IIM Indore’s IPMAT 2020 examination is going to be conducted tomorrow (7 September 2020) across 34 cities in the country. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a lot of ad-hoc changes and contingency measures pertaining to the admission processes. The IPMAT 2020 process in this ‘new normal’ is not going to be similar to how it was in the ‘old normal’.
IIM Indore has released the official notification detailing the selection process. There are five major changes in the process.
What changes?
1) The duration of IIM Indore’s IPMAT 2020
The duration of the examination has come down to 90 minutes from the usual 120 minutes. Each of the three sections – Quantitative Ability (Multiple Choice Questions) [QA-MCQ], Quantitative Ability (Short Answers) [QA-SA] and Verbal Ability (Multiple Choice Questions) [VA-MCQ] – will get an equal share of the pie, with 30 minutes allotted.
| Section | Duration – Earlier | Duration – IPMAT 2020 |
| QA (MCQ) | 40 minutes | 30 minutes |
| QA (SA) | 40 minutes | 30 minutes |
| VA (MCQ) | 40 minutes | 30 minutes |
| Total | 120 minutes | 90 minutes |
2) The number of questions and total marks
The total number of questions has come down from 100 to 60. This effectively means that the total marks have also diminished from 400 to 240.
| Section | Total questions – Earlier | Total questions – IPMAT 2020 |
| QA (MCQ) | 40 | 20 |
| QA (SA) | 20 | 10 |
| VA (MCQ) | 40 | 30 |
| Total | 100 | 60 |
| Section | Total marks – Earlier | Total marks – IPMAT 2020 |
| QA (MCQ) | 160 | 80 |
| QA (SA) | 80 | 40 |
| VA (MCQ) | 160 | 120 |
| Total | 400 | 240 |
3) The curious case of Verbal Ability section
Table 2.1 clearly conveys that the number of questions in the Quantitative Ability section has been reduced to exactly half of its usual numbers. Specifically, QA-MCQ will have a total of 20 questions, as opposed to 40, and QA-SA will have 10 questions, as against the usual 20.
However, the difference is in the VA-MCQ section. The number of questions has come down only by 25%, from 40 to 30. There is a clear increase in weight for the Verbal Ability section, in terms of the total marks.
4) Video-based assessment vs. Personal Interview
The candidates who are shortlisted to the next round will find themselves in a unique situation, too. The usual subsequent WAT and Personal Interview stages are not going to be part of the selection process this time.
Instead, the candidates will have what is called as ‘Video-based assessment’. Here, the shortlisted candidates will have to upload a self-recorded video within the stipulated deadline. The details for this stage will be communicated after the examination results are out, and the shortlists are announced.
5) The final Composite Score (CS)
The final Composite Score (CS) is a combination of the Aptitude Test Score (ATS) and the score in the Video-based Assessment. The former is calculated based on sectional and total scores in IPMAT 2020.
The important factor to be noted is that the WAT & PI scores used to have a share of 35% in the Composite Score, earlier. Now, the Video-based Assessment holds a share of 15% in the overall scheme of things. This clearly means that IPMAT 2020 examination is going to be crucial in deciding the final outcome.
| Section | Weightage – Earlier | Weightage – This time |
| Aptitude Test Score (ATS) | 65% | 85% |
| WAT & PI | 35% | – |
| Video-based Assessment | – | 15% |
| Composite Score (CS) | 100% | 100% |
Bottomline
The starting step for the process is going to be the same. Give your best shot at IPMAT 2020. Do not worry about what these changes will mean eventually.
If you get a great score in tomorrow’s (7 September 2020) examination, everything else might fall in place. The later worries, we shall save it up for yet another day.
Best wishes for IPMAT 2020!
Rajesh Balasubramanian takes the CAT every year and is a 4-time CAT 100 percentiler. He likes few things more than teaching Math and insists to this day that he is a better teacher than exam-taker.
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