The NID DAT 2026 exam is tentatively scheduled for the first week of January 2026 for both B.Des and M.Des programmes. If you wish to pursue undergraduate or postgraduate design courses like B.Des or M.Des at NIDs, you must apply and appear for the NID DAT Exam.
To register, visit the official NID website at https://admissions.nid.edu/. The National Institute of Design is expected to start NID DAT 2026 registration in the first week of September 2025. The application fee will be around INR 3,000.
If you have passed Class 12 or are currently appearing for the Class 12 exams, you are eligible to apply for the B.Des programme. For M.Des, you must hold a graduate degree from a recognized university. Please ensure that you complete the online application form and pay the registration fee to finalise your application.
NID Design Aptitude Test (NID DAT 2026) is a national-level entrance examination conducted by the National Institute of Design for admission into various UG and PG Programs.
NID is an autonomous institute under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and is even recognized by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which is under the Ministry of Science and Technology of India. NID DAT full form is the NIT Design Aptitude Test.
| Particulars |
Details |
| Exam Name |
NID DAT |
| Full form |
NIT Design Aptitude Test |
| Level |
National Level |
| Conducting Authority |
National Institute of Design |
| Courses Offered |
B.Des, M.Des, and GDPD Courses |
| Language |
English |
| Exam Mode |
Pen and paper-based |
| Stages |
Stage 1: DAT Prelims
Stage 2: DAT Mains |
| Maximum Marks |
100 marks |
| Exam Duration |
180 Minutes |
| Official Website |
admissions.nid.edu/NIDA |
On successfully applying for the entrance exam, candidates can take up the NIT DAT 2026 for admission into Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Diploma courses such as B.Des, M.Des GDPD and other NID DAT courses offered. It has been designed as one of the hardest exams in India.
National Institute of Design has three campuses around India with Ahmedabad being the main campus, Gandhinagar being the PG campus, and the Bengaluru campus for R&D. NID DAT will be conducted in 21 centres across India. It will be conducted as a paper and pen-based exam i.e. offline, and its total duration would be 3 hours i.e. 180 minutes.
The important dates related to the NID Entrance Exam 2026 will be released on the official website. The candidates are advised to check the tentative dates for their reference.
| Event Name |
NID DAT Important Dates |
| NID Entrance Exam Registration Date 2026 |
Sep 2025 |
| NID DAT Last Date 2026 |
Dec 2025 |
| NID Application Correction Date |
Dec 2025 |
| NID Prelims Admit Card Release Date 2026 |
Dec 2025 |
| Last Date to Download Admit Card |
Jan 2026 (M.Des Prelims) |
| NID Prelims Exam Date 2026 |
Jan 2026 (M.Des Prelims) |
| NID Prelims M.Des Result Release Date |
Feb 2026 (M.Des Prelims) |
| NID DAT M.Des Result Recheck Date 2026 |
Feb 2026 (M.Des Prelims) |
| NID DAT M.Des Mains Exam Admit Card Date 2026 |
Feb 2026 (M.Des Mains) |
| NID DAT M.Des Mains Exam Date 2026 |
Mar 2026 (M.Des Mains) |
| NID B.Des Prelims Result Date 2026 |
Apr 2026 (B.Des Prelims) |
| NID DAT B.Des Result Recheck Date 2026 |
Apr 2026 ( B.Des Prelims) |
| NID DAT B.Des Mains Admit Card Date 2026 |
Apr 2026 (B.Des Mains) |
| NID DAT B.Des Mains Exam Date 2026 |
Apr - May 2026 (B.Des Mains) |
| NID DAT M.Des Mains Result Date 2026 |
May 2026 (M.Des Mains) |
| NID DAT B.Des Mains Result Date 2026 |
May 2026 (B.Des Mains) |
Also Read: NID DAT Studio Test 2025
The exam authority has set specific criteria that you must meet to take the exam. Make sure you meet the NID DAT Eligibility Criteria 2026 before applying.
Checking and verifying these criteria is crucial because if you fail to meet the minimum requirements, you will be deemed ineligible, and your application form will be considered invalid. The NID DAT 2026 Eligibility Criteria for both Bachelor’s and Master’s programs are provided below
NID DAT Eligibility Criteria for Bachelor of Design/GDPD (B.Des)
Age Limit
Indian (Gen & Gen-EWS) and foreign candidates applying for the B.Des course must not be over 20 years of age, as of the date of admission (only those candidates who are born on or after July 1, 2005, are eligible to apply). Foreign Nationals who are born on or after July 1, 2005, can apply for the test.
For SC/ST/OBC-NCL, a candidate should be born after July 1, 2001, to be eligible for the NID DAT Exam. PwD candidates born after July 1, 2000, are also eligible.
Educational Qualification
The candidates should have completed the final examination of 10+2 or equivalent from a recognized board (SSC/ICSE/CBSE).
NID DAT Eligibility Criteria for Masters of Design (M.Des)
Age Limit
The Indian (Gen & Gen-EWS) and foreign candidates who are born after July 1, 1993, are eligible to apply for admission into NID. The Indian nationals belonging to reserved categories like SC/ST/OBC-NCL, born after July 1, 1990, are eligible to apply. Candidates belonging to the PwD reserved category can apply for the NID DAT Exam if they are born after July 1, 1988. Foreign Nationals born on or after Jul 1, 1993, are eligible to apply.
Educational Qualification
The following are the required educational qualifications for fulfilling the eligibility criteria:
You must have one of the following qualifications to be eligible:
- A 4-year graduation degree in any specialization or an equivalent qualification from a recognized university in India. You must have completed the degree for document verification. OR
- A Bachelor’s degree of at least 3 years in any specialization or an equivalent qualification. OR
- A full-time 4-year diploma in Architecture, Fine Arts, Applied Arts, or Design after completing Class 12. You must complete the diploma before the NID DAT 2026 exam date.
NID DAT Eligibility Criteria for PhD. Program
Applying candidates should be a citizen of India who should hold one of the following qualifications:
- A Master's level qualification in Design. OR
- A bachelor's level qualification in Design from NID with 3 years of professional or teaching experience. OR
- A Master's Degree in Philosophy (e.g. M.Phil) in Design. OR
- Successful completion of the Faculty Development Program of NID or a similar Design program of 2 years from any other recognized university/institute.
Note: Any candidate who has not passed their final board exam or equivalent before the in-person counselling will not be eligible for admission. Candidates can regularly check into this page for any changes or further updates regarding NID DAT 2026 Eligibility Criteria.
Also Read: What is a Good Score in NID DAT 2025?
NID DAT 2026 application form will be released in September 2025, on the official website. The last date to register for the exam will be in December 2025. The NID DAT application correction window will be active in December 2025.
You must register for the exam before the last date of the application form submission, without the late fee. It is advised that you should read the instructions clearly, make sure that you meet the required criteria before filling up the form, and also produce the necessary documents for the same.
Steps to Register for the NID DAT Exam
You should follow the steps given below to complete the NID DAT Registration 2026:
- Step 1: Visit the official web portal of NID and register on the website by entering a valid email ID, mobile number, date of birth, etc. After the registration process, the login credentials will be sent to your registered email address
- Step 2: Now, using the user ID and password, log into your account and click on 'DAT Application Form 2026 '
- Step 3: Fill in the application form with all the necessary details in their corresponding sections, and then click 'Save & Proceed '
- Step 4: Now, click on 'Upload Document '. Upload the documents such as the photograph, signature and caste certificate (only if applicable) according to the prescribed specifications. Then click 'Save & Proceed '
- Step 5: Pay the applicable application fee through the means provided and then finally click on the 'Submit' button.
Application Fee: The application fee for taking the exam is different for different categories of students. The category and course-wise application fees are given in the table below, as a table.
NID DAT Exam Fee can be paid through online mode (Credit Card/Debit Card) or offline mode (via Demand Draft only).
Note: The application fee paid online (by Debit/ Credit Card) does not include any bank/ transaction charges. Once paid, the fee is neither refundable nor transferable.
NID DAT 2026 exam will be held in 22 different centres across India. The candidates must select their preferred exam centre while filling out the NID DAT application form 2026. The details of the exam centre will be mentioned on the exam hall ticket.
The following is the list of test locations from which candidates had to pick the NID DAT 2026 Exam Centres.
- NID Ahmedabad
- NID Bengaluru
- NID Bhopal
- NID Delhi
- NID Hyderabad
- NID Pune
- NID Kolkata
The NID DAT M.Des exam will have two parts- Part 1 and Part 2. The Part 1 will have objective questions, while the Part 2 will have subjective questions. Paper 1 will have 22 questions, while the Paper 2 exam will have 4 questions.
You should have an understanding of the NID DAT 2026 Exam Pattern to perform well in the exam. The exam assesses the candidate's designing skills, creativity, reasoning abilities, and problem-solving skills. They will get an overview of the type of questions and their distribution in the question paper, with the help of the exam pattern. The candidates must go through the below-mentioned details on the exam pattern.
NID DAT M.Des Exam Pattern 2026
If you are appearing for the NID DAT Exam for the M.Des course have to go through 2 stages of the exam as depicted below.
- Stage I: DAT Prelims
- Stage II: DAT Mains
DAT Prelims Test comprised of CDAT (Common Design Aptitude Test) and a discipline-specific test. The time allotted for DAT Prelims was 2.5 hours (30 mins for CDAT +2 hours of the discipline-specific test) in total. For candidates who are applying for 2 disciplines, they will have to attempt 2 discipline-specific tests along with CDAT. For those candidates, the total exam duration would be 4.5 hours.
Based on the marks in DAT Prelims, the candidates will be shortlisted for DAT Mains. DAT Mains exam further comprises 2 stages.
- Stage I: Studio Test
- Stage II: Interview
The total marks for the studio test will be 100 and the duration for the same will be 3 hours. The medium of the exam will be English. The test will be followed by interviews for each discipline. Interview sessions will be conducted in the same exam centres as the studio tests.
You should go through the syllabus on the NID DAT official website so that they won't miss out on any of the topics in the exam. NID DAT 2026 Syllabus is divided into three major parts or sections, concerning the exam pattern. The syllabus for the exam is distinctive for each exam type, and the details for the same are provided below.
Prelims Syllabus: The syllabus includes some topics like Design Theory, Optical Illusion, Picture Analysis, Visual Logic, Elements & Principles of Design, Memory Drawing, etc.
Mains Syllabus: The syllabus includes topics like Model Making, Material Manipulation, Doodling, Creative Thinking, etc.
Fixed Syllabus: There is now a fixed NID DAT 2026 Syllabus outlined by the exam authorities.
The following list of contents depicts some important syllabi for the NID DAT 2026:
- Optical Illusion
- Form & Function
- Developing Themes
- Design Theory
- Colour, Pattern & Texture
- Imagination & Doodling
- Innovation in Design
- Memory Drawing
- Innovation & Creation
Studio Test Syllabus: Candidates who get selected in the prelims test of NID DAT 2026, will have to take up the studio test. The syllabus for the studio test is given below:
- Model Making
- Doodling
- How to Evolve Ideas
- Audio-Visual Exercises
- Material Manipulation
- Creative Thinking
- Hands-on Model Making
- Sketching
Preparing for any entrance exam can be an enormous burden, but it just depends upon the way you look at it and how you are approaching it. If you have firm determination, any exam will be easy to crack.
So the foremost thing you should be doing is setting up a goal to crack the exam (NID DAT Exam in this case). Setting your goals means that you should be ready to face all the difficulties coming your way and be persistent enough to not give up halfway through the preparation.
Now, if you have mastered the required determination to face the NID DAT Exam, you need to find different ways to approach the exam that are suitable for you. Given below are some NID DAT preparation tips 2025 to be followed by the candidates.
1. Create a Preparation Timetable
If you are preparing for any exam, you need discipline and proper structure. The only way you can do that is by creating a proper timetable that you can follow for the entire preparation period. The important thing to remember while preparing a good timetable or schedule is that it should contain abundant time for covering all the topics in the syllabus, along with time for solving various sample test papers.
Also, make sure to give enough meaningful breaks in between study sessions. These will help you refresh and reinvigorate your interest in preparation. Try to avoid any outside distractions and concentrate solely on the preparation for the NID DAT Exam.
2. Knowing Topics
The candidates need to prepare by going through the topics one by one. Topic-wise preparation enables the candidates to understand and remember the concepts better. This will come in handy during the last-moment revision where the candidates can go through all the topics quickly.
3. Time Management
The main problem that candidates face while writing an exam is the insufficiency of time to go through the whole paper. This is because of improper time management. In NID DAT you need to answer 100 questions from various sections (depending upon the selected course). So, during the stages of preparation, find out which sections are easier for you to answer and which sections take more time for you to solve. This way you could answer the easier sections at the beginning and utilize the extra time for answering the tougher sections.
Also, make sure that you are answering the sections accurately enough so you won't be looking back at them in doubt, which will only consume more time. Thus, this speed and accuracy can only be developed with the help of extensive practising of NID DAT questions from various sources.
4. Attend Known Questions First
The candidates should make sure to attend to the questions that they are familiar with, before attending to the questions that are unknown to them. This way they will be able to secure the minimum score for the exam within very little time consumption. The rest of the questions can be attempted in the remaining time. Time efficiency can be achieved in this way.
5. Evaluate and Improve Yourself
Evaluating yourself during preparation is a crucial process of strengthening your knowledge. It is the only way to know how much you have prepared for the exam and how much is still there to be prepared. You need to find as many practice questions, sample papers and mock tests as you can and start incorporating them into your preparation timetable. Then, according to your result, you can change your preparation schedule to improve the areas you are struggling with.
Also Read: Best Design Colleges Apart From NIFT & NID
The National Institute of Design (NID) will publish the NID DAT 2026 admit card for applicants taking the B.Des Design Aptitude Test (DAT) Mains. You can get your admission cards and confirm the exam location details once they are released. The admit card includes information such as the NID DAT 2026Â exam date and time, roll number, photograph, and signature.
| Particulars |
Direct Link |
| NID DAT Admit 2026 |
To Be Updated |
NID DAT admit card 2026 is the most important document a candidate should possess while taking the exam, without which they will not be allowed to attempt it.
Steps to Download NID DAT Admit Card 2026
The step-wise process for downloading the NID DAT Admit Card 2026 is given below.
- Step 1: Candidates must visit the official website of NID at admissions.nid.edu.
- Step 2: Click on the respective 'Admit Card' link in the 'Important Updates' section.
- Step 3: Enter the email ID and date of birth in the appropriate fields.
- Step 4: Click on the 'Submit' button to log in.
- Step 5: View and download the admit card.
- Step 6: Print the admit card.
Also Read: NID Fee Structure and Courses List 2025
The National Institute of Design will hold the NID DAT preliminary exams for B.Des and M.Des in January 2025. The exam paper analysis will be shared based on the candidate's review who took the exam. Last year, the overall NID difficulty level ranged from easy to moderate. Both papers were of moderate difficulty.
You need to go through the NID DAT prelims paper analysis to prepare and estimate the score that they will be securing. Going through the paper analysis will help the candidates to strategize and accordingly plan their preparation and the ways in which they would attend the exam..
NID DAT Difficulty Level
The table below shows the sectional and total difficulty level of the NID DAT 2026 exam.
| Part |
NID Difficulty Level |
| Part I |
Easy-Moderate |
| Part II |
Moderate |
| Overall |
Moderate |
NID DAT 2026 Cut Off will be announced on the official website after the results are out. The cutoff is in the format of the rank and score of the candidates who have taken up admission to the M.Des program.
The cutoff is the minimum score a candidate needs to obtain to clear a stage in the exam. The NID DAT expected cutoff is given below.
| Category |
Cut Off |
| Open |
384/52.00 |
| OBC-NCL |
347/43.80 |
| SC |
208/39.00 |
| ST |
118/31.50 |
| PwD |
67/11.10 |
| Supernumerary |
58/36.70 |
Steps to Download NID DAT 2026 Results
Follow the steps given below to download NID DAT 2026 results.
- Step 1: You must visit the official website of NID at nid.edu/home.
- Step 2: Click on the 'NID DAT 2026 Results' link.
- Step 3: Enter the registered email address, date of birth and the verification code shown on the screen.
- Step 4: Click on the 'Submit' button.
- Step 5: The result will be displayed on the screen.
- Step 6: Download the result and take a printout for future reference.
NID DAT 2026 Tie Breaking Policy
NID has stated certain amendments in the revised Tie Break Policy for the M.Des counselling and admissions. The scores of all candidates will be shortlisted based on ranks in different categories. Candidates belonging to other categories like Pwd and overseas countries will be separately shortlisted.
The ranking and short-listing aspects are mentioned below.
- Candidates will hold a higher rank by comparing the scores in the NID DAT 2026 Mains Exam
- Candidates who are still holding on to the same rank will be further ranked based on NID 2026 Prelims Part 1 of the Exam.
- If the tie still exists, then both candidates will be allocated the same rank in NID DAT as per the new tie-breaking policy.
Also Read: NID Placements 2025: Highest & Average Packages and Top Companies
The counselling process for the NID DAT 2026 is done in two steps. The list will be released by the authority on the official website.
Counselling Date: NID DAT 2026 Counselling process for M.Des shall be announced after the results are out.
Allotment of Seats: After the original document verification process, the candidates who are shortlisted in the rank list will be allotted a seat. After payment of fees, the enrolment in the program will be confirmed.
Failed to be Present: Failing to report with the requisite documents as per the schedule will lead to forfeiting the candidate’s seat, and the seat will be allotted to the next eligible candidate in order of merit.
Uploading Documents: Candidates need to upload some documents after getting selected for the counselling process. The documents are:
- 10th Marksheet
- 12th Marksheet
- Birth Certificate
- Degree (Graduation/ Diploma) Marksheet
In case of any discrepancies arising at any stage of the exam, candidates should make sure to contact the conducting authorities. The contact information for the exam authorities is given below:
Address:
NID Admissions Cell,
National Institute of Design Paldi,
Ahmedabad 380 007.
Email ID: admissions@nid.edu
