 14: Here is My Story Before Passing CMA Exam Part 1