Essay types are not amongst the ones that should keep you wondering what the answer can possibly be for a particular question. As you are time-bound and fairly dependent on your typing speed, the essay type requires you to put some thoughts and formatting to get the maximum scores in this section.
The real pain dawns on the exam day, where after say 3 hours on the MCQs set you remember that you are running out on time to respond to the essay types. Each essay type carries 25% weightage on the CMA score and there is no way that you can skip it. Trust me, when you badly need that 360 marks to cross your CMA cut-off, you know that you have to ace the section.
Given that you have 30 minutes to answer the easy type question, it’s very important for you to know how to read the questions, interpret, map your answers, and project for all 5-7 of them. With a strategy in place, you can surely make it work for your CMA exam.
While you can never have enough test-taking tips, without further adieu let’s dive into a few more-
Tip No. 1: Keep it short
In case it’s getting too lengthy, decide what to draft, just keep it short, make bullets as and when necessary and you should be good.
Tip No. 2: Never leave it blank
It’s quite possible that you would run out of time, but never leave the question unanswered. Even a single-line answer can fetch your credits if you have asserted the outline of the concept in your response.
Tip No. 3: Read the instructions carefully before you answer the questions
To answer essay types the rules are quite similar to that of answering the reading comprehension during school, which is -read the questions before you answer. If required, gather some focus and read it twice.
Tip No. 4: Pay attention to the ‘Verbs’ in the question
It’s very important to know whether you are asked to ‘define’, ‘describe’ or ‘compare’ in the questions that you are attempting to answer. Be very clear about what you are about to deliver.
Tip No. 5: Check your sentence construction before you submit
Even If you have piled up a good amount of information to your response, it won’t be considered effective if the answer makes no sense to the reviewers. They are very critical about the sentence structure and the focus of the answer where candidates need to be careful.
Tip No. 6: Remember – graders are looking to give you points, not deduct them
Believe it or not, during evaluation, graders try their best to secure you with the most marks to get you certified as a CMA.
The summary here is, if you have done your part of hard work for the CMA exam, no one can stop you from becoming a CMA in the next six months. Try your best and utilize your resources wisely so that there is no chance of missing out on you becoming the next Management Accountant. If you are still worried about how it would turn out to be, feel free to contact Miles CPA/CMA review team to give you a full-proof game-plan, exclusively for you.
Miles Education is a premiere skilling & training institute for finance & accounting professionals to earn US CPA/CMA credentials. The focus for Miles Education has always been to up-skill students and professionals to help them be future-ready and enable their career progression through the US CPA/CMA qualification Committed to achieving this goal, today, Miles is India’s largest and #1 CPA review course! It has been instrumental in building the CPA/CMA ecosystem in India holding offices in 9 cities and partnerships with 100+ MNCs, including all of the Big 4s.
Miles Education provides student/professional-centric services while keeping concept-based learning at its core which has helped it climb to the top ranks when it comes to the US CPA/CMA certification in India.
