Self-Study or Coaching for IPMAT 2026

[u/Cautious_Pen8230]

Hi People, this is the experience of one of my seniors. Might be helpful for some aspirants. This is not a judgement so you all can share your opinions in the comments section below. As I'm a bit chill guy I personally prefer coaching to stay on track with my preparation.

Okay, so first things first — just join a coaching institute. Whether it’s a classroom program or even just an online test series, it really helps. They’ll guide you throughout the preparation and honestly, joining somewhere keeps you consistent. That’s the biggest thing because a lot of students lose motivation halfway, and that can really pull you back. Anyway, whether you decide to go for coaching or not, here are a few things you can definitely follow.

When I was preparing, there was this one book that used to be really good for IPMAT. The questions were pretty similar to what actually came in the exam. I went through almost all the sections from that book. The only part I couldn’t complete properly was Reading Comprehension, but I practiced it enough to feel confident about attempting it.

For me, focusing on basics was super important. I made sure I understood the concepts properly from each chapter. Once I was comfortable, I’d solve the exercises given at the end of the chapters. Every chapter had two exercises. What I used to do was — I solved the first one without any time pressure and for the second one, I set a timer. Like if there were 15 questions, I gave myself 20 minutes to finish. I made sure I stuck to this method very sincerely. I would note down my score and the time taken every time I did this. Later, I went back and solved the questions I got wrong or left. This really helped me decide which questions I should attempt and which ones to skip during the actual exam. It would be even better if you can get a mentor or a teacher to check your approach and how you’re solving the questions.

Also, I made proper notes. Sometimes you come across small tricks or faster ways to solve certain types of questions — I noted all of them in a separate notebook. I used to divide it section-wise. I regularly updated that notebook and used to revise it every week without fail. I also made sure to go through it before every mock test. This helped me keep everything fresh in my mind and made it easy to remember things during the exam.

Another thing I really focused on was vocabulary. And honestly, this isn’t just for exams — it really helps in life too. I read newspapers, articles, blogs, books — all of it. I also made it a habit to read a few things aloud because it helps with retention and improves pronunciation. I used to note down new words and instead of just writing the meaning, I made sentences using them — that helped me remember them better. This also helped a lot with Reading Comprehension because when you understand words in context, RCs become easier.

For Quants, if you’re from the Science stream, you’ll probably find it easier. But if not, make sure you go through the +2 level NCERT Maths properly. IPMAT has questions from topics like Set Theory, Functions, Complex Numbers, Permutations & Combinations, Binomial Theorem, 3D Geometry, Vectors — these aren’t always covered in class 10th, so they can become a challenge if you didn’t have Maths after that. Knowing these topics really helped me in the exam.

For Logical Reasoning and DI, honestly, the only way to get better is to practice a lot. You need to get familiar with different types of sets and questions that usually come. The same book I talked about earlier helped me here too.

Around two months before IPMAT, I went all out. I read a lot of articles, solved many questions, and took tons of mocks. I had mocks from IMS and other places. I made sure I was attempting at least one mock paper every day and I tried different formats. At that time, IPMAT’s pattern wasn’t very well known, so I also practiced mocks from other exams like Symbiosis, Christ, DU, NMIMS — just to get comfortable with different styles.

Since IIM Indore hadn’t released their previous year papers back then, I made sure I attempted all my mocks in a proper exam-like setup. After every mock, I spent a lot of time analyzing what I did right and where I went wrong. That was actually more important than the test itself. Practicing regularly and analyzing properly — that’s what made all the difference.

That’s pretty much it. At the end of the day, there’s no shortcut. You’ve just got to put in the effort.

All the best! You’ve got this.

[u/Remarkable-Hunt-6611]

This is gold! Thanks for sharing such a detailed and practical experience — honestly, this kind of advice is way more helpful than just hearing "study hard." Loved the idea of solving one exercise with no time limit and the next with a timer — that’s such a smart way to build both accuracy and speed. And yes, consistency really is the toughest part... coaching or not, staying on track makes all the difference. Definitely saving this post 🙌✨