Admit Card - 2 Jan '26
IIT Bombay will conduct the CEED 2026 exam on January 18, 2025. The exam will have two parts - A computer-based Part A, and an offline-based Part B. Here we bring you tips to crack the CEED Part A exam.
With only a few days remaining for the exam, you must have deep into your preparation. If you have started your preparations, then this article will help you refine it by going over the fineries and if you are still in the planning phase, then reading further will help you to have a focused strategy in place wherein you can make the most of your time and efforts. Knowing the structure of CEED is the key to cracking it. CEED 2026 is divided into two parts. Part A will consist of Numerical Answer Type (NAT) Questions, Multiple Select Questions (MSQ), and Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), and Part B, is a rather descriptive, sketch-oriented, and traditional CEED paper. A candidate has to attempt both parts one after another, within a time frame of three hours. Part A score is used only as a cutoff and Part B is evaluated only if a candidate obtains the Part A cutoff.
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The most important strategy one can have is to complete Part A in one-hour duration and solve the descriptive questions of Part B in two hours duration.
CEED 2026: How to prepare for Part A
For Part A, many candidates feel that the questions are based on random topics. But by proper strategy, clearing Part A with adequate cutoff is a cakewalk. Here is the step-by-step strategy you should have to crack Part A of the CEED exam:
Since CEED is a general aptitude test, you can benefit greatly by practicing previous year question papers. Also, after practicing the papers, it is highly important to analyse your strong and weak areas for the exam and then work on them accordingly.
But that being said, you can’t prepare for the CEED only on the strength of solving the sample papers. You need to read the text books to learn the concepts, understand the various dynamic. Note that unless your theoretical knowledge is sound, you won’t be able to feel truly confident.
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.
Step 1 – Get hold of all the previous year CEED papers
The format of segregating CEED paper into Part A and Part B began from CEED 2012. This is the first paper you should download. IIT Bombay has provided all the previous year’s CEED papers on the page.
Step 2 – Defining the syllabus
For the preparation of Part A, carefully go through each and every question of Part A and note the topics they are asked from. For example, Q5 of the CEED 2012 paper asks “Identify the logo of State Bank of India”, you can make a note of “logos”.
As you progress, you will have a list of topics ready. Some topics may repeat. You can highlight these topics. For example, the topic of logos has been covered a number of times in CEED, so you can mark such topics as important ones.
Step 3 – Studying the syllabus
Now that you have the list of topics ready and you have identified the most important ones from the CEED syllabus, it is time to get down to business. You might have a long list of topics, but you have only limited time to study them, therefore, it’s advisable to plan your preparation accordingly. Needless to say, you should give more time and attention to the topics you have found to recur over several CEED papers because the chances are that there will be a question on the same topic this year as well.
The CEED 2026 exam will be held on Jan 18, 2026. So, aspiring candidates can start preparing for the exam.
- Focus on the following resources to prepare for CEED:
- Make sure that you get the best books to prepare the CEED.
- If the study material is good, they will contain few to no errors, will cover the entire syllabus, contain practice problems, etc.
- Solve sample and previous year’s question and sample papers
- Take mock tests.
- When studying make it a point to take notes. These notes will help you jot down all the important points.
- Do timely revision.
The difficulty level of CEED exam has been maintained by authorities over the years. However, most design aspirants share that if difficulty level of all design entrance exams conducted for PG level courses is compared then CEED is slightly easier than NID Entrance Exam. This is primarily because the drawing questions asked in NID that are considered to be tougher than those put forth in CEED exam. Note that CEED exam is for admission to the M.Des courses offered by the eight participating colleges. Meanwhile, the NID that for the M.Des programme has three participating colleges.
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.
CEED 2026: Skills needed to score in Part B
Preparation of Part B requires a slightly more intricate strategy than Part B. Here are some points which will help you in your preparation
1) Build your sketching skills – Part B is all about your ability to think of new and innovative solutions and express those using sketches. Building up your sketching skills is a matter of time and patience. Like any other skill, the more you sketch, the better you get at it. Yet, CEED being just around the corner, special attention needs to be given to certain areas of sketching more than the others. You should sketch.
- First, by studying the objects around you and sketching them as realistically as possible. By doing this you will not only learn how to sketch realistically, but you will also learn to shade and depict the materials correctly.
- The second thing is you should learn how to sketch still life. Many times in CEED, questions require you to sketch a fruit plate or a loaf of bread. There are several videos on YouTube that teach you how to sketch still life. Till you gain confidence in sketching from your imagination, you can watch these videos and sketch along with them. Questions related to sketches of human figures are the second most recurring question in Part B. Questions like a 5-year-old boy sitting in a chair or a man standing next to a scooter, test the designer's ability to sketch humans with proper proportions, with light and shades and with proper environmental effects. There are many techniques to draw human figures. Most of them are available for study, again, on YouTube.
- Mastering product sketching and human sketching is normally enough to score well in CEED, but there is a third sketching skill that is needed. This is sketching of animated characters and graphics. Questions like the mascot for underwater tourism, the caricature of a dengue mosquito, and visual narration of the autobiography of a crow have been frequented in the past. In order to practice this, you should be well-versed with the techniques used for presenting storyboards. You can do an in-depth study online on these techniques and master them.
2. Be creative! For Part B, special credit is given for creativity. Sometimes, the examiner might even look past some minor mistakes in sketching, if your solution is creative!
Some questions even have a note saying that marks will be awarded for creative and humorous solutions. Enhancing creativity is straightforward. First, think about a simple idea and then stretch it to its limits.
For example, in CEED 2011, in a question, candidates were asked about the creative uses of curved lines. You can first think of a simple solution such as the curved line representing a road track. Then take it to an extreme, by imagining that the road track is in fact that of a roller-coaster! This way, even a plain idea will appear to be a creative one. In the heat of the exam, often coming up with such creative ideas is difficult, therefore practice is needed. So you can test how wacky you can get even with simple ideas.
With these two skills, you are bound to succeed in CEED no matter what the exam throws at you.
All the best for CEED 2026 exam preparation!
About the Author:
Prasanna Gadkari is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. Along with a career in Product Design spanning over eight years, Prasanna has mentored hundreds of aspirants to reach their dream of doing a Master in Design (M.Des) from IITs, IISc, and NID. He runs TeaCupBlog, a place where he and other students share their tips and experiences on a pro bono basis.
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The difficulty level of CEED exam is maintained by authorities over the years. However, most design aspirants share that if the difficulty level of all design entrance exams conducted for PG level courses is compared then CEED is slightly easier than the NID Entrance Exam. This is primarily because the drawing questions asked in NID DAT are considered to be tougher than those put forth in the CEED exam.