CMA Review Class Prior Student Testimonials

Mikhail Perekhodnik, CMA (Student-Fall 2010 Review Class) "This is my second attempt at passing the CMA exam. My first time I decided to go with self-study, but just couldn't find enough motivation to get through all of the materials. So when the instructor-led course was offered I was very interested. The course helped me pass on the first attempt. The instructor and the participants in the sessions were all well versed in the accounting field and that was a major contributing factor. If there was a topic that someone could not understand, someone else would offer a different explanation or a different perspective and I believe that it helped everyone. Everyone participated in the discussions during the sessions and no stone was left unturned until everything was clear. The instructor has extensive managerial accounting experience and has passed the exam, so any questions that came up were answered and extra information and help were provided. All the topics that were on the actual exam were discussed during the sessions, so I did not see anything unfamiliar while taking the exam. The materials offer many different ways to study. You have your books, you can study online, you have audio CDs to listen to while you're driving, there are multitude of testing options, and you can use your Android or Microsoft powered smartphones to access study and testing materials as well. And of course, Sudha provided all the motivation that we needid pushing all of us who was "slacking" in the preparation process. Without this course I wouldn't be able to pass the test."

Christina Bell, CMA - Senior Manager Frank Rimmerman (Student-Fall 2010 Review Class) "As a busy person, maximizing the efficiency of my limited study time was of primary importance. With such a broad scope of topics to study I don't know where I would have even started on my own. The review course provided structure, just the right, very concise amount of material to re-familiarize (and in some cases familiarize) myself with the subject matter, and the study group and faculty provided the encouragement and discipline to keep after it. The software tool presents the candidate with questions in the same format as they are presented on the test with the added benefit of training the candidate to budget time for responses. Talk to anyone who has taken the CMA exam; the biggest challenge is not knowing the material it's answering the questions very rapidly. The Gleim system has numerous timed and scored exams so the candidate can assess their readiness. Attending the study group was a huge time commitment requiring a long commute for me during peak traffic times. There were times I wondered if this was good use of my time. Having passed both parts of the exam with scant three months of study, I can now say it was well worth the time. First, for any fellow commuters, there are CD's to reinforce the chapter materials while in the car. Second, a commitment to others is as effective in studying as it is in working out. There was some mild peer pressure and Sudha played the role of personal trainer to see ensure we stuck with it. We encouraged one another, rooted for one another, and commiserated. I came away with new friends I look forward to staying in touch with for years to come. Third, very few of us have deep expertise in say, both process inventory and hedging investments. More often each of us excel in a more focused area so having experts in the room to mindshare on less familiar or rusty topics is a huge help. Fourth, together we strategized the fastest way to answer a question, calculation shortcuts, rules we could rely on and even which topics we might spend less time studying and still pass. Finally, I can't say enough about Perry, our instructor. Perry reviewed the materials in advance, answered questions in the forum, shared his deep expertise and always, always, always encouraged us with positive reinforcement. He checked on our progress to find areas where we needed help and answered unasked questions and prepared exams specially designed to address weaknesses. I am certain he worked as hard as any of the candidates. If you want your CMA designation it will take some hard work, but working as a team lessens the burden and can even make the journey enjoyable. Go get it! "

Robert Beasley -MBA, CMA - FP&A Manager, Micrel Semiconductor (Student-Fall 2010 Review Class) "As a person who tends to have a lot of 'irons in the fire' the review course was instrumental in budgeting my time and focusing me in the right direction to pass the exams. Each of the two sections covers a lot of ground and the study sessions either reinforced my knowledge or opened up areas that I needed more exposure on. The instructor, Perry, had been through the exams himself and could give us a feeling of what could be expected on test day. Perry devised a good system of reviewing each of the study units with us and then going through drills where we answered the multiple choice questions as a group. This structured us to analyze the thought process that enabled us to get to the right answer in the budgeted 1.8 minutes per question, or understand why we didn't in the cases where we got it wrong the first time. Perry motivated us with positive reinforcement at each session. Sudha, our chapter president, played the role of a personal trainer and prodded us when needed and gave encouragement as we progressed each week through the study units. The Gleim published material was also a big help as it is patterned after the ICMA learning objectives and breaks down the material into study units that covered each area in-depth. The Gleim software, with its timed multiple choice tests and essay questions, put us in the test mode with each study unit and also mimicked the test center's look and feel. This was critical in that on the day of the exam there were a minimum of 'surprises'. Both Perry and Sudha, along with the course material, got us to the point where we could take the exam with a sense that we were taking our best shot that comes from the confidence earned after a period of thorough preparation. "