NATA Exam for Architecture Courses to be Conducted Twice a Year
The NATA exam which is convened by the Council of Architecture will be conducted twice a year from 2019. As per the reports, there will also be a change in the NATA 2019 exam pattern and time duration.
The National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) which is conducted by the Council of Architecture will be held twice a year from the 2019-2020 academic year.
Vijay Garg, Vice President, Council of Architecture, confirmed the update and also said that the Council is planning to start national-level counselling for admission to B.Arch courses across the country.
Till now, the NATA exam was conducted once a year in April but there were some reports of concern from students regarding the NATA exam dates clashing with the board examinations. Therefore, the Council has decided to conduct the exam twice in a year. One exam will be conducted in mid-April and the second will be conducted in the first week of July, according to sources.
He added that students will have an option to either appear in one or both the exams and the best score out of the two exams shall be considered.
Apart from this, the NATA exam pattern has also changed. As per the old pattern, both aptitude and drawing papers each were of 90-minute duration. But as per the NATA new exam pattern, the aptitude test will be of 60 minutes and the drawing paper will be of 120 minutes. The increase in the time duration of the drawing paper is because of the increase in the failure rate of the exam.
Also Read:IIT-PALLectures for JEE & NEET-UG Exam Preparation Now Available on NTA and SWAYAM Website
The council is also planning to start national-level counselling for admission into architecture colleges. Currently, candidates have to apply for college admissions (B.Arch) separately. The centralised counselling process will make the admission process easier for students. Also, since many seats lie vacant in the architecture colleges, the counselling will help fill up the vacant seats.
For the centralised counselling process, the council will probably set 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics mandatory for admission to B.Arch courses. According to them, it is important for candidates to have in-depth knowledge of physics and chemistry as the construction sector today is more technology oriented.
Also Read: Top Architecture Colleges as per NIRF Rankings 2018
Students from humanities can also get admission into B.Arch courses by appearing in additional exams of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry conducted by CBSE.