NID DAT Merit List 2025 - Release date, Shortlisting, Seat Allotment

NID evaluates aspirants based on their knowledge, creativity and aptitude for design. Experts share that NID is one of the most challenging design entrance exams conducted in the country. However, if prepared well, the difficulty level of NID Entrance Exam is medium. On of the main reasons why NID is such a competitive exam is there are very limited number of seats. For instance, there are only 425 seats available for the BDes programme through NID. In contrast, the NIFTs offer 2748 seats.

The NID Entrance Exam is considered to be one of the toughest design entrance exam conducted in the country. In NID DAT, more weightage is given to subjective, drawing related questions. Thus, candidates need to be extremely creative and have a clear understanding of their concepts when appearing for the NID exam.

For preparing the final results for the  B. Des program, the DAT Prelims will be allocated 40% weightage, while DAT Mains will be given 60%.

During the DAT Mains, which comprises a Studio Test, the candidate is tested hands-on and have to show their drawing abilities, creativity, innovativeness, and material-handling ability.

It is not mandatory to take coaching to get a good rank in NID DAT 2025. It is because, the entrance exam will test the creative, drawing, and innovative skills of the candidate. Now, a coaching institute cannot exactly teach you to be creative or become innovative. Instead, with a little effort these skills can yourself learn these skills yourself. Also, a major thrust of the design aptitide test is to evaluate the drawing skills of the candidate. So, make it a point to work on your design skills, including learning how to draw line, shadow, figure, gesture, cartoon drawing, etc. When practicing drawing, also keep a tab on the drawing speed, as it will help you complete the paper in the allotted time.

NID DAT is one of the toughest entrance exams in the land. Also, given the large number of applicants, it is highely competitive.

So, to have a chance of scoring a good score in the exam and be in the contetion for a seat in one of the top NIDs, one needs to ensure their preparation is full proof.

Now unless you solve sample papers, there is no way to evaluate your preparedness for the exam. For instance, you may have completed the textual books and are confident about your ability to solve a proble. But what will you do if on exam do you find out that theoritical knowledge can take you only so far.

However, if instead you solve enough sample papers you will get battle ready. 

Candidates who qualify in the NID DAT 2025 exam has to next appear in the DAT Mains, which is the 2nd stage of the two-stage NID admission process.

The DAT Mains exam will include tasks like Model Making, Audio-Visual Exercises, Evolving ideas, Material Manipulation, Importance of body language, Creative thinking, and Doodling. The Studio Test is hands-on test that will be conducted in offline mode. During the Studio Test, the material handling of the candidate will be tested, as well how creative and innovative the candidate is, and whether he or she could come up with impromptu solutions.

To prepare for the Studio Test, the candidate must develop their sketching skills, including line drawing, shadow drawing, etc. They also need to practice other stuff mentioned in the syllabus, including doodling, and try to improve their creativity.

It is not mandatory to take coaching to get a good rank in NID DAT 2025. It is because, the entrance exam will test the creative, drawing, and innovative skills of the candidate. Now, a coaching institute cannot exactly teach you to be creative or become innovative. Instead, with a little effort these skills can yourself learn these skills yourself. Also, a major thrust of the design aptitide test is to evaluate the drawing skills of the candidate. So, make it a point to work on your design skills, including learning how to draw line, shadow, figure, gesture, cartoon drawing, etc. When practicing drawing, also keep a tab on the drawing speed, as it will help you complete the paper in the allotted time.