CIMA E3 Strategic Management — Information & Free Practice

About CIMA E3 Strategic Management

CIMA E3 Strategic Management · GB

Key exam facts

Provider

CIMA (The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), within AICPA & CIMA, owns the CGMA Professional Qualification examinations; Pearson VUE delivers the computer-based tests.

Format

On-demand computer-based Objective Test, at Pearson VUE test centres or online. Item types may include multiple choice, multiple response, number entry and drag and drop. Excludes Strategic Case Study.

Exam questions

Total questions: 60.

Time limit

90 minutes of examination time; a separate 15-minute pre-examination tutorial is available.

Passing score

100 or above on a scaled score of 0–150; this is not a raw percentage.

Exam fee

UK (Tier 1): GBP 254 per Strategic Level Objective Test from 1 January 2026; GBP 264 from 1 January 2027. Registration, annual subscription and study costs are separate.

Topics covered

• The Strategy process (15%)

  • The purpose of strategy
  • Strategy
  • The purpose of strategy
  • The types and levels of strategy
  • Types of strategy
  • Levels of strategy
  • The strategy process
  • The rational and emergent processes of arriving at strategy

• Analysing the organisational ecosystem (20%)

  • The elements of the ecosystem
  • Markets and competition
  • Society and regulation
  • The drivers of change in ecosystem
  • Institutional/systemic, social, market, technology and sustainability (a-e)
  • The impact of the ecosystem on organisational strategy
  • The impact of strategic networks and platforms on organisational strategy
  • Stakeholder analysis in networks

• Generating strategic options (15%)

  • The context of generating strategic options
  • The role of governance and ethics in the strategy process
  • Purpose, vision, and values of organisation and their impact on strategy
  • Option generation
  • Key strategic questions and an organisation’s starting position (a-b)
  • Potential organisational operating ecosystem
  • Frameworks to generate options

• Making strategic choices (15%)

  • Options
  • Criteria for evaluation
  • Options against criteria
  • Recommend appropriate options
  • Choices into coherent strategy
  • Value analysis
  • Portfolio analysis

• Strategic control (20%)

  • Strategic performance management system
  • Detailed action plans
  • Action plan communication
  • Implementation
  • Incentives to performance
  • Resource allocation to support strategy implementation
  • Resource availability
  • Resource allocation to strategic choices
  • Change management techniques and methodologies
  • Impact of strategy on organisation
  • Change management strategies
  • The role of the leader in managing change

• Digital strategy (15%)

  • The governance of digital transformation
  • The roles and responsibilities of the board and executive leadership in digital strategy
  • Digital transformation
  • Digital technologies
  • Digital enterprise
  • Elements of digital strategies
  • Economics of digitisation
  • Digital ecosystems
  • Digital consumption
  • Data and metrics
  • Leadership and culture

How to prepare

Work through the topics, read the explanation after each answer, and revisit the areas where you miss questions. Use the official outline and reference materials below to guide your study.

These independent practice questions are not actual exam items and do not guarantee a passing result.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources and references

• Strategic level Examination Blueprint 2026–2027

  printed p. 24

• Strategic level Examination Blueprint 2026–2027

  printed p. 6

• Strategic level Examination Blueprint 2027–2028

  printed pp.24–30

• Strategic level Examination Blueprint 2026–2027

  printed p. 45

• A guide to your examination results

  Professional Qualification — Objective Test exams, item 2

• CIMA fees

  Exam prices from 1 January 2026; Strategic Level Objective Test; Tier 1

Confirm current exam arrangements with the exam provider.