Many aspiring CMAs with an international background dread the CMA exam essay questions. The writing aspect of the exam can be daunting for many people. This is especially true if English is not your first language. However, some CMA preparation for the essays can help you reduce your anxiety about the written section.
Don’t get thrown off by the CMA essay questions. You can review the CMA essays and prepare yourself for this part of the exam once you know what to expect. What exactly are the examiners testing, how are the essays graded, and how can you get a good score?
You have 4 hours to complete each part of the CMA exam. If you complete the multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in less than 3 hours, then you have the remaining time to work on the essay portion. If you use the full 3 hours for the multiple-choice questions, you will have to stop and move on to essay questions.
For candidates whose first language isn’t English, I strongly encourage you to practice going through CMA exam MCQs quickly, so you can allot more time for the essay portion of the exam.
However, keep in mind that there is a chance you won’t see any essay questions on your exam if you do poorly on the MCQs. In fact, you can only move on to the essays if you get at least 50% of the multiple-choice questions correct. If you do not score 50% or higher on the MCQs, your exam will end, and you will need to sign up to sit for the exam again.
Each part contains 100 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and two essay scenarios. Each scenario has several short-answer questions that accompany it.
There are two possible essay topics or scenarios, each consisting of several questions. You may be asked to complete a business memo or to work on quantitative analysis.
You’ll add your answers to the essay questions using a simple word processor that is similar to Notepad. For essays that require a computational response, you should create simple tables and show calculations within the word processor space provided. It is a good idea to get familiar with the testing program before your exam day so you can gain confidence in using the essay section’s word processor.
The most accurate exam-mimicking practice can be found in Gleim CMA Review. Their platform allows for complete immersion in the Prometric virtual environment, so there are no surprises on exam day. CMA candidates email me daily about acing the essays, and you’ll be well on your way to completing the essay questions if you use the Gleim Premium CMA Review System. Likewise, Becker CMA also replicates the real testing environment that you’ll encounter at Prometric. Therefore, if you study with Becker, make sure you take advantage of the unlimited practice tests so that you become used to interacting with the exam software.
When you reach the essay section of each part of the CMA exam, you may open the essay scenario. The essay scenario includes all the information you need to answer the questions correctly. Consequently, you’ll find that the essay scenario window will open to the left of the window that is displaying the answer box. I highly recommend keeping your essay scenario window open at all times so you don’t miss any critical information as you answer the questions.
Most exam prep courses will show you screenshots and possibly videos of this so that you know what to expect. To repeat, the essay scenario window looks like Notepad or a similar word processing program, and it will have several features to make it easier to complete your essays.
Because you don’t want to waste precious time trying to learn how to use the various CMA exam functions, your actual exam day is the worst possible time to become acclimated to them. Thus, be sure to use my advice from the prior section about finding a CMA review course that emulates the actual exam.
To answer the CMA exam essay questions, you must write a response or complete a calculation related to the scenario that the exam provides you. You must read the question very carefully so you can understand the requirements and adhere to them properly. If you’re doing a calculation, it’s essential you show your work. You can get partial credit for the information you provide related to the topic, but only if you show your work!
When providing a written response, you must be as detailed as possible. You want to be concise and avoid flowery language, but you also need to be comprehensive and accurate. Therefore, mention anything that might be relevant to the topic you are writing about to help you score more points. Brainstorm and then work through your first draft so that your answer is complete; then, you can go back and proofread your answer as time allows.
Because this process could take a while, especially if English is not your first language, it’s essential to get through the MCQs efficiently. Remember, if you finish up the MCQs early, you can bank that extra time for use in the essay portion of the exam.
The two types of CMA exam questions account for the following percentage of your overall score:
The essays are graded by trained subject matter experts using an approved scoring rubric to ensure objectivity and consistency. In contrast, the MCQs are graded by a computer.
Why does the CMA exam contain essay questions?
This part of the exam is meant to test your:
Obviously, becoming proficient with the CMA exam content is a critical step to passing both the multiple-choice questions and the essay part of the exam. In addition to reading and watching video lectures, you should spend sufficient time answering practice questions and essays. Unlike reading and watching lectures, answering practice questions helps you apply the concepts you learned. Answering practice questions is about more than just memorizing facts. Therefore, it is most important that you learn the material in such a way that you can apply it to practical scenarios that you might face on the job.
For example, NINJA CMA Review has over 40 sample essays that come with answers. Similarly, the Gleim CMA Course includes hundreds of essay scenarios with detailed answer explanations. Plus, you’ll have a chance to practice typing in the answers in a simulated exam environment on your computer. This is a great way to familiarize yourself firsthand with what it will be like on the actual exam.
Knowing the CMA content-specific facts does not mean you know when and how to apply them. However, the essay questions help ensure that CMAs in the workforce understand the CMA content at an application level. When you are faced with an essay question, you should:
I like to use a mind map to brainstorm as many relevant keywords as possible because the inclusion of the correct keywords helps you score points.
The CMA exam does not test your vocabulary skills. Therefore, you should focus on simple and clear writing; this is not the time to show off how many SAT words you remember.
Instead, the ICMA is looking for your ability to express yourself clearly and logically as it relates to the CMA material tested in the essay questions. You can find the three general principles of effective business writing below. This will help you know how to best answer CMA essay questions on exam day.
Knowing how to use proper, standard English will be essential. It’s the same style you’d use for any American academic or business writing. Use this breakdown to learn what that means for the US CMA essay questions.
All words should be properly checked to avoid spelling errors and typos. You shouldn’t use colloquial sayings, slang, and text-message words or abbreviations.
Acronyms should be fully spelled out when they are first introduced in the essay. For example, ABC should be spelled out as “Activity-Based Costing (ABC)” first, and then the term ABC can be used in the rest of your response. The graders want to know that you understand what these acronyms stand for.
Avoid writing words in all caps (LIKE THIS) and exclamation marks. This rule applies to most business writing anyway, so the same goes for your essay answers. Show emphasis, if necessary, by using your words, not your punctuation.
Your CMA essay response should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning should be introductory in nature and directly address the question. You can simply rewrite the question and include a summary of what you’ll discuss throughout your answer. Don’t copy directly from the question, though, because copying and pasting is generally not a good idea. Here’s an example:
Question: “Explain why there is a difference in net income between variable costing and absorption costing.”
Answer: “There is a difference in net income between variable costing and absorption costing because…”
The middle paragraph is where you present CMA content-specific facts and ideas. You can choose to add a couple more paragraphs if you need to expand the ideas, such as adding examples to support your rationale.
Please note that the essays are graded positively, and partial credit can be given. That is, you get a point if the idea matches (or partially matches) with the one on the scoring rubric. This means that you should include as many points as possible as long as they are relevant.
The last paragraph should be a short conclusion, typically with a couple of sentences summarizing the ideas presented in the middle paragraph.
While you should spend time writing all the related points you can possibly think of, present your response clearly and logically. It is essential to:
If you want to do your best on these essay questions, it’s essential you study and practice. We’ve talked about the study portion and about what to expect on the essay portion of the exam, but let’s talk about how you can practice for it when you don’t know exactly what your essay questions will be. First, a great CMA review study course is a good place to start. I’ll give you my recommendations for that in a bit.
Another great way to practice for the CMA essay questions is to practice writing mini-essays on the CMA exam material. You can turn MCQs into essay questions by writing out your answers and checking them against the written explanations. Try answering and writing just the way you would if you were taking the exam.
Let’s take a look at some questions from readers that might help you.
If a question asks about a calculation, do I need to be formal and write it out as words, or can you type out the numbers? For example, if I ask for depreciation expense for one month of an asset with a 1,200 dollar cost and a 12-month life, can I just write “$100” or “you divide 1,200 by 12 months to get 100 dollars per month which is your depreciation expense”?
Answer: You do need to show your work, but rather than saying, “you divide 1,200 by 12 months to get 100 dollars per month,” you could show “$1,200/12 months = $100 per month in depreciation”. This way, you will more likely get partial credit in case you use the right formula but just miss a number.
I am practicing the essay questions, but there are no Excel capabilities or even a table creation function that make tabular presentations possible. Do you have any suggestions on how to address this? Even underlining the numbers to indicate summation is not possible.
Answer: The examiners have taken away the spreadsheet function in recent years. Since the reader is a Gleim customer, I’ve asked the Gleim Team, who has kindly provided the following answer:
There are no Excel or table formatting tools in the essays on the exam or in the Gleim materials.
I have a few suggestions. First, practice with the Gleim essays because it will get [you] use[d] to that.
Second, we have a video in the first study unit of our course in the supplemental videos section. This video is a how to on the essays. It could be very useful as it discusses formatting and how to answer them.
Third and final, the key is to make sure that the answers are clear and organized and labeled well, but it doesn’t need to be formatted any special way as long as the grader can determine what you are answering and what your answer is.”
How realistic are the Gleim CMA essay questions? I’m asking because some are really long and have tons of calculations. Are the Gleim CMA questions harder than what I’ll see on the actual CMA exam?
Answer: In my experience, yes. Gleim CMA makes sure that you can actually apply the concepts that you’ve learned. Therefore, the Gleim essays for CMA review may be more complex because they have to ensure you know how to answer questions on all the topics and subtopics. I actually appreciate that the Gleim questions are pretty tricky. If you’re like me, you may feel proud and well-prepared when you do well on the Gleim CMA exam simulation. That’s almost a sure sign that you understand the concept and can nail those questions on the real exam.
Becker CMA has become a popular course for CMA study, especially since the company completely revamped its CMA courses in 2021. After all, Becker has built a reputation for helping accounting professionals pass their exams (like the CMA and CPA exams) with flying colors.
Becker’s CMA courses have several strengths. First of all, the Becker platform uses adaptive learning called Adapt2U Technology, which creates a personalized learning experience. And although Becker’s test bank isn’t quite as large as Gleim’s, Becker gives you access to simulated exams that closely mimic the real CMA exam you’ll take at Prometric. Furthermore, the Becker Pro course even comes with virtual classroom instruction, one-on-one tutoring, and a CPE subscription.
Gleim CMA includes an online CMA test bank and provides sample CMA essay questions for every topic. They also show you how to format your answers (e.g., how to write out the calculations) in the answer explanations. You can get it through the integrated review product – Gleim CMA Review System – or purchase it separately.
If you can’t decide between these two, you can use our Gleim CMA vs. Wiley CMA analysis to help inform your decision.
The following essay questions examples come from the Institute of Management Accounting itself. You can find a PDF containing these questions as well as more CMA sample questions here.
The sample CMA essay question for part 1 gives an example scenario of a month’s worth of figures for a family-owned business called Brown Printing. There are then six questions for you to answer in your essay.
Similarly, the sample CMA Part 2 essay question gives you the scenario of four projects under consideration by a fictitious company called Grandeur Industries. You will then need to answer five questions about these projects.
Fortunately, the same document also provides CMA essay examples that fully and correctly answer the questions. Download the PDF to see what good answers looks like. Note the length of the answers, the standard English phrasing, and the shown work for the calculations
Here are some general tips to help you get through the essay questions.
Know your formulas. Use them to calculate what you need to do before you begin to write.
Read the entire question before answering. Get an idea of the scope of what the question is asking you.
Pay attention to verbs. The questions will give you a hint on how to answer based on what verb begins the sentence. Here are some common verbs: define, compare/contrast, calculate, examine, analyze, interpret, or apply. Make sure your answer fulfills the specific verb. That is, don’t spend time calculating if you’re supposed to be analyzing.
Show your work. I repeat this to emphasize it – even if you get the final answer wrong, you may be able to get some points if you show how you arrived at that answer.
Use your scratch paper. Don’t try to do everything in your head. Do, however, try to keep your handwritten notes somewhat neat, as you will need to type up your calculations to show your work. Refer back to the PDF of sample answers.
If you begin to run out of time, use an outline or bullet points. Remember, your goal is to include as many relevant points as possible. Never leave a question completely blank.
Don’t waste time formatting. As long as your writing itself is clear, it doesn’t have to look pretty to score points.
Here are answers to some more general CMA essay questions.
Studying for the essay portion is less about specific topics than it is about applying your knowledge of those topics. Make sure you know how to perform important calculations. Also, know how and why those calculations are used.
Unfortunately, there’s really no such thing as a typical essay question, as they’re all different. However, familiarize yourself with the actions that the questions will ask you to complete: define, compare/contrast, calculate, examine, analyze, interpret, or apply.
If you get to the CMA exam essay questions, all that means is you have scored at least 50% on the MCQs. However, if you don’t get to the essays, that means you haven’t passed.
No. If you don’t pass the MCQ portion of the test, you will not even be able to look at the essay questions. Your test ends there.
Yes, it is possible to do so well on the MCQs that you don’t need to pass the essay portion to pass the whole thing. However, it is never a good idea to make this your test-taking strategy! Since the essays don’t penalize you for wrong answers, only award you with points for the right answers, think of them as opportunities to increase your MCQ score.
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I am the author of How to Pass The CPA Exam (published by Wiley) and the publisher of this and several accounting professional exam prep sites.