The IPMAT 2026 results are out, and while many aspirants have secured seats at leading IIMs such as IIM Indore, IIM Rohtak, IIM Ranchi, and IIM Shillong, not everyone clears the exam on their first attempt. For students who are considering a drop year after an unsuccessful attempt, a topper’s journey can offer valuable insights into what it takes to make a successful comeback. In this special edition of iQuanta Topper Talks, we speak with Shravan Kumar, who appeared for IPMAT Indore in 2024 but could not convert it on his first attempt. Instead of giving up, he took a drop year and focused entirely on IPMAT preparation. His hard work eventually paid off, as he successfully cleared the exam and secured admission to IIM Rohtak. In this interview, Shravan shares his IPMAT drop-year strategy, daily study routine, mock-test approach, subject-wise preparation, interview experience, and the role iQuanta played in his preparation. He also discusses the mistakes he made during his first attempt and what he changed in his second attempt to achieve his goal. Let’s hear directly from Shravan about his journey.
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About the iQuanta IPMAT Topper – Shravan Kumar
Shravan Kumar is from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, and completed his Class 12 with Commerce and Applied Mathematics. He scored 88% in Class 10 and 83% in Class 12. In 2024, Shravan appeared for IPMAT Indore but could not secure admission. What started as an attempt gradually became his goal, motivating him to take a drop year and prepare specifically for IPMAT. After a year of focused preparation, Shravan successfully cleared IPMAT and secured admission to IIM Rohtak, where he is now pursuing the Integrated Programme in Management (IPM). His journey reflects how focused preparation, consistent practice, and the determination to keep trying can help aspirants achieve their target IIM.
iQuanta Topper’s Interview Q1: Is 90%+ in 10th and 12th necessary to clear IPMAT Rohtak?
So, I too had noticed that in our groups, a lot of students say, “We don’t have 90+ in 10th and 12th,” and I was also very scared that my marks weren’t that good. This fear hit me even more when I went for the interview, because there were quite a lot of students there. So, I thought of just conversing with the other students.
When I was talking to them, I interacted with, I guess, six to seven people, and everybody was generally talking about their ECAs [extracurricular activities] and their 10th and 12th marks. So, I was listening, and some of them had marks like 95, 96, 92, 98, 98, and 99. I was very scared, thinking, “How would I compete, and how would I also be able to manage?” But still, I just did not let it affect me.
And I guess, for the students who are thinking, “How would we manage with low ECAs?” I think you just have to score 20 – 30% above the cut-off. That score would compensate for your low ECAs.
iQuanta Topper’s Interview Q2: Handling the Pressure of Multiple Attempts and Staying Motivated
Okay, so for motivation, I actually used to just open Indore’s videos and Rohtak’s videos, and sometimes I’d watch them thinking, “This is where I am meant to be.” I would sometimes open videos of Indore or Rohtak and watch their campus and students’ talks, all of that, and it would give me a little motivation.
But the thing about a drop year is that your friends aren’t there with you. Everyone has already joined college. And I used to feel demotivated sometimes. Sometimes I’d feel very lonely too, because you see that your friends are enjoying themselves, someone is in Delhi, someone is with their friends in Mumbai, someone is in a different college, forming different groups, hanging out. So that really affects you like, “Why am I the one who’s stuck at home?” and sometimes it gets very boring too.
But still, you have to stay motivated toward working; if you’ve taken a drop, you have to do something with it now.
iQuanta Topper’s Interview Q3: Why Didn’t Settle for a Private College During IPMAT Drop Year?
So, about private colleges, I won’t say all of them are bad. Some are good too. But in my area, and even otherwise, I never had that much interest in private colleges. Ever since I saw videos of Rohtak and Indore, I developed most of my interest in going to those colleges instead.
And in private colleges, they take in just about anyone, and you don’t stay that academically strong. The curriculum and everything just keeps going along, especially for BBA and B.Com students. So, because of that, I was never motivated toward that side.
And I was lucky that in 2025, when the results came out and I didn’t get into the college at that time, IIM Bangalore’s BBA DB programme applications were also open. So, at the last moment, I pivoted. I just thought, “Okay, now I have to join.” My father was telling me, “Now you cannot take another drop, and obviously, you can’t take a two-year drop.”
So, I just joined IIM Bangalore’s BBA-DB because even though it’s an online degree, it’s being provided by IIM Bangalore, so there’s some quality to it. That’s why I went for it.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q4: Is IIM Bangalore BBA-DB a Good Option for an IPMAT Drop Year?
If you’re able to manage your time well, then you can definitely manage it alongside IIM Bangalore’s BBA-DB. But it is also demanding because you need to give it at least two to three hours daily.
We have weekly CLAs (Continuous Assessments) for every subject, which we have to submit before the deadline. And all those deadlines are different, so you also have to remember which project has which deadline because if you miss it, the marks become zero.
All the CLAs together carry a 25% weightage, so you have to focus on that too. You can’t just leave it for the last moment, thinking, “It’s just an online degree; I’ll study before the exam and manage.” That doesn’t work at IIM Bangalore.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q5: How He Discovered IPMAT and Chose It Over CUET
So, nobody suggested it to me. I actually didn’t even know about IPMAT myself, and none of the other students at our school had much idea about it either. So, one day, out of boredom, I was scrolling through Instagram, and I came across a post specifically about IPMAT Indore. The post said that you can get into an IIM right after 12th.
Because of that post, I got interested in it like, “What is this thing?” Then I searched about it, but I still only really got to know about it in February and March, when we were having our board exams.
So, at that time, I just got an idea of what the exam was, prepared for my boards, and after that, whatever time I had, I prepared for one month for Indore. I just gave it as a trial, thinking, “Let’s see what happens,” because I really didn’t have the time.
But I was still able to score a decent score, and my parents were also very supportive. So, they agreed to a full year’s drop when I told them that I wanted to pursue this, that I wanted to prepare for this exam. So, they said, “Okay, if you want, you can give it a try.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q6: How Many Hours Should You Study for IPMAT? Shravan’s Daily Study Routine
Okay, so I used to study at least four to five to six hours a day, and I was more of a night person. So I found it more comfortable to sit and study through the night, and in the morning I’d probably wake up around 11:00–1:00. So that was the issue.
So, how much one should study is less important than what one should study. My 2025, which was my entire drop year, was from 2024 to 2025. Looking back, I feel that the mistake that kept me from converting was that I was busy covering the syllabus and wasn’t practicing questions as much.
I guess 70% of my focus was on the syllabus, and 30% was on practicing questions. When I wasn’t able to convert at that time, I realized—I thought about where I was going wrong. And that year, I recalled that in the Indore exam, I was seeing questions where I knew the concept through which they could be solved, but I still wasn’t able to solve them, just because I lacked the practice.
So, what I’d want to say is, at least split it 50-50%. Give the first 50% to covering the syllabus, and the other 50% to practicing answering the questions and applying the concepts you’ve learned.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q7: Did He Actually Complete the IPMAT Syllabus?
It never really does, I mean, questions can come twisted from anywhere, in any form, so you can never be 100% sure that you’ve completed everything.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q8: How Much IPMAT Practice Is Enough? Sources, Mocks, PYQs and Doubt-Solving Strategy
Okay. So, in 2025, during my drop year, when I still didn’t clear it, I wasn’t sure whether I was even eligible for the next exam because you’re mostly eligible for only two attempts/years. After that, you cross the 20-year age limit.
So, in the month of December, I was again just checking YouTube, scrolling through it, and at that time, I guess Indore’s notification for IPMAT came out. I saw that I was still eligible by 25 days – 25 days, yes. So, I didn’t give it a second thought. Right from the next day, I started preparing.
But this time, although I guess I had already covered most of the concepts and everything, in the first month, I only tried to cover the concepts—just revise them and brush up on the topics. Right after that, I started practicing questions.
I literally only used to practice questions and give mocks—iQuanta’s mocks. Even while practicing, I focused on quality questions, like the daily Quant questions you guys post on YouTube. That was very helpful for me, along with the crash-course materials and books. I had solved iQuanta’s books twice.
Okay, great. So, this time, my focus was simply on giving as many mocks as possible and practicing as many questions as possible. And I found this very helpful because this approach worked for me this time.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q9: What Was His Weakest IPMAT Subject and How Did H Improve It?
Verbal was my weakest because I was that type of student from school — like, with grammar, especially grammar, I used to think, “Grammar, this sounds nice to say,” and I used to go with that approach. I even used to score marks with it, so I never paid attention to actually reading and memorizing English grammar rules and this backfired. When I sat for IPMAT, everything looked fine, but whatever I thought was right turned out to be wrong. Whatever I felt confident about was actually incorrect.
So, in the first attempt, I didn’t pay much attention to it. But yes, even at that time, I realized that, with Verbal, this approach wasn’t going to work. I’d have to go back and do the questions by properly understanding all the rules. “What sounds nice” wouldn’t be the right answer I came to realize that.
So, I guess, for English, we have Sudeep Sir, I’m not able to… Sudeep Sir’s videos were very helpful for my grammar portion. With passages, I was good from the start, but my main issue was the grammar portion. So again, it was only through practice that it improved.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q10: IPMAT Indore vs Rohtak Mock Scores – Highest and Lowest Scores
I don’t remember Indore’s scores much; Indore’s scores generally weren’t very high to begin with. Indore’s mocks were tough too. But for Rohtak, I remember sometimes scoring 292 to around 300-something. But by Rohtak’s standards, that score is still on the lower side.
And my highest, in one mock, I guess I found it easy in that one particular mock, I scored 425. I finished all my mocks by the months of January – February. Okay. After that, for practice, I used to pick up random mocks and just keep practicing those questions without even looking at the answers because I felt there was no need for more material or mocks. Plenty of questions were already available, and we could approach them in many different ways.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q11: IPMAT Interview Experience – Questions Asked and Selection Process
I guess I was very lucky that my panel had one ma’am and one sir. The ma’am was very chill. She was relaxed, and she wasn’t pressuring me to answer, because for the first, second, and third questions I wasn’t able to give the answer, but she didn’t give me that look that interviewers usually give, which really demotivates you a lot. So she was very chill, and because of that I was also calm throughout the whole interview process. Whereas the sir, the sir was, actually a bit strict, and he was trying to put pressure on me, and his questions also weren’t academic, he was actually asking more about what happiness means to you, what definition of success feels more accurate to you, those kinds of questions, just to know your personality, what kind of person you are. So there were those kinds of questions too
iQuanta Topper Interview Q12: IPMAT Interview Questions on Academics, GK and Current Affairs
I’d say 60 to 70% of it was academics-based. The ma’am actually asked me which subject I was comfortable with and good at. I told her Economics, so she asked me some economics concepts and also some practical examples.
And I’d also like to mention one thing, if you’re answering an academic question, always try to include an example with it, so that they know that the student, the candidate doesn’t just know the concept but also knows its practical application. So I was trying to give them examples with every question, and I could see that, yes, they were satisfied with the answers.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q13: Why Did IPMAT Topper Choose IPMAT Over CUET, B.Com and BBA?
So, I gave CUET only in my first year, and I wasn’t getting into the top five to ten colleges of North Campus [Delhi University]. And I didn’t want to go for the rest, especially in Delhi, because of the environment and everything. I was thinking that if I got into the top five colleges or something like that, then I’d definitely go for it.
Hmm. But I wasn’t able to get into those. So I switched, switched fields, and as I got to know more about the IPMAT exam, I became more interested in it. The course is integrated, you get to do it, and it also saves you a year. Right? So that was the point, and I was already preparing for it, I had been preparing for it for a year. So I was more like, “Now I have to do it. I’ve put in so much hard work, so now I have to make something of it.”
iQuanta Topper Interview Q14: How Did iQuanta Help Improve IPMAT Preparation?
Okay, so during my gap year, I was connected with iQuanta, and the YouTube videos were very helpful, the daily question series, the practice videos, the marathon sessions, those were really helpful because they allowed me to brush up on my topics.
And not only for studies, if a person is weak at communication and is worried about the interview, I think you should definitely take some other coaching too. And I took iQuanta, I was actually already enrolled with iQuanta. So I practiced my interview sessions with Sir. We had, I guess, mentors, and I gave five interview sessions. And because this was my first interview, I was very nervous during my interview rounds, as well as in iQuanta’s mock interviews.
But by my fourth and fifth rounds, I was getting comfortable with the questions. I wasn’t panicking anymore. And these are the things, if you think you’ll just practice by yourself, you won’t be able to manage it that way, because someone needs to tell you and give you feedback like, what you said, how you should frame your answers, and what the proper way of giving that particular answer should be, right?
iQuanta Topper Interview Q15: How Did Mock Interview Feedback Help Improve IPMAT Interview Performance?
It was actually very beneficial. Definitely, I was already a very introverted guy, so I used to be scared of interviews in general. So, as I kept getting feedback, I would try to put it into practice, improving my introduction, not panicking when faced with certain questions, and learning how to answer them.
For some personality questions too, we were given feedback on how we should answer them, not to be negative, not to flatly say “no,” and things like that. So, that feedback really helped me, I guess.
iQuanta Topper Interview Q16: When Should You Start IPMAT Preparation and Is Coaching Necessary?
So, I got a structured way of studying, first the concepts, then doubt-solving. At iQuanta, we have groups where a lot of students are active, and if I posted a doubt, four to five, sometimes six students would answer. They’d answer in different ways, everyone has their own approach and I got to see all the different kinds of approaches. Then, I would follow whichever one I felt comfortable with.
So, that was really beneficial for both practicing and doubt-solving.
Topper’s Parents Interview Q1: What Did You Come to Know about IPMAT and How Did You Support Your Son’s Preparation?
I’m very fortunate, first of all, that whatever my children decided, “Yes, this is what we want to do” they have gone and done it.
My elder one is also in the same field, though he did a B.Tech, just like you [interviewer], but now he’s working in Abu Dhabi. But he too decided that, “This is exactly what I want to do.” We were offering him choices, either college or subject, but no, “This is exactly what I want to do.” He was also like that.
When he was in Class 12, he showed me at that time, “Mom, this is about IPMAT. Look, this is really good. Very few students go there, so it’s something that’s very wide open. You can have whatever you want, whichever field you want to go into afterwards, it’s open to you, MBA and everything.” So I said, “Okay, that’s a good thing.”
But while he was in Class 12, when he appeared for this, you know, without any preparation, he said, “It’s fine, at least I’ll get to know what the paper is like and everything.” When he saw it, he said, “Mom, it felt easy, but I hadn’t had that practice. I knew I could do that question, but it was taking me more time.” So, because of that lack of practice, it didn’t work out the first time.
So he said, “Okay, it’s fine, I’ll take a drop and I’ll prepare for this.” So I trusted him on that. Even my husband, he’s working at Tata Motors, yes, he was also like, “It’s fine, whatever the kids are doing, let them do it.” With that mindset, he said, “It’s fine.” And we too thought, “Well, now it’s up to the kids.”
So he said, “I will take a year’s drop.” He was basically home in the city the whole time, not going anywhere outside, and practiced rigorously. But still, in 2025, he didn’t get through. He was really, very upset. And, I mean, seeing him so sad, what could we even say to him? He himself was like, “I feel like I’m giving it my all, but I haven’t managed it.”
We said, “It’s fine. Try, do what you can, and go for some other course too.” So, at that time, he went and enrolled in some IIM Bangalore course. He enrolled in that and told me, “I’m going for this, but my main focus is IPMAT.”
And his practice regularly was so intense that we used to say, “Come eat your food, it’ll get cold.” Sometimes I too would get very angry, the food would be kept there, and when we’d slowly go check, it would show there were still 23 minutes left. The test was going on; he was taking a test. So then we’d quietly put the food away, thinking we’d give it to him whenever he asked for it.
Topper’s Parents Interview Q2: What Advice Do You Have for Parents of IPMAT Aspirants?
See, just as our lives were different from our parents’ lives, similarly, our children’s lives are very different from ours. Our children are facing very tough times in their studies and, you know, later on, in competitive exams, jobs, in everything.
So, I have one message for all the parents: please trust your children. Yes, but don’t just leave it at, “Yes, I trust them, so let it be.” No, you also have to keep an eye on what they’re doing and whether they’re on the right track.
So, take these two things [to heart]: trust your children. They will surely do well.
Topper’s Parents Interview Q3: How Did iQuanta Improve His IPMAT Preparation and Performance?
Yes, it really benefited him, that’s exactly why we’ve seen the change that I’m seeing standing in front of you right now.
And that day was like a normal day. We were having our lunch, and at that time, he came in and quietly slid his phone toward me with a message, saying, “Mom, look.” He just handed it to me, and everything was in that message.
I’m even getting goosebumps just talking about it now. Yes, it was a moment that all of us, our whole family, had been waiting for.
So, definitely, iQuanta has shaped what he has done and what he has achieved so far.
If you are looking for a structured preparation for IPMAT along with 24×7 doubt solving, then you can go for iQuanta’s IPMAT Course
