I wasted my 9th–11th because of trading. Now I have 6 months for IPMAT — what should I do?
I am currently in Class 12, studying Commerce with Applied Mathematics.
Honestly, I have barely studied for the last few years. I started losing interest in academics around the end of Class 9. At the same time, I got into trading, and gradually it became a major distraction from my studies.
I was in a dummy school in Class 11 and basically studied nothing throughout the year. Even in Class 10, I didn't study consistently. I only started studying seriously shortly before the board exams and ended up scoring 63.80%.
Now I'm in Class 12, and I have finally decided that I want to take my academics seriously.
I have known about IPMAT since Class 9, and I have always had the idea of getting into an IIM through IPMAT. Now I genuinely want to give it a serious attempt.
The problem is that I'm basically starting from almost zero. My fundamentals from Classes 9–11 are very weak, especially in Mathematics. I have approximately 6 months before the IPMAT exams, and I'm extremely confused about how to approach this.
Should I:
Focus mainly on completing my Class 11–12 syllabus first and then start IPMAT preparation?
Prepare for boards and IPMAT simultaneously from now?
Ignore IPMAT for this year and take a drop after Class 12 to prepare properly?
Or is it actually possible to build my basics and prepare for IPMAT within these 6 months?
I'm not looking for motivation alone. I would genuinely appreciate advice from people who have prepared for IPMAT, especially those who started from a very weak academic background.
If you were in my position, what would you do for the next 6 months?
Any realistic roadmap, resources, strategy, or advice would be really helpful.