Updated On : April 15, 2024
As thousands eagerly await this pivotal moment in the design aspirants' calendar, we bring you the first glance at the schedule. The National Institute of Design (NID) Exam is a national-level design entrance examination in India.
It is conducted by the National Institute of Design for admission into its various undergraduate and postgraduate design courses at campuses across India, offering students the opportunity to pursue a career in fields such as product design, graphic design, animation, and more.
This post shall guide you through detailed information about NID Exam 2025 to stay ahead and plan your preparation accordingly!
Important NID Exam 2025 Updates:
All about the NID Entrance Exam:
The NID Design Aptitude Test (DAT) is a national-level entrance exam conducted by the National Institute of Design to provide admission to design UG and PG programs.
NID Full Form: National Institutes of Design
Particulars | NID Entrance Exam Details |
---|---|
Exam name | National Institute of Design Aptitude Test (NID DAT) |
Conducting Body | NID |
Exam frequency | Once a year |
Exam purpose | Admission to Design courses offered by NIDS and some private colleges |
Courses offered | BDes, MDes |
Application fee | INR 3,000 |
Exam duration | 3 hours |
Official website | https://admissions.nid.edu |
When is NID entrance exam 2025?
The National Institute of Design will release the official notification & brochure for the NID 2025 exam on its official website around October – November 2025.
The entrance exam is conducted in two stages:
There are two sections included in the Prelims exam, i.e.,
The prelims examination is a pen and paper-based written test.
In the Mains exam, there will be a -
Check out the table below to know all the important events related to the NID Exam 2025. NID DAT exam date is provided below:
Events | NID Exam Dates 2025 (Announced) |
Release of NID 2025 Notification | To be notified |
The NID 2025 application process starts from | To be notified |
Last date for submitting NID Online Application Form | To be notified |
The last date for submitting the NID Application Form with the late fee | To be notified |
Application correction window | To be notified |
NID admit card download begins for NID DAT Prelims | To be notified |
NID DAT Prelims Exam/ NID BDes exam date 2025 | To be notified |
Declaration of NID DAT Prelims Results | To be notified |
Rechecking request for DAT prelims | To be notified |
Download the NID DAT Mains Exam Admit Card | To be notified |
NID DAT Mains Exam/ NID 2025 Exam Date | To be notified |
NID DAT 2025 Mains Result | To be notified |
Window for submission of Campus Preference | To be notified |
Rechecking request for DAT Mains | To be notified |
Seat Allotment, Payment of Token Fees and Uploading of documents | To be notified |
Provisional offer letter | To be notified |
Payment of remaining fees | To be notified |
Subsequent rounds of seat allotment, along with the payment of full fees | To be notified |
Physical verification of documents at the respective NIDs | To be announced later by the respective NIDs |
Check: NID 2025 Admission
Only those who will satisfy the criteria set by the exam conducting body are eligible to apply for the exam.
Your candidature will get cancelled if you do not satisfy the Eligibility Criteria for NID Exam 2025
Check out the detailed criteria for age and qualification from the post below.
Visit the respective official website of each campus to learn about the NID Ahmedabad entrance exam.
Check: How is Life at NID?
The entire application process for NID DAT 2025 is only done online.
There are four stages involved in the NID application process, i.e., online registration, filling out the application form, uploading documents, and paying the application fee.
Check: NID 2025 Application Form
NID 2025 Admission Process is a 2-tier procedure that includes Prelims and Mains. Qualifying both stages will result in making you eligible for sitting in counselling for admission into the desired NID.
You can check out the detailed admission process in the post below.
Check: Tips to Improve Drawing Skills for NID 2025
The NID 2025 Admit Card is the mandatory document that has to be carried to the exam hall without fail. The admit card can be downloaded by following the below steps:
As per the notification, the NID exam involves two stages: prelims and mains for both B.Des. and M.Des.
Look at the table below to learn the detailed NID Exam Pattern for both UG and PG programs.
NID DAT 2025 Exam | B.Des | M.Des |
Mode of Exam | Offline | Offline |
No. of Questions | Section A: 64 (MCQ)* Section B: 3 (Subjective)** |
Section A: 59 (MCQ)* Section B: 3 (Subjective)** |
No. of Sections | 2 | 2 |
Total Marks | 100 | 100 |
Negative Marking | No | No |
Duration | 3 hours | 3 hours to 3.5 hours** |
Exam | Weightage (B.Des) | Weightage (M.Des) |
DAT Prelims | 30-40% | 30% |
DAT Mains | 60-70% | 70% |
Before starting your preparation, it is important to go through the detailed NID syllabus as it will help you know the important topics from the exam point of view.
The table below explains the important topics for the NID DAT for both the aptitude and studio tests.
Exam | Syllabus |
Aptitude Test | Includes various topics like Creativity, Comprehension, Knowledge and Visualization, Drawing Skills, Memory Drawing, General Mental Ability, etc. |
Studio Test | Comprises of topics such as 3D Modeling, Body Language, Observation Test, Portfolio Making, Creative Thinking, etc |
Check: NID Study Plan 2025
NID Entrance Exam 2025 will be conducted at various exam centres across India. The table below shows the list of exam cities.
Ahmedabad | Hyderabad | Patna |
Bengaluru | Guwahati | Nagpur |
Bhopal | Lucknow | Raipur |
Jaipur | New Delhi | Kolkata |
Chandigarh | Mumbai | Thiruvananthapuram |
Chennai | - | - |
NID DAT Prelims consist of both objective and subjective type questions. So you must ensure to prepare equally for both types of questions. Here, we have provided a few tips to enhance your NID Preparation.
Check: NID Preparation Books
Let us look at the previous year's NID Exam Analysis and get an idea about the difficulty level of the exam.
NID Exam Analysis 2022
Based on the exam analysis of the NID 2022 exam, the overall complexity of the NID entrance examination was rated as moderate.
Refer: NID Interview Questions with Answers 2025
NID 2021 Exam Review
NID 2020 Exam Review
Check: NID Exam Analysis
The results are declared after the exam is completed and published as a PDF.
You can check NID Exam Result from the official website by following the below steps:
The answer key is also made available by the National Institute of Design (NID) in two stages:
The right responses to every question on the NID admission exam are provided in the answer key.
It is crucial to remember that the answer key only contains the right answers, not the solutions to the problems. Students preparing for the entrance exam can greatly benefit from the NID answer key.
It may provide students with the information and comprehension they require to do well on the test.
Check: NID Answer Key
Generally, the cut-off marks will be released after the declaration of results. You must remember that scoring above the NID Exam Cut Off only results in being shortlisted for the merit list.
To help you understand the expected cut-off, we have provided the cut-off for the previous year in the table below.
Institute | Category | ||||||
Open | Gen - EWS | OBC - NCL | SC | ST | PwD | Overseas | |
NID Ahmedabad | 96.84 | 65.96 | 79.41 | 65.27 | 63.49 | 52.16 | 65.48 |
NID Andhra Pradesh | 94.17 | NE | 71.72 | 53.33 | 50.51 | 47.98 | NA |
NID Haryana | 91.15 | NE | 65.82 | 46.12 | 47.91 | 46.33 | NA |
NID Madhya Pradesh | 88.16 | NE | 60.95 | 50.17 | 46.19 | NE | NA |
NID Assam | 87.10 | NE | 57.17 | 45.98 | NE | NE | NA |
The National Institute of Design follows the reservation norms for all courses.
The category-wise reservation of seats for all courses as per the NID Reservation policy is as tabulated below:
Category | Reservation (in %) |
Economically Weaker Section (EWS) | 10 |
Other Backward Classes (OBC) | 27 |
SC | 15 |
ST | 7.5 |
Persons with disabilities (PwD) will be given a 5% horizontal reservation of seats from the parent category in each program, cutting across all sections, i.e. SC, ST, OBC (Non-Creamy only), and General category.
Check: NID Seats 2025
Institute | Total No of Seats | GEN-EWS (10%) | OBC-NCL (27%) | SC (15%) | ST (7.5%) |
NID Ahmedabad | 125 | 13 | 34 | 19 | 9 |
NID Andhra Pradesh | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Haryana | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Madhya Pradesh | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Assam | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Reservation for Overseas Category
Click here to enroll: NID Online Coaching Classes
Only those who will qualify in both prelims and mains exams will get shortlisted for the counselling process. The National Institute of Design conducts the counselling process in 2 stages and as explained below:
An online consent has to be sent by you to be eligible for the next stage of counseling. The merit list will be released and uploaded regularly on the official NID website based on online consent.
After releasing the final merit list, you must upload a few documents in JPEG format for verification. The documents required are as follows:
The information mentioned in the NID application form will verify the uploaded documents. In case of any mismatch, your admission is liable to cancellation.
Know more: NID DAT Counselling 2025: Documents Required
The NID Exam Scores are accepted in all 7 NID campuses that are listed below:
NID Ahmedabad | NID Gandhinagar |
NID Vijayawada | NID Bengaluru |
NID Bhopal | NID Jorhat |
NID Kurukshetra | - |
The National Institute of Design offers various specializations under B.Des, GDPD, and M.Des.
Check out the table below to know the institute's list of NID Courses.
BDes Courses at NID | |
Ceramic and Glass Design | Furniture and Interior Design |
animation film design | Textile Design |
Film and Video Communication | Graphic Design |
Exhibition Design | Product Design |
GDPD Courses at NID | |
Industrial Design | Communication Design |
Textile and Apparel Design | |
MDes Courses at NID | |
Ceramic and Glass Design | Animation Film Design |
Graphic Design | Product Design |
Apparel Design | Textile Design |
Furniture and Interior Design | Film and Video Communication |
Strategic Design Management | Photography Design |
Transportation and Automobile Design | Toy and Game Design |
Universal Design | Interaction Design |
Digital Game Design | Design for Rental Experience |
Lifestyle Accessory Design | Information Design |
New Media Design |
Check: List of courses offered in NID colleges
In conclusion, the NID entrance exam is as difficult as other design entrance exams. Candidates should take the time to become familiar with NID exam patterns, syllabi and mock papers. With the proper preparation and attitude, the NID exam 2025 can be cleared with flying colours.
Read more: Jobs After NID
Download Your Free NID Prep Material
Fill your details
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the the NID Notification 2025 released?
Is there any limitation on number of attempts in NID DAT Exam?
Can a student from Class 12 Arts stream apply for NID Entrance Exam 2025?
What is the age limit to apply for NID DAT Exam 2025?
What is the education qualification required to apply for NID DAT 2025?
What is the NID DAT 2025 Entrance Exam Pattern?
Can I request a change in the exam center for the NID Entrance Exam 2025?
How can I apply for the NID Entrance Exam 2025?
April 15, 2024
As thousands eagerly await this pivotal moment in the design aspirants' calendar, we bring you the first glance at the schedule. The National Institute of Design (NID) Exam is a national-level design entrance examination in India.
It is conducted by the National Institute of Design for admission into its various undergraduate and postgraduate design courses at campuses across India, offering students the opportunity to pursue a career in fields such as product design, graphic design, animation, and more.
This post shall guide you through detailed information about NID Exam 2025 to stay ahead and plan your preparation accordingly!
Important NID Exam 2025 Updates:
All about the NID Entrance Exam:
The NID Design Aptitude Test (DAT) is a national-level entrance exam conducted by the National Institute of Design to provide admission to design UG and PG programs.
NID Full Form: National Institutes of Design
Particulars | NID Entrance Exam Details |
---|---|
Exam name | National Institute of Design Aptitude Test (NID DAT) |
Conducting Body | NID |
Exam frequency | Once a year |
Exam purpose | Admission to Design courses offered by NIDS and some private colleges |
Courses offered | BDes, MDes |
Application fee | INR 3,000 |
Exam duration | 3 hours |
Official website | https://admissions.nid.edu |
When is NID entrance exam 2025?
The National Institute of Design will release the official notification & brochure for the NID 2025 exam on its official website around October – November 2025.
The entrance exam is conducted in two stages:
There are two sections included in the Prelims exam, i.e.,
The prelims examination is a pen and paper-based written test.
In the Mains exam, there will be a -
Check out the table below to know all the important events related to the NID Exam 2025. NID DAT exam date is provided below:
Events | NID Exam Dates 2025 (Announced) |
Release of NID 2025 Notification | To be notified |
The NID 2025 application process starts from | To be notified |
Last date for submitting NID Online Application Form | To be notified |
The last date for submitting the NID Application Form with the late fee | To be notified |
Application correction window | To be notified |
NID admit card download begins for NID DAT Prelims | To be notified |
NID DAT Prelims Exam/ NID BDes exam date 2025 | To be notified |
Declaration of NID DAT Prelims Results | To be notified |
Rechecking request for DAT prelims | To be notified |
Download the NID DAT Mains Exam Admit Card | To be notified |
NID DAT Mains Exam/ NID 2025 Exam Date | To be notified |
NID DAT 2025 Mains Result | To be notified |
Window for submission of Campus Preference | To be notified |
Rechecking request for DAT Mains | To be notified |
Seat Allotment, Payment of Token Fees and Uploading of documents | To be notified |
Provisional offer letter | To be notified |
Payment of remaining fees | To be notified |
Subsequent rounds of seat allotment, along with the payment of full fees | To be notified |
Physical verification of documents at the respective NIDs | To be announced later by the respective NIDs |
Check: NID 2025 Admission
Only those who will satisfy the criteria set by the exam conducting body are eligible to apply for the exam.
Your candidature will get cancelled if you do not satisfy the Eligibility Criteria for NID Exam 2025
Check out the detailed criteria for age and qualification from the post below.
Visit the respective official website of each campus to learn about the NID Ahmedabad entrance exam.
Check: How is Life at NID?
The entire application process for NID DAT 2025 is only done online.
There are four stages involved in the NID application process, i.e., online registration, filling out the application form, uploading documents, and paying the application fee.
Check: NID 2025 Application Form
NID 2025 Admission Process is a 2-tier procedure that includes Prelims and Mains. Qualifying both stages will result in making you eligible for sitting in counselling for admission into the desired NID.
You can check out the detailed admission process in the post below.
Check: Tips to Improve Drawing Skills for NID 2025
The NID 2025 Admit Card is the mandatory document that has to be carried to the exam hall without fail. The admit card can be downloaded by following the below steps:
As per the notification, the NID exam involves two stages: prelims and mains for both B.Des. and M.Des.
Look at the table below to learn the detailed NID Exam Pattern for both UG and PG programs.
NID DAT 2025 Exam | B.Des | M.Des |
Mode of Exam | Offline | Offline |
No. of Questions | Section A: 64 (MCQ)* Section B: 3 (Subjective)** |
Section A: 59 (MCQ)* Section B: 3 (Subjective)** |
No. of Sections | 2 | 2 |
Total Marks | 100 | 100 |
Negative Marking | No | No |
Duration | 3 hours | 3 hours to 3.5 hours** |
Exam | Weightage (B.Des) | Weightage (M.Des) |
DAT Prelims | 30-40% | 30% |
DAT Mains | 60-70% | 70% |
Before starting your preparation, it is important to go through the detailed NID syllabus as it will help you know the important topics from the exam point of view.
The table below explains the important topics for the NID DAT for both the aptitude and studio tests.
Exam | Syllabus |
Aptitude Test | Includes various topics like Creativity, Comprehension, Knowledge and Visualization, Drawing Skills, Memory Drawing, General Mental Ability, etc. |
Studio Test | Comprises of topics such as 3D Modeling, Body Language, Observation Test, Portfolio Making, Creative Thinking, etc |
Check: NID Study Plan 2025
NID Entrance Exam 2025 will be conducted at various exam centres across India. The table below shows the list of exam cities.
Ahmedabad | Hyderabad | Patna |
Bengaluru | Guwahati | Nagpur |
Bhopal | Lucknow | Raipur |
Jaipur | New Delhi | Kolkata |
Chandigarh | Mumbai | Thiruvananthapuram |
Chennai | - | - |
NID DAT Prelims consist of both objective and subjective type questions. So you must ensure to prepare equally for both types of questions. Here, we have provided a few tips to enhance your NID Preparation.
Check: NID Preparation Books
Let us look at the previous year's NID Exam Analysis and get an idea about the difficulty level of the exam.
NID Exam Analysis 2022
Based on the exam analysis of the NID 2022 exam, the overall complexity of the NID entrance examination was rated as moderate.
Refer: NID Interview Questions with Answers 2025
NID 2021 Exam Review
NID 2020 Exam Review
Check: NID Exam Analysis
The results are declared after the exam is completed and published as a PDF.
You can check NID Exam Result from the official website by following the below steps:
The answer key is also made available by the National Institute of Design (NID) in two stages:
The right responses to every question on the NID admission exam are provided in the answer key.
It is crucial to remember that the answer key only contains the right answers, not the solutions to the problems. Students preparing for the entrance exam can greatly benefit from the NID answer key.
It may provide students with the information and comprehension they require to do well on the test.
Check: NID Answer Key
Generally, the cut-off marks will be released after the declaration of results. You must remember that scoring above the NID Exam Cut Off only results in being shortlisted for the merit list.
To help you understand the expected cut-off, we have provided the cut-off for the previous year in the table below.
Institute | Category | ||||||
Open | Gen - EWS | OBC - NCL | SC | ST | PwD | Overseas | |
NID Ahmedabad | 96.84 | 65.96 | 79.41 | 65.27 | 63.49 | 52.16 | 65.48 |
NID Andhra Pradesh | 94.17 | NE | 71.72 | 53.33 | 50.51 | 47.98 | NA |
NID Haryana | 91.15 | NE | 65.82 | 46.12 | 47.91 | 46.33 | NA |
NID Madhya Pradesh | 88.16 | NE | 60.95 | 50.17 | 46.19 | NE | NA |
NID Assam | 87.10 | NE | 57.17 | 45.98 | NE | NE | NA |
The National Institute of Design follows the reservation norms for all courses.
The category-wise reservation of seats for all courses as per the NID Reservation policy is as tabulated below:
Category | Reservation (in %) |
Economically Weaker Section (EWS) | 10 |
Other Backward Classes (OBC) | 27 |
SC | 15 |
ST | 7.5 |
Persons with disabilities (PwD) will be given a 5% horizontal reservation of seats from the parent category in each program, cutting across all sections, i.e. SC, ST, OBC (Non-Creamy only), and General category.
Check: NID Seats 2025
Institute | Total No of Seats | GEN-EWS (10%) | OBC-NCL (27%) | SC (15%) | ST (7.5%) |
NID Ahmedabad | 125 | 13 | 34 | 19 | 9 |
NID Andhra Pradesh | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Haryana | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Madhya Pradesh | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Assam | 75 | 8 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
NID Reservation for Overseas Category
Click here to enroll: NID Online Coaching Classes
Only those who will qualify in both prelims and mains exams will get shortlisted for the counselling process. The National Institute of Design conducts the counselling process in 2 stages and as explained below:
An online consent has to be sent by you to be eligible for the next stage of counseling. The merit list will be released and uploaded regularly on the official NID website based on online consent.
After releasing the final merit list, you must upload a few documents in JPEG format for verification. The documents required are as follows:
The information mentioned in the NID application form will verify the uploaded documents. In case of any mismatch, your admission is liable to cancellation.
Know more: NID DAT Counselling 2025: Documents Required
The NID Exam Scores are accepted in all 7 NID campuses that are listed below:
NID Ahmedabad | NID Gandhinagar |
NID Vijayawada | NID Bengaluru |
NID Bhopal | NID Jorhat |
NID Kurukshetra | - |
The National Institute of Design offers various specializations under B.Des, GDPD, and M.Des.
Check out the table below to know the institute's list of NID Courses.
BDes Courses at NID | |
Ceramic and Glass Design | Furniture and Interior Design |
animation film design | Textile Design |
Film and Video Communication | Graphic Design |
Exhibition Design | Product Design |
GDPD Courses at NID | |
Industrial Design | Communication Design |
Textile and Apparel Design | |
MDes Courses at NID | |
Ceramic and Glass Design | Animation Film Design |
Graphic Design | Product Design |
Apparel Design | Textile Design |
Furniture and Interior Design | Film and Video Communication |
Strategic Design Management | Photography Design |
Transportation and Automobile Design | Toy and Game Design |
Universal Design | Interaction Design |
Digital Game Design | Design for Rental Experience |
Lifestyle Accessory Design | Information Design |
New Media Design |
Check: List of courses offered in NID colleges
In conclusion, the NID entrance exam is as difficult as other design entrance exams. Candidates should take the time to become familiar with NID exam patterns, syllabi and mock papers. With the proper preparation and attitude, the NID exam 2025 can be cleared with flying colours.
Read more: Jobs After NID
Download Your Free NID Prep Material
Fill your details
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the the NID Notification 2025 released?
Is there any limitation on number of attempts in NID DAT Exam?
Can a student from Class 12 Arts stream apply for NID Entrance Exam 2025?
What is the age limit to apply for NID DAT Exam 2025?
What is the education qualification required to apply for NID DAT 2025?
What is the NID DAT 2025 Entrance Exam Pattern?
Can I request a change in the exam center for the NID Entrance Exam 2025?
How can I apply for the NID Entrance Exam 2025?