NIFT Study Material 2026 - Recommended Books, Sample Papers and Mock Tests

The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) publishes the sample papers of NIFT for all the courses offered at its 18 participating colleges. However, these official sample papers doesn't contain any solutions. However, there are many leading coaching institutes like the Rathore Design Studio and Academy of Fashion And Art (AFA) that releases sample papers along with the answer keys that the candidate can download for practice. To avail these sample papers, the candidate will have to pay a one-time fee. To download the sample papers, go to the coaching institute portal, may be fill a form, and make the payment.

It is recommended that the candidate make NIFT sample papers a part of their exam preparation strategy from the very beginning. For one, it will help the candidate evaluate their progress, hone their problem solving skills, and get a taste of the types of questions that will be asked in the entrance exam. Since at the start, most of the NIFT syllabus will be untouched, the candidate may focus on the topic they are preparing at that moment. In addition to the sample papers, the candidate must also keep solving the problem Sets given at the end of the chapter or end of the book. It is also important that the candidate keeps a close tab on the exam pattern and syllabus when solving the sample papers.

NIFT exam may have multiple question booklet series Booklet Series A, Booklet Series F, Booklet Series L, Booklet Series R, etc.

Candidate must download the answer keys corresponding to their own booklet series. booklet series contains the same questions, but the questions are arranged differently. So, unless the candidate downloads the answer keys corresponding to the relevant booklets series, the keys will not match. And if that happens, the candidate will not be able to accurately calculate the probable scores.

The exam analysis for NIFT 2026 written exam will be available soon after completion of CAT and GAT written exams. It will consist difficulty level, types of questions asked, marking scheme, and expected cut off. Also, the analysis will highlight any technical issues during NIFT. With analysis, candidates will be able to assess their performance and check what went right and what went wrong. Future aspirants also can go through the NIFT exam analysis to learn about the exam.

The candidate can find the exam analysis for NIFT over the last few years on this page. The NIFT exam analysis is available for both the CAT and GAT papers. The exam analysis for a specific year will cover the sectional and overall difficulty level of the paper, types of questions asked, and marking scheme. It will also cover the expected cut-off that candidates need to secure in their category to get shortlisted. The candidate by consulting the cut-off for previous years will learn about the emerging trends of the NIFT exam, like whether the difficulty level has increased or decreased, types of questions asked, etc.

Note that during COVID 19, the mock tests were used as a tool to help candidates get accustomed to the application and the process as the NIFT 2022 exam was held as a remote-based exam. Consequently, the mock tests were made mandatory, given candidates were appearing in the exam from their homes or a place of their picking. The mock tests in such circumstances helped to test internet strength, speed, reliability, check camera quality, for recording the test, etc. But in the last edition of the NIFT exam, the CAT and GAT written exams were conducted in a centre-based mode. Also, the National Institute of Fashion Technology didnt conduct any mock tests before the exam. So, we have to wait and watch to SEE if mock tests will be conducted at all for NIFT 2024 exam, and if they are conducted, whether they will be mandatory.

Mock tests will include representative questions or questions similar to ones asked in NIFTEE. So, by taking mock tests, candidate will get to know about types of questions asked, marking scheme, weightage, etc. Another important benefit the candidate can draw from solving a sample paper is understanding the question paper layout. For instance, the candidate will know which questions are placed where, the sequence of questions, whether the candidate needs to complete one section before moving to the next, etc.

The NIFT admission committee may take student queries in case the NIFT exam is conducted as a remote-proctored exam. In this case, special hotlines may be created to help the candidate get their system in place. But note that as of now, there is no notification yet whether the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) will conduct mock tests or not. The institute will release the relevant notification, if needed, on its official website, once the admission process gets underway. In the NIFT 2022 exam, when the exam was held in a remote-proctored mode, candidate were allowed to ask queries during the mock test.

NIFT 2026 exam analysis will be available soon after written exams are over.

Analysis will cover

• Section-wise difficulty level of the exam
• Overall difficulty level
• Types of questions
• Specific questions asked in the exam
• Weightage of questions asked
•  Expected cut-off
• About any technical glitches during the exam.

The participating institutes of NIFTs offer a 4-year B.FTech programme. Admission to the programme is based on GAT scores.

• The NIFT GAT question paper for the programme will be approximately 180 minutes and will be bilingual.
• Candidates will have the option to take the exam either in English or Hindi.
•  The question type will be multiple-choice.
• The question paper will have a total of 150 questions.
• Questions will be asked from the following FIVE sections - Communication Ability and Comprehension, Case Study, Quantitative Ability, Analytical & Logical Ability, and GK and Current Affairs. The mode of NIFT exam for the GAT paper will be a computer-based test (or CBT).

Candidates seeking admission to the B. Des and M.Des course also need to take the Creative Ability Test CAT written exam, in addition to the GAT. The CAT exam will be conducted in an offline, pen-pencil mode. CAT will be a drawing-based exam of 3 hours duration. The CAT will evaluate various skills of the candidate including Intuition skill, power of observation, innovation in the development of a concept as well as design ability. Further, it will examine the creative as well as innovative use of color and illustration skills of aspirants. It is mandatory for B. Des and M.Des candidates to appear in the CAT paper, or else they will not be invited for the Situation Test.

The exam pattern for NIFT GAT varies from one course to another. The total number of questions asked in NIFT GAT is mentioned below: BDes: 100 questions, BFTech: 150 questions, MDes: 120 questions, MFTech: 150 questions, MFM: 150 questions. Note that the GAT or the General Ability Test will be conducted in a computer-based mode. Questions will be objective-type. The GAT paper for the B. Des and M.Des programs will be of 120 minutes. However, the GAT paper for the B.FTech, M.FTech, and MFM courses will be for 180 minutes.

National Institute of Design releases sample papers of NIFT on its admission portal. These sample papers are available for all the UG and PG courses offered by NIFT participating institutes. To download sample papers, candidate simply needs to click on the sample paper they want to download. There is no need to create an applicant account or provide any other applicant details to download the sample papers. However, if the candidate wishes to download sample papers published by coaching institutes, he or she may be required to create an account. Further, the candidate, in most cases, has to pay a fee to use the sample papers.

Candidates can download the official sample papers from the official NIFT website. The sample papers are available in the form of PDFs.

The mock tests for NIFT, if conducted, will have the following benefits: The mock tests will acquaint the candidates with the functionalities of the exam. In case the NIFT exam is conducted in remote-proctored mode (like during the COVID times), the mock tests will help test the hardware and software compliance required for the exam. The mock tests will give an idea about the types of questions asked in the actual exam. By taking sufficient mock tests, the candidate will be able to get quickly into exam mode, learn how to handle different situations, manage time-management, etc.

The NIFT sample papers are meant to be used as practice material only. So, they can only be a part of the NIFT study material. To learn the basic concepts and theoretical aspects of the subject, you will still need to refer to NIFT text books. In addition to the sample and question papers released by the National Institute of Fashion Technology, the candidate may also solve sample papers published by leading publishers like Arihant. The main purpose of sample papers is to improve ones problem-solving and time-management skills. So, the sample papers will work best if they are used after the candidate has done a thorough study of the theoretical aspects of the subject.