IPMAT 2021 is tentatively scheduled to take place in the middle of June 2021. With the uncertainty in the board exam dates, it is understandably frustrating for students when they juggle board exam preparation and other competitive exams’ preparation such as JEE, NEET and IPMAT.
The IPM has picked up as a viable pathway to a career in Business Management in recent times. Recently, IIM Bodh Gaya announced their own version of an IPM Program, following suit of IIM Indore and IIM Rohtak.
We’re here to help you by providing you with a path for your IPMAT Preparation and knocking it out of the park!
What is IPMAT?
Head on to this link to learn all about the IPMAT, its exam pattern and its eligibility criteria.
IPMAT Syllabus
Before preparing for anything, it is important to learn everything you can about that something you are preparing for. The same is true for all competitive exams. Head on to this link and peruse the IPMAT Syllabus.
IPMAT Preparation
First off, I’d like to talk about what the IPMAT tests. Based on numerous first hand account from our students, I have learned that the IPMAT doesn’t test your computational efficiency or your ability to memorise your shortcuts and formulae. What it tests…is your understanding of the fundamentals. It tests your approach and thinking towards the problem posed in front of you. So definitely keep that in mind.
Verbal Ability
For the Verbal Ability Section, the most important chunk is Reading.
Read for at least 1 hour everyday.
Now, when you’re thinking about reading for 1 hour everyday, do keep in mind that you must have as much style and variety in what you read as you possibly can. Read across a myriad range of sources. Explore different genres. Read novels, novellas; small and giant articles about different topics.
Reading stamina is very crucial. While taking the IPMAT, you will be met with barrage of passages from different genres with varying styles of writing.
The mind becomes tired when it is met with a series of challenging passages. The only way you can make your mind resilient to this, is to add an hour of daily reading on top of it.
Read where your mind takes you. Usually we strike a chord with one author or genre. So for the first phase of your Verbal Ability Preparation, go where your mind takes you and read what your mind prefers.
Over the second phase of your preparation, you must focus on increasing the diversity of the articles and books you read. Lengths, genres, styles…they must all be different. What this does is push your mind beyond the horizon of what it already knows, and train it to approach those aforementioned challenging passages from various genres.
Here’s a portal to Reading!
If you haven’t already checked out Bharath’s Curated Daily Reading List, you are really missing out on something in life! Tons of hand-picked, high quality articles from various genres exist within Bharath’s Reading List. Think of it as a portal to various sources of knowledge and information that simultaneously helps build your reading capacity.
Okay…what should you do apart from Reading?
Most of the questions are going to be from Reading Comprehensions.
For the Verbal Ability part of your Verbal Ability Preparation, it helps to familiarize yourself with the pattern of the parajumbles, parasummaries and critical reasoning questions. You’ll get the hang of it and be ready. For these categories, knowing how the questions will be and doing a few examples is crucial.
It also helps to familiarise yourself with the rules of grammar and questions from synonyms, antonyms, idioms and basic rules of grammar. Reading definitely helps build a certain grammatical intuition.
So your major takeaway from this is that 95% of your preparation is going to be anchored around Reading.
How should you Read?
As much as possible, do non-intense reading. Do not aim to absorb all the facts, numbers and information you come across. You aren’t preparing for a GK Section here.
The idea is to read so much, that you automatically build a grammatical intuition. Read with a sense of joy and curiousity.
Check out this wonderful article that dives deep into ‘how to read for reading comprehension’. It will provide you with more insights into the science behind reading.
Quantitative Ability
First off, the overarching way of preparing for something remains the same for anything:
- Learn from fundamentals.
- Practice.
- Assessment.
Learn from absolute zero. Do tons of practice of routine to build automation and speed. See where you stand by assessing yourself.
There is a certain bias towards the order in which one goes through quantitative aptitude preparation, which proves to be useful.
Why is Arithmetic a game-changer for Quantitative Aptitude?
Let’s move on. The biggest topics to hit, for someone starting from absolute basics, come under Arithmetic.
These are routine and simple topics for most exams that involve quantitative aptitude, that aren’t heavy in theory but are crucial in helping you build an intuition for simple equations and variables.
Arithmetic forms the backbone of your quant preparation and is absolutely vital.
Say you are solving a question from Number Theory. One way or another, you’re thinking about using Ratios. Or say you’re doing Geometry…you end up solving an equation. Percentages, Linear Equations and Ratios are topics that will keep popping up. This is why you need to have this base ready before you further your IPMAT Preparation.
Look to get very comfortable with the idea of percentages, fractions, decimals, manipulating ratios within questions etc. Having these ideas in place will prove to be immensely useful and they will also help you amp up your game.
The remaining topics
There are three big chunks:
- Number Systems & Modern Math
- Algebra
- Geometry
Why should Geometry be Step 2 after Arithmetic?
I have always preferred Geometry from the aforementioned chunks because preparation for Geometry is done iteratively: You learn the theory, you do a bunch of questions, then you try a bunch of new questions only to realize that you need to reinforce your theory. It definitely needs two rounds but remember, the payoffs are massive.
Geometry forms about 20% of the Quantitative Aptitude Section, which is definitely significant and massively useful.
After Arithmetic and Geometry, it is more or less a toss-up between Number Systems and Algebra.
I don’t have a very strong preference between algebra and number systems. Pick whichever one you gravitate towards.
There is also Modern Math.
As your level of math goes higher on, your need for consolidation will reduce but early on, keep faith and keep revisiting topics.
In quite a few occasions, you’ll feel like you’ve lost some speed. Trust me, speed will come back. You might also feel like getting to even the 98th percentile is a Herculean Task. Hang in there.
If you feel like you have/may have trouble remembering Quant Formulae, read this article to learn a simple way to retain those pesky numbers.
As you progress further, a bunch of common traps in the Quantitative Aptitude Section will start to plague you. Read this article to recognize and beat them early on!
The idea of learning something new and figuring something out should put a smile on your face!
Logical Ability
This is tested, as of now, only by IPM Rohtak. Head on to 2IIM’s Question Bank and practice as many sets as you possibly can. The syllabus for the Logical Ability Section, can be found here. Practice these questions from previous years papers in particular.
The preparation involves two broad phases, as follows.
- Phase 1 – Getting used to the ‘usual’ puzzle sets
- Phase 2 – Seeking variety
Phase 1 – Getting used to the ‘usual’ puzzle sets
The tropes mentioned earlier – Venn Diagrams, Blood Relation Questions, Syllogisms, and Sequence Series etc. – should be the starting point for your preparation. The idea of getting used to these templates will prove to be advantageous as you progress gradually to the next phase.
Phase 2 – Seeking variety
This is going to be the big leap that, in all probability, would see you through in the Logical Ability section. The best place to start with, when you are looking for puzzles of diverse variants – and this goes without saying – are the actual past year IPMAT question papers.
A Final Note
For the best Online IPMAT Coaching, head on to this link here!
Stay Safe and Best Wishes for IPMAT!
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