“Pursuing Design was my dream”, shared Arkita who has cleared NID Entrance Exam 2017. She has secured Rank 8 in Strategic Design Management and Rank 11 in Universal design course offered at National Institute of Design (NID). Although she has made it to the rank list of both these courses, this design aspirants revealed that she would be opting for admission in Strategic Design Management (SDM) course offered at NID Gandhinagar.
Arkita has pursued BArch course from School of Planning and Architecture and she shared that her bachelor’s programme helped her realise her interest in design. A passionate sketch artist, Arkita loves to paint and sketch anything and everything.
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Arkita has already shared the NID DAT (Prelims) prep strategy that she followed to crack the written exam and in this article she will shed light on her experience of appearing for NID DAT (Mains) 2017.
Q. What was the most difficult part of the NID DAT (Mains) 2017 exam?
Ans: As per me, the most difficult part about the Mains exam for NID admissions in to “read between the lines”. The questions put to you are not that simple and straight forward.
Q. How did you prepare for the Studio Test and Interview round?
Ans: So, NID DAT (Mains) has two parts which is the Studio Test and the Interview. So, for the NID Studio Test I tried to explore as many stream specific topics as I could. For the NID Interview round, I would recommend that students remain honest, presentable and humble.
Q. Could you explain the entire process that you went through in the studio test?
Ans: So, I appeared for NID DAT (Mains) twice because I applied for two courses. I appeared for the Studio Test for SDM course at NID Gandhinagar. It was a 3 hours exam and we were made to sit in an auditorium which was thankfully air-conditioned, it was very hot outside. The auditorium was full of chairs and tables. During the exam there was strict surveillance. We were not allowed to talk or borrow things or even getting up from our seats for the three hours.
The three questions that I was asked in my NID Studio Test for SDM course admissions were:
Question 1: A page containing statistical data regarding girl child education and adult literacy and female foeticide. We had to understand it and make it a visual representation so that a layman can understand.
Question 2: We had to list good and bad effects of demonetiation and represent it visually
Question 3: “To control your cow give it bigger pasture”. We had to understand the meaning, explain it in my own words in my own context with an example and represent the same visually
For the Universal Design course, my Studio Test was held at NID Bangalore’s R&D Campus
Question 1: Design a toilet for differently-abled and draw its different views/angles
Question 2: Design signage for given categories (list was given) on transportation to be put up as stickers
Question 3: Make a model of a mobile for grandmother and another one for a child with given material (thermocol) and state the difference in approach in design and elaborate
Q. Any advice for NID aspirants
Ans: I would just like to say that students should be honest, curious and always strive to better themselves.
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Student Forum
Answered Yesterday
The various components of the NID fee structure for the B.Des and M.Des programme inlcudes components like tuition fees, insurance fees, student activity fund, film club fees, and alumni fees. The tuition fees have the highest contribution to the overall fees.
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
The combined tuition fees for the B.Des that candidates have to pay in eight semesters in the academic session 2026- 2027 is 2,25,000 per semester. For semester 1, the total fees without hostel is 2,26,900 and for semester 2 is 2,25,500.
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Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
Yes, the National Institute of Design (NID) has released the fee structure for students joining design courses from 2026-2027. The fee structure has been released for both the B.Des and M.Des programs.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
NIFT and NID are equally tough. NIFT has two stages: NIFT Written exam and NIFT Situation Test and Personal Interview, whereas NID DAT also has two stages: NID DAT Prelims and NID Mains, which include Studio test and Personal Interview.
Candidate who is preparing for NIFT can give NID DAT entrance e
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 months ago
NID 2026 Application correction Window for B.Des and M.Des was open from December 02, 2025 to December 04, 2025.
S
Contributor-Level 10
Admit Card - 24 Feb '26
What are the various components of NID 2026 fee structure?