Top exams to study design: Although a majority of individuals view design as a specialised academic subject, it is gradually becoming more popular among students. Numerous factors have contributed to the appeal of the design, including competitive wage packages, numerous job prospects, a proliferation of social media traits, Bollywood, and more. Numerous institutions in India provide undergraduate and graduate design programs. For this, you must take the design entrance tests administered independently by each institution to get admitted to these programs at any prestigious university.
Every year, educational institutions around the country administer these design entrance exams for admission. Some of the top exams to study design in India are NIFT, NID DAT, UCEED, AIEED, SEED, FDDI AIST, IIAD, etc. Designing is an outstanding and profitable profession since it allows you to explore your creative side and offers multiple specialisation alternatives, including jewellery, interior, fashion, footwear, visual merchandising, etc. Furthermore, NIFT Bangalore, NIFT Kolkata, NIFT Delhi, IIT Bombay, and IIT Delhi are a few of the nation’s best design institutions. To get admission to these universities, applicants must pass an entrance exam for design. Students must pass two to three rounds of the majority of college-level design entrance exams in India to be considered for admission. In this article, we will discuss a list of the top exams to study design along with their schedule, important dates, preparation tips, etc.
List of Top Exams to Study Design in India: Important Dates & Schedule
Students usually get confused about the designing entrance exam pattern/format, important dates, best books, syllabus, preparation tips, etc. when thinking about admission to design courses. In India, January and February often see the majority of design entrance exams. Find a list below if you are confused about the top exams to study design in India along with their tentative schedule for 2025 and test mode.
| Exam Name | Application Opens for 2025 (Tentative) | Exam Mode | Exam Date for 2025 (Tentative) | Result Declaration Date for 2025 (Tentative) |
| AIEED | December 2025 | Online | February 2025 | Within a week |
| AIFD WAT | April 2025 | Online | April 2025 | April 2025 |
| CEED | October 2025 | Online & Offline | January 2025 | March 2025 |
| FDDI AIST | October 2025 | Offline | May 2025 | June 2025 |
| IIAD Entrance Exam | May 2025 | Offline | January 2025 | July 2025 |
| NID DAT | September 2025 | Offline & Online Mode | December 2025 | February/ March 2025 |
| NIFT Exam | December 2025 | Online (CBT) | February 2025 | March 2025 |
| PAF Entrance Exam | January 2025 | Offline | April 2025 | May 2025 |
| SEED | August 2025 | Online | January 2025 | January 2025 |
| UCEED | October 2025 | Online & Offline | January 2025 | March 2025 |
List of National-level Design Entrance Exams
To pursue a career in this field, you can take national-level design exams as listed below:
- All India Entrance Exam for Design or AIEED
- Army Institute of Fashion & Design Creative Aptitude Test or AIFD CAT
- Design Aptitude Test of Centre for Design Excellence or DE-CODE
- Footwear Design and Development Institute All India Selection Test or FDDI AIST
- Indian Institute of Art and Design Entrance Exam or IIAD
- National Institute of Design or NID Aptitude Test
- National Institute of Fashion Technology or NIFT
- Symbiosis Entrance Exam for Design or SEED
- Undergraduate Common Entrance Exam for Design or UCEED
List of University-level Design Entrance Exams
The following are some university-level design exams which students can take as per their interests:
- Army Institute of Fashion and Design Written Admission Test or AIFD WAT
- Chandigarh University Common Entrance Test or CUCET
- IIAD Design Aptitude Test or IDAT
- Manipal University Design Aptitude Test or MDAT
- Modi University Scholarship cum Admission Test or MUSAT
- Modi University Science and Technology – College of Fashion Design and Merchandising or MUST-CFDM
- Pearl Academy of Fashion Entrance Exam or PAF Exam
Top 5 Exams to Study Design in India
According to experts, one must have an innate knack to recognise trends and a basic awareness of design aspects to consider this as a course option. To receive expert advice on how to follow and improve their intuition, candidates may want to think about studying various specialisations within this field after taking design entrance examinations. The following is a discussion of the top five design exams in India that students can take to get admission to various colleges and universities at both UG and PG levels.
1. National Institute of Fashion Technology or NIFT Entrance Exam
The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), an autonomous institution within the Ministry of Textile, administers the NIFT admission test at the national level. Candidates can utilise this examination to gain admission to programs leading to the Bachelor of Fashion Technology (BFTech), Bachelor of Design (BDes), Master of Design (MDes), Master of Fashion Management (MFM), and Master of Fashion Technology (MFTech) degrees.
One of India’s most esteemed institutions for degrees of fashion and design is NIFT. Nearly 3,547 seats are available at the college for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. You must have passed your Class 12 at an accredited college and be no older than 24 on August 1 of the respective examination year to apply for the NIFT Entrance Exam. A situation test, written exam scores, and a face-to-face interview (for master’s applicants) will all be used to make the final admission decision.
2. National Institute of Design Aptitude Test or NID DAT
The National Institute of Design administers the Design Aptitude Test at the national level to grant admission to undergraduate and graduate design schools. There are two phases to the examination: DAT Prelims and DAT Mains. For admission to the university, the prospective student must pass both stages.
You must have passed your Class 12 exam or its equivalent from an approved board such as ICSE, AISSE, or CBSE to apply for the NID Entrance Examination. Additionally, to be eligible for the test, students must have been born on or after July 1, 2003.
3. Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design or UCEED
For admission to the Bachelor of Design (B Design) program, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay administers the UCEED, a national-level examination.
Colleges such as IIT Jabalpur, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay, and IIT Hyderabad all administer the UCEED Entrance Examination. Part A of the test is a computer-based screening examination, while Part B is an offline exam. Assessing a student’s grades from both Part A and Part B will determine their admittance to the college.
4. All India Entrance Exam for Design or AIEED
To provide entrance to its undergraduate and graduate design courses, Arch College of Design and Business administers the AIEED examination multiple times throughout the year in various admission cycles. To assess pupils for the many courses offered at the institution, ARCH has been holding AIEED annually since its inception in 2010. The test became an online screening in 2011. Due to this, prospective candidates could get involved in the screening from any location in the entire globe with ease.
The exam is open to everyone who has completed their 12th grade at any accredited institution. Both the CAT (creative ability test) and the GAT (general aptitude test) make up the entrance examination. The design entrance exam for Arch College of Design and Business is made to assess candidates’ creative and design-sensitive abilities, logical thinking and problem-solving skills, and aesthetic sensibility to determine their suitability for rewarding employment in the numerous design-related disciplines.
5. Symbiosis Entrance Exam for Design or SEED
The Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID) administers the Symbiosis Entrance Exam for Design (SEED), a design aptitude examination that serves as the first step in the two-part SID admissions procedure. After passing the written SEED exam, students must move on to the Portfolio Review and Personal Interaction (PRPI) round.
The applicant’s overall performance in the written exam, portfolio review, PRPI task, and personal interaction will all be taken into account when creating the SID merit list. The SEED test assesses applicants based on criteria such as visual perception, colour, general design awareness, geometry, the capacity for creative thought, and knowledge of Indian customs, crafts, and culture.
Tips to Prepare for Top Exams to Study Design
Effective time management plays a key role in the Design entrance exams. The time required to answer each question may differ. Additionally, it is crucial to practice the previous year’s question papers to study for the final examination. Additionally, taking practice or sample exams might help you become better faster. The following are some key tips to prepare for the design entrance exam which aspirants can use for reference.
- Possess a wide range of expertise and insights that usually make you more perceptive and self-assured.
- In the Quantitative Aptitude portion, thoroughly understand topics such as probability, height and distance, velocity, time and speed, ages, number system, average, permutations, and combinations.
- View the whole exam syllabus and pattern/ format for each design entrance examination.
- Think about innovative design ideas for current government initiatives and problems.
- Good sketching abilities are necessary for entrance exams for design. Continue to practice drawing questions.
- Concentrate on subjects like syllogism, puzzles, coding and decoding, blood relations, and directions for the Reasoning part.
- Enhance Your General Knowledge by daily reading a newspaper or magazine.
- Reading comprehension is the main focus of the NIFT Exam’s questions.
- Discover ways you should approach answering demands about drawings and how to get ready for them.
- To gauge the level of difficulty, answer topics from the previous year’s question papers.
- Try reading the newspaper to expand your vocabulary. Antonyms, spelling errors, sentence correction, fill-in-the-blanks, synonyms, and one-word alternatives should all receive greater consideration.
- Focus on the English language portion and expand your thesaurus.
- Practice your sketching abilities often.
In summary, passing the design entrance exams in India is the best opportunity to make your passion your career. Top design institutions like NID, NIFT, and IITs administer admission tests, even if other Indian design institutes accept admission on Class 12 results. In an attempt to get admission to prestigious design institutions, lakhs of aspirants take the design entrance exams each year. Since more applicants are keen on design programs, institutions need to administer entrance exams for design or aptitude tests to choose the best applicants for admission.
FAQs
Q1. What are the top entrance exams for designing after 12th grade?
Some of the top entrance exams for designing after 12th grade are UCEED, AIEED, NID Entrance Exam, FDDI AIST, IIAD Entrance Exam, NIFT Entrance Exam, Pearl Academy Entrance Exam, UID Aptitude Test, SEED Exam, etc.
Q2. Which exam is best for designing?
Although different exams cater to an aspirant’s academic needs, the best exams for designing often taken by most are NIFT, NID DAT, UCEED, AIEED, and SEED. These design exams in India are tailored to various universities and course levels. While choosing the top exams to study design, consider your design goals, preferred educational institutions, exam format, etc.
Q3. What is the entrance exam for design in IIT?
The entrance exam for design in IIT is the Undergraduate Common Entrance Exam for Design or UCEED. For admission to the BDes course at IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad, and IIITDM Jabalpur, candidates must take the three-hour UCEED exam which is administered at the undergraduate level at various test centres in India. Further, several additional institutions accept UCEED scores for admission to BDes programs.
Q4. Which exam is best for BDes?
While various best exams for BDes are accepted by different institutions, UCEED, AIEED, CUET, NIFT Entrance Exam, NID DAT, SEED and FDDI AIST are considered the most popular ones. While selecting the exam, students should first verify their eligibility and whether their preferred institution recognises a respective exam’s score.
Q5. What are the best colleges for admission after taking a design entrance examination?
Some of the best colleges for admission after taking a design entrance examination are the National Institute of Design (NID), Pearl Academy, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Indian School of Design & Innovation (ISDI), Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology, Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID), Indian Institute Of Art and Design (IIAD), etc.