Design Entrance Exam

In case of M.Des courses, there is no requirement for the candidate to select campus preferences. Note that in case of the B.Des program, shortlisted candidates are required to submit campus preferences as part of the counseling process.

The seat allotment for M.Des candidates will be strictly based on the merit rank of the candidate in the NID DAT 2025 exam.

The 1st round of seat allotment for the M.Des programme will be announced around the last week of April 2025.

The National Institute of Design (NID) has released the admission hanbooks for the B.Des and M.Des courses. It contains the list of exam cities for DAT Prelims exam for each course.

As per information given in the M.Des Admission Handbook, the DAT Prelims exam in the following cities - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kurukshetra, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada.

The candidate can select their choice of exam city when filling out the NID DAT 2024 application form. 

The NID DAT exam is conducted in two stages. First, the candidate has to appear in DAT Prelims, and if shortlisted has to appear in DAT Mains.

The results of DAT Prelims for B.Des will be declared on April 07, 2026, while results for the M.Des programme will be declared on February 17, 2026.

The candidate will be able to check their results by logging into the result portal using their email ID and date of birth. Such candidates who get shortlisted have to next appear in DAT Mains.

The National Institute of Design (NID) released admit cards for M.Des DAT Mains exam on February 22, 2024 (4 pm). The admit card has been released online at admissions.nid.edu.

To download the admit card, enter your email ID and date of birth in the log-in window.

The M.Des DAT Mains exam for the M.Des programme will be conducted from March 4 to April 4, 2024. 

The admit card will contain details like the date and time of the NID DAT 2024 exam, exam centre details, roll number, reporing time, and exam-day guidelines.

The NID Design Aptitude Test (DAT) is a two-step entrance exam. The candidate first appears in DAT Prelims. If shortlisted, the candidate has to next appear in DAT Mains.

Here are some suggested study material for NID DAT 2024.

• Quantitative Aptitude - Physics and Maths syllabus up to Class 10.  

• Logical Reasoning - Step-by-Step Verbal Reasoning by Philip Kay, How to Pass Diagrammatic Reasoning Test by Mike Bryon.  

• GK and Current Affairs - Read newspapers daily for current affairs. For static GK, read any good GK book for NID.

• English - The Ultimate Guide for NIFT/NID/IIFT Entrance Exam by Arihant

It is the sole responsibility of the candidate to provide correct and verifiable information during the application process. If the candidate is found to be using incorrect or couterfeir information, his or her candidature could be cancelled at any stage of the admission process. Further, if the candidate tries to influence, either directly or indirectly, to influence the management or employees, then also the candidate could be disqualfiied.

Note that the NID DAT 2024 counseling will have a document verification process. During this stage, all the information and documents furnished by the candidate will be cross-checked.

If NID DAT 2024 applications are submitted between December 5 (4 pm) and December 8, (4 pm), the candidate has to pay a late fees.

Note that the late fee amount is in addition to the application fees.

The category-wise application and late fees for the B.Des and M.Des courses are mentioned in the table below.

NID DAT 2024 application and late fees