National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA)

National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) is a national level undergraduate exam which is conducted by Council of Architecture (COA) for admission to 5-year B.Arch programme. Through NATA 2020, candidates can get admission into B.Arch programme offered by Government, Government-aided, Private Unaided, University Departments and Deemed Universities of the country. Previously NATA was conducted once every year, but from 2019, the exam is conducted twice a year - first on April and the second on July. CoA had released application form for NATA 2020 on February 1 and was available till May 4 for second attempt. For the first attempt, the registrations were open till April 15 (extended) while the authorities have announced to soon reopen the registrations for both attempts. NATA 2020 first attempt will now be conducted on August 1 and second attempt on August 29. The admit card of NATA 2020 for the two attempts is released separately. Candidates can appear in one or both the attempts of NATA 2020. If the candidate appears in both attempts, then best of the two scores will be considered. The eligibility criteria of NATA 2020 has also been changed, with diploma candidates currently no longer eligible for admission. The question paper of the exam has two parts- Part A (Drawing test) conducted in offline mode and Part B containing Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) conducted in online mode. 

Candidates appearing for the entrance exam need to meet the below mentioned eligibility criteria of NATA prescribed by the authorities. The eligibility criteria includes the parameters like  qualifying examination, minimum marks required, age limit etc:

NATA 2020 Eligibility Criteria

Qualifying Examination: Candidate must have passed 10+2 or equivalent examination.

Please note that from the academic session 2019, Diploma holders are no longer eligible for admission to architecture program.

Qualifying Marks: Candidate must have obtained a minimum of 50% marks in mathematics, physics, and chemistry taken together. Additionally, the candidate needs to score minimum 50% marks in aggregate in 10+2.

Age limit: Minimum 17 years of age as on July 31, 2020.

Mode of Application : Online

Mode of Payment : Net Banking | Credit Card | Debit Card

NATA 2020 application form was available in online mode from February 1, however, the authorities have announced to reopen the registration portal soon for both the attempts. Mentioned below are the steps to be followed to fill and submit the application form of NATA which the candidates can check for reference.

NATA 2020 Application Form- Steps to Follow

Step 1 – Register- To fill the application form of NATA 2020, registration has to be done by firstly submitting details like name, mobile number, date of birth, and valid email id. Also, choose a username and create a password for future log-ins.    

Step 2 – Login to fill the application form : Use the username and password to log-in and enter all the requisite details like personal, communication, and academic information. Also, choose three exam centres in order of preference.  

Step 3 – Upload Scanned Images of  Documents: In the prescribed format by the authorities, candidates will have to upload scanned images of their photograph, signature and community certificate (if applicable).    

Documents Specifications                                                                                                                                                                            

Step 4 – Generation of Application Number- Once uploading of documents is done, candidates will have to submit the application form. On submission of NATA 2020 application form, an 8-digit application number will be generated.

Step 5 – Pay Application  Fee: Prescribed application fee need to be paid in online mode (credit/debit card, or net banking).   

Step 6 – Take a Print out of Confirmation page: Once all the above-mentioned steps are completed, the application confirmation page will be displayed. Download this the confirmation page and take a printout of it for future reference.

Application Fees

NATA exam pattern will enable candidates to know about the marking scheme, duration of examination, type of questions asked, mode of exam and more. Candidate are advised to check the exam pattern before starting their preparation procedure.

NATA 2020 Exam Pattern

NATA question paper will be divided into two part- Part A and B

Questions Type/Mode of Examination: 

• Part A is drawing carrying subjective type questions that need to be answered in offline mode on the A4 drawing sheet.
• Part B will carry Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) which candidates need to answer in online mode. 

Number of Questions in Each Part: 

• Part A will have 3 questions of Drawing.
• Part B will carry 15 multiple-choice questions from PCM and 35 questions from General Aptitude & Logical Reasoning.

Exam Duration: 3 hours 15 minutes will be allotted to complete the examination  out of which PCM and General Aptitude& Logical Reasoning test will be for 45 minutes while the drawing test will be for 135 minutes.

Marking scheme: In part A, two questions will carry 35 marks and 1 question will be of 55 marks. In part B, each question will carry 1.5  marks and there is no negative marking.

Before the actual exam takes place, NATA 2020 mock test will be provided to the candidates by the authorities. The mock test will be a replica of actual examination. Attempting NATA mock test will help candidates to get familiar with the functionalities of the online exam, type of questions that may be asked and more. 

Candidates will be able to download their NATA 2020 admit card from the official portal by logging in using their application number and date of birth. The admit card will carry information like the name of the candidate, address of the exam centre, admit card number etc. NATA admit card 2020 is an important document. Candidates who fail to carry it to the examination centre will not be allowed to appear for the entrance exam. Also, after the completion of the entrance exam, admit card has to be kept safely till the admission process ends.

NATA 2020 result will be released in online mode. To check the result, candidates will have to log-in to their portal using their application sequence number and date password. The result can be downloaded in the form of NATA 2020 score card which carry details like paper-wise marks obtained by the candidate, total marks, and also the qualifying status. Apart from this, it will also carry details like candidate’s name, gender, DOB, category, application and roll number.

COA prescribes minimum part-wise and overall NATA 2020 minimum marks one needs to score to qualify the entrance exam. The cutoff of NATA for both Part A and Part B are declared before the exam. However, the overall cutoff is decided based on post-exam statistics. 

Its important for candidates to meet NATA 2020 cutoff for all 3 conditions individually to qualify in the exam.

NATA Qualifying Cut off 

There will be no common counselling for NATA 2020. COA will only conducted the entrance exam and no common counselling procedure will be held. The universities/colleges and states offering B.Arch programmes will hold their own separate counselling and provide admissions based on scores obtained in NATA 2020. Once the result of NATA 2020 is announced by the authorities, the institutes conduct their separate counselling. 

Candidates will still have to meet the eligibility criteria of the university/college to which they are applying. There are more than 400 institutes that accept NATA scores. Based on the NATA scores and choices opted, allotment of seats will be made.