CEED 2026: Counselling and Score Card (OUT)

Seats available for CEED admission vary from one institute to the other (that accept the exam scores for admission). For e. g, IIT Hyderabad has 30 seats, while IISc Bangalore has 18 seats. Candidates are informed that CEED is just a qualifying exam. Thus, any aspirant who clears CEED exam may have to appear in further admission rounds that may be conducted by the participating college. The application process at the participating colleges typically open once the CEED entrance exam results are announced.

 The CEED score is valid for a period of one year from the date of declaration of the result. This means you can use CEED scores for admission in the current academic session only. You can't use for admission in the next year.

Likewise, you can't use CEED 2026 scores for admission in the upcoming session.

Result of CEED 2026 is prepared by giving weightage to CEED Part A and Part B. Part A will carry 25% marks. Part B will carry 75% marks. Final score is calculated using a formula. 

CEED Final Score = 0.25 x Marks obtained in Part A + 0.75 x Marks obtained in Part B.

IIT Bombay is exam conducting body for CEED 2026. The institute, however, doesn’t prescribed any study material for the exam. 

So, in a bid to help the candidate, we bring you a list of recommended books for CEED 2026 after consulting previous years’ CEED question papers. The names suggested by toppers and experts have also been taken into account when compiling this list.

CEED ENTRANCE by Academy of Fashion & Art	Academy of Fashion & Art
CEED Common Entrance Exam for Design Pattern & Scheme Preparation Book 2022	Examinspect
CEED & NID M.Des Entrance Books and Test Series	Ashish Popli, Pradosh Swain, Rishabh Rhode
Question Bank for NID, NIFT, CEED & UCEED (Revised 2024 edition)	Ashok Goel and Arjun Kamal
Introduction to Design UCEED | CEED | NID | NIFT	Sanjay Reddy, Mukti Masih, et al.

The design task/interview for admission to the M. Des. in Department of Design, IIT Delhi is being held.

As part of the design task/interview, the candidate is required to upload their digital portfolio. The portfolio must include the candidate's five best projects (maximum size: 10 MB).

The filename of the pdf must be your IIT Delhi application number. The candidate may carry their physical portfolio on the day of the interview as well, but it is not mandatory.   

IIT Bombay will not conduct any Joint Counseling for CEED 2026. Instead, the participating colleges will conduct the counseling at an institute level. The candidate will have to go to the admission portal of the institute and fill in the counseling registration form. The counseling admission portal will have all the relevant details pertaining to the admission process, seat matrix, eligibility, etc. 

Sketching part of CEED will include representation in the form of geometric figures like lines, squares, and triangles, outline drawing, detailing, and shading. Practice outline drawing, representation, detailing and shading. Also work on shapes, proportion, line quality.

In CEED 2026 is 6000+ students appeared for the entrance exam.

Year	Exam	No. of Applications	Seats
2024	CEED	4910	300
2025	CEED	6037	300
2026	CEED	6000+	300 (Approx.)

Both CEED and UCEED exams are conducted by IIT Bombay. However, CEED scores are used to shortlist candidates for admission to the M.Des courses, whereas UCEED is an entrance exam for admission to the B. Des course. IIT Bombay also conducts a Joint Admission Process (or counseling) for UCEED qualified candidates. However, IIT Bombay doesn't conduct any joint counseling for CEED qualified candidates. Instead, candidates who have been assigned CEED merit ranks will have to apply directly to the participating college.

Rohit Ravindra Waghmare topped the CEED topper list 2025 with 82.38 marks out of 100.

CEED 2023 exam was topped by Khyati Rathor, who secured the AIR 1. She secured 68.85 marks in the exam, out of 100 marks. Simon George Cherian got the second position and scored 66.63 marks.

To take admission to the PhD through CEED, candidate needs to first qualify in the CEED 2026 entrance exam. Then he needs to apply directly to the participating college. The participating college may conduct further admission rounds, including interviews. The institute's admission portal will have the detailed admission process and requirements. 

No, mock tests are not the same as CEED question or sample papers. 

It is because the main purpose of the mock tests is to help the candidate get acquainted with the exam pattern and system, especially if the exam is conducted in an online mode. The mocks will allow the candidate get accustomed with the exam mode, navigation, scoring, and answering patterns. To some extent it also may help the candidate improve problem-solving and time-managment skills, which are typically the exclusive domain of CEED sample papers.

Additionally, mock tests are meant to be taken in the last few days of the exam. On the other hand, sample papers are typically solved even in the early stages of exam preparation.

IIT Delhi will release the list of provisionally selected candidates on its admission portal. The list will include the names and application reference numbers of candidates selected for admission. Shortlisted candidates will have to complete the remaining formalities to confirm their admission. 

The CEED exam has two parts - Part A and Part B. The Part B answer booklet will be evaluated only if the candidate qualifies Part A. The minimum marks needed to qualify Part A is the qualifying cut-off for CEED - Part A.

On the other hand, the admission cut-off would be released by the CEED participating institutes. It is the minimum score one needs to score for admission to the M.Des programmein their chosen category.

IIT Bombay will not release any admission cut-offs for CEED 2026. Note that unlike UCEED, IIT Bombay doesn't conduct any Joint Seat Allotment.

In fact, IIT Bombay is only responsible for conduct of the CEED exam and declaration of results.

Candidates will have to apply to the participating institute themselves based on their CEED 2026 scores. These participating institutes will then prepare admission cut-off based on parameters like number of applicants, seat intake, category under which admission is sought, etc.

Check out the important topics for CEED 2026.

Important Topics for CEED 2026
Creative Writing Skills	Drawing Ability and Skills	Communication Skills
Design Concepts	How to Develop Characters	Logical Reasoning
Light and Shadow	Perspective Design	Logo Design
Problem Identification & Design Problem Solving	Scale and Proportion	Product Designing
Basics of Drawing- Lines and Shapes	Gradation Chart	Colour Theory, Color Schemes and color Compositions
Still Life Drawings, Eye Levels and Symmetrical Drawing Concepts, Object drawings from everyday life	Perspective- Types and Usage	Human Body Knowledge
Anatomy, Proportions and Divisions	Basic and advanced Human Drawings	Hands and Feet Study
Human Features	Animal and Bird Study	Colour Rendering and Design
Inspirational Design	Means of Advertisement-Visual Communication	Grid Collages
Metamorphosis	Study of Objects and Lateral Thinking	Compositions
Story Illustrations	Pictograms and Signage	Geometrical and Design Exercise
Compositional sense	Placement of different figures proportionally	Sense of proportion
Basics of materials and manufacturing processes	Interaction Design and Visual Communication	Sketching
Representation techniques	Problem identification & solving	Visual perception
Interface design & Product Design	Poster, Logo, Character designing	Story telling
Drawing of human figures of different postures, action, and age groups

Sketching part of CEED will include representation, in the form of geometric figures like lines, squares, and triangles, outline drawing, detailing, and shading. Try outline drawing, representation, focus on detailing and shading. Also try shape of the figure, proportion and line quality.

Yes, candidates must follow the exam pattern for CEED 2026.  It is because the exam pattern will guide the candidate as to how to prepare for the exam. 

• As per the CEED 2026 exam pattern, Part A will include NAT, MCQ, MSQ-type questions. These questions will require the candidate to select a correct answer option. So, instead of practicising how to write, long, elaborative answers, the candidate must build the skill to quickly solve the problem and find the solution.

• On the other hand, Part B will include subjective-type questions. In these types of questions, the examiner doesn’t simply want an answer, but also want to see how you arrived at the answer!

CEED question paper will have two sections, Part A and Part B. Both sections are mandatory. Part A will have three sections, MCQ, MSQ and NAT. Part B will include only subjective type questions.

Candidates should solve around 30-40 sample papers and question papers before the CEED Exam. Try to solve one sample paper or question paper daily in the last month of preparation.

You can start solving sample papers for CEED very early on in your exam preparation. For instance, you can do the exercise after completing a chapter. All you have to do is find the relevant questions in the sample papers and start solving. As you move on in your CEED 2026 exam preparation, you the sample papers will be more useful. In fact, as you complete the syllabus, you can attempt the complete sample paper.

By solving the sample papers you can improve your problem-solving and time-management skills. Also, you can solve sample papers right up to the exam-day. 

Yes, you can download the answers for CEED question paper. IIT Bombay releases the answer keys of the CEED exam along with the question paper. The answer keys contain the answers to the questions asked in the entrance exam. 

CEED admission portal has many useful resources, including previous years’ question papers and answer keys. 

To download the question papers and keys

1. Go to CEED admission portal

2. Click on the Download .

3. Screen having question papers and answer keys will open

4. Click on question paper or answer key you want to download.

5. You can download the document in PDF format.

CEED 2026 will have two parts - Part A and Part B. Part A will be conducted as a computer-based test. Part B will be conducted offline. Candidate will be provided answer booklets by the invigilator, where they have enter their answers. 

After the exam, candidate has to return the answer booklets of Part B to the invigilator. Part B answer booklets will only be checked if the candidate qualfiies Part A.

Final score of CEED 2026 will be calculated by giving weightage to Part A and Part B.

Score card of CEED 2026 will be issued to all candidates who will appear in CEED 2926 exam. So, even if you have failed to qualify Part A, you can download the scorecard.

But note that in this case, scorecard will only include qualifying status and Part A marks. Part B marks, Total marks and merit ranks will only be issued to qualified candidates. Candidates who have been assigned a merit rank can participate in the counseling process conducted by participating institutes.

Simply relying on textbooks for CEED exam preparation is not enough. It is because the CEED exam will evaluate the conceptual understanding of the candidate and also whether they are able to use those concepts to solve various types of problems.

So, along with the textbooks, the candidate also need to solve sample papers. In fact, the candidate can start solving sample papers very early on in their preparation.

Further, mock tests are another great tool to fine tune one’s preparation; mocks, however, unlike sample papers, are meant to be taken closer to the exam.

Here are some of the important traits of CEED best books.

• These books will be written in layman terms and explain the concepts lucidly.

• Contain few to no errors.

• They will also be as per the latest and revised CEED syllabus.

• They will also have enough problem sets, typically at the end of each chapter, that the candidate can practice and thus hone their problem-solving skills and better understand the concepts.

• Are usually written by a well-known publisher or author.

IIT Bombay is exam conducting body for CEED 2026. The institute, however, doesn’t prescribed any study material for the exam. 

So, in a bid to help the candidate, we bring you a list of recommended books for CEED 2026 after consulting previous years’ CEED question papers. The names suggested by toppers and experts have also been taken into account when compiling this list.

CEED ENTRANCE by Academy of Fashion & Art	Academy of Fashion & Art
CEED Common Entrance Exam for Design Pattern & Scheme Preparation Book 2022	Examinspect
CEED & NID M.Des Entrance Books and Test Series	Ashish Popli, Pradosh Swain, Rishabh Rhode
Question Bank for NID, NIFT, CEED & UCEED (Revised 2024 edition)	Ashok Goel and Arjun Kamal
Introduction to Design UCEED | CEED | NID | NIFT	Sanjay Reddy, Mukti Masih, et al.

It is very much possible to prepare for CEED without coaching. If you prepare for the exam on your own, you need to be serious and plan the preparation smartly. After going through the syllabus, you must be able to decide the difficulty level, the time it will take to cover the syllabus, and revise. 

Remember, there are many instances of toppers who managed to ace the CEED exam without the aid of any coaching. Further, the outcome may not depend on whether you do coaching or not, but on the quality of your preparation.

The best books for CEED 2027 preparation are:

• Cracking CEED & UCEED by Ashok Goel and Arjun Kamal
• CEED+NID (M.DES) [Paperback] Academy of Fashion & Art Preparation Kit
• CEED Common Entrance Exam for Design Pattern & Scheme Preparation Book
• CEED ENTRANCE by Academy of Fashion & Art
• Ceed & Nid (M.Des) Entrance Books And Test Series by TRENDZ ACADEMY 

English can be improved for CEED Entrance Exam in the following ways.

• Reading English newspapers daily
• Learning 20 new words daily
• Solving comprehension passage
• Reading synonyms, antonyms, idioms, etc.
• Watching animated movies or English movies with subtitles.

The weightage of CEED Part A is 25%. Candidates have to attempt 44 questions in CEED Part A. It includes MSQs, MCQs, and NAT questions. Total marks for CEED Part A is 150.

You can develop drawing skills for CEED 2026 by sketching more and more. The sketching part of CEED will include stages like representation, in the form of geometric figures like lines, squares, and triangles, outline drawing, detailing, and shading. Practice more on outline drawing, representation, shape of the figure, proportion, line quality, etc.

Check out the tips below to prepare for CEED.

• Understand CEED exam pattern and syllabus.
• Make a  timetable for CEED preparation
• Practice as many CEED previous year question papers and sample papers as possible
• Take notes when you are studying.
• Find your weak areas for the exam and work to improve those areas/subjects
• Take mock tests.

Yes, there is negative marking in CEED in Part A. Part A will include NAT, MSQ, and MCQ questions. There is -1 for each question if answered wrong in Part A under MSQ and - 0.5 for each wrong answer in MCQ. There is no negative marking for NAT. Meanwhile, Part B will be a subjective paper and will have no negative marking.

CEED Entrance Examination 2027 will be conducted on January 17, 2027. The exam timing will be 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. 

The candidate can download previous years’ question papers for the CEED exam from CEED 2026 - IIT Bombay admission portal - ceed.iitb.ac.in. Alternatively, the candidate can also download the question papers from this page.

Candidate can download question papers along with the answer keys.  Question paper and answer keys for the current academic session (or CEED 2026) will only be available after the exam has been conducted. 

Previous years’ question papers can be used by the candidate to improve their problem-solving ability and improve conceptual understanding.

IIT Bombay will release the qualifying cut-off for Part A in the first week of February 2026. Cut-off is released in the form of mean and standard deviation. 

The mean and standard deviation for Part-A (CEED 2025) are 45.48 and 16.98, respectively and for Part A (CEED 2024) were 41.90 and 16.72, respectively.

The qualifying cut-off is the minimum marks a candidate needs to score in the paper to get shortlisted. Part B answer booklets will only be evaluated if the candidate gets shortlisted.

So, if you don’t meet Part A cut-off marks, you will not get shortlisted and you Part B answer booklets will not be evaluated. Also, note that only shortlisted candidates will be assigned a merit rank in CEED 2026.

Eligibility criteria for appearing in CEED 2026 exam are prescribed by IIT Bombay. Criteria are given in the information brochure. Candidate needs to carefully go through criteria and only apply for admission if they meet the requirements.

If candidate fails to meet eligibility criteria, he or she could be disqualified at any stage of the admission process. Also, the participating colleges will have a document verification session, where all documents will be cross-checked.