IPMAT stands for Integrated Programme in Management Aptitude Test. It's the entrance exam for the five-year Integrated Programme in Management offered by a few IIMs. You can appear for it right after finishing Class 12 (or while you're in Class 12) .No degree or work experience needed.

Only two IIMs conduct their own IPMAT exam : IIM Indore and IIM Rohtak. Other IIMs like Ranchi, Bodh Gaya, and Jammu don't run a separate test of their own. They either use JIPMAT scores or accept scores from one of the two IPMAT exams. This keeps changing a bit each year, so it's best to check the official notification of the IIM you're targeting before applying.

CAT, or Common Admission Test, is what IIMs and most other top B-schools use to admit students into their two-year MBA/PGP programmes. It's meant for people who already have a bachelor's degree or are about to complete one. CAT is conducted once a year, typically in November, with the exam held in multiple shifts on the same day.

IPMAT and CAT come in at different points of a student's life. IPMAT is for someone straight out of Class 12, and it leads into a combined five-year course that covers both undergrad and MBA. CAT comes after a bachelor's degree and leads into a regular two-year MBA. So it's really about which stage you're at. Most people end up taking one or the other, not both.

Both exams test Quantitative Ability and Verbal Ability, but the format isn't the same. IIM Indore has a mix of MCQs and Short Answer Questions, and there's no negative marking on the Short Answer part. IIM Rohtak, on the other hand, is fully MCQ-based, and every question has negative marking. Even after the written test, the process is different. IIM Indore leans more on the written score plus a WAT/PI round, while IIM Rohtak factors in your academic record and interview along with the entrance score.

CAT is a 2-hour exam split into three sections: VARC, DILR, and Quant. Each section gets a fixed 40 minutes, so you can't switch back and forth between them. Most years, the paper has around 66-68 questions, some MCQs and some TITA (Type In The Answer) questions where you type in the answer instead of picking one. The exact number of questions or section order can change slightly each year since IIMs tweak it, so it's a good idea to check the latest CAT notification instead of assuming it'll be exactly like last year.

In IPMAT IIM Rohtak, every question carries a penalty for a wrong answer. IIM Indore's version only penalises wrong MCQs; its typed Short Answer Questions carry no negative marking. CAT follows a similar split to IIM Indore: MCQs lose you a mark for a wrong attempt, but TITA questions, where you type in the answer, don't cost you anything if you're wrong. That's why many CAT test-takers treat TITA questions as lower-risk opportunities to guess intelligently.

It depends on which exam you're aiming for. For IPMAT, starting in Class 11 gives you a good head start before board exams start eating into your time, though plenty of students begin in Class 12 or even as a dropper and still manage fine. For CAT, most people prepare for about 8-12 months before the exam, though if you're already strong in quant and reasoning from your degree, you might need less. Either way, starting early is mostly about getting faster and more accurate, not about cramming new topics.

Always go straight to the exam conductor's own website. For IPMAT, that means the admissions pages of IIM Indore or IIM Rohtak, depending on which test you're taking. For CAT, check the site of whichever IIM is conducting it that year. The host institute changes annually, so dates, fees, and eligibility rules get reissued fresh each cycle.
If you want everything in one place, Abhyaas IIMPrep keeps a running List of IPMAT Entrance Exams with application windows, dates, and fees for IPMAT, JIPMAT, NPAT, SET, CUET, and more. It's updated as new notifications come out.

Yes. These are all run independently, with their own application windows and exam dates, so a lot of students end up applying to more than one to keep their options open for undergrad management admissions.