NID is India’s topmost and one among Asia’s Top 10 design institutes. It is globally recognised as a premier design institute. Students from NID get a fantastic brand to graduate from. Industry and Academia recognize these as the most premier design schools in India. Students from NID’s get access to the best faculty, fantastic infrastructure, the best opportunities for Internships, research projects and jobs.

The NID is the most competitive design exam to crack in India. Getting through to NID. There are about 425 seats across all reservation categories with only about 3% of applications getting through across India.

Yes, NIDs are centrally funded autonomous government institutes similar to IITs, IIMs & NIFTs. They operate under the Ministry of Commerce & industry, Government of India.

NID Prelims generally happen in the last week of December / First week of January every year. The results of the NID Prelims exams are declared around March. Shortlisted students may attend NID Mains.

The NID Mains examination generally happens in April / May / June each year and results are declared within 30 days.

The weightage for NID Prelims and Mains are decided at a later stage by the NID team

NID’s offer various courses in Industrial, Visual, UI UX, Game Design Etc. The list of courses can be found on the website forPost Graduate Programs

To apply to NID follow the applications process listed on the NID Admissions website. All the details are updated here. However, tentative dates are below:

Applications open: September / October. Approximately 6,000 to 8,000 applications are received each year

NID Prelims: December / January. Approximately 800 students qualify to the next round

NID Mains: April / May / June. Approximately 450 seats

The final rank is based on the weightage for both NID Prelims & NID Mains. In 2022 - 23 admissions year for M.Des, the weightage for Prelims is 30%, Mains studio Test is 40% & Mains Interview is 30%

For NID Prelims, you need to prepare for both Aptitude & Sketching. Understanding the structure of the exams is critical

For Aptitude: This heatmap should help you. It is available for all students who sign up on DQ Edge. Once you understand it, you need to take the Mock test papers & past year question papers.

For Sketching: You may use the social learning features of DQ Edge. You may upload your sketches for past year question papers or mock tests and also see what your peer group has done for the same sketches.

NID tests a candidate on his original creativity and the ability to come up with on the spot solutions / concepts to a given problem. This would indeed require an observant and rational mind and at the same decent enough in representation skills. This would also require a decent knowledge / Understanding of a wide range of topics on a high level, if not in detail.

Coaching will help you understand wider topics and give you the discipline as well as the thought process to channel your creative abilities best in order to crack the NID entrance examination. Regular guided lessons with faculty who are aware of the entrance examination can help you identify your strengths and correct your weaknesses.

For Aptitude: While ‘NID study material’ is freely available, ‘well researched’ study material is what will actually help you. The study material must have a range of ‘question types’ that have come in the past, and those question types that are ‘predicted’ to come in future. You need to be able to identify the best strategy for you to maximize your score.

For Sketching: Questions may or may not be straightforward. You need to be able to identify what is expected from the question and deliver that in the best manner. Ultimately, a sketch is only a representation of your thought process. Some questions require you to have amazing sketching skills, while other questions require you to have phenomenal problem solving / creative thinking skills.

What makes the difference is the feedback that you get from your faculty. You may choose a high quality Coaching program offered by DQ Labs. If you already have access to great feedback, or just looking for more study material, then you can choose a self-study program available at DQ Edge.

For MDes: There are about 260 MDes Seats available at all campuses of NID – across all reservation categories at all 3 campuses

Approximately 6,000 to 8,000 students take the NID exam each year. Approximately 800 (8% - 10%) students qualify for NID Mains. Finally, only about 260 students secure seats (3%) across all categories. For General Merit students, the chances are about 1% to get through.

However, for those who take the < a href="https://www.dqlabs.in/nid-ceed-coaching.php">Coaching program offered by DQ Labs, the chances of getting into an NID increase from 1% to about 25%.

Getting into an NID is through a 2 stage process - NID Prelims & NID Mains. While all aspirants can write NID Prelims, only about 1200 - 1500 aspirants qualify for NID Mains

NID Prelims (also known as Design Aptitude Test Prelims or NID DAT Prelims) is the first stage of the NID Exam. It consists of both Sketching and Aptitude and is generally a 100-mark test. For each NID Seat, about 3 to 4 students qualify Prelims and are called for the next stage NID Mains. The NID Prelims will also have stream specific question i.e. a question related to the specialization that the applicant has applied for

NID Mains Studio Test (also known as Design Aptitude Test Mains or NID DAT Mains or NID Studio Test) is the next stage of the NID Exam. It consists of studio test exercises (Material Handling, Audio Visual Rounds, Memory tests etc.).

NID Mains Interview Applicants are required to bring their portfolios and face Personal Interviews as well for the last stage of the test.

The final rank is based on the weightage for both NID Prelims & NID Mains. In 2022 - 23 admissions year for B.Des, the weightage for Prelims is 30%, Mains studio Test is 40% & Mains Interview is 30%

The list of materials that students can carry into the exam are below - however, the admit card has the necessary details

1. Black ball point pen (to mark the answers in the OMR sheet)
2. Lead pencils (of varying grades)
3. Dry colours (such as oil pastels/colour pencils/sketch pens etc)
4. Eraser
5. Sharpeners
6. Ruler

NID Ahmedabad is the oldest campus. It has the largest number of seats (107). The other campuses at Gandhinagar (69 seats) and Bangalore (95 seats). For Masters programs, you need to select the campus based on the subjects being offered.

No

NID Mains (also known as Design Aptitude Test Mains or NID DAT Mains or NID Studio Test) is the Final stage of the NID Exam. It consists of studio test exercises (Material Handling, Audio Visual Rounds, Memory tests etc.). Applicants are required to bring their portfolios and face Personal Interviews as well.

The best way to prepare is to practice as many questions as possible and learn from what the other aspirants have done in the past as well.

Your best resource for this would be available on DQ Edge. Here, you will find many exercises along with work of past students.

The exam seeks evidence of Knowledge, Comprehension, Analysis, Reasoning, Problem Solving and Creativity in the applicant. This is very vague and generally means that any type of question can come from anywhere.

However, there is a method to the madness. If you have a look at the patterns of the previous year question papers, it should give you a good idea to start off with. You can find solved mock test papers, past year questions papers, practice tests and predicted questions for all on DQ Edge

The purpose of NID’s is to solve problems for the Design Industry and that of NIFT’s is for the Fashion Industry. We suggest that you go through the NID & NIFT websites in detail and see the programs available. Your target should be the program that you want to pursue.

We do recommend that you answer the exams of both institutes as some programs may be alternatives. In Industry, fashion graduates from NIFT’s also work across industries like Automobile, Digital Experiences, Home Appliances etc.

Eg. A Fashion Communication program at NIFT is an alternative to a Visual Communication Design program at NID as principles of communication are the same, but applications would be different.

For NID Prelims: The Aptitude is an online exam while the sketching is done on a paper.

For NID Mains: This is a completely offline exam

The exam is conducted only once a year. A candidate may take the exam multiple times as long as they fit the eligibility criteria / age group. These details can be found on the NID Admissions website

To apply to NID, you will need to login to the NID Admissions website and complete the process as per the instructions. All official communication and results will be shared with you there.

A portfolio is generally required only for NID Post Graduate aspirants for NID Mains. In the past, BDes aspirants were also required to bring their portfolios and face Personal Interviews as well. So it is recommended to work on a portfolio as well as prepare for interviews.