i'm from iim indore (25-30), ask me anything (qna with y'all)

just pick question and start solving

practise, practise, practise.

if you give a sectional and cant even solve one question, its fine. what is important is that you look at the solution and make sure that if a similar question comes up you're able to do it. giving sectionals is the best way to learn.

i throughout my prep rarely crossed quants cutoffs or would do it barely, but i made sure i get exposure to a lot of questions. on dday, i cleared cutoffs by a decent margin.

hope that helps, see you at your dream college!

if pjs are making your score negative, maybe dont attempt them now, try to practise as much as you can but in exam you will always have to make a rational decision whether to attempt or not. I attempted 4 out of 5 pjs in the exam and got one wrong (out of those 4)

for idioms and vocab ive stressed this enough in other replies please go through them - using ai resources, flashcards, giving mocks, having a lot of exposure.

hope that helps, see you at your dream college!

Same doubt

Parajumbles are so tricky it's always the last 2 lines that I'm not sure on

Also sentence completion

practise as much as you can - look for connecting words, i had a few notes for pjs let me see if i can somehow share them with you.

however pjs are the nightmare of every ipmat aspirant - as much as you should practise dont feel too bad if you dont get them. try to target easy ones.

hope that helps, see you at your dream college!

haha lol

life here is CRAZY i'd say. there are good days and bad days. it has been a lot crazier for me than an average individual but it's okay i have chosen to have it like that.

some days we have 5 classes, some days we wake up to have lunch. i recently completed my midterms and quizzes and projects and god those two weeks were so hectic i barely got any sleep.

besides that so far, i have danced, acted, played sports, gotten 3 injuries (2 concussions), filled a million preprocesses (you'll know when you come here), made amazing friends, celebrated my fav festivals, laughed, cried, joked, felt homesick, felt at top of the world, did really well in one exam, absolutely f'ed the next one, had good food, bad food, and have LEARNT A MILLION NEW THINGS.

some days i hate life here, some days i love it but i would not trade it for anything else.

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

hi, i get you, i was never a QA person either.

i think for the longest time i was chasing syllabus completion - the "i need to know everything and be able to solve every question" approach - which was wrong.

when you give mocks and sectionals, you will realise there are certain areas you're inherently good at or you grasp them quicker, and there are certain areas where no matter what you do there will be one question you will mess up.

towards the end of my prep, i had almost 100% accuracy in log questions but less than 40% accuracy say geometry or mixtures and alligations.

good thing is IPMAT doesn't require you to know everything; if you can get good at a certain number of topics that have high weightage based on past trends, that's your job done. so don't chase syllabus deadlines, solve questions, identify your strengths and weaknesses and play the game accordingly.

as for interviews, there is no limit to what you can prepare. in interviews they can go as deep as asking you what a god's particle is (to a pcm student) or ask you to name five rivers of india (yes this was asked to a batchmate) - my action plan was to get all the transcripts from last 2 years and read them and identify what topics are asked frequently. then i'd take notes as well read my ncert again. i also gave a lot of mock pis which really helped, when the next interview season comes around, i'd love to share my prep material with y'all!

hope that helps! all the best!

see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be!)

hey

extracurriculars and certificates are like cherries on top, if you have them, bingo

but your main focus and the interviewers' main focus is always your IPMAT score + your past acads, i had like 12-15 certificates which they didn't even look at

my entire interview was 11th 12th acads + my sop so it's subjective

but a good score + good acads can always always make up for less or no ecas

hope that helps, all the best!

dont worry

ive mentioned this before, certificates are like cherries on top they probably wont even look at them

if your hobby is however something like painting or dancing or singing, mention it in your SOP only if you're confident because sometimes, they ask you to perform, a girl i know was asked to do bharatanatyam, it's rare but it might happen, if its painting, carry a portfolio

if its writing, same

if it's a sport or maybe reading, mention how it has helped you learn important life lessons

all the best!

talking about afterboards mocks, as long as i was ahead of the peak in every exam, i'd tell myself im doing well, also i always tried to be in the top 50-75 of the mock, didnt happen always but yes i guess that was my benchmark

my scores were 40-36-142 hehe

all the best!!!

with rcs i only try to focus on what the questions are asking, i mean i understand some people didnt like having 3 RCs, for me, i loved that, that is what helped me get through the cutoffs and i was able to do 3 PJs as well

if you're guessing in RCs, you need more practice because guesswork won't work in the actual exam, i manage time by doing grammar and vocab first, then RCs and then PJs, hope that helps

all the best!!

hey, my overall advice for verbal ability is giving mocks, i practised most of my pcs and pjs from afterboards sectionals because they were the only error-free questions i could find! the way to get good at them is practise a LARGE NUMBER OF QUESTIONS, after a point you start understanding the nuances of the question which helps you answer better, learning how to eliminate options that are too specific or too general, or looking for connecting words are tips that you will pick up on once you practise a lot, practise is a cliched advice but that is literally the only way you get good at it.

something to also keep in mind would be it is always a good idea to skip the question if you have more than 50% doubt. i never attempted less than 41 questions in any mock or sectional, in the exam i attempted 38 (only 2 negatives)

if you're aware of what ats is, it is literally negative marking that changes things for you, esp in VA, so as much as it is imp to get good practise, also know that you don't have to attempt 45/45 questions, rather you have to maximise your score and minimise negative marking.

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

the interesting and the secret tea is the life here - no matter how many vlogs you watch, how many seniors you stalk or how many people you talk to, whatever you see is not even 10% of what life here actually is like. there are good days and bad days. some days we have 5 classes + 2 project deadlines, and some days we wake up at 12 noon with nothing to do (rare but there are such days) - there is so MUCH to do here there is no way you will ever get bored, i feel like i have lived 2 years of life in the last 2 months.

every time you feel demotivated, remind yourself that if iimi is your dream college, being at iimi will always be better than not being at iimi (no disrespect to other colleges)

think of the pure adrenaline that rushes through this college, visualise the life you will be living here and the people you will be meeting; the reality will always be way CRAZIER than anything you could ever imagine in both good and bad ways. and if all this is not enough for you, aajao indore we'll give you a party.

the second part, my very PERSONAL OPINION is that you should have your own opinion. since i wasn't interested in pursuing pcm after my highschool, i would've chosen ipm at iimi definitely. it depends on what your future goals align with - do you want to pursue business or entrepreneurship or managerial research? or do you want to pursure eco or data science in particular. a good idea would be to do a good research on both programmes and see what they offer and whether it aligns with what you want to achieve or build in life.

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're supposed to be!)

hey sara,

i get you, i remember the morning of the exam i was going through a list of 300 idioms while having breakfast. throughtout my prep i went through like 500 idioms, 32 pages of PVs, 1500+ vocab and yet i could get 3/5 in vocab in the main exam - there is no limit to vocab. what you can do is start asap. expose yourself to as much content as you can, maintain a notebook. the more words you know, the lesser chance of seeing an unknown word in exam, use flashcards, give sectionals, sometimes you get lucky and a mock question turns up in exam (happened w me)

for rcs, luckily i was a natural. however i suggest 2 things - DO DAILY RCS religiously, if the first thing that you do after waking up in the morning is not solving the daily RC, something is seriously wrong with you. second, good idea is to read the questions before reading the rc that way you have an idea of what answers you're looking for. PRACTISE DAILY.

for my exam experience - it was crazy. my computer wasnt working, room was hot af, fans were making eerie noises, i was shaking so much guy next to me got scared. however as soon as the exam started i was the calmest person ever. i could physically feel the energy drain out of my body by the time i reached VA but i remained calm, took rational decisions and did the best i could. as soon as the exam ended, i respectfully blacked out (and came back to life after drinking two glasses of buttermilk)

one of the most memorable days of my life.

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

hey, thank you so much!

it's a good thing you're reading newspapers daily kudos!

besides that, buy a notebook and everytime you solve a mock or a sectional, write down every grammar rule you come across, every new word you come across and PRACTISE A LOT.

the way i prepared for va was by giving a 100 sectionals (not counting mocks). you have access to so many resources, use AI to teach/explain a grammar rule to you then apply it in mocks/sectionals and see the difference.

for pcs and pjs, practise as much as you can and feel free to not attempt them if you're confused or doubtful. remember - MAXIMISE SCORE, MINIMISE NEGATIVES.

your va scores will always go up and down but if they're in a consistent range that's good.

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

hi

i understand the dilemma you'd feel if you're taking a loan; i feel at the end it comes down to you and your family, i don't want to comment too much on the finances side of it as i feel i'm not the best person to comment on that.

as for time, i feel at iimi, you have to MAKE time for things you want to do. if you want to get a good cgpa, you have to make time for study, if you want to do internships/case comps, you have to study in a way where you get your major portions done in class so you have time for this.

building a startup requires a lot of dedicated effort and time and i believe it won't be possible in the first term probably, but i also believe nothing is impossible. with the right people by your side and the right time management tricks you can do wonders, after all afterboards was started like that

however there are also a lot of things you might have to give up on, and the loan is def a significant factor into this, you should def discuss this in detail w someone qualified! all the best, feel free to reach out personally!

oh and def i'll say hi to abhishek sharma, although he has been pretty occupied these days poor guy is doing a million things and oh we did have a hell lot of a fun during the garba night (we still miss home), anything else you want me to tell him ;)

edit - abhishek and i want you to dm either one of us personally, please do that if possible!

Hellooo😄

brutally honest opinion - good 10th and 12th forms a good impression. are they a determining factor of whether you'll get in or not? NO. is it still safe to have a good 12th score? YES.

i had a terrible terrible score, and i rightfully got grilled on that, but i was able to answer acads questions decently (until they asked me what god's particle is and i blanked out and then couldn't tell what the relation between enthalpy and entropy is) also my non-academic part of pi went really well

some pis are completely acads-driven, some 50/50, some literally have 0 acads

so yes your priority should be maximising IPMAT score while aiming for a 90+ in boards or atleast a decent 85+

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

hey, my score was not exactly amazing but thank you!

i think the 3 things were -

practise (100+ sectionals)

perseverance (scoring 98 and 145 in back-to-back mocks)

ability to take rational decisions in the exam (knowing which question to attempt, which to risk, which to leave)

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

i gave 100 sectionals and 33 mocks, im extremely proud of that

it helped me build speed, it gave me exposure, it gave me confidence when i felt low and humbled me when i was on a high.

what i regret was maybe i could have given more time to quants, i procrastinated a lot when it came to quants because i wouldnt score that well in quants; i could have scored way better in the actual exam. i also regret not attempting a few questions in va when i literally knew the answers.

during prep i regret that i should have done more vocabulary but i didnt.

for idioms and phrases, use ai resources or flashcards on afterboards and try to start asap, try making examples to remember these. i personally struggled with them too so my approach was searching random lists of idioms and then going through them.

hope that helps! see you at your dream college!

lol okay

midterms and endterms helped me a LOT to get over the absolute mess-up I did in IPMAT 2025 so here we go i suppose - my score was 218, 40/36/142 and my rank was, AIR 54 in GEN.

not my best performance but i am at indore and i am beyond grateful for that and trust me when i say this once you're here it literally does not make any difference.

yapped a bit but hope that helps!

if you didnt have maths in 11th and 12th, best thing to do is to start asap, which means now!

although IPMAT rarely tests 11th and 12th concepts, ive seen nonmath students score higher than math students so the thing is just PRACTISE a lot, please look at all concept videos and give topic tests upto the 5 levels, after that give sectionals, LOOK AT THE SOLUTIONS CAREFULLY THEYRE ABSOLUTE GOLD.

those solutions will get you 8-12 marks in the actual exam and that will be game changer!!! So start solving right away

damn

okay so the way i did it was, i would give 2-3 sectionals back-to-back and then i wouldnt give any for a day

on that day i would analyse and understand all the questions that i got wrong or did not attempt and make sure i understand them so well that next time a similar question comes up i get it right

building accuracy is a very slow, painful process but the reward (being here) is worth it!!!

yes absolutely

the IPMAT Indore 2025 AIR 12 and my batchmate is from humanities background

with the right resources and right prep strategy anyone can do well in ipmat and subsequently ipm

hope that helps, all the best!

watch concept lectures --> solve sectionals --> identify questions/topics you couldn't solve or got wrong, read solutions, watch a video again --> give mocks --> repeat

start with easy and scoring topics such as number systems and arithmetic and then you can go to geometry and modern maths.

hope that helps!

hi, i understand your situation.

as much as i'm very blessed that i didn't have to take a loan at the very start of my career but i completely understand how heavy this degree is on the pocket.

the scholarship options do exist based on economic criteria and sometimes even merit based, i suggest you look into them with the help of a professional.

as for loan, i understand, a lot of my batchmates have taken loans and it definitely is risky, but from conversations i've learnt that they look at it as an investment into the future, now it is different for different people. it depends on what you want to do ahead in life and how much value do you think being at iimi or any other college will add to your journey, i suggest you think about this, discuss it with family and professionals.

or feel free to reach out to me personally and i'll see how much i can help.

drop me a text on my linkedin!

hope that helps!

the struggles are never-ending and sleep is elusive lol

the way to be consistent is to tell yourself daily that you're working for a huge dream and so are other 35K people. when you don't study for one day, there is someone else who is putting in efforts.

i don't want to scare you or want you burn yourself out. its okay to take breaks.

but consistency will come when you're aware of the reality. iimi has an acceptance rate of 0.62% (iits have ~0.68%)

it is a highly competitive scene and everyone has gaps in their learning. if you dont work hard consistently, someone else who will will leave you behind.

when you tell yourself all this and put yourself to work everyday eventually your mind will adapt to this schedule.

hope that helps!

thank you for your wishes

as for major topics, i suggest you go through pyps, some topics appear to have more weightage than others.

however please know that ipmat is a highly unpredictable exam and it changes pattern every year. it is always safe to have a basic knowledge of all topics but being extremely good at topics which you know.

the topics you've mentioned are surely frequently asked topics so try to maintain good accuracy.

and yes i saw the date, 4th may is crazy

all the best to all of you!!!

sorry it took me so long im extremely sorry

va sectional scores definitely take a toll on your confidence, and yes you will have to increase your attempt rate

i think go through your sectional analysis well, you'll learn a lot from the solutions and later questions will come up where you can apply your learning, do your content well, subject verb agreement, phrasal verbs, vocab, these are things you have to start consuming asap, the more content you assume, the more you'll sharpen your intuition; aside from that i think PRACTICE is the key, we at afterboards are trying to upload loads of VA questions so that you can truly give unlimited sectionals!

hi sorry for late replies!

and def, 10 hours of coaching prior to a mock = complete and total brain fade

next time you give a mock pls be well slept and well fed

and yes this is def a problem with offline coachings, no offence but their mocks are always either too easy or too hard, in that case i have always felt that afterboards mocks are more relevant, as they have a combination of easy and hard sectionals, as for QA, it's unpredictable, sometimes cutoff is 12, sometimes 28, so you will have to be prepared for all scenarios; i can understand that's not easy, i sucked at QA too, used to score only 12s and 16s in mocks even a day before the exam, but in the exam i ended up scoring a 40 because i had had exposure to similar kinds of questions before and i had consumed the solutions like anything which is why i always say PRACTICE IS GOD.

hiii thank you and sorry for late replies!

i'm a fresher so sorry can't help much, mere liye it was mostly mechanical, i used to give sectionals/mocks as well as watch concept videos side by side because i didnt have much time and given that your dates are out now you don't either, i started my prep in NOV too and well hehe i made it so so can you

for QA, watch video -> give sectional -> learn all the solutions that you got wrong or didn't attempt -> give mock -> repeat

for VA, just practise a LOT and analyse sectionals a lot, there is literally no secret

hiii sorry for late replies!!!

okay the course nature is very vast, you'll have to study sociology and philosophy in term 1 and you will feel that what does this have anything to do with management

the thing is, EVERY college has its pros and cons, you have to choose best what aligns with your goals, the exposure to finance is almost none in year 1, but year 2 se it will start a bit; unless you find something to do for yourself

CFA yes a lot of my seniors have cracked CFA L1 and a bhaiya L2 as well so def it's doable

getting a loan is easy, about the burden and stress yes it's always there but again some people are very confident that they want to work in corporate and that they'll clear CAT and get a good placement so they don't let it affect them much, it's like an investment

again it's completely ok and natural to feel burdened i can imagine how that'd feel so pls take that decision wisely

AI might be taking over the job market but no AI won't be able to replace us, a good example is my internship (i hope vani di doesn't mind); afterboards does use AI tools for content generation, etc. but i help them make it better where AI can't so no AI is not going to steal your job as long as you can work with AI and control it like a tool

on the iimi vs sscbs debate, MAKE A LIST, i know people who chose one over the other and are happy and also people who chose one over the other and are not happy, it really depends on which domain you want to pursue, do you want to work after grad or do an MBA, also MONEY, so i'd suggest you take that decision mindfully

i tried to be super honest but if you still have questions pls reach out on linkedin, all the best!

hii sorry for late replies

idk if it's best but i'll tell you how i did it, usually when a rc comes up, i first read all the 6 questions, that way i have an idea of which key phrases or words or analogies to look out for, then i read the RC, as soon as i find an answer i mark it, this saves me time as well! but it is important to read the whole RC because sometimes there are arguments and counter-arguments and tone based questions so keep that in mind too

all the best!!!

hiii sorry for late replies

instinct is natural sometimes it'll work sometimes it won't but if you've given 100 sectionals i think that does it for you (yes i gave 100 sectionals and no its not compulsory i know a guy who scored more than me in VA who had given only 10 sectionals its life its unfair)

your scores a good, try to maintain consistency

DO AFTERBOARDS DAILY RCS, that will make a habit + increase vocab

all the best

hiiii sorry for late replies

no ideal score, people at 190 have gotten in, and 230 wala person has gotten rejected (this is for GEN, happens for other categories too i think)

ideal score is the best score you can get, also because the paper changes every year, it's different, 2025 IPMAT mai 210 was as good as 2024 IPMAT mai 230, try to maximise your score as much as you can, cutoffs will change every year, attempt all the easy questions and atleast half the medium that will put you in a good position (hopefully)

PIs are a huge game changer so again you dont get through until you have gotten through

my actual score was 218, 40/36/142 and my rank was 54 in GEN, 56 overall.

all the best!!!

How would you go about prepping for cuet while keeping ipmat as your main, assuming one has a decent enough base. One that makes you go, "arreyy hannn, I didn't know the answer to this problem, but after looking at the solution I get how the author has reached this conclusion" . Are CUET based practice questions, mocks enough? Commerce + maths btw

before boards, around 3, after boards, anytime between 8-10-14

consistency ive mentioned before i knew if i dont work hard somebody else will and there are only 150 seats, for burnout i think the day i would have burnout i'd either not study at all or revise past stuff without any devices just a pen and paper, or maybe watch a good cringey movie, its ok to breaks but dont break your pattern

all the best!!!

hey, thank you so much!

honestly, i didn't. this exam is a huge part of our lives, for me it meant that this exam and this college is going to decide the entire trajectory of my life. obviously after coming here i've realised how minute this thing is in the larger picture but i understand the nervousness you'd feel before entering the exam hall. i was so nervous the guy next to me had to check up twice on me.

it is natural to feel that way but please understand that the probability of you writing 2+2=5 increases when you're nervous; when the exam starts, the only thought in your head should be about how can you maximise your score based on everything you've prepared, leave the worries and anxiety behind you will have a lot of time to worry later, but for those 120 minutes, be calm, don't think about college or future or anything, just have faith in yourself and your hardwork and do your best.

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

same with me

besides practising a lot of rcs, what you could try is reading the questions beforehand so you have a rough idea of what you're looking for in the RC, also if rcs take you long, try to build speed in other sections of va so you can dedicate more time to rcs.

PRACTICE is the key i'd say, also don't overthink your options a lot, they're not that deep 9 out of 10 times.

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

-build vocab by reading newspapers/aeon essays/articles/books/solving sectionals/going on vocab sites online

-you'll learn time management by practice. Read the questions beforehand, don't overthink, and IT IS OKAY TO SKIP A QUESTION IF IT'S TAKING YOU TOO LONG OR YOU'RE DOUBTFUL. give as many sectionals as possible i cannot stress the importance of practice enough.

-i dont think it was one thing. it was a lot of factors and on some days even i have no idea how it happened, i truly feel blessed. but a wild guess would be i worked as hard as i could, i gave all my time and energy to this prep, i tried staying true to myself, i prayed a lot (no offence to anyone) and i practised a lot, and i followed the advice my trusted mentors gave me. most importantly, i had faith in myself that despite all odds i can do this. (also i made a bet with myself that if rcb wins the ipl this year i'll crack ipmat)

-the way i stayed consistent was by repeatedly telling myself that the competition is crazy and i have a few weaknesses and if i have to compete with them i have to be at par, so i kept working hard (there were days when i wouldnt study at all to because it's fine we're all human) but i had a small picture of iimi on my study table that kept me going

-thank you so much

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)

hi random guy :)

campus is beautiful, my gallery is full of sky photos, almost every thing you can think of there's a place to do it here.

people here are, well, people. it's a big place, you find your tribe and then you don't bother anyone else (it's chill mostly i don't mean to scare you)

hostels are pretty amazing too it's been really fun so far

mess i am not allowed to comment (media policy) but honestly it's better than what i expected

overall vibe is actually cool i mostly love being here it's a great place to call home for 3/5 years!

hope that helps! all the best, see you at your dream college (or wherever you're meant to be)