CMA December 2026 Exam: Last 45 Days Study Plan for Inter and Final

A CMA December exam study plan that starts on 24 October has 47 days before the first paper on 10 December 2026. Keep two of them as rest days and you have 45 study days. I split them into three phases: a first revision, timed full papers, then a last week of revision in exam order.

Forty-five days will revise a syllabus you have already read. It will not cover a first reading, so decide this week whether you are writing one group or both.

TL;DR

• Exams: 10 to 17 December 2026. Final 10.00 am to 1.00 pm, Inter 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm, each group on alternate dates.
• At 8 hours a day, 45 days give 360 hours: 45 hours a paper for both groups, 90 for one group.
• 24 October to 13 November: first revision. 14 November to 2 December: full papers. 3 to 9 December: revision in exam order.
• Tax papers: Finance Act, 2025 and GST changes up to 31 May 2026, per ICMAI's circular of 15 September 2026.

How many days and hours are left before the CMA December 2026 exams?

Count it: 8 days left in October (24 to 31), 30 in November and 9 in December before the 10th. That is 47 days. Take one rest day in each of the first two phases and 45 study days remain.

At 8 hours a day that gives 360 hours: 45 a paper if you write all eight papers of your level, and 90 if you write one group of four. At 6 hours a day, scale each block down by a quarter.

Both groups means 45 hours a paper; one group means 90.

When is each CMA paper in December 2026?

ICMAI's time table puts Final papers from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and Inter papers from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm, from Thursday 10 to Thursday 17 December. Inter Group I (Papers 5 to 8) falls on 10, 12, 14 and 16 December and Group II (Papers 9 to 12) on 11, 13, 15 and 17 December. Final Groups III and IV use the same even and odd dates. Our CMA December 2026 time table lists every paper by date.

If you write one group, you get a clear day before every paper after the first. If you write both, you face eight papers on eight straight days.

Phase 1, 24 October to 13 November: what should the first revision cover?

These 21 days, less one rest day, give 20 study days or 160 hours. That is 20 hours a paper for both groups, or 40 for one group.

1. List the chapters of each paper and mark each one strong, shaky or not read.
2. Revise the shaky chapters first, from ICMAI's updated study material or your own notes.
3. Solve two past questions by hand at the end of every chapter, without the solution open.
4. Keep a one-page sheet per paper for formats, formulas and section numbers you keep forgetting.

If two papers in a group are still marked not read on 24 October, write the other group in December.

By 13 November every chapter should have had one revision and two questions solved.

Phase 2, 14 November to 2 December: how many full papers should you write?

This phase has 19 days, less one rest day, so 18 study days or 144 hours. Count 6 hours for each full paper: 3 hours to write it, and 3 to check it against the answers and rewrite the two weakest answers.

• Both groups: two full papers per subject, 16 in all. That uses 96 hours and leaves 48, or 6 hours a paper, to fix the chapters the papers expose.
• One group: three full papers per subject, 12 in all. That uses 72 hours and leaves 72, or 18 hours a paper, for fixing.

Write Inter papers at 2 pm and Final papers at 10 am, the same slot as the exam. If you write both groups, sit Financial Accounting and Corporate Accounting and Auditing on consecutive days once, as they fall on 12 and 13 December.

How should you split the three hours?

In ICMAI's December 2025 Inter and Final papers and its June 2026 practice test papers, Section A is compulsory: 15 MCQs of 2 marks each, 30 marks. Section B usually asks you to answer five of seven questions of 14 marks each, 70 marks. My split is this:

• About 40 minutes for Section A.
• About 125 minutes for Section B, which is 25 minutes a question.
• The last 15 minutes for any MCQ you skipped and for checking totals.

Sixteen checked papers for both groups or twelve for one, with a 40-minute cap on the MCQs.

Phase 3, 3 to 9 December: how do you revise in exam order?

These 7 days carry no rest day, so 56 hours. Revise in the order of your papers, from your one-page sheets and the mistakes marked on your checked papers. No new chapters.

• One group: 14 hours a paper, plus the gap day before each paper after the first. A Group I student revises Financial Accounting again on 11 December, Taxation on 13 and Cost Accounting on 15.
• Both groups: 7 hours a paper in the order 5, 9, 6, 10, 7, 11, 8, 12. Inter papers start at 2 pm, so exam-day mornings go to that day's sheet. A Final student has only the evening before.

Revise in exam order for the last week, and use each gap day for the next paper only.

Which ICMAI material and amendments apply for December 2026?

ICMAI's circular of 15 September 2026 says the Finance Act, 2025, with amendments up to 31 May 2026, applies to Paper 7 (Inter) and Papers 15 and 19 (Final), and GST amendments up to the same date apply to Papers 7 and 19. Companies Act changes and CAS 1 to 24 to the same date apply to the papers it lists. Read the supplementary for your tax paper before Phase 2.

For practice, ICMAI's past question papers for December 2025 are on its site. Its practice test papers, with answers, are marked for the June 2026 term, so check their tax answers against the December 2026 amendments.

Tax and law papers for December 2026 follow amendments up to 31 May 2026.

What score do you need to clear a group?

You need 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate across the group, at both Inter and Final. A paper with 60 or more in a failed group earns an exemption. Our posts on CMA Inter passing marks and claiming an exemption in CMA Final work through the cases. For planning, the weakest paper decides the result: extra hours on your best subject do nothing for a paper sitting at 35.

Aim to get every paper safely past 40 before chasing a 60 in any one.

If you want your Phase 2 papers checked, Gradehunt's CMA test series has ICMAI-pattern papers that you write by hand and upload. An ex-examiner returns each one within 48 hours with step-wise marks and comments. Gradehunt has checked more than 6,000 answer sheets, and your first paper is checked free.