Every parent who looks up the CMA pass percentage gets the same shock: barely one in four students clears a group. Before that number decides anything for your family, it is worth understanding who is counted in it — and who is not.
Quick answer
In the ICMAI CMA June 2026 term, 23.93% cleared Intermediate Group I and 30.22% cleared Final Group III. So yes — CMA is a genuinely hard exam, and most students need more than one attempt at some group. But that percentage counts every candidate who walked into the hall, including those who never finished the syllabus. A student who completes the portions and writes mock papers is nowhere near those odds.
CMA pass percentage, June 2026 term
These are the official ICMAI figures for the June 2026 examinations.
| Group | Appeared | Passed | Pass % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intermediate Group I | 28,471 | 6,813 | 23.93% |
| Intermediate Group II | 17,488 | 5,358 | 30.64% |
| Final Group III | 10,474 | 3,165 | 30.22% |
| Final Group IV | 5,393 | 2,384 | 44.21% |
These are group-wise. Students who sit both groups together pass at a lower rate — 19.68% cleared both Intermediate groups in one go. Source: the ICMAI press release for the June 2026 term on icmai.in.
How to read the figures
- Group I is the filter. It carries Financial Accounting, Business Laws, Direct and Indirect Taxation and Cost Accounting — the four papers most students meet fresh. Its pass rate is consistently the lowest, and it is where the syllabus-unfinished candidates fall out.
- Group II and Final Group IV look easier because the candidates are different. By the time a student reaches those groups they have already cleared at least one group, so the pool is stronger. The papers are not softer.
- The both-groups figure is the one to respect. Fewer than one in five students who attempt both Intermediate groups together clear both. That is why we decide group strategy student by student rather than by default.
- Percentages move from term to term. A tough Taxation paper can swing Group I by several points. Compare trends, not single terms.
Why the CMA pass percentage looks so low
ICMAI counts every registered candidate who enters the hall. A large share appear with the syllabus half-finished, hoping to at least see the paper. Many others are working professionals studying at night with no practice papers behind them. Neither group is counted separately, so the published rate blends prepared and unprepared candidates into one number.
The exam is not designed to fail you. But the practical papers — Cost Accounting, Financial Management, Management Accounting — punish students who read theory instead of solving sums. And the passing rule itself catches good students: 40 marks in every paper and 50% in the group at the same time, which means one neglected paper fails a group that was otherwise well prepared. Our note on CMA passing marks shows how a 215-out-of-400 marksheet can still say FAIL.
What the pass rate looks like for a prepared student
ICMAI does not publish pass rates by preparation level, so no institute can quote an honest number for “students who studied properly”. What we can say from our own results in Coimbatore is this: in the December 2025 term, every MPA student who sat CMA Intermediate Group I cleared it — a 100% result against a national figure in the twenties — and the common factor was the fortnightly module tests and the full-length papers written before the exam. Our results page names every achiever, term by term, and our Pride of Masters page follows the students who cleared both groups and went on to practical training.
What if my child fails a group?
This is the worry we hear most often at our Coimbatore centre, and the answer is reassuring. A cleared group stays cleared. Your child rewrites only the failed group in the next term, and any paper in which they scored 60 or more is carried forward as an exemption at Intermediate and Final.
ICMAI holds exams twice a year, in June and December. A failed group costs six months, not a lost year. Plenty of practising CMAs failed at least one group on the way through. What matters is what happens in the month after the result — see what to do after failing one group in CMA and keep your registration in mind (CMA registration validity explains the seven-year window).
How to land on the right side of the percentage
- Finish the syllabus at least six weeks before the exam, so revision is revision and not first reading.
- Write full three-hour papers under time. Students lose marks to speed, not to ignorance.
- Solve practical sums with pen and paper. Reading a solved illustration is not practice.
- Do not postpone a group to prepare better. Attempts build exam temperament, and a skipped term is a term lost from your registration.
- Choose one group or both honestly. A working student attempting both groups is choosing the 19.68% pool over the 30% pool.
Students at our CMA Intermediate coaching in Coimbatore write a full module test every fortnight for exactly this reason, and every answer sheet comes back individually corrected. Students starting from Class 12 build the same habit from the first month of CMA Foundation coaching.
Two things parents usually ask next: what the whole course costs, and which form to fill when. We have answered both — the full CMA course fee breakdown and the difference between registration and the exam form.
Questions students and parents ask
Is the CMA Foundation pass percentage higher than Intermediate?
Foundation is a single group of four objective papers with no negative marking, and students who prepare generally clear it in one attempt. ICMAI publishes Foundation figures with each result; check the current term’s press release on icmai.in for the exact number.
Which CMA group is the hardest?
By the numbers, Intermediate Group I, because it has the lowest pass rate and the most first-time candidates. By paper, students most often struggle with Direct and Indirect Taxation and with Management Accounting.
Does the pass percentage matter if I am well prepared?
Not much. It describes the whole pool, most of whom did not finish the syllabus. Your own odds are set by whether you completed the portions, wrote timed papers and kept every paper above 40.
Where are the official CMA pass percentages published?
ICMAI issues a press release with each result on icmai.in, giving appeared, passed and pass percentage for every group. Our table above is taken from the June 2026 release.
Past question papers for six terms, the examiners’ comments for June 2026 and the model papers with answers are on our CMA question papers and study material page.
Talk to us about your situation
Tell us which group your child is stuck on and we will give you an honest read on what it will take. Free guidance, no obligation to join.
Masters Professional Academy, Peelamedu, Coimbatore · Open 7 days, 9 AM – 7 PM
More questions answered on our CMA Questions & Answers page · Masters Professional Academy home page