Before getting to know how hard is the CMA USA, let us first get to know the differences between the two qualifications/examinations:
If you're a CA student preparing for the CMA exam, you might find it helpful to compare the CMA and CA to understand the differences and focus your study efforts.
- CA Inter has 8 papers divided into two groups, with each group having four papers. Whereas in CMA US, you have two papers divided into 11 sections (5 sections in Part 1 and 6 sections in Part 2)
- You need to score 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate to be declared a pass in CA, whereas in CMA (USA), you need to score 360 out of 500 marks to be declared a pass.
- There is just a one-day gap between two papers in the CA exams. In CMA, however, you can schedule your exam dates at your convenience. To put it differently, you can write one paper in January's first week and the other paper in February's last week. This gives you around 1 month of preparation for the other part.
- CA has a descriptive (majority) exam pattern. On the other hand, CMA (USA) has an MCQ exam pattern with 2 essay-type descriptive questions.
- Dates for the CA exam are scheduled by ICAI, whereas every candidate has the option to choose their dates for appearing for the exam.
- CA exams are conducted twice a year, whereas CMA US exams are conducted 3 times a year in Jan/Feb, Apr/May, Sept/Oct.