CEED Topper shares tips to crack the exam

Manasvini Sankara Narayanan, CEED 2017 Rank 11

Manasvini Sankara Narayanan qualified for admission at Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Bombay by securing Rank 11 in CEED 2017. Talking about her score in the design entrance exam she shared that she scored 46.6 marks in Part A and 66 marks in Part B of CEED exam.

Talking about her educational background, Manasvini shared that she completed her Bachelors in Architecture from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Architecture and then worked for two years as an architect. Currently living in Bengaluru, Manasvini likes reading and making small craft items.

Shiksha spoke at lengths with Manasvini to help aspirants get acquainted with tips to crack Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED). Read the interview below to formulate a prep strategy for CEED 2018.

I applied for the course in Visual Communication in Industrial Design Centre, Bombay.

I knew I had done my best in the given time frame. I was reasonably sure of qualifying through CEED Part A but the merit list is created only based on Part B, so I did not know what to expect.

Doing my bachelors in architecture gave me a taste of studying in a design stream, and I wanted to pursue my masters in the discipline of Graphic Design because of my aptitude and interest in illustration and visual storytelling.

In case of CEED, it helps greatly to work out as many previous years’ papers as possible. There is quite a time crunch while answering the paper and there is negative marking for some types of questions, which can be tricky. Solving practice papers familiarises you with the type of questions generally asked, and increases the speed of working them out. It also helps to do further reading on unfamiliar topics.

I worked with DQ Labs in Bangalore.

It helps to start preparing around 5-6 months before the exam, especially when it comes to sketching, practice as it will take some time to see progress. However, it might help to prepare the portfolio over a longer period of time. Also, read as much as you can everyday.

The most helpful study material were the previous years’ question papers.

It is necessary to score well in both Part A and Part B of CEED exam, so it is important to prepare both for theory and sketching to score well. All topics are equally important, everything from Visual Spatial Ability, General Knowledge, Science, Arts, Mathematics and Mensuration, Mental Ability.

For Part A, I prepared by working out previous years’ question papers and brushing up on the topics that I felt uncertain about. For Part B, I practiced sketching - basic perspective drawings, human figure drawing, creative thinking, etc.

One should not spend too much time trying to work out uncertain questions. One should be careful while marking answers for those questions with negative marking.

In part A, I quickly marked answers for all the questions that I knew how to work out before spending time on the other questions. For all the questions with no negative marking, I made educated guesses on the uncertain questions.

Allocate time wisely, do not leave any answers blank if there is no negative marking, read the questions carefully.

The time crunch factor.

Part B, because Part A is only a qualification round. The CEED merit list is based only on Part B scores.

For the interview, I prepare a portfolio showcasing me and my skills, including illustrations made and a few projects from my experience in the field of architecture.

After the CEED result, I applied for the Visual Communication course in Industrial Design Centre in Bombay. As part of the application process, we were required to complete and mail a few tasks, and samples from our portfolio. After this a shortlist is prepared for the Studio Test and Interview rounds.

In the interview, I was asked in-depth questions based on projects I had included in my portfolio.

Read More:

• CEED Topper shares Prep Tips
• Prep Strategy shared by CEED Topper
• CEED Topper shares prep tips to crack Part A, Part B & Interview round