NID DAT 2020 Exam Analysis

NID: Design Aptitude Test (DAT) Prelims 2020 (UG Paper)

The NID DAT 2020 prelims had no surprises unlike the previous year the pattern and the ratio of Aptitude (Part 1 - 30 marks) to Drawing / creative aptitude questions (Part 2 - 70 marks) remained the same.

Part 1 - Aptitude Test (30 Marks)

There were a total of 21 questions asked in this section

12 Questions x 1 marks each = 12 marks

9 Questions x 2 marks each = 18 marks

Total 21 questions for 30 marks

The aptitude test had General knowledge / aptitude questions like:

• The Kyoto Protocol
• What is Jaipur foot
• The link between Hampi and the Vijayanagar empire
• Kalighat style of paintings
• A question on embroidery styles
• Nobel Prize winner - Abhijit Banerjee
• Match the companies to their country of origin Samsung, Panasonic, Godrej, Siemens
• Logos on 4 companies - Shell, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, ONGC etc were shown and the non petroleum company had to be identified
• A question on the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur corridor was asked
• Also a question on an Indian musician who recently passed away - which form of Hindustani music was he proficient in?

With standard reading of the newspaper / current affairs / good basic knowledge on Indian artists, performing artists and styles one would not find these questions difficult.

Questions were also asked on verbal / non verbal reasoning and spatial ability like

• Circular Seating Arrangement
• Blood relations
• Distance and direction sense
• Series and sequences
• 2D Visual puzzles
• How to divide the given figure(L Shaped cake) into 4 equal parts
• A visual question on percentage (for the given cubes, what is the percentage that is shaded)

Creative Aptitude Test (70 Marks)

There were 6 questions that were asked in the drawing part of the exam. The first question

was interesting, it tested both the students aptitude and drawing skills, in which a 2D surface

development of a cube had to be drawn in 3D with the correct graphic in the correct

orientation. The rest of the questions were quite standard as asked in the previous years,

however they were quite lengthy so a student really had to focus on time while answering

these questions. The questions are listed below:

1. A figure representing a surface development of a cube was given and each face had an organic graphic pattern on it, the cube had to be drawn in 3D with the corresponding graphic on each face of the cube and the graphic had to be in the correct orientation as given in the figure. (5 Marks)
2. A scene of a kitchen was given and the vanishing point was defined and was mentioned as that of a small child, the view of the kitchen had to be redrawn with respect to the vanishing point defined. (12 Marks)
3. A scene was described as follows - A person was looking at a jamun tree and it made him wonder, why don’t pumpkins grow on trees and jamuns on the ground ? at that moment some jamun fruit fell on his head and then he thought that if it was pumpkin, he could have been seriously injured - this had to be illustrated in 3 scenes. (12 Marks)
4. Draw 5 different humours uses for a light bulb. (15 Marks)
5. If trees evolved a self defence mechanism to prevent themselves from being cut, Imagine and Illustrate 3 such defense mechanisms by these trees. (15 Marks)
6. A part of a quote by Rabindranath Tagore was given “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free” - A poster had to be created with the above quote in mind. (10 Marks)

The Creative aptitude section tested the students for aptitude, perspective, creative thinking, storyboarding, and 2D graphic besides their basic drawing skills and sense of detailing,

However overall this is a very good ratio of theory to drawing questions asked in the NID DAT which was the same as last year’s paper, so there was no changes with respect that. Some students finished their aptitude part within the first 30 minutes so they had 2.5 hours to finish the drawing paper. So in general students who practiced drawing fast, were able to

finish their paper just about in time and overall there were no surprises.

Analysis by

Shaun D’Sa

M.Des (IIT Delhi)

DQ Labs

www.dqlabs.in