NID DAT syllabus

DAT Prelims for the undergraduate design programmes: one pen-and-paper paper in English, about three hours, with 25 marks of short objective questions and 75 marks of drawing, design and written tasks. No negative marking has been published.

Part A — objective questions

20 questions, 25 marks (15 of 1 mark and 5 of 2 marks, as in the 2025 sample paper; the 2024 sample had 13 and 6) · Within the one time limit

Four options, one answer. Marks as printed beside the questions; no negative marking is published. Picture-based questions in the real paper (odd figure out, logos, cube faces, mascots) are written in words here.

Colour relationships on the colour wheel
Indian art, crafts and architecture
Design awareness: signs, symbols, products, typography and ergonomics
Everyday science and nature observation
Environment, society and civics
Spatial reasoning: counting, cubes, folding and clocks (in the real paper often shown as drawings)
Patterns, series and directions
Materials and how things are made

Part B — drawing, design and written tasks

4 to 5 tasks, some with parts, 75 marks · Within the one time limit

Answered on the question paper in the real test and marked by NID examiners. Here the drawings are made on your own paper, short notes are typed, and you mark your work against this site's criteria. The two short reading questions are marked by key.

Several distinct ideas for an everyday situation, each sketched with a short note
Drawing a scene from an unusual point of view
A poster with a message, colour allowed
User groups of a product or place and the challenges each faces
Drawing a whole object from partial views, in proportion to a human hand
A reading passage with two short choice questions, then a sketched game or concept with rules