What is the best way to prepare for NIFT entrance exam?

Looking to get into NIFT, and you need a fool proof plan for your preparation that won't fail at any cost whatsoever? Well, we've got you. That's exactly what we'll be talking about today. Come one, let's go get this!

NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) is one of India's top design colleges and is pretty renowned worldwide also for having produced many top fashion designers. If you're asking for a plan, then I am pretty sure you have done your research and have decided that NIFT is the best place for you. Well then, be it so.

NIFT offers both bachelors and masters programs and opens all admissions once a year. The entrance examination process consists of 2 rounds. The written exam round and the studio/interview round. For the written exam part, there are the CAT and GAT exams. The Creative Ability Test and the General Ability Test. The second round is a studio test where you need to go to one of the campuses and work on some material based questions. For some of the programs though, the second round comprises of an interview and portfolio round. For more details on which tests are for which programs, refer to our other blogs. We've got a variety of blogs, which'll be able to cover pretty much all of your doubts related to design admissions etc.

The CAT, as it name says checks your creative powers, your ability to think unique and out of this world! It needs supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ideas, and I am sure you've got the super powers to give them what they want. The GAT also is what it name says, it well makes sure you have a good idea of the things going on around and also about basic essential subjects like mathematics and english.

Now that we have got the material of study covered, let's go on to plan how you can achieve all this in the time you've got in the best way possible. No plan is the best plan until you give your all for it, of course. So, here what we can do for you, at the most, is formulate the most logical plan as per the given circumstances. After that, it is purely up to you to be able to modify it according to your personal needs and make the most of it!

First of all, design exams in general require you to be good at communicating your ideas. The best way to do that in the design world is by drawing. So you need to be practicing that quite a bit. Second of all, your math ability. NIFT GAT asks a lot of math word problems and they are pretty tricky to be honest. But if you take upon them earlier on, you'll get the hang of it. 

Then the English. I don't think this would be much different from the type of English you've been doing for school exams so far. There isn't much to worry about, so just remember to brush up your grammar, vocabulary and comprehension skills for the exam. Other than all this is the general knowledge section. These are basic things happening around us and majorly in the design world, so make sure to stay up to date with all the latest important news.

Now, here are a few things you can try out to improve on all of those individually. Starting off with drawing:

1. Gesture drawing: Draw fast minimal and timed sketches of anatomy to get a better understanding of the practice and bring out the intuitiveness of your skill.

2. Product sketching: Pick up the objects around you and sketch them. This will help give you a better understanding of forms and perspective.

3. Scenes and Perspectives: Take a sketchbook and pencil with you where ever you go. This is a motto for most of the design colleges, the earlier you get accustomed to it, the better. So, point being take it everywhere and practice sketching different scenarios in the perspective you see them in. Later, you can experiment with the perspective as well.

4. Illustration: Remember that when it comes to design entrances, it is your ideas and personal style that matters the most. Keep things original even when practicing and make sure to practice illustrating fun things. Like your absurd ideas, silly stories and what not else.

Next, let's talk about the Math part

1. Practice books: There are many books available specifically for design exam preparation and even ones curated just for NIFT exams. So, get a hold of those a and practice a little bit everyday.

2. Word Problems: NIFT GAT likes to put in a lot of word problems. Make sure to single those out and get a good grasp of them beforehand.

3. Basic Math: The math asked only requires you to have studied math up till 10th grade, which is also one of the eligibility criterions, so having confirmed that you would have done that much math, it makes it easier for you. All you need to now is wipe of the dust from your old math textbooks and revise them a bit.

Moving on, we've got English

1. Read: Reading is the fool proof method to get better at English. Be it grammar, writing or reading fast. This will help with comprehension based questions, you'll be able to do them faster and hence spend time on other things.

2. Write: Another very obvious way of getting better at your English skills. Write a little bit every now then. A little story, a poem anything which gets you excited. This will help stimulate your creative brain and bring out cool new ideas which you can later even translate to the visual format.

And lastly, General Knowledge

1. Observe: Be very attentive to your surroundings. This isn't mentioned as a part of general knowledge usually, but I feel it's supposed to go here as whatever is present around you is available to general public and hence general knowledge. The entire world is at the disposal of your senses. Make use of them and let the finest details come to your notice.

2. Be perceptive: Observing is the first level, after that make a perception about things. How do you feel about the things you observed? Ask yourself questions and others too.

3. News: Being updated with the things around you also involves the news. Be sure to catch up on the major headlines. I am pretty sure you are aware of the topic which are more useful to you in terms of clearing the NIFT examination, so prioritize those.

Yes people, that's about it. And with that you have made it to the end of this blog. Where I shall with a very heavy heart, break it to you, that this isn't the best plan. Yes I did say above that we are providing the best plan, but I am pretty sure I did mention somewhere that this plan depends majorly on you, and I am bringing this up once again. 

In the end it all comes down to what you make of it. Analyze yourself first; your strengths and weaknesses. Then get started with any plan of action.

To delve deeper into such topics, go check out our other blogs!

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Parinita Manchanda

Communication Design/NID Vijayawada

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