The NID Design Aptitude Test (DAT) is a national-level entrance exam conducted by the National Institute of Design to provide admission to UG and PG programs in the Design category.

The admission is provided based on your performance in the Design Aptitude Test (DAT) stages, i.e., DAT Prelims and DAT Mains.

This post shall guide you through detailed information about NID 2023, such as eligibility criteria, exam dates, selection process, syllabus, exam pattern, and more.

NID 2023 Entrance Exam Dates & Schedule

The National Institute of Design will release the official notification for the NID 2023 exam on the official website. The entrance exam is conducted in two stages:

• Prelims
• Mains

Both stages are qualifying in nature. To apply for the exam, your minimum age should be 19 years.

If you hold citizenship from a country other than the Republic of India, you are eligible to apply under the overseas category.

Download Free Study Material for NID 2023 Exam by CreativeEdge

NID DAT 2023 Exam Dates

Check out the table below to know all the important events related to the NID Exam 2023.

Events	Dates (tentative)
Release of NID Notification 2023	October 2022
NID application process starts from	21 October 2022
Last date for submitting NID Online Application Form	16 December 2022
Last date for submitting NID Application Form with the late fee	16 December 2022
Application correction window	20 December 2022
NID admit card download begins	30 December 2022
NID DAT Prelims Exam	8 January 2023
Declaration of NID DAT M.Des Program	February 28, 2023 (Announced)
M.Des. DAT Prelims Rechecking	28 Feb 2023 to 02 Mar 2023
Declaration of NID DAT B.Des Program	March 30, 2023
NID DAT Mains Exam	March 20, 2023 onwards (Announced)
Declaration of final NID result	April/May 2023

Find the NID DAT Mains Exam for M.Des in this PDF. Admit cards have been released. 

NID DAT 2023 Eligibility Criteria

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 2023.

Check out the detailed criteria for age and qualification from the post below.

Age Limit: 

As per the official notification, Indian Nationals belonging to the general category and general EWS category must have been born on or after 01 July 2003, whereas those belonging to SC/ST/OBC-NCL category must have been born on or after 01 July 1998 to apply for the NID entrance exam.

If you belong to the PwD category, you must have been born on or after 01 July 1998 to be eligible for admission.

Educational Qualification:

• You must have completed the final examination of 10+2 or equivalent from a recognized board (AISSE/ICSE/CBSE) to be eligible for the exam.
• Those appearing for the higher secondary examination in the academic year 2023 can also apply for the NID DAT exam.

How to Apply for NID DAT 2023?

The entire application process for NID DAT 2023 is only through online mode. 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.

• Visit the official website of NID, i.e. www.nid.edu
• Click on the "New Registration" tab
• Provide a valid mobile number, email ID, and Date of birth, and click on the submit button
• After registration, login credentials will be emailed to the registered email ID and mobile number.
• Re-login to the portal using the credentials received after registration.
• Fill out the application form by entering all the details correctly. 
• Upload all the necessary documents in the specified format.
• Pay the application fee either online or offline mode. 

NID DAT 2023 Admission Process

NID 2023 Admission Process is a 2-tier procedure that includes Prelims and Mains. Qualifying both stages will result in getting admission into the desired NID.

You can check out the detailed admission process in the post below.

Registration

• You can proceed with the application process only if you satisfy the eligibility criteria.
• Ensure to keep all the required documents ready before proceeding with the process.
• You can pay the application fee either online or offline.
• Also, you need to take a printout of the form for future reference.

NID Prelims Exam 2023

• The first stage of the Design Aptitude Test is a written test comprising objective and subject questions.
• The time duration of the preliminary exam is 3 hours.

NID DAT Mains 2023 (for M.Des)

• You have to score above the prelims exam cut off to get shortlisted for the NID DAT Mains exam.
• This stage comprises studio tests and interviews conducted by the exam authorities. \
• In the studio test, you are given practical assignments that must be completed on time. 

NID Final Result

• Based on your performance in prelims and mains, the authorities prepare the final merit list.
• You will be offered admission at different NID across India if you qualify in all the exam stages.

NID DAT 2023 Reservation

The National Institute of Design follows the reservation norms for all courses they offer.

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 Disability (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. 

Previous year (2022) B.Des DAT Mains Seats Matrix

Seat Details	Ahmedabad	Bengaluru	Bhopal	Delhi	Hyderabad	Kolkata	Pune
Number of Seats	346	200	135	500	200	250	200

NID Reservation for Overseas Category

There is a provision for a 15% reservation of supernumerary seats in B. Des. and M. Des. Programs for the overseas category.

If you belong to the NRI category (Non-Resident of India), you must apply as Indian Citizen.

NID DAT 2023 Exam Pattern

As per the notification, the NID exam involves two stages: prelims and mains for both B.Des, GDPD, and M.Des. However, depending on the prevailing pandemic situation, NID may change the schedules or the structure of the paper pattern.

Look at the table below to learn the detailed NID Exam Pattern for both UG and PG programs.

NID DAT 2023 Exam	For B.Des & GDPD	For M.Des
Mode of Exam	Online	Online
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

NID DAT 2023 Syllabus

Before starting your preparation, it is important to go through the detailed 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 of 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

NID DAT 2023 Admit Card

The NID 2023 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:

• Visit the official website of NID
• Click on the link  “NID 2023 Admit Card”
• Enter the login credentials such as registration number and password
• Click on the submit button
• The Admit Card will be displayed on the screen
• Take a printout for future reference

NID DAT 2023 Exam Centers

NID Entrance Exam 2023 will be conducted at various exam centres across India. The below table shows the list of exam cities.

Ahmedabad	Hyderabad	Patna
Bengaluru	Guwahati	Nagpur
Bhopal	Lucknow	Raipur
Jaipur	New Delhi	Kolkata
Chandigarh	Mumbai	Thiruvananthapuram
Chennai	-	-

How to Prepare for NID DAT 2023?

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.

• One of the important tips by toppers is to practice sketching objects and human figures.
• Ensure to be thorough with the detailed syllabus and pattern of the exam.
• List out all the important topics you need to focus on.
• Give more time for the topics that you feel are difficult.
• Solve more and more questions from the previous year's NID Sample Papers to know the difficulty level of the exam and the type of questions asked.
• Try to attempt at least one to two mock tests weekly.
•  Also, make sure to analyze your performance after the completion of each paper.

NID Exam Analysis

Let us look at the previous year's NID Exam Analysis and get an idea about the difficulty level of the exam.

NID 2021 Exam Review

• As per the paper analysis, the exam had a moderate difficulty level.
• In the general knowledge section, questions related to Padma Shree Awards were asked.
• The aptitude test included questions based on the half-triangle, half-square, half-hexagon, and Tongue Twister.
• Also, the drawing questions were quite lengthy.

NID 2020 Exam Review

• Per the student's feedback, the exam was moderate difficulty. All questions were doable. 
• Most students said the question paper was lengthy, as they had to attempt 6 subjective questions. 

NID 2019 Exam Review

• Most of the students who appeared for the exam said the exam pattern was changed, and it was conveyed to students. 
• As per the pattern informed by authorities, the exam had to include 30 marks subjective and 70 marks objective. But, in the examination, this was reversed.

NID DAT 2023 Result

The results are declared after the completion of the exam. The results are published in the form of a PDF. You can check NID Exam Result from the official website by following the below steps:

• Visit the official site of NID: results.nid.edu.
• Click on the link NID 2023 Result
• Enter the roll number, the application number
• Click on the submit button
• The result PDF will be displayed on the screen.
• Take a printout of the same for future reference.

NID DAT 2023 Cut-Off Marks 

Generally, the cut-off marks will be released after the declaration of results. You must remember that scoring above the NID Cut Off 2023 only results in being shortlisted for the merit list. 

To help you understand the expected cut-off, we have provided the previous year's cut-off 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

NID DAT 2023 Counselling

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:

Online Consent by Qualified Aspirants

An online consent has to be sent by you to be eligible for the next stage of counselling. The merit list will be released and uploaded regularly on the official NID website based on online consent.

Online Uploading of Documents

After releasing the final merit list, you need to upload a few documents in jpeg format for verification. The documents required are as follows:

• 10^th mark sheet
• 12^th mark sheet
• Birth certificate
• Graduation degree for admission to M.Des.

The information mentioned in the NID application form will verify the uploaded documents. In case of any mismatch, your admission is liable to cancellation.

Colleges Accepting NID DAT 2023 Scores

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	-

Courses Offered by NID DAT 2023

The National Institute of Design offers various specializations under B.Des, GDPD, and M.Des.

Check out the table below to know the list of NID Courses the institute offers.

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