NIFT Sample Paper 2027 PDF: CAT & GAT + Answer Keys

LIVE Update on NIFT 2027 Exam 

As per the NTA 2027 examination calendar, the NIFT (NIFTEE) 2027 entrance exam is scheduled for 10 January 2027. Dates are tentative; the detailed notification with registration dates is awaited. (Source: nta.ac.in)

Key Highlights: NIFT Sample Paper

• Separate official papers exist for B.Des, M.Des, B.F.Tech, M.F.M, and M.F.Tech - they aren't interchangeable.
• GAT has negative marking of -0.25 per wrong answer; CAT has no negative marking since it's evaluated holistically.
• No official answer key exists for CAT - you have to self-evaluate using rubric criteria instead.
• What NIFT calls a "sample question paper" is, for most available years, an actual real past-year exam - not a synthetic practice document, despite the name.
• NIFT entrance exam is now run by the National Testing Agency (NTA) under the name NIFTEE, not by NIFT directly.
• Solving a sample paper without reviewing why you got something wrong wastes most of its value.

Table of Contents

1. NIFT Sample/Practice Papers FREE PDF Download Links
2. Program-wise NIFT Exam Structure
3. What Kind of Questions Appear in GAT?
4. What Kind of Questions Appear in CAT?
5. Examples of NIFT Sample Questions for 2027
6. NIFT Sample Paper for Situation Test
7. How to Use NIFT Sample Paper to Improve Your Score
8. How Many NIFT Sample Papers Should You Solve Before the Exam?
9. NIFT Sample Paper vs. Mock Test - Do You Need Both?
10. Common Mistakes Students Make While Solving NIFT Sample Papers

Q.1.) A boutique buys fabric at ₹180 per meter and sells finished garments at a 35% profit margin. If a garment uses 2 meters of fabric, what is its selling price?

Solution: Cost = 2 × ₹180 = ₹360; Selling price = ₹360 × 1.35 = ₹486

Ans: ₹486

Q.2.) 2, 4, 8, 32, 256, ? Find the question mark of the given series.

(a) 1024 (b) 512 (c) 8192 (d) 4096

Solution: The next number in the sequence 2, 4, 8, 32, 256, ? is 8192. Each term is the product of the two preceding terms. Therefore, 256*32 = 8192

Ans: 8192

Q.3.) Find the number whose 135% is 540?

(a) 400 (b) 300 (c) 600 (d) 800

Solution: 135% (of a certain number) = 540, therefore 100% (of a certain number) = 100 x 540/135 = 400 The missing number is 400.

Ans: (a) 400

Q.4.) X is divisible by four and ten and lies between 500 and 600. What is X?

(a) 460 (b) 540 (c) 700 (d) 140

Solution: To find the value(s) of X, we look for numbers between 500 and 600 that satisfy two conditions: divisibility by four and divisibility by ten.

Divisibility by Ten- A number divisible by ten must end in 0.

This narrows the choices to 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, 560, 570, 580, and 590.

Divisibility by Four- Of those numbers, only those whose last two digits are divisible by four qualify.

The numbers are 520, 540, 560 and 580.

All these values satisfy both conditions within the given range.

Ans: (b) 540

Q.5.) Find the maximum marks that have been set for paper 1 when the candidate appearing for an examination has to secure 30% marks to appear passed, whereas the secured only 30 marks and failed by 30 marks?

(a) 100 (b) 200 (c) 180 (d) 150

Solution: Total Marks (Maximum marks) = (Marks Obtained + Marks Failed by) / (Passing Percentage/100)

Marks Obtained = 30

Marks Failed By = 30

Passing Percentage = 30%

T = (30+30) / (30/100)

T= 60/0.3 = 200

Ans: (b) 200

Q.1.) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to "ostentatious":

(a) Modest (b) Lavish (c) Bright (d) Ornate

Ans: (a) Modest

Q.2.) Correct the given sentence:

"He had rather starved than beg."

(a) He had rather to starve than beg.

(b) He had rather starve than beg.

(c) He has rather starved than begged.

(d) He had rather starved than begged.

Ans: (d)

Q.3.) What is the appropriate synonym of ‘Federate’?

(a) organize (b) confabulate (c) sovereign (d) disembodied

Ans: (a)

Q.4.) In the following question, four words are given out of which one word is incorrectly spelt. Find the incorrectly spelt word.

(a) Stampeed (b) Dysfunctional (c) Sacrilegious (d) Presumptuous

Ans: (a)

Q.5.) In the following question, a sentence has been given in Active/Passive Voice. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Passive/Active Voice. He plucked a red rose from the flowerbed in the garden.

(a) A red rose is plucked by him from the flowerbed in the garden.

(b) A red rose had been plucked by him from the flowerbed in the garden.

(c) A red rose was plucked by him from the flowerbed in the garden.

(d) A red rose was plucked by he from the flowerbed in the garden

Ans: (c)

Q.1.) The National Security Act of 1947 created a national military establishment headed by a single Secretary of Defense. The legislation had been a year-and-a-half in the making - beginning when President Truman first recommended that the armed services be reorganized into a single department. During that period the President’s concept of a unified armed service was torn apart and put back together several times, the final measure to emerge from Congress being a compromise. Most of the opposition to the bill came from the Navy and its numerous civilian spokesmen, including Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. In support of unification (and a separate air force that was part of the unification package) were the Army air forces, the Army, and, most importantly, the President of the United States.

Passage of the bill did not bring an end to the bitter inter-service disputes. Rather than unify, the act served only to federate the military services. It neither halted the rapid demobilization of the armed forces that followed World War II nor brought to the new national military establishment the loyalties of officers steeped in the traditions of the separate services. At a time when the balance of power in Europe and Asia was rapidly shifting, the services lacked any precise statement of United States foreign policy from the National Security Council on which to base future programs. The services bickered unceasingly over their respective roles and missions, already complicated by the Soviet nuclear capability that for the first time made the United States subject to devastating attack. Not even the appointment of Forrestal as First Secretary of Defense allayed the suspicions of naval officers and their supporters that the role of the U.S. Navy was threatened with permanent eclipse. Before the war of words died down, Forrestal himself was driven to resignation and then suicide.

By 1948, the United States military establishment was forced to make do with a budget approximately 10 percent of what it had been at its wartime peak. Meanwhile, the cost of weapons procurement was rising geometrically as the nation came to put more and more reliance on the atomic bomb and its delivery systems. These two factors inevitably made adversaries of the Navy and the Air Force as the battle between advocates of the B-36 and the super carrier so amply demonstrates. Given severe fiscal restraints on the one hand, and on the other the nation’s increasing reliance on strategic nuclear deterrence, the conflict between these two services over roles and missions was essentially a contest over slices of an ever-diminishing pie. Yet if in the end neither service was the obvious victor, the principle of civilian dominance over the military clearly was. If there had ever been any danger that the United States military establishment might exploit, to the detriment of civilian control, the goodwill it enjoyed as a result of its victories in World War II, that danger disappeared in the inter-service animosities engendered by the battle over unification.

Q) The author makes all of the following points about the National Security Act of 1947 except - 

(a) It provided for a single Secretary of Defense.

(b) The Navy opposed the bill that eventually became law.

(c) The legislation was initially proposed by President Truman.

(d) The bill was passed to help the nation’s demobilization effort.

Ans: (c)

Q.2.) In 1975, I was the only woman in a male-dominated class who enrolled for a brewery program but it did not intimidate me, but rather encouraged me to be “better than the rest”! Subsequently, I failed to find a brew master’s job in India since breweries were not ready to take the risk of employing a woman. Driven by a “strong sense of purpose’ undeterred by initial failures, I took challenges head-on, and set up India’s first bio tech company, which went on to become India’s first publicly listed bio tech company in 2004.

When I started my Bio tech company in 1978. at the age of 25, biotechnology as a science was not widely known in India and there were no first-generation women entrepreneurs. I had no business background and had limited financial resources. I had to confront an array of regulatory business challenges, besides dealing with lack of credibility associated with women. But I could succeed against all these odds because I understood that all challenges can be surmounted with courage and conviction, passion and perseverance, commitment and determination, and. most important, with a bold and fearless attitude.

Times have changed significantly today, women are seen in greater numbers in what were previously perceived as “male-dominated” professions. Like most Asian countries. India today is home to a new breed of women, who exude self-confidence irrespective of what strata of society they come from. They display a sense of self-belief that allows them to excel in any domain and compete with their male counterparts on an equal footing. Many of them are outperforming their male colleagues and assuming leadership roles in their respective fields. Today, eight out of the top 10 banks in India are headed by women, one out of every three start ups in India are led by women. We also find a very strong representation of women in middle management levels across diverse sectors like science and technology, pharma and bio tech, banking and financial services, information technology, retail, engineering, consumer goods, etc.

There are 16,000 women working at ISRO today and a team of eight bright women scientists from this group had enabled India’s recent Mangalyaan - Mars mission. Many more ISRO’s “Rocket Women” were a part of the team that launched 104 satellites on a single day from Sriharikota, last month. Likewise, the recent ABLE report shows that out of 3,000 biotech start-ups in the last five years, more than one third were led by women entrepreneurs.

In building my bio tech company I have created a company where men and women have mutual respect and women can work shoulder to shoulder with their male colleagues. It is this sense of mutual respect that enables them to work together as a team for the greater common good. More than 50 per cent of our large scientific pool is represented by women!

Q) The tone of the passage can be said to be

(a) incendiary. (b) acclamatory. (c) provocative. (d) obsequious.

Ans: (b) 

Explanation- Acclamatory means expressing praise, celebration, or loud approval. In this passage, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw celebrates her own journey of overcoming massive challenges and loudly praises the incredible progress and achievements of Indian women in modern workforces (such as those at ISRO, biotech startups, and major banks).

Q) From the passage, which of the phrases/sentences would indicate that the author could be a woman?

(a) There were no first-generation women entrepreneurs.

(b) limes have changed significantly today, women are seen in greater numbers in what were previously perceived as “male dominated” professions.

(c) I failed to find brew masters job in India since breweries were not ready to take the risk of employing a woman.

(d) In building my bio tech company I have created a company where men and women have mutual respect and women can work shoulder to shoulder with their male colleagues.

Ans: (c)

Q.1.) Find the next number: 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?

Ans: Pattern is n(n+1): 1×2, 2×3, 3×4... next is 6×7 = 42

Q.2.) A girl introduced a boy as the son of the daughter of the father of her uncle. The boy is Girls-

(a) Son-in-law (b) Brother (c) Son (d) Uncle

Ans: Brother

Q.3.) Choose the argument with the most logical sequence that is where the third statement is the logical conclusion of the first two.

Statement- (A) All crackers are pollutants (B) All crackers are noisy (C) All crackers are burst during Diwali (D) All cars are pollutants (E) Some pollutants are crackers

(a) ABC (b) BCD (c) ADE (d) All of the above

Ans: (c) ADE

Q.4.) If day before yesterday was Wednesday, when will Sunday be?

(a) 3 days after today (b) Tomorrow (c) Today (d) Day after tomorrow

Solution: 

• Day before yesterday = Wednesday
• Yesterday = Thursday
• Today = Friday
• Tomorrow = Saturday
• Day after tomorrow = Sunday

Ans: (d) 

Q.5.) Moon: Satellite: Earth:

(a) Sun (b) Planet (c) Solar System (d) Asteroid

Ans: (b)

Q.1.) The term "haute couture" originated in which country?

Ans: France

Q.2.) Who has inaugurated the project “Development of Srisailam Temple” at Srisailam Temple Complex Andhra Pradesh?

(a) Suresh Prabhu (b) Nirmala Sitharaman (c) Rajnath Singh (d) Droupadi Murmu

Ans: (d)

Q.3.) Who among the following has been awarded Atal Samman Award?

(a) Raghav Prasad (b) Inder Kumar (c) Prabhu Chandra Mishra (d) Kalyan Gupta

Ans: (c)

Q.4.) The ‘Dhanu Yatra’ festival, the largest open-air theatre festival began in which state recently?

(a) Kerala (b) Karnataka (c) Odisha (d) Himachal Pradesh

Ans: (c)

Q.5.) Who among the following was has been named as one of the top talents of Europe in Biology by prestigious European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO)?

(a) Jagat Sethi (b) Rajdeep Bajaj (c) Tanmay Bhatt (d) Mahima Swamy

Ans: (d)

Q.6.) The Indian Army inaugurated its first 3-D Printed House Dwelling Unit (with Ground plus One configuration) for soldiers at _______.

(a) Chennai Cantt (b) Raipur Cantt (c) Ahmedabad Cantt (d) Kerala Cantt

Ans: (c)

Q.7.) The ‘World Veterinary Day’ is celebrated every year on ?

(a) April 28 (b) April 29 (c) Last Saturday of April (d) Last Sunday of April

Ans: (c)

Q.8.) Choose the correct design/shape of the Bharat Ratna Medal

(a) Ashoka Leaf Shaped

(b) Banyan Leaf Shaped

(c) Peepal Leaf Shaped

(d) Mango Leaf Shaped

Ans: (c)

Q.9.) Which of the following is a Government initiative to develop technology to treat waste in-order to recycle, generate energy, and extract resources of value?

1. Swachh Bharat 2. Waste to Wealth 3. Waste free India 4. Garbage Management Scheme

Ans: Waste to Wealth

Q.10.) Xuansang, a Chinese pilgrim during the 7th century wrote that their (Indian) garments are made of Kiau-She-Ye and cotton. He used the term Kiau-She-Ye for.........

1. Fine cotton 2. Jute 3. Silk 4. The Shining Hemp

Ans: Silk

Q.1.) Illustrate a bag design inspired by the concept of "recycling," using no more than three colors. Focus on functionality and originality.

Solution Approaches:

• A bag that does recycling. A grocery/tote bag with internal color-coded compartments that sort dry waste / wet waste / plastic as you shop - the bag performs the concept.
• A bag that gets reused. A design that unfolds/converts into a second object (a shopping bag that opens flat into a picnic mat; a courier bag that becomes a cushion cover). Reuse is literally its function.
• A modular bag. Made of interlocking panels that detach and reassemble into different sizes - mirroring how recycling breaks material down and rebuilds it.
• Material honesty. A refined bag visibly reworked from one recognizable reclaimed material (denim offcuts, truck tarpaulin, seatbelt webbing) - but shown as desirable, not scrappy.

Q.2.) Show the process in 4 different steps. Drying a t-shirt on clothesline - wet to dry.