NIFT offers the following five design courses at its NIFT 19 campuses: Bachelor of Design (BDes), Master of Design (MDes), Bachelor of Fashion Technology (BFTech), Master of Fashion Technology (MFTech), and Master of Fashion Management (MFM). The NIFT admission process varies from course to course. For the MFTech and MFM courses, admission aspirants need to take the General Ability Test (GAT) and appear for the PI admission round. M.Des applicants need to first appear in the GAT and CAT written tests, and if shortlisted, next appear in the PI. Meanwhile, B.Des applicants who get shortlisted based on GAT and CAT scores, have to next appear in a Situation Test.
NTA will conduct the NIFT Situation Test on June 08, 2025. The Admit cards for Stage 2 Examinations are out now.
Latest Updates:
For the BFTech course, candidates are offered admission only based on their performance in the GAT.
- NIFT 2025 Exam Update
- NIFT 2025 Situation Test - Exam Pattern
- NIFT Situation Test 2025: Evaluation Parameters
- How to prepare for NIFT Situation Test 2025?
NIFT 2025 Exam Update
The online application form for NIFT 2025 opened on November 22, 2025. The written exams of NIFT 2025 were conducted on February 9, 2025. Candidates who qualify in the NTA NIFTEE-written exams have to next appear in the Situation Test (B.Des)/ PI (PG courses). The NIFT Stage 1 result was declared on April 24, 2025. The dates for the NIFT Situation Test/Studio Test and Personal Interview have not been announced. The dates will be declared soon on the NIFT official website.
NIFT 2025 Situation Test - Exam Pattern
The Situation Test will be of two hours duration and will be conducted in an offline, center-based mode. The details of the exam center allocated to the candidate will be mentioned on the NIFT 2025 admit card for the Situation Test.
NIFT Situation Test: Procedure
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The Situation Test is a practical examination and is given 20% weightage in NIFT admissions.
| Test |
Weightage |
|---|---|
| CAT |
50% |
| GAT |
30% |
| Situation Test |
20% |
NIFT 2026 exam is expected to be conducted in the cities given below.
S.No | City | S.No | City |
1 | Ahmedabad | 20 | Kolkata |
2 | Bengaluru | 21 | Lucknow |
3 | Bhopal | 22 | Madurai |
4 | Bhubaneswar | 23 | Mumbai |
5 | Chandigarh | 24 | Nagpur |
6 | Chennai | 25 | New Delhi (East, Central, North, South, and West Delhi) |
7 | Cochin | 26 | Noida |
8 | Coimbatore | 27 | Patna |
9 | Daman | 28 | Pune |
10 | Dehradun | 29 | Raipur |
11 | Faridabad | 30 | Ranchi |
12 | Ghaziabad | 31 | Rajkot |
13 | Gurugram | 32 | Surat |
14 | Guwahati | 33 | Udaipur |
15 | Hyderabad | 34 | Vadodara |
16 | Jaipur | 35 | Varanasi |
17 | Jammu | 36 | Vishakhapatnam |
18 | Jodhpur | 37 | Srinagar |
19 | Kannur (Kerala) |
The NIFT exam is among the competitive and is also considered among the toughest. So, it is recommended that the candidate starts their exam preparation early. NIFT exam has various components like written exam and Situation Test /Personal Interview. Candidates seeking admission to the B. Des and M.Des courses need to prepare for both the CAT and GAT. The CAT is a drawing-based exam. Now unless the candidate is already well-versed, the exam will be very difficult. So, start early. The same goes for the GAT.
As part of the NIFT Situation Test, aspirants are given some materials using which they have to create a model and accompany the same with a caption and a short write-up explaining the 3D model made by the student.
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NIFT Situation Test 2025: Evaluation Parameters
Some points on which candidates are evaluated in the NIFT Situation Test are mentioned below:
- Conceptualization Skills
- Creative use of materials provided
- Innovative ideas
- Composition of elements
- Colour scheme
- Aesthetic appeal
- Working methodology
- Overall presentation
- Neatness
Thus, when an aspirant is about to leave the exam hall, he/she need to ensure that the area where the model is placed is clean. They also need to ensure that their roll number, write-up, as well as work sheets, are placed properly on the table and any extra items should be thrown in the dustbin. A lot of importance is given to the write-up and caption given to the model by the candidate.
Another important point to note is that, in the NIFT Situation Test, candidates are closely watched and even marked on how well they have been able to manage time while preparing their 3D model.
How to prepare for NIFT Situation Test 2025?
In the NIFT Situation Test, each and every candidate is evaluated on their ability to handle the material provided to them to make 3D models. Thus, some steps that aspirants can take in order to perform well in the NIFT Situation Test 2025 are as follows:
- Observe all the things around you, like leaves, tables, chairs, cars, human faces, etc., and try to take inspiration from them
- Try to think of a topic and what models you can make depicting the mood, look, and feel for that topic/product/item
- Develop an idea of what to expect in the Situation test by going through NIFT Previous year questions
- Read Interviews of Previous Year NIFT Toppers. You will get a lot of ideas from their interviews. They usually share their schedules, strategies, etc.
- Think of a concept, first sketch what you have in mind, and thereafter try to create what you have in mind using different materials.
- Try working with different materials to find out how to cut and combine them with other materials. Some of the materials one must work with are:
| Ivory sheets |
Cardboard |
| Thermocol (thick & thin) |
Glaze papers |
| Plasticine clay |
Copper wire |
| Kite papers |
Handmade sheet |
| Cellophane |
Fabric |
| Thread |
Coloured clay |
| Ribbon |
Rubber band |
| Thumb pins |
Straw |
| Aluminium foil |
Aluminium sheet |
| Sun pack |
Mount board |
| Ice Cream Sticks |
Cotton |
| Tissue Paper |
Foam |
| Straw pipe |
Mouldable aluminium wire |
| Transparency sheet |
Cotton |
| Rubber sheet |
Gift wrapping sheet |
| Beads & sequences |
Ice cream sticks |
Along with going through the textbooks and solving problem sets, candidates must also solve previous years question papers to prepare for NIFT 2026. One of the main benefits of solving sample papers is that candidate will get to know the difficulty level, types of questions asked, and marking scheme. By analyzing the previous years question papers, candidate may also figure out trends that are followed in drafting question.
NIFT Creative Ability Test or NIFT CAT will evaluate the intuitive ability, power of observation in concept development, and design ability of the candidate. To prepare for CAT the candidate must develop their observation skills, learn the basics of geometrical shapes, understand conceptualization, learn product drawing and shading. Additionally, the candidate must also work on their line quality. For instance, the candidate needs to ensure there are no jittery or multiple lines. To improve one's drawing skills, one may start with simple drawings and then move on to complex shapes. Also, while shading is not so important for the exam, shading skills can definitely help the candidate get a positive nod from the evaluator.
Candidates will be provided with the items for making the model during the NIFT Situation Test. Materials that students may be provided with are Glaze Papers, Plasticine Clay, Copper Wire, Ivory Sheets, Cardboard, Thermocol (thick And Thin), Kite Papers, Handmade Sheet, Coloured Clay, Cellophane, Fabric, Thread, Ribbon, Straw, Aluminum Foil, etc. The candidate can not use any other items except the ones provided in the exam hall.
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NIFT Application 2026 is expected to open anytime now in November 2025. NIFT 2026 Application forms and Notifications can be out anytime now for B.Des, M.Des, B.F. Tech, M.F.Tech, and M.F.M programmes. The application form will be released at @nift.ac.in. The NIFT entrance exam application form is the same for all courses. The application fee for NIFT will be around INR 3,000 (INR 1500 for SC, ST, and PwD categories). NIFT Application forms can also be filled with late fees. The late fee will be around INR 5,000.