NID DAT Marks VS Rank 2025: Qualifying Marks, Tie-breaker Policy, Final Merit List

The first phase of the NID DAT Examination 2025 is expected to be held on January 5, 2025. This designing exam is held in two phases, prelims and the mains. The NID DAT 2025 cutoff will be declared after the results for the same are declared on April 1, 2025. According to NID DAT Cutoff 2024, you can analyse the NID DAT previous year cutoff trends to make sense of how the NID DAT ranks are calculated based on the marks obtained by candidates. Scroll down below to learn about the procedure used to calculate NID DAT results, NID DAT Marks VS Rank 2025, the tie-breaking policy, shortlisting criteria and much more.

How Are NID DAT Results Calculated?

The final marks of the NID DAT exam or the NID DAT Results are calculated on the basis of the total marks of DAT Prelims and DAT Mains. The weightage given to both exams is given below in a tabulated format:

Note: Please note that only those students who have appeared for the DAT Prelims as well as the DAT Mains Examination are eligible for the NID DAT Merit List. 

Based on the scores obtained by students in the first phase of the NID DAT Examination, i.e. the DAT Prelims and as per merit, separate merit lists will be prepared by the conducting authorities for every category. (General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD and Overseas.)

NID DAT Qualifying Marks

Students must manage to attain the minimum qualifying marks as established by the National Institute of Design for the session 2025-26, to be eligible for admissions to some of the top NID campuses in India:

NID DAT Ranks and Tie-Breaking Policy

In case the total marks scored by two or more students are the same, the following tie-break policy as mandated by the National Institute of Design will be used for awarding ranks to students in the NID DAT final merit list:

• A higher rank will be assigned to the applicant who has obtained higher marks in DAT Mains.
• If this does not break the tie, a higher rank will be assigned to the applicant who has obtained higher marks in the Stage 1 Design Aptitude Test.
• If this does not break the tie, a higher rank will be assigned to the applicant who has obtained higher marks in Stage 1 Design Aptitude Test Part B.
• If even this does not break the tie, a higher rank will be assigned to the candidate who has obtained higher marks in Stage 1 Design Aptitude Test Part A.

NID DAT Shortlisting

As for the NID DAT Shortlisting criteria, the NID DAT Information Brochure for the 2025-26 session states that based on the merit list of DAT Prelims released by NID, eligible applicants shall get a chance to appear for the DAT Mains Exam. The number of applicants that will be shortlisted will not be less than three times the number of available seats in each category applied for by the applicant, in the respective category (General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD and Overseas) as per merit.

If the total scores of two or more applicants in the DAT Prelims Examination are the same even after applying the tie-break policy, then they will be assigned the same rank in such a case.

Note: Please refer to the NID Information Brochure at admissions.nid.edu for the seat intake of all 7 NID campuses in India.

NID DAT Final Merit List

After the candidates have been shortlisted and the tie-breaking policy for the NID DAT admissions has been taken care of by the conducting authorities, the final merit lists for each category (General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, and PwD) are generated based on the total of the weighted scores obtained by an applicant in both the DAT Prelims as well as DAT Mains. A separate merit list is prepared for overseas applicants wishing to enrol into the B.Des programme. To check out the NID DAT final merit list, you will have to visit the official website of NID Admissions to see whether you have qualified or not. The applicant’s scorecards as well as their ranks will also be made available at this site so that the students can log in with the credentials and access their NID DAT results.

NID DAT Seat Allotment

The seat allotment to the shortlisted candidates will be carried out by the institute at their discretion, in an online or offline mode. The process of seat allocation will be dependent upon the campus preference and merit achieved by a selected candidate.

Please take note of the fact that securing a NID DAT Rank does not guarantee admission to the National Institute of Design.

NID DAT Marks VS Rank 2025 suggests that the cutoff marks decided by the different campuses of the National Institute of Design will determine which college a candidate will be granted admission to. The marks obtained by an applicant in the NID DAT Examination will decide their rank and in turn, their college as well. We hope that this article poses a gateway for you to understand how NID determines ranks based on the total marks attained by students in DAT Prelims and DAT Mains.

To get guidance for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate designing courses through NID DAT, feel free to dial our toll-free number 1800-572-9877 or fill out CollegeDekho’s Common Application Form. An admissions counselor will be assigned to you to make your journey hassle-free. In case of any queries or concerns, you can write to us in the QnA zone and we will get back to you.