NIFT Exam Analysis 2025: Where to Download, Section-wise Difficulty Level, Student Reaction & Paper Length

The Student Reaction and Exam Analysis for NIFT 2025 will be updated here as soon as the written exam concludes. The analysis will be available for both Shift 1 and Shift 2.

The NIFT 2025 exam analysis will cover the following inputs:

1. The overall difficulty level of the exam
2. Sectional difficulty
3. Types of questions asked
4. Specific questions asked (memory-based inputs shared by the candidate)
5. The length of the paper
6. Whether there were any technical or other issues during the exam
7. The expected cut-off
8. Good attempts

The NIFT exam is conducted in TWO shifts. In the first shift, the GAT paper will be conducted. Meanwhile, in shift 2, the CAT paper will be held. 

Note that only B.Des and M.Des candidates need to take the CAT exam.

The exam analysis for the NIFT 2024 GAT paper is given below.

Here we bring you a sample of the NIFT 2024 Student Reaction for the GAT paper.

• Student 1 - A student who appeared for BDes said that the exam was okay and not very difficult. She found the reasoning section very easy, but the maths was difficult. She was clueless about the GK section and expected the cut-off to be high. The overall difficulty level according to her was medium to high. 

• Student 2 - Another student who appeared for BDes said that he exactly can't say anything but the overall difficulty level was okayish types. GK was tough, maths was good, and English and reasoning were easy to attempt.

• Student 3 - Meena said that the paper was moderate. Quantitative was difficult and English comprehension was easy. She attempted 80-85 questions and was confident in her analysis. 

• Student 4 - Kanishka said that the paper was average. She attempted around 60 odd questions and she was confident that she would qualify for the exam. She had problems in a couple of sections. General knowledge was difficult according to her. English was easy. 

• Student 5 - Naina, who did self-preparation for the NIFT exam said that the overall difficulty was moderate level. She was clueless about the cut-off and couldn't recall any questions as such from the paper. She said GK was tough as it was based on history. 

• Student 6 - Abhishek, who took coaching to prepare for the exam, said that Maths was difficult for him and English and GK sections were easy. As per him, Maths was time-consuming and tricky. Rest English and GK were easy to attempt. Abhishek also said that he was not sure about the expected cut-off.

• Student 7 - As per Shristi, the exam was moderate to difficult level. She said that as per her preparation GK and English were difficult and maths and reasoning were easy. She also said that approximately 40 questions were easy. She did self-preparation for the NIFT entrance exam. She was unsure about the expected cut-off.

• Student 8 - As per Pragyan, the exam was difficult. Economics and history were good, English was nice, and logical reasoning was also good. He couldn’t recall any questions from the paper. He said that quant was difficult to solve. He did his preparation for the NIFT exam through coaching. It was his first attempt at the NIFT exam. He said that the expected cut-off is dicey. His good attempts were very less as the exam was difficult for him.

• Questions from the Class 12 syllabus were given more weightage as per some candidates. 
• Also, there were a few tricky questions that required some effort on the part of the candidate to solve them.

Exam analysis for Shift.

Student reaction 1: Ansh who appeared in the CAT exam said that the paper was easy. He also said that there was a question on a broken tea cup and 4 CDs, also a question was on the clock. These types of questions were unexpected. The overall NIFT question paper was of moderate level, it was lengthy, and there was coloring included. He said that the expected cut-off will be 60-75 something.

Student reaction 2: Kritika, a student of BDes said that the questions were relatively easy. There were profit and loss questions. There were drawing easy questions. Questions were on conventional and unconventional. There was a question to create a scene out of numbers. There was the question at the last based on a product of futuristic design. The overall question paper was easy. She was unsure about the expected cut-off.

Student reaction 3: Tanya said that the question paper was very hard, super hard for her. The GK section was the most difficult one for her. The sketching part was easy though. There was a question where students were asked to draw something from a leaking tea cup. There were questions on designing a playground, entertainment zone, etc. She was unsure about the expected cut-off.
 
Student reaction 4: Simranjeet who appeared for the BDes course through the NIFT entrance exam said that the question paper was ok. The CAT part was difficult, but the rest of the questions were easy. She said that there was a question based on how future products will be and students had to design them. She was unsure about any expected cut-off.

Student reaction 5: Sahana said that the paper was nice, she gave the difficulty level of the NIFT question paper a 4 out of 10. She said that there was a question where students had to pick a number and design something out of it. There was another question where students had to give 4 creative uses of an object. She was, however, unsure about the expected cut-off.

The videos of the NIFT 2025 exam analysis will be updated here once the NIFT 2025 written exam concludes.

In the mean time, check out the exam analysis videos for the previous edition of the exam here.

NIFT 2024 Exam Analysis and Student Reaction - Shift 1 (GAT)

NIFT 2024 Exam Analysis and Student Reaction - Shift 2 (CAT Paper)

Here we will update the questions that are asked in the NIFT 2025 exam.

Check out the questions the questions asked in NIFT 2024 below.

These are some of the questions asked in the CAT paper (based on details shared by candidates):

Question 1: Using any 3 numbers between 0-9 whether in Hindi/English, create:

1. Entertainment Area
2. School area 
3. Public playground

Question 2: Illustrate 4 creative uses of the following:

1. Cup with leakage
2. Unrepairable wall clock
3. 4 compact disks

Question 3: Imagine and illustrate:

1. Fruit
2. Insect
3. Bird

Our correspondents bring you the exam analysis of NIFT 2023 directly from the exam center:

Here is Anweshya,

She found the CAT paper easy. 

• Questions related to shapes and lines were asked. 
• The comic strip was also easier this year.
• As far as GAT is concerned, the paper was not very difficult, though there were more paragraph-based questions. The paper had more questions from English and also a few questions from GK.
• Maths part I found a bit difficult. 
• The overall difficulty level of the exam was moderate.

Here is Ananya, a B.Des applicant

According to her, the CAT paper was pretty easy and also not lengthy. The GAT paper was also easy, with a few exceptions in the maths section.

The GK section included an ISRO-related question.

Overall, the paper was easy.

Given the paper was easy, the cut-off would be high.

Here is Shristi:

The paper was very easy, especially compared to last year. 

The English section was easier than last year,

In CAT, you can have to make designs of letterboxes, phones, an automobile, etc.

Logical reasoning had the maximum number of questions; especially the maths-based ones.

The GAT paper wasn’t lengthy.

As far as technical issues in the GAT paper are concerned, I didn't face any. A few students did face some technical issues.

Technical issues during the NIFT 2023 GAT paper:

Candidates in a few centers faced technical issues they either couldn't complete the GAT paper or were not able to take the exam at all. In such cases, NIFT officials have said they will allow affected candidates to re-take the GAT paper. However, there will be no option to re-take the CAT paper.

The GAT re-take exam will be conducted for the following test centers:

• MBC THANE - MUMBAI
• VIDHAN PUBLIC SCHOOL - GHAZIABAD
• M.P ENGLISH SCHOOL - VARANASI
• P.T. SALAGRAM - NOIDA 

Accroding to the students both NIFT CAT and GAT 2021 question papers were easy. In NIFT CAT, there were three questions based on online webinars, emojis and musical instruments related to Indian festivals. NIFT GAT which was held from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM was easy in terms of difficulty level.  

The overall diffuclty level of NIFT entrance exam 2021 was easy. Many students said in unison. While CAT paper, which tests the candidate's creativity and imagination, was a mixed bag with two simple ideas and one tricky, the GAT paper had easy GK and English. Analytical Ability and Quantitative Ability questions too were easy and doable. Check below the NIFT 2021 exam analysis of CAT and GAT.

NIFT 2021 CAT Question Paper

The NIFT CAT question paper 2021 had three questions and all of them required vivid imagination. Given below are the topics of the drawing in which candidates had to show creativity and story telling ability.

Q1: Online Webinar

Q2: Emojis

Q3: Musical Instrument related to Indian festival

Also Read:

• Timings for GAT & CAT
• General Knowledge (GK) Questions for NIFT 2023 Exam

NIFT 2021 GAT Question Paper

The NIFT GAT 2021 question paper was easy with questions from usual topics. Check the table below to know topics on which questions were asked in NIFT Entrance Exam 2021.

Also Read: NIFT Entrance Exam 2021: GAT Student Reactions with Questions

NIFT Exam Analysis 2021 - GAT (BDes)

Check below section-wise difficulty level of NIFT 2021 GAT paper for BDes:

NIFT Exam Analysis 2021 – GAT (BFTech)

Check below section-wise difficulty level of NIFT 2021 GAT paper for BFTech:

The NIFT 2025 exam components and weightage for BDes and MDes programs are given in the table below:

Also Read:

NIFT Exam Analysis 2021 for BDes Admissions

NIFT Entrance Exam 2021: Student Reactions and Reviews of CAT paper

NIFT Entrance Exam 2021: Student Reactions and Reviews of GAT paper

Below, candidates can view past years' exam analysis for NIFT Entrance Exam.

NIFT Exam Analysis 2020

Experts share that NIFT Entrance Exam 2020 was along expected lines and candidates who had spent enough time practicing questions for the General Ability Test (GAT) and Creative Ability Test (CAT) would have found the exam to be easy. NIFT GAT paper had tricky questions in the comprehension section whereas the reasoning questions were approachable. The NIFT CAT exam for MDes and BDes course admissions had three questions, each.

Candidates can go through the detailed NIFT exam analysis by clicking the links below:

NIFT Exam Analysis 2019

NIFT Entrance Exam for BDes and MDes course admissions was held on January 20, 2019. Overall, NIFT Entrance Exam 2019 was easy to attempt. Candidates who took NIFT exam for BDes and MDes course admissions had to appear for two tests which were – Creative Ability Test (CAT) and General Ability Test (GAT). Aspirants can view NIFT exam analysis for UG and PG admissions by clicking the links mentioned below:

• NIFT Exam Analysis 2019 for BDes Admissions
• NIFT Exam Analysis 2019 & Review for MDes Admissions
• NIFT Entrance Exam Analysis 2019 by Experts

NIFT Exam Analysis 2018

NIFT Entrance Exam 2018 was conducted on January 21. To everyone’s surprise, NIFT Entrance Exam 2018 advanced its admission calendar by almost three weeks. Besides the timeline, there was no other departure from the last year paper pattern. 

Overall, since NIFT Entrance Exam was pretty straightforward, going through the past years’ question papers besides being well practiced, enabled the students do well in the exam. Candidates can view the complete NIFT entrance exam analysis 2018 by clicking the links below:

• NIFT exam analysis for UG & PG admissions
• NIFT 2018 Question Paper Analysis by Experts

NIFT Exam Analysis 2017

NIFT entrance exam 2017 was a bag full of surprises. Creative Ability Test (CAT) was comparatively tougher than last year. In 2017, the focus of NIFT entrance exam was more on testing the overall drawing abilities, sense of perspective, understanding technicalities of drawing, creative visualisation and rendering abilities of students. Candidates can go through detailed NIFT exam analysis 2017 here.

NIFT Exam Analysis 2016

NIFT entrance exam was held on February 14, 2016. The focus of the design entrance exam this year was on visual graphics. NIFT entrance exam 2018 tested candidate’s colour sensibilities and aesthetics. Apart from this, the exam also tested candidates on their how well they were able to understand the question brief as well as technicalities of product designing. Go through detailed NIFT entrance exam analysis 2016 here.

NIFT Exam Analysis 2015

NIFT entrance exam was held on February 8, 2015. Experts share that NIFT exam pattern was on expected lines. NIFT CAT was interesting to solve whereas NIFT GAT was a mix of English language, quantitative ability, comprehension, reasoning and business domain. Though a little lengthy for the latter two (five comprehensions, six cases and four situation passages, besides other segments). View complete NIFT exam analysis 2015 here.

NIFT Entrance Exam Student Reactions

Over the years, Shiksha has spoken to NIFT aspirants right after they appear for the exam to get an idea of how their design entrance exam went. Candidates can click the links listed below to find out what students had to say about past years' exam papers for NIFT admissions.