The National Institute of Design has notified the NID 2026 prelims exam date on its official website- admissions.nid.edu. The NID DAT 2026 prelims has been conducted on December 21, 2025, in offline mode. Candidates can now look forward to when NID Prelims results 2026 will be declared. The NID prelims 2026 is the first step in the NID admission process. All candidates who have completed NID 2026 registration within the specified deadline are eligible to appear for NID prelims 2026. The NID 2026 admit card for the prelims exam was issued on December 11, 2025. The admit card is an important document to appear for NID 2026 prelims.
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Through the NID DAT 2026 entrance exam, candidates will be admitted into the B.Des and M.Des programmes of participating NID campuses in India.
The NID DAT 2026 prelims was conducted on December 21, 2025, as a pen-and-paper-based test. The test has been conducted simultaneously across all NID exam centres across India. The duration of the NID DAT 2026 will be notified on the admit card. Candidates are required to carry a printout of the NID 2026 admit card on the exam day.
| Particulars | Date |
|---|---|
NID 2026 admit card release date | December 11, 2025 |
NID 2026 prelims exam date | December 21, 2025 |
NID 2026 prelims result date | April 7, 2026 |
The NID 2026 prelims will be held in offline mode at the following cities across the country. There are 17 NID test centres in India where NID prelims 2026 will be held.
| NID 2026 Exam Centres | |
|---|---|
Ahmedabad | Bengaluru |
Bhopal | Bhubaneswar |
Chandigarh | Chennai |
Dehradun | Jaipur |
Jorhat | Kochi |
Kolkata | Lucknow |
Nagpur | New Delhi |
Patna |
After the NID prelims exam is conducted, the authorities will declare the NID DAT result for the exam on April 7, 2026. After the exam candidates can estimate their score with the answer key.
Candidates who wish to check out when will NID results be declared can look it up here. Shortlisted candidates will be able to appear for the NID Mains 2026 exam. According to the revised NID 2026 selection process, the NID prelims is only a qualifying exam with no weightage in the final selection of candidates. Candidates can verify how many candidates are selected for Mains as well.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
NID DAT 2026 prelims will be held on December 21, 2025.
NID prelims is conducted in offline mode.
NID prelims result will be declared on April 7, 2026.
The duration of NID prelims will be of 3 hours.
On Question asked by student community
Hello,
Yes, if you are in Class 12, you are eligible to sit for the NID DAT 2026 (BDes) exam. The National Institute of Design allows students who are in their final year of Class 12 or have already passed to apply.
To know more access below mentioned link:
You can get the NIT DAT SYLLABUS, updated version from careers 360 in detail from careers 360 article. Follow the link given from The link of the syllabus article is given below from careers 360
https://design.careers360.com/articles/nid-dat-syllabus-2026
Yes you are eligible to appear for NID DAT for the M.Des programme. Since you are in final make sure you will have completed your BA by the required deadline. Also go through the specific specializations you want to apply for, some may require certain specific backgrounds to be eligible
Hello,
To prepare for M.des exams like CEED or NID DAT, here are some points which you can follow:
Understand the pattern – focus on creativity, design aptitude, and problem-solving.
Practice sketching daily and improve visualization.
Study basics of color, form, and design concepts.
Solve previous papers and build a
Hi daksh
As 563 rank in nid dat exam cannot guarantee admission in designing college but it could be a good chance to explore some campus as if you are not from general category as category role plays an important role . But now you can do one thing focus
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