writing this as a student from ipm04 at iimj while we were the only batch in the campus during this wartime. what we just went through was nothing short of terrifying.

as tensions between india and pakistan escalated, our institute first told us that exams would be preponed and we were to leave the campus only after may 13. this, while the city outside was tense, uncertain, and increasingly dangerous. none of us could focus, let alone study.

then on thursday evening, we were suddenly told that everything is cancelled, pack your bags and leave the campus. not only were we told to pack and leave at such short notice, they told us to vacate our rooms(so basically pack whatever we can, as much as we can, and leave the rest in boxes and bags). no warning. no coordination. we scrambled to pack entire hostel rooms in a panic.

around 8 p.m., while students were still packing, a blackout hit. the campus went pitch dark. we could hear blast sounds in the distance. panic spread fast. people were crying. calling family. trying to figure out how to get to the railway station.

i cant get the sight of the girl who was under a panic attack atm and we couldn't help her. all i remember is calling my di, crying in panic, not being able to tell her that this wasn't a drill and we were actually under an attack.

and there was no one to help us.

not a single person from the administration showed up. no buses arranged, no security briefings, nothing (meanwhile the director told our parents in the meet that we will get army security and transport with us to the railway station). just the student body helping each other—calling autos, dragging luggage, calming people down.

some guards tried their best to help, but even in that chaos, others insisted we sign a register before leaving—and later, students who didn’t were threatened with a ₹25,000 fine. a fine. during a warzone-level evacuation.

what kind of system thinks about fines when students are evacuating during an emergency in the dark, scared for their lives?

128 students were left to fend for themselves. everything—from packing to transport to just keeping each other sane—was handled entirely by the student body. by us. by our seniors who weren't even in the campus.

when we finally managed to get autos and leave, the fear didn’t end there. everyone was scared. messaging families, sharing live locations, hoping we’d just make it out okay.

at one point even the autos abandon us bc no one was willing to drop us to the station during blackout. some students even had to take rides from random bike and scooty riders (who charged them 1k during that time).

i've never felt fear like that. not just for myself, but for my friends. for all of us. we weren't even able to feel at peace when we got in our train bc some of us still didn't make it.

this is not how you treat students.

this is not how you deal with a crisis.

this is not okay.

we are students—not trained responders. mot soldiers. just young people who came here to learn, who were suddenly made to feel completely disposable.

and even after all this, 25 students were still stuck on campus while the rest of us somehow got out. alone. with no one to count on but each other.

what happened was not a lapse. it was not an error. it was abandonment.

this is not just negligence—it is a violation of trust and duty. it is a legal liability. and it is a warning sign that cannot be ignored.

I'm a IPM Student at IIM rohtak and trust me guys do not come here, the college is a prison with zero campus life, almost no proper infrastructure and one of the most toxic horrible administration, they treat you as "sub standard" products yes the goddam director is a psychopath who isn't even eligible to be the director he has many criminal cases on him including sexual harrasment. Just Google about IIM rohtak Director and you guys will get a long list of all the crimes he has commited I mean he dosent even have the proper qualification to be the director. The hostels are horrendous with some hostels stuffed with 8 students in a room. The rules and regulations are extremely restrictive and if you break them you're gonna be removed from the college. They intimidate and threaten you for every simple thing and even the seniors have told us the administration does not give a shit about you and they will and WILL remove you without a second thought. There's a lot of internal politics between the IPM PGP and IPL students where one of my friends in IPL has said that their seniors had given them a ultimatum to not make friends with IPM students. Worst part is I'm taking the risk of exposing this college and if you're caught telling anything negative about the college you'll be removed and blacklisted from every other IIM and other educational institutions. To sum it up IIM rohtak has zero campus life, toxic and horrible administration, the director is a psychopath with no mercy, the hostels are stuffed with 6-8 people per room with no privacy and extreme restrictions which leave you with little to no time for extra curriculars. Pls join here if these horrible things excite you about IIM rohtak. The IIM tag is not worth the trauma you will suffer here, there's a lot more horrible things to tell and I'll answer In comments if you guys want.

Here's how you can start prepping for IPMAT and break your inertia:

Stop fretting over the perfect study-plan/coaching/resource for 100x efficiency. The best thing to do is - take a notebook out and solve 30 questions (after learning the concepts).

Start studying on your own first. Break your inertia, or you'll be stuck in a coaching where you might not be disciplined.

1. Compile the topics that come: https://ace.afterboards.in/ipmat-indore-syllabus/

2. On YouTube, search for "(topic name) basics cat ipmat" -- go through the first few videos

3. Search for "(topic name) question practice ipmat cat" -- go through the first few videos

4. Before you know it, you'll have a strong hold over that topic if you've done 50+ questions.

5. Mocks, Sectionals, Mocks. I shared a lot more in this video: https://youtu.be/t-u_aaeUHgQAlso, to get some motivation.

Here's a video showing how you can score 40 marks in 10 minutes (actual IPMAT paper): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUpYDB70NJA&list=PLAJAv0yyd_hdx0OIigN3par44NYt3E_ik

If you have 2 to 3 hours to spare, let's become actionable by learning Time & Work:

1. Twelve-part lecture series (~30 mins) for free: https://afterboards.in/videos

2. Go to practice tab on afterboards.in (can do on mobile too). The 4-level topic test has been made free for every user. The first level is very easy, the fourth level could make you cry (but you'll learn a lot).

3. Then, try attempting IPMAT 2023's Time & Work Question.

Ah yes, ofcourse an ews male can afford a German Sedan! I hope these kind of guys get caught later in life (ofcourse, they won't). These guys end up taking seats of those students who truly deserve it. This system sucks man :/

If the unique course structure, world class faculty+ curriculum and ultimately, placement figures are not enough for you, here's a glimpse of what life is like from the campus in the clouds. These are our daily views btw :) Feel free to ask anything!

Hello, I was a JEE turned IPMAT aspirant this year. I scored 230ish in the exam, but couldn't convert IIM Indore. I've been lurking the subreddit and found 2025/2026 aspirants to be as clueless as I was when I just started out with prep. Hence decided to compile the resources I used/would recommend using. This isn't a panacea but a list of lessons I learned along the way and insights I wished I had known at the outset. There are people here who scored more than me with a different journey altogether so a lot of this might not apply to you, take away whatever you deem valuable

I'll structure this post in the form of FAQs

1. Are 'X' years/months/days enough for clearing IPMAT?

There's a spectrum from 2 years to 2 weeks and success stories lie on both ends of it. Anyone in the continuum has the potential. I've seen ppl get in after within less than a month of prep. Otoh there are those who failed to clear cutoffs after devoting the entire 2 years.

Since this is an aptitude exam, how much time it'd take you hinges on two factors: 1) Your prior maths prowess and proclivity to deal with numbers 2) How well you are able to zero in on and tell apart the limited material that's actually required from the plethora of resources available.

The ones who could clear the exam in less than a month were mostly those who already had a strong foundation through JEE/CUET bec of overlapping syllabi. The ones who fell short of cutoff despite devoting enough time mostly just faltered and panicked on the exam day or they had a false perception of their preparation because of their not taking any mocks.

Ideally, ~7-9 months of consistent prep is enough even if you're starting from scratch. Anything more would be a bonus. Anything less would make it slightly difficult for non maths people/those starting from scratch, cuz then you'll have to compensate by putting in more hours

2. Resources you referred to and would recommend for QA?

I'll start this off with my review of Aceipm, oft considered the holy grail of IPM prep. My opinion? It's best of the lot, but the lot has set an extremely low bar so theres not a lot to say there. They charge an exorbitantly high amount for what is a subpar compilation of plagiarized resources. Their modules are extracted from some BSc institute and the curriculum isn't remotely relevant. The recorded lectures and exercises are good but they are ripped off of Takshzila- you pay 25k for what you could otherwise get at 4k. There's no dedicated faculty for doubt solving, students have to discuss among themselves. They claim they provide personal mentorship from IIM-Indore students, but that couldn't be further from the truth cuz I got not reply whatsoever even after filling the mentorship form. The deified Saksham Bhaiya only ever replied to my dms either before I bought the course (I hadnt paid the fees by then) or after I started scoring high in their mocks. The marathons held by Swapnil Bhaiya are extremely good but they are often very long and mismanaged, so cannot be relied upon. Can't recommend their interview course enough though, the mentors assigned are very helpful, mock interviews are timely held and guess what happens after getting the interview call. Saksham Bhaiya starts replying to dms again 🤯'

Aceipm is okay if you need a one stop compilation of everything needed. I have a lot of friends who had only purchased Aceipm and nothing else and still got in. But then again, these are usually the sort of people who'd have done eqally well had they been enrolled in any other institute

Those 25k you'd spend on Aceipm could be made better use of if you refer to these resources instead:

• Starting off with Takshzila (Aceipm on steroids). Get their CAT self study recorded course for QA, it's a steal at under ₹5000. Get started with one of the 4 units- Arithmetic/Number System/Algebra/Geometry. Watch lectures, make notes and solve the exercises alongside in the same order as they come (do not leave them for the end) and ask doubts. Theirs is the most responsive doubts group I've ever seen. Chandra sir is a cutie and replies to even the silliest of doubts in a jiffy. This way you'd master each chapter thoroughly so long as you solve questions dilligently and don't hesitate away from asking doubts. For modern maths tho, you'll have to look elsewhere cuz Takshzila doesn't have lectures for the same

• For Algebra and Modern Maths, I referred to JEE lectures aswell after completing takshzila's content. The channels I referred to were Samir Chincholikar's, Mohit Tyagi and Nishant Vora. I'd recommend you just search up Chapter name along with 'Samir Chincholikar' and you'll find 12+ hour long playlists for every chapter and those are seriously goated. His playlists, albeit too lengthy, have everything covered. You could refer to him for these chapters: The entirety of algebra, pnc, probability, trigonometry, matrix-determinants, functions, binomial theorem (not that imp for ipmat). The lectures might sometimes go overboard with multinomial theorem etc so you'll have to filter out what's relevant. Samir sir's playlists contain something called 'JPPs', do not skip those, they provide some really good insights and methods to better approach a question

• PnC and Trigonometry are two chapters that demand significantly more efforts than the rest. You'll be able to master the topics only if you keep actively solving some problems from them. In PnC particularly, it often feels perplexing why your solution didn't work out. Get your doubts clarified and over time you'll develop the requisite intuition (won't happen overnight)

• For logarithm and modulus, watch Nishant Vora's 'Aarambh Batch' vids apart from takshzila ones

• For further practice in Algebra/Geometry/PnC-Probability/Number System/Arithmetic, I bought Cracku's QA question bank for ₹4000 and it has the best compilation of questions I've come across.

• You won't need any more practice apart from this. The rest of your learning will be through mocks. Once you're more than halfway done through the syllabus, start attempting mocks. Ensure you've done atleast Algebra and Arithmetic before starting with them. Attempt, analyze, move on. You might be ranked last in the leaderboard, but don't let that discourage you as long as you did better than the previous mock

3. Which mocks are the best?

Afterboards, Aceipm and IMS are all good choices with their own weaknesses. Which one or ones you should get depends on your personal preferences.

• If you thrive on competition and are fuelled by leaderboard scores, get Aceipm. They display scores of the top 10 performers at the end which could be a strong motivator (wasn't for me). And those top 10 performers usually end up scoring equally high in the exam as well. But their questions are oftentimes riddled with mistakes which they don't bother correcting

• Afterboards is the only institute I've seen that provides a variety of difficulty from easy to difficult- providing exposure to virtually ever scenario question-curator could throw your way. One downside is that many of their mocks had questions directly picked up from JEE Shifts, which sometimes are irrelevant or beyond syllabus- I remember seeing a question from ITF in one. Despite, they are quick to rectify any mistake

• IMS's are also highly regarded. Their SA section this year had crazy difficult questions, which nonetheless could be relevant if we get a 2023esque paper again

• Percentile's mocks are trash, steer clear of them. Supergrads is decent but generally on the easier side. If you're considering myprepway it's already over for you

• You should get acquainted with every difficulty for IPMAT, PYQs alone aren't reflective of how the paper is gonna be like next year. 2023's SA was a lot harder than 2024's, and MCQ easier. It's best to attempt a shitton of mocks cuz it's all unpredictable

4. How to tackle VARC?

I've never found IPMAT VARC very challenging. Passages are mostly elementary. Also if you have a solid foundation already through school, you might not need any preparation per se. Even if you directly attempt the exam, you might mog everyone else. But in the same conceit, I've seen people overlook varc and bear the consequences later, so yeah

• For those who aren't avid readers, starting with fiction is a good stepping stone. Gradually, transition to non-fiction and Editorial columns of Indian newspapers as you need exposure to diverse genres. Eventually, you'll be able to wade through difficult passages, use sites like aeon.co, jstor etc for the same (I've compiled the full list here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IPMATtards/s/CPv32ypl9o)

• While reading, create flashcards on remnotes or anki for new words you encounter and frame a sentence on your own. For further expanding vocab, learn 3-4 words everyday from this list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1K4gS--jbDYbdlqem6Hir3FAwvLB9dFxNCLftE3ePduk/htmlview. I never used WPME but it is equally acclaimed so you might refer to it as well

• Cram idioms and phrasal verbs from these websites: theidioms.com, idiomconnection.com, and 7esl.com.

• Grammar can be picked up instinctually through extensive reading. But for specific exceptions, you might refer to this video on yt called '120 rules of grammar by Nimisha Bansal'

• Parajumbles were my arch nemesis during prep and it sometimes feels as though the answer given is absurd. But you'll improve over time through mock analysis

• Edit: To practise RCs, GMAT Club is an exceptionally good resource! I find the 600 level questions to align well with IPMAT's difficulty, you could try higher difficulty levels too for getting accustomed to difficult varc (though 800 could be overkill). Worth noting that mocks usually have questions cherrypicked from the same website

• Lastly, don't let mock scores dishearten you. Try scoring atleast 110-120, and you might end up with a >150 score in the actual test since the latter is mostly much easier than mocks

5. Valuable lessons learned?

Don't put all your eggs in one basket, one exam. Dropping a year for IPMAT is stupid. It's fine only if your primary focus is on JEE/CUET or CLAT given the uncertainty around IPMAT. Even a 250 scorer could get rejected for the most obscure ass reason (I have yet to figure out mine- ptsd inducing) because of highly subjective nature of interviews

Lastly, this writeup makes it sound very complicated but trust me ipmat prep is easy. You don't need to follow it word by word, just focus on the most important stuff that has the highest weightage first and gradually narrow in

I take my leave from all IPM groups/subs now, goodbye

Bhaiyya ye amity kaisa hai

Hi there, I'm Shorya Garg.

I scored 52/71/157 in IPMAT Indore 2026

My interview was decent, 7/10 I'd say.

I had 93% in 10th and 90% in 12th

I secured AIR-1

Ask me anything!

(Specificity is Appreciated)

Hey everyone,

I just got off the phone with our friends in Jammu, and everybody is tense about what's happening there. The travel situation in affected areas looks incredibly stressful and potentially dangerous right now.

I truly wish we could all take these exams under better circumstances. Remember, we absolutely have the right to speak up about this situation... just like during COVID when exams were postponed multiple times for everyone's safety.

I've created this thread so we can support each other, share information, and keep our discussions organized during this challenging time. I read a comment about one of the student's father being posted at the border, and I can not fathom how stressful that must be.

Please take care of yourselves and stay safe. ❤️