Please check the updated latest CIMA pass rates here
Exam pass rate: total exams passed / total exams taken.
Case study exam pass rates will be made available following the release of strategic case study exam results in each window.
| August (2015) | November (2015) | February (2016) | May (2016) | |
| Operational | 34% | 61% | 62% | 67% |
| Management | 77% | 78% | 64% | 63% |
| CIMA gateway | 40% | 42% | 29% | 26% |
| Strategic | 67% | 62% | 56% | 46% |
Objective tests
The pass rates cover the objective test sittings between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2016.
| E1 | P1 | F1 | E2 | P2 | F2 | E3 | P3 | F3 | |
| Overall exam pass rate: Percentage of students who have passed the exam after one or more attempts. | 88% | 67% | 84% | 93% | 72% | 72% | 80% | 77% | 75% |
| First time pass rate: Percentage of students who have passed the exam on first attempt. | 80% | 47% | 74% | 86% | 52% | 49% | 65% | 55% | 55% |
| Exam pass rate:Total exams passed / total exams taken. | 76% | 42% | 69% | 83% | 43% | 45% | 60% | 50% | 49% |
CIMA will publish updated objective test pass rates every quarter following the release of pass rates for case study exams.
Certificate level exams
These pass rates cover the certificate level exams between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2016.
| C01 | C02 | C03 | C04 | C05 | |
| Overall exam pass rate: Percentage of students who have passed the exam after one or more attempts. | 83% | 90% | 73% | 86% | 91% |
| First time pass rate: Percentage of students who have passed the exam on first attempt. | 73% | 83% | 62% | 76% | 85% |
| Exam pass rate: Total exams passed / total exams taken. | 68% | 80% | 57% | 72% | 83% |
CIMA’s exam chief, Steve Flatman, told PQ magazine he was particularly pleased with the rise in the P3 and F3 pass rates. Both have seen a 20% increase in overall pass rates from a year ago, when CIMA released its first set of results.
For Flatman these latest results show the exams are “consistent, reliable and fair”.
The case study pass rates also held up in May, with the exception of the Strategic level, where the pass rate slipped to 46%. Flatman has already looked into this and explained there were were more students resitting this paper in the summer cohort.
For the first time CIMA released grade descriptors with the results. These are designed to help show students where they are failing. Flatman stressed this was not just for looking back, but to help students going forward too. He felt it is vital that CIMA is clear and transparent about the standards expected of exam candidates.
CIMA May 2016 case study pass rates: Operational 67%; Management 63%; Strategic 46%
CIMA overall OT pass rates: E1 88%; P1 67%; F1 84%; E2 93%; P2 72%; F2 72%; E3 80%; P3 77%; F3 75%
CIMA first-time OT pass rates: E1 80%; P1 47%; F1 74%; E2 86%; P2 52%; F2 49%; E3 65%; P3 55%; F3 55%
