Lighthouse Mentorship: Real IPMAT Doubts Answered by Mentors

Overview: Feeling stuck in your IPMAT preparation? This blog dives into real student doubts answered by an expert mentor-giving you clarity, strategy, and the motivation to move forward.

Can I clear IPMAT?

What if I don't clear the IPMAT exam?

You've probably asked yourself questions like these at some point in your IPMAT preparation.

Every serious aspirant goes through this phase.

And that's exactly where real Lighthouse Mentorship begins.

In this blog, we present actual questions asked by IPMAT aspirants, along with answers from one of our top mentors-candid, practical, and deeply insightful.

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Real Questions from Students, Honest Answers from the Mentor

Student:

"Hello sir, as I'm in grade 12th, I'm preparing for IPMAT. I want to build a strong profile for IIM which would help me in interview process. So can you please help me in building that?"

Mentor's Answer:

Profile building should be divided into three parts - academics, cultural, and sports. For a very good profile, you need to be good with your activities in the cultural events that are happening around you.

You need to be good with the sports events around you, and you need to be really good with your academics.

The first focus has to be on the core academics. In your interviews, academics will play a very important role. I think it's 35% of your overall score.

If you feel that you don't have a lot of luxury to get into a lot of cultural events now because you're already in grade 12, or maybe you haven't picked up any sports, I think reading can be one savior for you. Just a habit of reading a newspaper every day will go a long way in your  IPMAT interview.

If you're working on a passion project - during our 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th, we start a lot of passion projects. You might start a social media channel, a club, a community, maybe even your social media profile - that's a passion project.

I'll suggest you build that. Don't waste too much time building an Instagram channel, but yes, something meaningful. Your passion project will also go a long way in your interview.

So I would say - core academics, divide your overall profile into academic, cultural, and sports.

See wherever you can participate in cultural events around you and sports events around you. Core academics, reading habit, and the passion project.

Read more: IPMAT Marking Scheme 2026

Student:

"I have finished my syllabus… but one of the concerns… is regarding revision. I'm unable to make time for revision… I'm finding it difficult to revise concepts like number systems or arithmetic… which must be revised."

Mentor's Answer:

Algebra, arithmetic, and number systems are too wide as topics. You need to first divide them into multiple packets - make very unit-wise, chapter-wise, or topic-wise divisions of these three broad topics.

Once you've divided them, have a schedule where you write a lot of topic tests.

Suppose you pick up time-speed-distance and start your revision schedule from 25th July. So 25th July - time-speed-distance, 30th - quadratic equations, 5th August - probability, 10th - remainder theorem and number system.

Between two tests, you have five days and a chance to revise that particular topic. During that revision, pick up the questions you were not able to do. Pick up questions you must have marked from your RSMs or other books and attempt a test on those topics.

The more tests you attempt, the more feedback you get. Feedback tells you what type of questions you are not able to do.

Divide the whole thing into multiple parts. Assign topic tests. Between tests, prepare your chapter by solving questions, not by reading theory. Theory doesn't give you feedback. Solving questions gives you feedback.

Have a success-failure matrix and make this a project for the next three months. Algebra, arithmetic, and number systems are like all of mathematics.

If you divide them into many topics, that should take at least 3-4 months, if not more.

Student:

"Hello sir, I am Kitika… I understand the concepts very easily in class… but when I try to solve it on my own in RSMs I face difficulties. I hope you please help me with it."

Mentor's Answer:

Solve at least 200 questions on this unit via solutions.

I'm a big fan of solutions.

Class is what? You have a teacher, a question, and a solution. When you go back home, you don't have the teacher, but you have the question and the solution.

You need more practice - 50 questions, 100 questions, 200 questions. When I say practice, I mean practice with solutions.

It's important to understand the minimum number of questions you need for a particular topic along with the solutions.

That will vary from chapter to chapter. The more difficult the chapter is for you, the more questions you need to do - while looking at the solutions.

There is no other way out.

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Student:

"What are the best books for IPMAT Indore?"

Mentor's Answer:

It might sound biased, but I genuinely feel that the Rankers study material of SuperGrads is the best.

Beyond that, we've launched a couple of publications on Amazon and Flipkart - sample papers and previous papers.

I don't think you need to go through any other material beyond this.

We have the test series as well. I'm not being biased - the kind of effort that goes into and the people who create the material - I don't think there is any better material than this.

There is no point solving a lot of different content. I would rather recommend you pick one study material set and solve it three times instead of picking three different sets and solving each once.

If you pick multiple sets, you end up doing things you are comfortable with - from each. But if you pick one universal set, you end up doing things you don't like as well.

Pick one standard material set - I would say SuperGrads material - and do it again and again and again. I'm very clear with this.

Student:

"Hello sir, how can I cover my last month's backlog or any backlog that I will ever have in future… how can I cover the backlog of June and also attend classes and study as well?"

Mentor's Answer:

Backlog will be directly proportional to the amount of backlog you have.

Assuming June is an average backlog month, divide the complete backlog between July and August and have a milestone every two weeks.

Suppose you have X amount of backlog.

X/2 completed in July, X/2 in August - with milestones: 15th July, 31st July, 15th August, 31st August.

Even X/2 can be divided into two, so you're doing X/4 at each milestone. Spread X/4 + X/4 + X/4 + X/4 over two months.

That should take care of July, August, and the June backlog.

Read more: Section-Wise IPMAT Syllabus & Topics

Student:

"How to use RSM's skill drill sets properly so that I can cover each topic after the class? Please guide me in this matter."

Mentor's Answer:

I'll take this in three parts.

Part 1: You are in the concept-building stage. You have recently attended the class and are starting your practice. Use the solutions of the RSM.

If there are 25, 30, 40 questions in a skill drill - rest assured, use the solutions to build concepts. Don't assume you'll be able to do questions by yourself.

If you're not able to do them, don't get demotivated. Use solutions. If something is new or has an X-factor, circle it.

Part 2: You are in your first revision. You're revising the skill drill. Now don't look at the solutions. Try to attempt it on your own. If not able to do it, look at the solution but make an extra effort, maybe picking hints.

Part 3: You're doing the same exercise - but timed. Suppose there are 25 questions in your skill drill, and you're revising it for the second time. Now time it - 25 questions, 25 minutes. Attempt it.

So:

Part 1: Concept building - infinite time + use solutions.

Part 2: First revision - infinite time, no solutions, maybe hints from IPMAT Books.

Part 3: Timed practice - 25 questions, 25 minutes.

Every chapter should go through these three processes to be confident for mocks or exams.

Student:

"Hi, I am Kshitij… my doubt is how to effectively analyze the VA section in the mocks. My scores have not increased… and my English is inherently weak… I want to know how to analyze the VA section."

Mentor's Answer:

First understand - is there a conceptual issue? I think it's a conceptual issue. It cannot be improved by solving more mocks.

Why do you write mocks? Just to know where you stand. Mocks have given you feedback - you are weak in VA. That's it.

There's no point writing more mocks. Even after five more, the feedback will be the same.

So go back to the RSMs. Start understanding concepts. Practice a lot of questions. Go through a lot of solutions to understand why a particular answer is correct - and more importantly, why the other three are wrong.

For example - in reading comprehension - every wrong answer will have at least one incorrect word. Every correct answer will have all correct words.

Do a detailed analysis of every answer option. In grammar correction too - know why options are wrong.

Practice questions for 90 days. Focus on comprehension issues, grammar rules.

If you feel it's a comprehension issue, figure out vocabulary - that's more factual. That can help increase your marks faster. Comprehension takes time.

So, after reading the Q&A, it is evident that IPMAT prep struggle is normal, but with proper guidance and support, students can excel.

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Key Takeaways

• A well-rounded profile is a blend of strong academics, extracurriculars, and meaningful personal projects.
• Effective revision demands strategic planning, topic-wise testing, and learning from feedback given by mentors.
• Consistent practice with solutions lessens the gap between learning and performance.
• Depth of IPMAT preparation matters more than the number of resources used.
• Backlogs can be handled with a structured, milestone-based approach.

Read more: Common Mistakes to Avoid While Preparing for IPMAT Exam