How much does IR score matter when it comes to applications?

Hello, Rochix123. I promise you, if your total score is competitive, a 4 or 5 on the IR section will be good enough. I have seen students get into target M7 programs with a 3 before in IR. So, first, putting a lot of time and effort into IR preparation is not really worth it. That said, I understand if you are unhappy with your current performance. IR has a lot of traps that I feel the other sections, even Quant, generally avoid. You have to read the question stem especially carefully. Also, you should practice to see which questions tend to be strengths or weaknesses. Maybe you are stronger at table analysis but weaker at multi-source reasoning, better at CR-type questions with a lot of reading, worse at more Quant-based questions (even with the on-screen calculator). You start to appreciate the task much better the more you practice and spend time studying questions. But again, there is no need to overdo it: you can even afford to miss a question en route to a perfect 8.

In terms of advice on a general approach, one person I helped for the EA (a test in which IR does matter) found it useful to keep in mind that the information in an IR question is there on a need-to-know basis. That is, you do not need to read everything before you engage with the question. Rather, you can look at the question, see if you can answer it based on cobbling together some of the information on the screen, and move on. Read more when it is necessary to do so. A lot of IR comes down to knowing what to look for and where to find it.

If you need more material or section-specific advice, I would recommend checking out the IR forum. Best of luck with your preparation.

- Andrew