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04.08.2006
Last Tuesday I passed Revised CMA part 3 exam “Strategic Management” with a score of 540.
I began the serious preparation in the middle of May, so it took more than two months. The understanding of concepts did not seem difficult to me, since some concepts were partially covered in part 1 “Business Analysis” and part 2 “Management Accounting and Reporting” materials (planning, bonds, ratios, etc.), and the Hock textbook presents the theory in a very clear way, as usual.
For the purpose of time saving during the preparation, I did not give much attention to the real options (only several pages that were in the Hock materials) and the calculation of covariance, hoping for only general questions on these topics.
While initially it seemed that third exam wouldn’t be very difficult, I read a lot of messages from IMA email exchange that part 3 “Strategic Management” of the Revised exam was the hardest... and it definitely was. So I was warned and decided to focus on trying to make calculations more accurate and faster, and better understanding the concepts. This exam became a real challenge for me.
At first, I was faced with the time shortage again. I spent too much time on text questions, the most part of which were very tricky. When I answered all questions, I only have 10 minutes left.
Secondly, I marked near the 30 questions, so I wasn’t sure that one third of my answers were correct.
Thirdly, I got 7–10 questions about the real options and the calculation of covariance . The guessing in the latter was especially annoying because I think that these questions were very simple.
Honestly, when the last seconds of the exam were gone and I stared at the waving (as usual for Prometric) white screen, I was sure I failed. And when, after the long dramatic pause I received the congratulatory message, I was happy. 540 scores are not the brilliant result, but I passed and it is good!
The suggestions I would make are as follows:
1. If you need to learn the concepts before taking the exam – use Hock materials. If you really know the material and just need to refresh memory – use Gleim review, which includes much more materials and details, but less clear explanations than Hock. If you use Hock materials, be sure that you understand all topics, because Hock provides you with not only sufficient but also necessary information.
2. I used Gleim software. As usual, Gleim test prep has a lot of sly, complex and not aligned with LOS questions. I think that this is very good, since it prepares you for unexpected questions on the exam.
3. IMA Q&A books. These questions are highly representative of what you will see on the exam. But the average book question is more short and simplistic than the average exam question.
4. For better time management I answered all the text question first, then the short computational questions and 5 long computational questions for last. The good timing is very important.
That’s my report.
