Strategy & execution notes
for serious aspirants.
Study plans, exam strategy and lessons from the daily drill data — written by the GRADSCALE team.
NMAT 2026 Exam Analysis: What to Expect and How to Prepare If You Are Yet to Take It
NMAT 2026 started on 2 November and the window runs until 20 December, so most candidates have not taken it yet. The first slots are in, and the early reports tell you a lot about what to expect: Language was easy, Quant and Logical Reasoning were hard and long. Here is what e…
IIM Ahmedabad Summer Placements 2026: All 410 Students Placed, Consulting Takes 40% of Offers
IIM Ahmedabad has reported its summer internship placements for 2026, and consulting dominated again. All 410 students who took part got internships, with offers from over 155 companies. Here is what the numbers show, how to read them, and what they mean if you are aiming for …
IIM Bangalore Summer Placements 2026-28: 100% Placed, ₹2 Lakh Median Stipend and Half the Offers in Consulting
IIM Bangalore has completed summer placements for its 2026-28 batch. All 608 students got offers, the median stipend is ₹2 lakh a month, and consulting took more than half of all offers. Here is what the numbers show, how they compare with last year's batch, and what they mean…
Summer Placements 2026-28 Compared: IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, SPJIMR and FMS Delhi
Four top B-schools have now reported summer placements for their 2026-28 batches, and every one of them placed 100% of its students. That makes the headline numbers look the same, so the real comparison is in the stipend, the sector mix and the recruiter base. Here is a side-b…
Feeling Underprepared for CAT 2026? What You Can Still Do Before 29 November
If you are a few weeks from CAT and feel like your preparation is a 2 or a 3 out of 5, you are not behind. In a recent poll of CAT aspirants, most students rated their confidence at 2 or 3, a few at 4 and nobody at 5. That is what the last month feels like for almost everyone.…
Are MBAs Still in Demand? What the 2026 Hiring Data Says
Every few months, a headline says the MBA is dying, that AI will take the jobs, or that companies no longer want management graduates. Then placement season arrives and the top B-schools report record stipends and near-100% placement. Both cannot be fully true. Here is what th…
FMS Delhi MBA Application Form 2027-29: Dates, Eligibility, Fee, Selection Process and How to Apply
The FMS Delhi MBA application form for the 2027-29 batch is open. It opened on 26 October 2026 and closes on 25 November 2026, four days before CAT. Here is everything you need before you fill it: the dates, eligibility, fee, documents, the selection weightage, and the mistake…
IIM Calls for OBC, EWS and SC Candidates: What CAT Percentile Gets What (2026 Guide)
"I am NC-OBC. What percentile do I need for an IIM call?" is one of the most common questions after CAT, and most answers online either give only the minimum cutoff or only the General-category number. Here is both: the minimum percentile each category needs to be considered, …
CAT 2026 Last 30 Days Study Plan: Week-by-Week Strategy Till 29 November
CAT 2026 is on 29 November 2026. If you start on 30 October, you have exactly 30 days, and what you do in them matters more than what you did in the previous six months. This plan tells you what to study, how many mocks to take, how to analyse them, and what to do in the final…