I would say it depends on how many daily hours you are planning to study and your previous experience with the material. I spend more or less 3 months preparing for part 1 (I work full time as well). I study around 3 hours per day six days a week. I have already some years of experience with several topics of part 1, in particular cost analysis, variance analysis and technology and analytics. I felt 3 months to be very tight and I had to rush my essay preparation.
I took the exam on October 20, I felt my performance in the multiple choice questions was okay and I think I did very well in the essay part. I think I will pass but still waiting for results, fingers crossed.
Some take aways of my experience:
1. In order to pass the exam you not only need to know the material but also have enough practice to complete the exam on time. Plan to spend a good share of your study time practicing with timer on.
2. Working full time made difficult and exhausting to study 3 hours per day 6 days a week. I stayed strong to my commitment to study the hours I planned, it was a period of high stress and very few time left for leisure activities (if you have family this may be tough)
3. Based on my experience with part 1, I plan to allocate 4 to 5 months for my preparation for part 2 at a slower pace, 2 hours per day, 5 days a week. I really want to have more work-study-life balance this time.
If you are a student or looking for job and can easily spend 4 hour or more a day studying then go for it, it is a realistic goal. However if you are working full time then evaluate carefully how much time you have available to study, how fast you learn and digest concepts and how much of your leisure time you are willing to give up to study.
Good luck!
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Josue (Josh) Rosario Ortega
FP&A Analyst
Ontario, Canada
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-01-2021 12:14 PM
From: Kaylee Lyn Reid
Subject: Surgent Cma Study materials
Hi everyone, i am just starting to get serious about studying for the CMA part 1 exam, I was wondering if 3 and a half months in realistic for preparation for this part, if I try to take it in February 2022. How long did you guys take to study for part 1? Also, I saw a previous post about the whatsapp. What exactly is the app for and how can I join a group? Thank you
Original Message:
Sent: 10/31/2021 3:11:00 AM
From: Josue Rosario Ortega
Subject: RE: Surgent Cma Study materials
Hi Lisandro
Thanks for sharing your experience with Wiley CMA. I studied for part 1 using Wiley and I am very optimistic about passing the exam, I am still waiting for the result. I have not started to study properly for part 2 but I already have checked some of the Wiley lessons for part 2 and they seem very brief for the depth of the topics, specially for the Section B Corporate finance. Wiley even suggest "Further reading" and cites a book of Parrino et al. as a reference.
I was wondering if the material they provide is not enough and after reading your comment, I am starting to suspect I will have to completement Wiley CMA with some other material. This annoys me as Wiley CMA is not cheap and I was expecting a complete coverage of the topics.
I already had a disappointment in part 1 with Wiley coverage of section F "Technology and Analytics". The material does not cover the topics properly even to be able to answer the practice questions they have in their CMA learning system. Fortunately I have broad experience in Business Intelligence systems and I already knew most of the stuff needed for section F, but definitely someone without much exposure to this area will be basically guessing the answers as Wiley does not cover fully the topic.
Lisandor, if you have more recommendations on how to supplement Wiley CMA for exam part 2 and you want to shere it here, I would really appreciate it.
Best regards,
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Josue Rosario Ortega
Analyst
Mississauga ON
Canada
Original Message:
Sent: 10-30-2021 06:58 PM
From: Lisandro Aviles
Subject: Surgent Cma Study materials
Hi Ahmed,
I know the feeling well.
I passed Part I using Wiley CMA but Part II has been a huge challenge. There is a huge gap between the 2021 WileyCMA Part II material and the actual exam. I'm using Surgent to study for the Enrolled Agent exam and am interested to find out others' results.
I just got back from my second attempt at Part II and feel borderline disappointed. I studied for Part II for 1.5 times the total recommended study hours and went into my 2nd exam having scored a 90% on the multiple choice questions of the mock exam and maybe a 70% on the essays. Last night WileyCMA was predicting my score to be 385 to 425.
But today I was so disappointed with the actual difficulty of this exam. Though I did better on the essays this time, the multiple choice destroyed my approach and I wanted to get up and quit. Hahaha.
I guess we will have to see how accurate their score predictors really are.
Good luck with the rest of the program, Ahmed! May the force be with you!
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Lisandro Aviles
Accountant
Honolulu HI
United States
Original Message:
Sent: 10-30-2021 11:37 AM
From: Ahmed Ahmadi
Subject: Surgent Cma Study materials
Dear All, Good day to you, please i would like to know if any one pass CMA Exam Part 1 or 2 was using Surgent study materials because I have found big gap between CMA Exam specially part 1 and Surgent materials which still using by me looking for proper advice Regards Ahmed