Your child cleared one group and missed the other. It feels like the year is gone. It is not.
Quick answer: If you failed one group in CMA, the group you passed stays passed permanently — you never write those papers again. You re-appear only for the failed group, at the next exam term. And any paper in the failed group where you scored 60 or more carries an exemption for your next three attempts.
What failing one group in CMA actually means
ICMAI marks each group as one unit of four papers. To pass a group you need both:
- 40% or more in every paper of that group, and
- 50% or more as the aggregate across the group.
Miss either one and the whole group is marked “failed”, even if three papers went well. This is why the CMA failure notice often shocks parents — the marksheet looks decent, the result says fail.
The group already passed is safe for good
A passed group does not lapse when the other group fails. It does not expire at the end of the year. Your child re-registers only for the remaining group, pays the exam fee for that one group, and writes four papers instead of eight. Most of our students at Masters Professional Academy who clear one group at a time still finish CMA Intermediate inside a year. Our CMA Intermediate coaching in Coimbatore is built around this one-group-at-a-time plan.
Scored 60 or more? You get an exemption — with one catch
Any paper in the failed group with 60 marks or above earns an automatic exemption, valid for the next three attempts. It appears on the marksheet — no application needed. Take this example from a failed Group 2:
| Paper | Marks | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 9 | 62 | Exempted next time |
| Paper 10 | 44 | Cleared the 40 mark |
| Paper 11 | 38 | Below 40 — this failed the group |
| Paper 12 | 48 | Cleared the 40 mark |
Aggregate = 192 out of 400 = 48%, below the 50% needed. So the group fails on both counts.
The catch students miss: next attempt, the 50% aggregate is calculated only on the papers actually written. With Paper 9 exempted, the student writes three papers and needs 150 out of 300 — the strong 62 no longer props up the average. An exemption removes work, not pressure.
What to do before the December exam form closes
Re-attempting in December 2026 means submitting a fresh exam form — registration alone does not enrol anyone for an exam. The cut-off falls in October, and it is the single most common way students lose six months. Check the date on icmai.in and read our note on registration versus exam form before you assume it is handled.
Be honest about the failed paper too. If Paper 11 went badly because the concepts were never clear, another three months of the same self-study will produce the same marks. Two attempts is normal in CMA — our post on CMA pass percentages shows why. Targeted revision on the weak paper is what changes the outcome, which is what focused CMA coaching in Coimbatore is for.
In short: one failed group costs one exam term, not the course. Protect the passed group, use the exemption, and fix the paper that actually broke.
The exemption page, the exam application form and the next term’s time table are linked on our CMA links page.
Talk to us about your situation
Send us the marksheet and we will tell you exactly which papers to re-write and how to plan the December attempt. 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.