Exam guide · 02 · Syllabus
Six areas — and the ones that are not on it
The syllabus is the place where stale information does the most damage, because a candidate revising the wrong list feels productive the entire time. The current bulletin names six areas for Part B. It names no weighting for any of them, and several sections that everyone still teaches are simply not on it.
Every claim below carries its status. Nothing is asserted without a source, and where the brochure does not state something, or two sections read differently, that is shown rather than resolved.
What the record says
Part B examines six named areas: Visual Reasoning, Logical Derivation, General Knowledge/Architecture and Design, Language Interpretation, Design Sensitivity and Thinking, and Numerical Ability.
Visual Reasoning — understanding and reconstructing 2D and 3D composition. Logical Derivation — decoding a situation or context and drawing conclusions. General Knowledge, Architecture and Design — current issues, important buildings, historical progression, innovation in materials and construction. Language Interpretation — meaning of words and sentences, English grammar. Design Sensitivity and Thinking — observing and analysing people, space, product, environment; semantics, metaphor, problem identification. Numerical Ability — basic mathematics and its association with creative thinking; unfolding space using geometry.
Source · verified 2026-07-16
No weighting is published for any of the six areas.
You cannot know how many of the 50 questions fall to each area. Any source giving you a percentage split is inventing it.
Source · verified 2026-07-16
Cognitive skills, Diagrammatic Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Situational Judgement, Mathematics and General Aptitude are NOT sections of the current syllabus.
Those belong to the 2023-24 format and are still widely reprinted by coaching sites and aggregators. "Cognitive skills" appears in V2.0 only in §2.0's generic prose about what NATA measures, and once in §13.0 labelling Part B the "Cognitive/Online Test" — it is not a syllabus section. A candidate revising from those lists is revising the wrong exam.
Source · verified 2026-07-16
No official NATA mock test or sample paper exists. COA has published none.
Neither nata.in nor coa.gov.in hosts one, and neither brochure version mentions mocks or sample papers. Every 'NATA sample paper' in circulation is reconstructed by a coaching institute. Official papers are unlikely ever to be released: §12.0 Weeding Out Rules preserves the examination record for only 90 days after results.
Read this carefully: Claims that "COA releases the NATA mock test on nata.in" appear only on coaching sites and could not be verified on either official domain.
Source · verified 2026-07-16
Sources cited on this page
- NATA 2026 Information Brochure V2.0
Published 2026-04-10
The current version, and the highest that exists as of 2026-07-16. TRAP: nata.in serves two brochures simultaneously. V2.0 is at Final-NATA-BROCHURE-2026.pdf; the older, more widely-linked nata-brochure-final.pdf still serves the SUPERSEDED V1.0. Both are titled 'NATA BROCHURE 2026 final'. The coa.gov.in copy above is byte-identical to nata.in's current V2.0. Always check the version box at Appendix VI before trusting a downloaded copy.