National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is a statutory institute by an Act of the Indian Parliament and offering courses related to Fashion Technology, Fashion Management, and Design. The institute which was set up in 1986 today had campuses across the country. Over the last 35 years, NIFT has been working as a knowledge provider to State and Union Territories in reviving, developing and positioning of traditional handicrafts and handlooms.
The NIFT main campus is in Delhi and other campuses are situated at Chennai, Raebareli, Gandhinagar, Patna, Kolkata, Shillong, Hyderabad, Kannur, Mumbai, Kangra, Bengaluru, Srinagar, Bhopal, Jodhpur, and Bhubaneshwar
National Institute of Fashion Technology conducts an entrance examination every year for admission to its UG and PG courses in various campuses. The students who feature in the merit list are allotted the campuses on the basis of their ranks. The Delhi and Mumbai campuses have the highest cut off marks.
Writing the NIFT Entrance Examination and qualifying the same by clearing the cut-off is mandatory to get admission to courses like Bachelor of Fashion Technology, Bachelor in Design, Masters in Design, Masters in Fashion Technology, and Masters in Fashion Management.
The NIFT Examination is held in three stages and depending on the courses applied for, the candidate has to either appear for multiple stages of the selection process. The selection process includes a General Ability Test, Creative Ability Test, Situation Test, and Group Discussion and Personal Interview (GDPI).
NIFT Examination | Sections
It is important to understand the sections and the pattern of the NIFT Examination in order to understand the testing process and also know how to prepare for the examination. The NIFT Entrance Examination has multiple components and different weightage for these components for different courses. Given below is the weightage of the sections for various courses for the NIFT 2020.
| Course | Exam | Weightage |
|---|---|---|
| B.Des | CAT | 50 % |
| GAT | 30 % | |
| Situation Test | 20 % | |
| B.F.Tech | GAT | 100 % |
| M.Des | CAT | 40 % |
| GAT | 30 % | |
| GD/PI | 30 % | |
| M.F.Tech | GAT | 70 % |
| GD/PI | 30 % | |
| MFM | GAT | 70 % |
| GD/PI | 30 % |
The General Ability Test is the common section in all the courses and the GAT consists of Quantitative Ability, English Comprehension, Logical and Analytical Ability, Current Affairs, General knowledge, and Communication Ability. The Creative Ability Test (CAT) on the other hand tests Creativity, Drawing Skills, Sketching Skills, Spatial Understanding, and Design Aptitude. These two sections are pen and paper rounds with GAT having only Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) whereas the CAT is a drawing test.
The situation test is administered only for the B.Des course, and it is only conducted for the candidates who clear the cut-off of the CAT and GAT. This round tests the creative aptitude, material handling, and innovative ideas of the students in a given situation with a given set of materials. The Group Discussion and Personal Interview tests the communication skill, self-awareness, and the interest of the students in the preferred courses.
NIFT Examination | Pattern
The NIFT General Ability Test (GAT) is a pen and paper-based which means an OMR sheet will be provided to mark the correct option with a blue or black point pen. All the questions are MCQ type.
| GAT Exam | MFM, .B.F.Tech, M.F.Tech | B.Des / M.Des |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Sections | 5 (Quantitative Ability, English Comprehension, Analytical Ability, General Knowledge and Current Affairs, Case Study) | 5 (Quantitative Ability, Communication Ability, English Comprehension, Analytical Ability, General Knowledge and Current Affairs) |
| Duration | 180 mins | 120 mins |
| Questions | 150 | B.Des - 100 M.Des - 120 |
| Language | English / Hindi | English / Hindi |
| Type | MCQ | MCQ |
| Mode | Offline | Offline |
The break up of the GAT section is as follows
| Sections | B.Des | M.Des | B.F.Tech / M.f.Tech / MFM |
|---|---|---|---|
| GK and Current Affairs | 15 | 15 | 25 |
| Analytical Ability | 15 | 25 | 25 |
| English Comprehension | 25 | 30 | 45 |
| Communication Ability | 25 | 30 | 0 |
| Quantitative Ability | 20 | 20 | 30 |
| Case Study | 25 | ||
| Total | 100 | 120 | 150 |
The Creative Ability Test (CAT) is not compulsory for all the courses. The Creative Ability Test judges the candidates based on creativity, color understanding, illustrations, design ability, and observational power.
| CAT | Details |
|---|---|
| Questions | 3 |
| Type of Question | Drawing |
| Duration | 180 mins |
| Marks | 100 |
| Mode of Exam | Offline |
NIFT Exam | Selection Process
After the results of the CAT and GAT written exams are declared and cut off are released students are called for Situation test, Group discussion, and Personal Interview round. The merit list with the shortlisted candidates’ names with their roll number is released on the official website of NIFT after the declaration of the cut off marks. The final merit list is based on the marks of both the written exam and interview round. Every student does not have to appear in all the second round stages. It depends on the course selected by the students.
- For admission to Bachelor of Design, course candidates have to appear in GAT, CAT, and Situation test.
- For the Masters of Design, one has to appear in GAT, CAT, and Personal interview/ group discussion round.
- The candidates for the Bachelor of Fashion technology course have to only appear in the Gat exam.
- The candidates who have selected Masters of Fashion Technology and Masters of Fashion management have to appear in GAT and Personal interview/ group discussion round.
NIFT Examination | Result Announcement
The NIFT exam results are announced in 2 stages. The first for the written test and second a final result combining the performance in both the rounds.
- The result of the written tests that are GAT and CAT are released online on the official website of NIFT. The result is in a form of a scorecard that contains the name of the candidate, roll number, photo, the application number, date of birth, section-wise scores of the written examination, and the total scores. A list of shortlisted candidates is also released. They are the ones who qualify the minimum set cut off marks and are eligible to appear in the second round of the selection process. One must print out the scorecard as it will be required at the time of the interview and counseling session if selected.
- The final merit list is released after the completion of the second round of selection process that is the interview round. The weightage of scores of both the rounds depends on the course. The scores are released as well as All India Ranks are released by the institute for admission to 15 campuses of NIFT.
- In the case of a tie in the final merit list, the ranks are given according to the tie-breaker rules. The preference is given to the older candidate.
The total of approximately 4,297 seats is available for various courses in NIFT. The seat distribution is as follows:
- Bachelor of Design – 2844 seats
- Bachelor of Fashion Technology – 518 seats
- Master of Design – 171 seats
- Master of Fashion technology – 140 seats
- Master of Fashion management – 440 seats
NIFT Examination | Cut-Off declaration
Candidates can get to know their rank needed for getting into a specific program and campus with the help of the historical cut-off estimates. Each year approximately 25,000 aspirants appear for the entrance exam and compete for 4,297 seats awarded for Bachelor of Design (B.Des), Bachelor of Fashion Technology (B.F. Tech), and Postgraduate programs. Candidates will be called for counseling to successfully pass the cut off percentage of marks.
The NIFT cut-off 2020 is derived from the factors given below:
- Total number of candidates who appeared in the NIFT exam
- Number of seats available
- Question Paper Level of Difficulty
- Cut-off Trends of the previous years
- Candidate’s average marks in the test
- Reservation of seats
The final aggregate mark decides the final ranks of the candidates. Based on ranks, the admission is offered to a particular course and campus. The students who meet the rank cut off are called for the counseling session to offer admission to NIFT.
NIFT Examination | Registration
To complete the application process, applicants are required to visit the official website, and follow the steps mentioned below:
Part I: One has to first Register to fill out the NIFT online Application Form on the official website. Upon successful registration, the login credentials of the applicant will be sent to the registered email address via email. This email will be stored for future use by the applicants.
Part II: Sign in to access the credentials and fill out the Application Form. Fill in the correct descriptions of all the necessary areas.
Part III: In the Online Application Process, applicants must submit scanned copies of the following documents:
- New passport-size colored image of the applicant in JPG / JPEG format and size not exceeding 100 kB.
- Specimen signature of the applicant in black on white background, in JPG / JPEG format and not to exceed 50 KB in size.
Part IV: The application fee can be paid online via Credit / Debit Card or offline via request draft after uploading the necessary documents. In the case of online fee payment, applicants are not allowed to submit the application form print-out to NIFT.
Who can apply to the NIFT exam?
There are a set of eligibility criteria that one must fulfill to get admission in NIFT. The common eligibility criteria for NIFT are:
- Candidates who are in the final year of College or appearing in class 12th examination will have to submit the passing certificate to the college before the date given. In case of failure to submit the certificate then one can submit a provisional certificate or class 12th admit card at the moment. But he must submit the mark sheet and certificate once the results are announced or his/her admission will be canceled.
- The maximum limit of age is 25 years. But there is no age limit for admission to Masters courses.
- For UG courses applicants must have passed class 12th examination from a recognized board or university. Class 12th current year appearing students can also apply for the NIFT exam.
- For admission to Postgraduate courses in fashion and design, one must have a Diploma or a Bachelors’s degree.
- English must be one of the main subjects of study in class 10th and class 12th.
The situation test is to determine the candidate’s material handling abilities and the ability to develop on a given range of materials. This test is useful for determining the creative dimension of the minds of the applicant and they will be asked to create a model out of the materials provided. The model thus created by the candidate will be evaluated based on the representation of space, the imaginative and inventive use of the materials provided, the composition of the elements, the use of colors, the skills applied by the candidate in constructing the model, the finesse of the model and the overall presentation and neatness of work. In addition to constructing the model, the applicant will describe the model’s idea and definition in a writ-up that will be the model’s guide. On the specified parameters the write-up will be verified.
The candidates are expected to be as innovative as possible according to the NIFT. The applicants are not permitted to take support from any other source because this is a situation check.
NIFT Examination | Syllabus
The syllabus of GAT, CAT, and situation test for NIFT exam are as follows:
Quantitative aptitude: Addition, Fractions, Percentage, Rate of Interest, Multiplication, Division, Work and Task, Ratio and Proportion, and Distance.
Communicative Ability: Words with corresponding meanings, Singular, Plural, Synonyms, Antonyms, One-word Substitutes, Idioms and Phrases, and Spelling correction.
English Comprehension: In this section, an applicant is tested on their reading skills and understanding abilities in a given situation. This segment measures the basic English language competencies through the passage-based questions.
The sub-section Analytical Ability is designed to assess the capacity of the applicant to determine the logical reason from the information provided. Each segment examines questions from the areas of rational reasoning in which candidates are expected to draw logical conclusions from the questions of theoretical reasoning.
Sub-section General Knowledge and Current Affairs, as per the NIFT syllabus, is structured to test the general knowledge of the applicant and current issues. The questions in this segment are taken from current affairs and general information pages.
The Case Study is a test that is focused on a business environment situation that the applicant has to evaluate and provide answers to the questions. This exam is designed specifically to assess the candidate’s management skills.
CAT is a test explicitly designed to assess and evaluate the candidate’s analytical performance, observational capacity in terms of idea creation and design skills. This assesses the candidates’ imaginative and inventive use of color and illustration abilities. Candidates are expected to focus on their drawing skills and use their creativity by using colors, to develop new ideas.
