what should my routine look like ..now that only 1 months is left for ipmat?

Firstly all the best for you IPM preparation. This is one of the top most exams which tests your knowledge similar to CAT. As you know, this is a national level entrance exam for admission into the IPM program of IIMs.

The exam date is June 14, 2021. There are 2 sections - Quantitative Ability and verbal ability. Duration is 2 hours and scoring is +4 for correct answers and -1 for wrong answers.

Below I will give you a full strategy till exam date.

• Initial Concept preparation - This is the phase where you ideally finish all the basic concepts, learn the formulae and shortcut tips and practice a lot to strengthen the understanding of the topic. Ideally this should be complete atleast 6-9 months before the exam. It is also suggested that you make notes of important concepts to revise later as the exam date approaches.
• Sectional Test - In this phase, one should now start taking smaller mock exams and try to understand if they are able to build a strategy about which questions to target within each section to maximize your score. This is where you analyse the points of strength and weakness and build up your basic when a mix of questions is bombarded at you. Ideally once concept phase is done, and you atleast have a brief overview of everything, you should start your sectional tests,
• Timed Sectional Test - This is where we try to maximise the score in the given time and thereby build our strategy for the main exam for each section. Have a timer and then take a text as though you are taking the actual exam. After every test analyse your scores and see what works best for you. This should be done between 3-6 months from exam date.
• Full Length Mock Tests -
  • Identifying Strength & weakness - Up to 3 months from exam date -Once all your concepts are done and you have completed at least 3 sectional tests in each section, move to a full length mock test. This should again be a timed test like an actual exam. Analyze which strategy works best for you. And identify your areas of strength. During 3-6 months, you can also take sectional mocks and full length parallelly - say 1 mock every 3 weeks and sectional tests on the rest of the weeks.
  • Fix your strategy - 2-3 months - With only 2 months left for the exam day, it is time to fix your strategy for the exam on the outline. Some minor tweaks can be done later. Do not forget to analyze your paper after every mock. Increase test frequency to twice a month
  • Practice and practice -last 2 months - Now is the time to put everything to practice. Divide days between concept revision, sectional test, sectional test analysis, mock test and mock test analysis. In the last 1 month it is advised to take 2 mock tests every week and keep analysing your error.

The most important part of the preparation is the analysis of the mock paper you attempted and thereby fine tuning your final exam strategy. There are also ways to analyse the paper and only a correct analysis will give you the best result.

All the best !

• Make a checklist of what topics and how many questions you need to attend today for your preparation and finish it before the end of the day.
• Avoid procrastination as the time is limited.
• Take a sound sleep and hydrate yourself properly so that you can give more attention to your studies.
• Keep yourself away from social media as far as you can because it can be very distracting.
• Take your health as a priority!