NATA 2019 – Exam to be Held Twice, Changes in Pattern and Eligibility

The President of Council of Architecture (CoA), Vijay Garg, said that the National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) would be conducted twice in a year from the academic year 2019-2020. He gave the statement at a press conference held on Monday. He further added that the council has also suggested organising a national-level counselling for B.Arch. admissions.

The exam was being conducted once in a year every year (in April); however, stakeholders were of the concerns that the exam dates might clash with the board exam dates. Mr Garg said, “Some states asked us to postpone the exam or to have two exams. So we have decided to have two exams, one mid-April and another in the first week of July.”

Criteria for NATA Merit List

Students could appear for both the exams (or for one) and the best of both the scores would be considered for final merit list preparation.

Changes in the NATA Exam Pattern

Some minor changes have been done in the NATA exam pattern which will come into effect from the 2019 exam. The changes are done in the time duration. Here are the details:

As per the Council’s President, “We found that the failure rate was high in the drawing paper. So, in order to improve the performance, we have decided to increase the time for it from this year.”

Changes in Counselling

As per new changes, CoA has proposed a nation-level counselling for admission into architectural courses. Till now, aspirants have to apply separately for colleges in different states. However, the council has come up with an idea of centralised counselling for the convenience of the students. In this regard, Mr Garg said, “The reservation policies of states would be taken into account while formulating counselling policies.”

He further added, “Currently several seats in architecture colleges fall vacant, and if a centralized counselling is brought in, after filling the seats with local students, the remaining can be thrown open for candidates from other states.”

Changes in the Eligibility

The council has revised the eligibility criteria for the Architectural admissions which were published on 6^th June 2017 through an official gazette and will be effective from the academic session 2019-20. The revised eligibility as stated by the council is:

“No candidate shall be admitted to architecture course unless she/he has passed an examination at the end of the 10+2 scheme of examination with 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and also 50% marks in aggregate of the 10+2 examination.”

Mr Garg said, “as more technology-oriented construction was happening today, architects needed to know physics and chemistry to understand sensitive construction materials.”

He said, “Students from humanities also can get admitted into B Arch after taking additional exams in physics, chemistry and mathematics conducted by the CBSE.”

The council has given time till December to architectural colleges in Tamil Nadu state to come in compliance with standards in terms of infrastructures and senior teaching staff.