How do I prepare for IIM Indore IPM Aptitude Test and Personal Interview?

I gave the interview last year and cleared it too. There will be most probably three panelists, one from commerce background (let's call him/her P1), one from science/mathematics( P2), and one from arts(P3). If you are from commerce background, P1 can ask you current business affairs as well as concepts of accountancy/business studies/economics. If you are not from the commerce stream, he/she will only ask current business affairs. If you are from science background, then P2 can ask you practical applications of the science concepts you have done till now. Otherwise, he/she will restrict himself/herself to mathematics, or perhaps very easy science concepts. P3 will most probably ask you general concepts, most probably affiliated to humanities subjects that you have studied until now. In my case, she asked me to name an internationally acclaimed Indian director. Here, I have generalized my and my friends' interview experiences. They may ask you anything under the sky. Since most of the interviewees have just passed class 12th, they just expect you to know your stream well, apart from having an all-round personality. Just be yourself, and be thorough.

Frankly, it’s best understood from a student who’s been through the process recently, not a coaching instructor or institute.First off, test. The ratio of aptitude test marks to interview marks is 60:40, but I guess you already knew that from the other answers. What isn’t mentioned, though, is that study material for the course can’t really help you much. If your math skills are weak, sharpen it. It's a must, as quant is a real pain if your math skills aren’t on point. The computer supplies you with a calculator, but it wont do much orther than basic adding, subtracting and so on.There are quite a few head-scratching questions in the test. It might be relative, but I found the visual/arithmetic questions crazy hard. Verbal is easy if English has been your go-to language since first grade. No point in opening the dictionary to figure out new words or trying to mug them up. Read the newspapers, whatever classic literature you can lay your hands on. The rest would probably work out. It was mostly CBSE level reading. The only roadblock you could encounter is your reading speed. I could see the guy next to me use a pencil to highlight the words he read on the screen. Not advisable,you lose time and patience.Reading newspapers will also come in handy when you get selected for the interview. Go prepared with the basic ministries, their ministers, and current affairs. I was asked about the Nuclear Suppliers Group and Modi travelling around the world to get India’s name in it. Also, the hiatus between the test and interview is a good time to brush up on your class 12 syllabus. I took science, so I was asked to draw a couple of graphs and answer a few semiconductors questions. There will be a few times you will stumble, it's inevitable. Oddly (and embarrassingly enough), I couldn’t name the current speaker of the parliament. The one thing to remember is to never lie. They'll see right through you and trouble may come calling.Be cool. I was nervous, but I smiled throughout, maintaining eye contact with all three panelists. Presentation is important. Don't be scared ask for a little time to ponder upon a question, but don't be overconfident and shut down any queries they might have about an answer you gave.Last, but definitely the most important, believe in yourself. The pressure is on, but don’t let it get to you. Forget the IIM tag that comes with this course. Think of it as an added bonus to a management course that you would anyway want to take up in due time. Self-confidence is the key. After all, the panelists and the test are only trying to gauge the depth of your knowledge, and how aware you are of yourself and the goals you want to achieve. Don't compare yourself with others or think of the multitude of kids trying their luck too. If you know you are cut out of the IIM IPM cloth, you will make it there.Again, it’s inevitable.

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Its better that you don't. Seriously speaking. There are many cons of the program. 1. Its highly expensieve. If you can afford that its well and good. 2. The program doesn't let you explore. It offers you to take a choice of subjects, but you are stuck with management all through 5 years of college. 3. The course provides all round development and many students are amazing in terms of knowledge and oratory skills, but compared to PGP students, other than marks, most of them fail to live up to the standard. That being said, there are many students who can easily beat the PGP guys any day in any field of life. 4. The last 2 years are done together with the PGP students and the degree system is you do not get any degree from the course. All you get is a post grad diploma and a grad from IGNOU currently after 3 years. 5. Combining with the PGP students does not give bragging rights about having the same placement as IPM is a relatively new concept and many companies do not know about it. So students do face a problem. Pros: 1. It gives you the coveted IIM Tag but the future is not known what would happen. 2. You get a degree from IGNOU and an Integrated Diploma in Management. 3. You get a lot of time on campus to explore subjects of your interests, both academic and non-academic. 4. Extra curriculars are multifold. But seeing the condition overall first hand, It would not be wise to go for this program at this stage. Its still nascent and I don't think the first degree after class 12 should be this experimental.

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The entrance test for IPM is designed to test your basic arithmetic, lingual and logical skills. These are skills that you develop over a period of years, not by preparing for a few weeks. I do not think there is any shortcut to these basic skill-sets, as most of my classmates would agree. In case you do possess these skills, however you should hone them by practicing sample question papers which are time based. Time management and allocation is a major factor in all such competitive tests- you need to know not only which questions or to attempt, but also what to leave out. It is something you will be able to evaluate over time and practice. Moreover, in case you clear the written test, I would advise you to take some mock interviews to understand how it feels to be questioned. What happens in the actual interview room, however, can be very erratic and unexpected, and any applicant must maintain his/her nerve and composure. Good luck!

IPM is a completely dedicated program for development of managerial and leadership skills. No doubt its in nascent stage, but all faculty, students all are doing their best to make it upfront in the domain of mgmt. Studies.  And obviously IIM is not a placement agency. People gauging  its potential to place IPM students are wrong. It is known for excellence in academic domain. The top most aim is creating better leaders if IPM is concerned. Also in Summer placements the first batch has done relatively well.  Students are highly competent. It's a wave of change. So now it is up to you  decide whether u want to be a part of the wave or just stand by on the beach looking as it waves by ... As far as prep are concerned strengthen your basics of Mathematics till class 10th and enrich your vocabulary. Life in IIM is adventurous and challenging. Every day is a new start loaded with opportunities. Prepare well and come be a part of it.   Good Luck.

For aptitude:- Try to solve questions from aptitude books. As well as solve qualitative and quantitative problems. You can get the books from book store. further, revise you 11th and 12th mathematics topics thoroughly. English can be prepared from any competitive books for IIM's so that you can have an idea. For PI :- GK and current affairs will be enough. Which you can prepare from books ad for current affairs daily newspapers such as ET and TOI will be good.

Last time around they had 60% weightage for the test and 40% weightage for the interview. So if the ratio is same then  the results are not in your favour. However its a situation that cannot be changed so you should not worry about it at all.Its not impossible to get in all you need to do is give a decent interview. Things you can do: 1) You mentioned that you are not into the habit of reading newspapers. Well nothing much can be done in last five days but if you act smartly you can make a difference. You should start reading about the events of last few months which might be related to you.For example if you mentioned you are interested in badminton then you must know about the badminton tournaments that took place and the people who won.Also you must have basic knowledge about the Indian government,cabinet ministers,its economic polices etc. 2)This is probably the most important part.You must have good knowledge about the subjects you have studied in class 12th.They will ask a number of questions from these subjects.If you have studied maths they might ask you to solve a question. Yes,they might give you a notebook and a pen and ask you to solve a question. They might ask you what your favorite subject is and then ask questions from that subject. So choose wisely.The best thing you can do right now is start revising all your subjects and perfect one of them. 3) Remember the things you mentioned in the area of interest and then start reading about it on the internet.I mentioned that I like to watch football So they asked questions like *Where was the first world cup held? *Who won? *Who is Spain's football team's captain? *What is a scorpian kick? *What is a banana kick? And a few more questions like these. So you must know a lot about the area of interest that you mentioned on the application form. 4) They didn't ask a lot questions about your career goal or MBA but it is better to be prepared. So you must also ask yourself these questions *Why MBA? *Why IPM? *Why do you want to do a five year course? So you must know what you want to achieve through the course and where you see yourself in five years.I would advice that you should ask these questions to yourself rather than asking someone to help you answer these questions. The key is you must remain confident.If you get nervous then it would become difficult to answer even simple questions. So remember if you don't get in it won't be the end of the world just give a good interview and you might just get in. P.S. - I gave the interview last year but unfortunately failed to get in and from my failure I learnt a number of things. So the point is don't obsess over the iim brand. Its a great course but its not the end of the world so don't get nervous and give a good interview. :-)