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How to prepare

UCEED

Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design. Run by IIT Bombay.

The exam
One 3-hour paper, 300 marks, in English only, at a test centre.
Opens
UCEED is the entry to the four-year B.Des at IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Indore, IIT Roorkee and IIITDM Jabalpur, and many other design schools also use its score.
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Your plan, step by step

  1. Class 11, now to March 2027

    Start a daily sketchbook

    Buy a cheap A4 sketchbook and a few pencils (HB, 2B, 4B) and a black pen. Draw for 30 to 45 minutes every day from real life, not from phone photos: your school bag, a pressure cooker, a scooter, your family at dinner, a street corner. Date every page. Twice a week, draw the same object from three angles. This is the single habit that decides Part B.

  2. Class 11, April to September 2027

    Learn the basics of drawing

    Work through one-point and two-point perspective, drawing boxes and cylinders in space, light and shadow, and human proportion (the body is about seven to eight heads tall). Draw people at a bus stop or a market in 2-minute quick sketches. Once a month, compare your first pages with your latest ones so you can see progress.

  3. Class 11 to 12, alongside the sketchbook

    Train observation and design thinking

    Keep a notebook of everyday problems: a bucket handle that cuts your hand, a bus ticket that is hard to read. For each, write who suffers, why, and three ways to fix it, with small drawings. Read the newspaper for 15 minutes a day for the environment and society questions. Practise mental rotation, paper folding and pattern puzzles for Part A.

  4. Class 12, July to October 2027

    Past papers and registration

    Download the UCEED question papers and answer keys from 2015 onwards from the official site. Solve Part A papers under a 2-hour timer and check them against the official key. For Part B, give yourself exactly one hour and redo the two drawing questions from each paper. Register in October 2027 when the window opens, and keep your Class 12 board studies on track.

  5. Class 12, November 2027 to January 2028

    Full mocks every week

    Take one full 3-hour paper each week, Part A on screen if you can, Part B on paper. Learn the marking rules: skip a multiple-select question rather than guess, because one wrong option costs a mark. Show your Part B drawings to an art teacher or a design student for honest feedback.

  6. Exam week and after

    Exam day, then seat allotment

    Sleep well, carry your own drawing pencils and erasers as allowed by the admit card, and keep one hour clear for Part B. After results in March, apply for B.Des seats on the UCEED portal within the dates, and remember that your Class 12 subjects decide which IITs you can choose.

This plan is advice from the author, not an official schedule. Adjust it to your school and your pace.

What the exam testsPapers, marks, marking and the syllabus

One 3-hour paper, 300 marks, in English only, at a test centre. Part A (200 marks, 2 hours) is on computer. Part B (100 marks, 1 hour) is drawing and design on paper. Part B is marked only if you clear the Part A cut-off. Figures are from the 2026 brochure.

  • Part A, Section 1: 14 numerical answer questions (you type a number, no options). 4 marks each, no negative marking. 56 marks.
  • Part A, Section 2: 15 multiple-select questions, where one or more of four options can be correct. Up to 4 marks each, with partial marks for picking only some correct options. Minus 1 if you pick any wrong option. 60 marks.
  • Part A, Section 3: 28 multiple-choice questions with one correct answer. 3 marks for right, minus 0.71 for wrong. 84 marks.
  • Part B: two questions answered in a paper answer book. Sketching, 50 marks, and design aptitude, 50 marks. Each answer is marked by at least two examiners.
  • Only candidates who clear the Part A cut-off get a rank and have Part B marked. The cut-off is worked out from the average and spread of all candidates' Part A marks. Reserved categories get a lower cut-off: 0.9 times the open cut-off for OBC-NCL and EWS, 0.5 times for SC, ST and PwD.
  • Your final rank is Part A plus Part B. Ties are broken first by Part B marks, which shows how much the drawing part matters.
  • No re-evaluation or re-totalling. Draft answer keys for Part A are published two days after the exam, with a short window to object.
  • Exam cities in 2026: 27 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar. You choose three cities in order of preference.

When. One exam day in mid-January. UCEED 2026 was on Sunday 18 January 2026, 9 am to 12 noon (2026 brochure). IIT Bombay has announced UCEED 2027 for Sunday 17 January 2027. Registration for the 2026 exam ran from 1 October to 31 October 2025, with a late fee window to 7 November 2025. A Class 11 student today will most likely write UCEED 2028 in January 2028, and can use a second attempt in January 2029.

Syllabus. No school subject is tested. Part A covers visualisation and spatial reasoning (turning 2D shapes and 3D objects in your head), practical and scientific knowledge of everyday objects, observation and design sensitivity, environment and society, analytical and logical reasoning, English reading, and creativity (analogies, metaphors, signs and symbols). Part B tests drawing (products, people or scenes with good line, proportion, perspective, composition and shading) and design aptitude (answering a real problem with ingenuity and empathy). IIT Bombay says it recommends no textbooks and points students to the syllabus and past papers. UCEED 2026 brochure, section 16, and the official FAQ.

Source: UCEED 2026 Information Brochure, sections 3, 4, 15 and 17Source: UCEED 2026 Information Brochure, section 16 (Syllabus)
Study materialFree official material first, then books

Free and official

Books students commonly use

Commonly used, not endorsed. Finish the free official material first.

  • Design Drawing by Francis D.K. Ching

    Drawing objects in perspective, line quality and shading for Part B.

  • Perspective Drawing Handbook by Joseph D'Amelio

    Short, clear lessons on perspective.

  • The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

    Learning to notice why everyday objects work or fail. Helps observation and design aptitude questions.

  • Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal

    Practice for the reasoning and spatial questions in Part A.

  • Quantitative Aptitude by R.S. Aggarwal

    Basic numerical practice for Part A.

  • UCEED Previous Year's Papers by Ashok Goel and Arjun Kamal

    Printed solved past papers, if you prefer paper to PDFs. The official papers are free online.

Source: Careers360, Best books for UCEED (not official)
Coaching: do you need it?Your options, how to choose, red flags

Self-study with free material

Only the exam fee, a sketchbook and pencils

Students who can draw daily without being pushed and will use the official past papers. Many students succeed this way, especially in Part A, which is puzzle and reasoning work.

Online live classes

varies

Students in small towns who need someone to set drawing tasks and give feedback on their sketches. Check that a teacher actually reviews your drawings, not just plays videos.

Classroom design coaching

varies

Students in cities with a centre nearby who want studio practice and regular critique of their drawings. It helps most for Part B, where feedback on your own work matters. It helps least for Part A, which past papers cover well.

How to choose a coaching centre

  • Ask to see how drawings are reviewed: who corrects them, how often, and whether you get written or spoken feedback on your own sheets.
  • Ask for a trial class and a sample of the tasks they set. Good coaching sets real observation drawing, not only copying from reference sheets.
  • Ask for the full fee, the instalment plan and the refund policy in writing before paying anything. The Ministry of Education's 2024 guidelines say centres should give a written refund policy and refund pro rata if a student leaves midway.
  • Ask how many students are in a batch and how long each student gets with a teacher.
  • Ask who the counsellor is and where the helpline is displayed. The Supreme Court's July 2025 directions require this in institutions with 100 or more students.
  • Check result claims yourself. Ask which course a topper actually took, because short test series students are often shown as toppers.

Red flags

  • Promises of a guaranteed IIT seat or rank. The 2024 Ministry of Education guidelines bar this.
  • Pressure to pay a full year or two years upfront, or no refund policy in writing.
  • Very large batches where nobody looks at your sketchbook.
  • Tutors who give you ready-made drawings or 'templates' to memorise. Part B rewards your own observation, and examiners see memorised answers every year.
  • Selling costly books or kits as compulsory when the official past papers are free.
Names families usually consider
  • BRDS (Bhanwar Rathore Design Studio). Classroom coaching for NID, NIFT, UCEED, CEED and NATA. A new batch starts every Monday, with up to 20 seats per batch. Its page asks for a Rs 10,000 advance booking fee and says the fee is not refundable on cancellation. The full fee is not published. Source: BRDS regular programme page (not official)
  • SILICA. Design entrance coaching for NID, NIFT, UCEED, CEED and NATA, with centres in Mumbai, Pune and other cities, and online classes. No fee is published. Result figures on its site are self-reported. Source: SILICA home page (not official)
  • Pahal Design. Offers online live classes for NID, NIFT, UCEED, CEED and NATA. No fee is published on its online coaching page. Source: Pahal Design online coaching page (not official)
  • THiNC Institute. Design and architecture entrance coaching covering NID, UCEED, NIFT and NATA. Its site was not checked for fees. Source: THiNC Institute home page (not official)
  • Listed so you know the names, not ranked or endorsed. Visit, ask the questions above, and compare in writing.
Mocks and the last monthsPractice tests, final months, common mistakes

IIT Bombay publishes every UCEED question paper from 2015 to 2026, with Part A answer keys, free on the downloads page of the UCEED website. It does not publish model answers for Part B, because Part B has no single right answer. No official online mock test page was confirmed for UCEED 2026; check the UCEED 2028 site in October 2027.

  • Do a full 3-hour paper each week under a timer, then spend the next day on only the mistakes.
  • Keep sketching daily even in the last month. Short 10-minute drawings of people and objects keep your hand fast.
  • Practise Part B inside exactly one hour. Many students run out of time on the second question.
  • Learn when to leave a multiple-select question blank: a wrong option costs a mark, while a blank costs nothing.
  • Do not neglect Class 12 boards. You must pass all five subjects, and some IITs need specific subjects.

Common mistakes

  • Treating UCEED like a reasoning test and starting drawing only in the last few months. Part B is 100 of 300 marks and breaks ties.
  • Drawing only from photos or copying other drawings. The exam asks you to draw scenes and people from imagination, which needs real observation.
  • Guessing on multiple-select questions. Wrong options cost a mark each time.
  • Not checking the Class 12 subject rules. A Commerce or Humanities student cannot take a seat at IIT Guwahati or IIT Roorkee.
  • Missing the October registration window. Registration usually opens on 1 October and the regular fee window closes at the end of the month.
Who can sitAttempts, age, marks and subjects
  • Any stream can sit the exam: Science, Commerce, or Arts and Humanities (2026 brochure).
  • Maximum two attempts, and they must be in consecutive years. A score is valid only for that year's admissions.
  • For UCEED 2026 you had to write Class 12 for the first time in 2025 or 2026. By the same rule, a student writing Class 12 in 2028 could sit UCEED 2028 and UCEED 2029.
  • Age for UCEED 2026: born on or after 1 October 2001 (Open, EWS, OBC-NCL) or on or after 1 October 1996 (SC, ST, PwD).
  • Which IIT you can join depends on your Class 12 subjects. Any stream: IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Indore. Physics, Chemistry and Maths needed: IIT Guwahati and IIT Roorkee. Physics, Chemistry and Maths or Biology: IIITDM Jabalpur.
  • You must pass all five subjects in Class 12. No minimum percentage is stated in the brochure.
  • Registration fee for UCEED 2026: Rs 2,000 for all female candidates and for SC, ST and PwD candidates; Rs 4,000 for all others. Not refundable.
  • There were 245 B.Des seats across the seven institutes in 2025-26, so competition is tight.
Source: UCEED 2026 Information Brochure, sections 7, 10, 21 and 22

This exam leads to

DesignCreative technology

Want a plan for your own situation?

Tell Raahi your class, your marks and how many hours you have.

Plan my UCEED preparation
Sources, checked 27 September 2026

Rules change every year. Confirm each detail on the official site before you register or pay.