IPMAT preparation strategy: a practical plan

This is a plan, not a promise. Nobody can guarantee a selection, and a lot depends on where you start. Use it as a base and change it to suit you.

Step 1: Know your target exam

The three exams are different. IPMAT Indore has two quant sections and a big verbal section, each timed at 40 minutes. IPMAT Rohtak has quant, logical reasoning and verbal in 120 minutes. JIPMAT has quant up to Class 10 level, DI and reasoning, and verbal in 150 minutes. Many students write more than one, so find what is common and what is not. The syllabus page shows where each exam puts its weight. As of 26 Oct 2026, the 2027 dates are not announced, so check the official sites.

Step 2: The three phases

Phase 1: Foundation. Learn each chapter from the start. Use the map at Learn. Do not rush to mocks yet. Fix your arithmetic and algebra basics first, and build the reading habit.

Phase 2: Practice by chapter. Take chapter tests and the past-year tests for each chapter. Keep an error log from day one.

Phase 3: Mocks and analysis. Take full mocks, review each one carefully, and go back to weak chapters.

These overlap. You will keep learning while you start mocks.

A sample weekly timetable

This is a sample for a Class 12 student with about 2 to 3 hours a day on school days. Change it to match your school and coaching hours.

Day	Quant	Verbal	Reasoning / DI	Mocks / review
Mon	1 hour new chapter	45 min reading	-	15 min error log
Tue	1 hour practice	45 min vocab + grammar	-	15 min error log
Wed	1 hour new chapter	45 min RC	-	15 min error log
Thu	1 hour practice	-	1 hour LR or DI set	15 min error log
Fri	1 hour mixed	45 min reading	-	15 min error log
Sat	1 hour weak chapter	1 hour RC	1 hour LR / DI	Sectional or chapter test
Sun	-	-	-	Full mock (or half mock) plus 2-3 hours review

How many mocks, and how to analyse them

Start full mocks when you have covered most of the syllabus. A reasonable pattern is one mock every week at first and two a week in the last two months. Quality of review beats the number of mocks.

• Feed wrong, skipped and very slow answers to the error log. They come back with new numbers after 2, 7 and 21 days.
• Learn to skip. Use the skip-decision trainer and ask after each mock which questions you should have left. With -1 for each wrong answer in all the MCQ sections, a wild guess costs you.
• For Indore, practise the sectional time. You cannot move spare minutes from one section to the next, so train each section to fit 40 minutes.
• Take mocks in exam-day mode and in the same time slot as your exam.

More about mocks: free mock tests.

Balancing with boards

Boards come first in the months close to them. Cut the plan down to about an hour a day, keep the error log and reading habit going, and restart the full plan after your last paper. Do not stop completely, because restarting from zero is harder.

Reading habit for verbal

Verbal rewards daily reading more than last-month cramming. Read an editorial or a long-form essay each day. After you read, write one line on the main point. Use the RC strategy guide, the RC question types and the guide on improving reading speed. Past-paper passages are free at /ipmat-rc.

The last 30 days

• Do no new big chapters. Revise formulas and your error log.
• Take full mocks in the exam slot, then review.
• Practise skipping and picking the easy questions first.
• Sleep on time. Plan your travel to the test city and your documents.
• Check the official site for exam-day instructions.

Doing this free on IPMATway

The weekly planner sets the timetable for you. The tools, such as the Calculation Gym and the reading speed test (no sign-in needed), plus the formula deck, vocab deck and trainers (free account), cover the daily habits. See all tools and sign in to start.