The Council of Architecture has announced several significant changes in the Exam Pattern and Syllabus of NATA 2020 Drawing Test (Part A). Changes are made due to the prevailing condition of COVID-19. As per the latets Update, the authorities have postponed First and Second Phase exams. Now the First Phase exam has been scheduled to be held on August 29, 2020. The Dates for Phase 2 will be announced later. Exam Pattern is revised as compared to last year along with number of questions, marking scheme, duration of exam, the introduction of new components, and updated syllabus.

The Revised Information Brochure with new exam dates and other important instructions, schedule, and details regarding new registrations for NATA 2020 will be uploaded soon at nata.in. The exam is conducted for granting admission to B.Arch courses offered by various recognized institutes of the country. School of Planning and Architecture (SPA’s) at New Delhi, Bhopal, Vijayawada will also accept NATA 2020 Results for admission to B.Plan courses. 

NATA 2020 Highlights

• The duration of the Drawing test will be 135 minutes, the time duration for the aptitude test this year has been reduced to 45 minutes.
• The time duration of the NATA exam has been increased by 15 minutes to 3 hours 15 minutes, earlier the duration of the exam was 3 hours.
• The panel has introduced an intersession time of 15 minutes between both the parts; part A exam will be conducted in offline mode while Part B will be conducted online and will include multiple-choice questions.
• There are no age limit criteria to apply for the exam. Check Eligibility Criteria
• From this session, 45 minutes will be provided for the aptitude section and 135 minutes will be given for the drawing section.
• A national-level of centralized counselling will be conducted for giving admission in architecture courses.

Part A and Part B of NATA 2020 to be held in Online Mode

The Council of Architecture has decided to conduct both Part A (Drawing Test) and Part B (General Aptitude) of NATA 2020 in an online aptitude Test. Therefore, Part A (Drawing Test) will not be a paper based test drawing test. It will be a preferential choice to be answered on a Laptop or Computer. All candidates will have to answer the drawing questions in their system only.

Choice of Appearing Home/Exam Center

The Authorities have further declared that all candidates will soon be provided an option in their login accounts to choose whether they wish to appear from their homes orfrom the test center. Candidatres may opt to appear for NATA 2020 from their respective places/home if they have the equipment such as Laptop/Computer, webcam and internet. Candidates who do not ave such technical/hardware resources can opt to appear for the nearest NATA exam center.

Changes in NATA 2020 Exam Pattern

Changes in NATA 2020 Exam Pattern

CoA has introduced changes in the Exam Pattern primarily. In addition to existing questions on Mathematics, the aptitude section will now have Physics and Chemistry questions too. The sequence of sections is also reversed. Part A will now be Drawing and Part B will be Scientific Ability and General Aptitude. An increase in the number of drawing sections with more marks weightage and decrease in aptitude questions is seen.

Changes in NATA Marking Scheme

1.5 marks will be awarded for each correct answer in PCM and General Aptitude section, earlier it was 2 marks for the same. In part A total 2 questions are holding 35 marks each and 1 question of 55 marks. As the number of drawing questions previous year were 2 thus 40 marks were allocated to each of them.

Changes in Exam Schedule

Changes in Exam Schedule

• The entire time duration of the entrance test will be 3 hours and 15 minutes.
• The candidates from this year onwards are given an additional 15 minutes for completing the exam.
• So now onwards, the duration of the exam is 3 hours 15 minutes as compared to the previous 3 hours only.

• From this year onwards, there will be no negative markings in the NATA 2020 entrance tests.

Changes in NATA Application Fee

The application fee of NATA 2020 is the same for all the genders and is mentioned beneath. The candidates can pay the fee amount through any of the ways including Debit card, Credit card or Net banking.

Earlier candidates were expected to pay a fee of INR 1800 (General Category) and INR 1500 (SC/ST) for one attempt. No changes in application fee are made for candidates applying for test centers outside the territory of India.

Changes in NATA 2020 Syllabus

• Post the introduction of PCM, Syllabus of NATA 2020 has seen the addition of a few new topics.
• In National Aptitude Test in Architecture, Physics and Chemistry subjects are added from 2020, so the candidates need to cover Physics, Chemistry, Maths, and General Aptitude along with the Drawing Section for scoring high in the exam.

Revised NATA 2020 Syllabus for Drawing Test

• Understanding the important visual principles in a composition (2D or 3D) such as balance, rhythm, direction hierarchy, etc.
• Understanding geometry and the ability to visualize the shape and solve geometrical puzzles to test special intelligence.
• Understanding color theory and the various terminologies to test color scheme awareness and knowledge.
• Visual system interpretation and perception to test graphical similarities and other properties; Ability to understand the spatial relationship between objects and to visualize images and scenarios’ Tests for cognitive ability perception, attention, recognition, memory, etc.

Revised NATA 2020 Exam Pattern for Drawing Test

Mentioned below is the revised exam pattern for the drawing test. Given below are the aspects on which a candidate will be evaluated:

• Students will be evaluated based on their ability to sketch a given object proportionately and showcasing their skills in a visually appealing way
• Students will be evaluated based on visualizing and drawing the effects of light on the object and shadows cast on surroundings
• Their sense of perspective drawing will be judged
• How a candidate can create interesting two-dimensional compositions using the given shapes and forms will be examined
• Candidates need to create visual harmony by using a combination of colours in the mentioned composition
• Knowledge of the scale and proportions, and Drawing using pencil sketch on themes from day to day experiences will help in scoring high.

Changes in Qualifying Marks for NATA 

NATA 2020 Score Card will contain marks obtained in each part and aggregate marks obtained out of 200. Along with obtained marks, qualifying status as Pass/ Fail will also be mentioned. Based on the following rules qualifying marks will be calculated:

• Minimum 32 marks out of 125 marks must be secured in Part A (25% approximately)
• Minimum 18 marks out of 75 in Part B must be obtained (25% approximately)
• Overall qualifying marks based on post exam cut off and statistics