7 Weeks to CMA December 2026: A Week-by-Week Revision Plan for Intermediate

Today is 20 October. The first CMA Intermediate paper of the December 2026 term is on 10 December — 51 days away, a little over seven weeks. Most students know that. What many have not noticed is what the timetable does after 10 December.

First, look at the paper order

ICMAI’s December 2026 timetable for Intermediate alternates Group 1 and Group 2 papers on alternate days. If you are writing both groups, you sit eight papers in eight days. If you are writing one group, you have a day off between each of your four papers — which is a real advantage, and one reason we often suggest one group at a time (see Group 1 or Group 2 first).

Date	Paper	Group
10 Dec	P-5 Business Laws and Ethics	1
11 Dec	P-9 Operations Management and Strategic Management	2
12 Dec	P-6 Financial Accounting	1
13 Dec	P-10 Corporate Accounting and Auditing	2
14 Dec	P-7 Direct and Indirect Taxation	1
15 Dec	P-11 Financial Management and Business Data Analytics	2
16 Dec	P-8 Cost Accounting	1
17 Dec	P-12 Management Accounting	2

Two things follow from this table. The theory-heavy papers (P-5, P-9) come first, so they must be memorised and ready earliest. The sums-heavy papers (P-8, P-11, P-12) come last, so a single-group student gets a day before each of them — but a both-groups student does not, and should revise those three especially well in advance.

The week-by-week plan from 20 October

This plan assumes 4 to 6 study hours a day for one group, and 6 to 8 for both groups — the hour targets we explained in how many hours a day to study for CMA. If the syllabus is not yet finished, the first two weeks are where it gets finished; do not let that spill into November.

Week	Dates	What to do
1	20–26 Oct	Finish any untouched chapters. List every chapter of every paper with a tick for “done once”. No mock tests yet.
2	27 Oct – 2 Nov	Second pass of the sums papers (P-6, P-8, and P-11/P-12 if writing Group 2). Solve, do not read. One paper per day, rotating.
3	3–9 Nov	Theory papers (P-5, P-9, P-10 auditing part). Write answers by hand to past questions; learn section numbers and case names for P-5.
4	10–16 Nov	Taxation (P-7). Direct tax computations first, then GST. Keep one hour a day for a costing or accounts problem so the sums do not go cold.
5	17–23 Nov	Full-length mock tests: one paper every second day, 3 hours, timed, hand-written. Correct the same evening and keep an error list.
6	24–30 Nov	Second round of mocks on your weakest papers only. Use ICMAI’s model test papers and past question papers from the students’ section of icmai.in.
7	1–7 Dec	Short notes, formula sheets and the error list. Nothing new. Download and check your admit card.
Final days	8–9 Dec	Light reading of P-5 and P-9 only. Pack documents, sleep early, no all-nighters.

Why mock tests belong in weeks 5 and 6, not the last week

Each Intermediate paper carries 100 marks, split into an objective section and a longer descriptive section. The objective questions test whether you know the whole syllabus; the descriptive questions test whether you can present a working in the time available. A mock test written in the last week tells you what is wrong when it is too late to fix it. Written in week 5, it still leaves a fortnight to repair the weak chapters.

Three rules for every mock. Write it in the exact exam slot, 2 PM to 5 PM, so your concentration is trained for the afternoon. Write by hand, because speed of writing is what runs out in the real hall. And correct it against the suggested answers the same day — a mock that is not corrected has taught you nothing.

Remember the pass rule while you correct: 40 marks in every paper and 50 per cent across the group. A mock score of 38 in Paper 7 is a warning even if the group total looks fine — we explained the arithmetic in CMA passing marks.

Mistakes that lose marks in the last fortnight

A note for parents

The last seven weeks are when a student most needs an ordinary routine: meals on time, a quiet room from 2 PM to 5 PM for mock tests, and no family functions on exam days. If your child is writing both groups, the eight-day stretch from 10 to 17 December is tiring — plan travel to the exam centre in advance, and if you are in Coimbatore, remember the city is itself an ICMAI centre, so there is no need to go to Chennai.

At Masters Professional Academy in Peelamedu, our December 2026 batches move into test mode from mid-November: timed mock papers in the 2 PM slot, corrected and returned with marks against each working, so students see exactly which chapter is costing them. Any Intermediate student in Coimbatore — ours or not — is welcome to ask us how to fit this plan around college or work.

More questions answered on our CMA Questions & Answers page.