Collection of CEED exam study materials

Someone was asking me to help in finding and easy navigation to a specific topic. Since the topics are wide and many, I've tried my best to segregate them in order - for easy navigation, along with a brief note of the content of the links. Hope this helps.

Complete CEED related SYL blog links download PDF (2020 update)

Before we see the materials, below is a brief list of syllabus for CEED Part A, just for your quick reference

1. Visual Communication - Logo's, signage, advertising, packaging, fonts etc.
2. Animation Design - Movement observation, comic strips, visuals etc.
3. Product Design - Latest and newest products and trends, current products etc.
4. Automobile Design - Aesthetics, manufacturers and plants etc.
5. Digital (applied to almost all the fields) - Photography, color coding, displays, printing etc.
6. Observation (Basic designer skill) - Mirroring, textures, evolution (past to present), isometrics and geometry, tessellations, shadows and more.
7. Architecture - Sculpture, monuments, materials etc.
8. General awareness - Engineering ability, materials, culture of the country, famous personalities and their works, instruments, animals etc.

Link 1: Complete resource collection for CEED Part-A preparation 

This link contains:

1. Photography terms, methods and general guide
2. Guide to Color and video technology
3. Artistic tools, drawing terms, sculpture
4. Architecture guide (complete set of architecture/monuments/stupas etc. collections of SYL).
5. State Painting and Painters
6. Typography
7. Illustrations
8. Musical Instruments 
9. Guide to solving animation type questions, step-by-step animation movement type questions and how to solve them
10. Logo's of reputed institutes, automobiles, and signage (signs, symbols and their interpretations)
11. About India
12. Materials and manufacturing process (common materials used and the manufacturing process for them)
13. Evolution of products
14. Folding and unfolding of solids (Tessellations)
15. Solving 'number of faces' type questions
16. Questions on images and geometric objects
17. Odd man out series 
18. Direction sense test
19. Illusions
20. Numerical and aptitude questions
21. Tips for solving inductive and logical reasoning questions
22. Some Deductive, Inductive and verbal reasoning
23. Convex and concave mirroring
24. GK on famous authors, PMs, architectural styles bank logos, famous monuments, wonders and finalists etc.

Link 2: CEED Subjective help (Part B help)

This link contains:

1. Links to sketching/drawing, perspective drawing, tips to exploded views, shading/detailing works etc. 
2. Guide to User Interface design (UI/UX)
3. Guide to comic strip making
4. Storyboard and poster making
5. Picture Composition (writing a story given an image)
6. Theory on Design thinking and Creative studies

Link 3: Non Verbal (Image-based questions for CEED) 

This link contains:

1. Mathematical Geometry ( Types of views, how to visualize solids in all the sides)
2. Basics of solid shapes
3. Observation and visualization skills (tangram puzzles. mechanical and spatial ability, tessellations)
4. Abstract tests, spatial and visual ability test 
5. Rebus puzzles (pictogram puzzles) 

Link 4: GA on famous designers for all design exams

This link contains:

1. Collection of famous logo designers, Indian fashion/textile designers, 
2. Indian famous photographers
3. Some logos
4. Famous painters/paintings
5. Olympic medal winners
6. Prehistoric paintings and more

Link 5: Resource collections from UCEED page for CEED

Refer only the topics listed below for CEED:

1. Guide on font with several online links
2. Typography, visual iconography
3. Intro. to mathematical solid shapes
4. Famous paintings, painters, artistic media, art movements etc.
5. Colors 
6. General topics (paper sizes, dances, image formats, drawing terminology, perspective and non perspective works)  

Link 6: Resource collections from NID page for CEED

Refer only the topics listed below for CEED:

1. Non-verbal and Image reasoning 
2. Go through the bullet points under the heading "Some facts"
3. List of some famous epics of India
4. List of Indian animators, famous photographers, women designers, renaissance poets
5. List of Indian noble prize and oscar winners
6. Plutchik-wheel of emotions

Link 7 - Some CEED Part - A materials

This link contains:

1. Evolution of objects
2. Something about materials
3. A few GK 
4. Color selection
5. A few IQ tests 
6. Sustainable and eco products

Link 8 - Solutions to previous papers

This link contains:

1. CEED Part A previous papers (from 2012 to this years)
2. Some solutions to CEED Part B (design, sketching, problem-solving etc.)
3. UCEED previous papers solutions (from UCEED 2015 to latest) - UCEED solutions will help you for CEED Part A preparation as most of the syllabus is same (UCEED is tougher than CEED.
4. UCEED sample practice papers
5. CEED sample practice papers

Link 9: Mock tests and sample papers collections

This link contains

1. Mock tests, samples and previous model papers for CEED.
2. Mock tests, samples and previous model papers for UCEED (to be practiced for CEED too).
3. Subjective practice questions

Link 10: Design Practice questions for every day

This link contains

1. Collections of everyday design practice questions for CEED
2. Solutions shared by me and some students for everyday practice questions
3. Solutions to some CEED previous years design (Part B) questions
4. Tips to solving some design questions.

Videos to help you

When to start making portfolio ? What to prepare for Part B

 

What to start? 

How to solve design aptitude, non-verbal, and Ability questions with examples

PART 16

Maths Basics for non-math background design aspirants

Counting number of surfaces on solids

How to start and what to practice for CEED

Find all videos here


Additional Resources

How to start and what to practice for CEED exam (NEW)

A book of very good Mechanical ability questions PDF

Afraid of CEED ?  Big mistakes that you should avoid  for preparation

Organize time-time to best prepare for CEED exam

Here's my Portfolio with tips and tools used

Clear your doubts by asking here - Forums and discussions

Weekly time table (strategy) for CEED preparation

Hello all, 

Please note that there is no universal strategy applicable for everyone. Strategy and preparation level varies from person to person based on their existing abilities (proficiency in a field), how much time to spend everyday, their status (completely dedicated or partially preparing and also aiming for other exams), their ease of understanding/grasping topics, their ability skills and so on. So, it all depends on personal capabilities, but this timetable will be helping those who need guidance or a systematic approach of preparation.

Having a reference time table might give you some idea of what topics to be studied, how much time to be spent for the topics, how length they are, your status/level for that topic and most importantly it will help as a check list to ensure that you don't miss any topic being unprepared. 

The first strategy/time-table is for those who are average or below average at sketching/ drawing etc

The second strategy is for those whom are above average or very good at sketching

Kind note:

1. I've included numbered labels for the Design part of CEED (Part - B), so that I don't have to repeat them every time in the schedule. I've given two Strategies for relevant people related to Part B (design part), but GA time table will be common for both the strategies
2. You might be the best judge to know your abilities, shortfalls and the need for topic improvements, so adjust the given time table accordingly and go on your phase, that best suits you. Below timetable might only act as a reference :)

The following topics and their respective Labeled numbers will be used in the schedule given below.

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(Label - Topic)

0 - product Design/Industrial Design
1 - Visual Communication, Poster, Logo
2 - Animation, Story board making, comic strips/frames
3 - Story writing, Story write-up given some characters, picture composition - story writing by looking at a scene/image
4 - Creative use of items - waste/reusable
5 - Problem identification given a scenario, finding Factors, design idea proposal for the prob.
6 -  Sketching, Line drawing, Exploded view/shape, composition, part view
7 - Shading/rendering
8 - Human/animal sketching line/object sketching
9 -  Ideas of using products and applications (like use of invisible fluids etc)
10 - Fault finding in existing products/designs/sketches
11 - Visualization and Imagination ques.
12 - Draw things/products/designs/human/animal from imagination
13 - Draw by copying/ replicating/ seeing existing images/ products/ scenarios/ scenes/ designs etc
14 - Study on latest technology, products, design ideas etc
15 - Ideas from others in social/print media say in blogs, FB, Pinterest, behance etc
16 - Sketch practice
17 - Previous years part B practice; going through questions to understand the nature
18 - Geometric/solid manipulations, transformations, views
19 - Perspective/Vanishing point drawings/study

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Important Note (for CEED Design; Part-B):

1. Going through existing products/design/frame/others ideas is very important, likewise finding faults and coming up with your solutions is always a good designer practice (at least in my view)
2. Carefully understand the requirement of the design questions - What they asked or looking for
3. Mind the evaluation criteria before attempting/solving any design question
4. You need to have a fair idea on existing products and their technology. So, I've included a topic/section with this heading in the timetable
5. Sketching is imp. but design idea is the first important criteria to be considered, that's why I've given greater emphasis on how you can culminate the process of idea generation by way of various practices listed in the Labels/topics 

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STRATEGY - 1 (Only Design Part)

Level : Below average in Sketching

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Month : September

• 3rd week - 6 (line drawing), 13, 5, 19 (line drawing)   
• 4th week - 4 ,8 , 10, 15, 13, 17, 6, 11 (Line drawing), 14, 18

Month : October

• 1st week - 3, 12, 17, 8, 10, 6 (sketch/Line-drawing), 0, (1 or 2 or both), 18, 19 
• 2nd week - 10, 16, 15, 9, 6 (sketch, exploded view), 5, 0, 11, 12, 19
• 3rd week - 3, 10, 9, 5, 0,  (1 or 2 or both), 4, 15, 18
• 4th week - 17, 8 (little), 6 (sketch/exploded view), 0, (1 or 2 or both), 4, 10, 12, 14, 15

Month : November

• 1st week - 17, 16, 8, 9, 7, 5, 11, 12 (little), 14, 19
• 2nd week - 10, 16, 7, 0, (1 or 2 or both), 14, 15
• 3rd week - 3, 10, 9, 7, 11, 12, 5, 15, 18
• 4th week - 16, 12, 18, 19

Month : December

• 1st week - 16, 12, 17 (just overview, mild practice)

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STRATEGY - 2 (Only Design Part)

Level : Above average (good) at Sketching

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Month : September

• 3rd week - 5, 10, 11,, 14, 15, 18
• 4th week - 0,  (1 or 2 or both), 4 , 5, 17, 18, 19

Month : October

• 1st week - 0,  (1 or 2 or both), 3, 4, 5, 9, 18, 19
• 2nd week - 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18
• 3rd week -  0,  (1 or 2 or both), 5, 6, 11, 19
• 4th week - 0,  (1 or 2 or both), 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18

Month : November

• 1st week - 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 14, 15, 19
• 2nd week - 0, (1 or 2 or both), 6, 7, 11, 10, 15, 17, 18
• 3rd week - 0, (1 or 2 or both),, 3, 4, 12, 17
• 4th week - 18, 12, 10, 15, 4

Month : December

• 1st week - NIL

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GA Study Strategy (applicable for all)

GA study includes verbal and verbal topics. 

Since most of you can have access to aptitude and reasoning books, cost of which is comparatively less than any NID/UCEED/CEED books, I, therefore, list out the topics from those books.  I will list out the topics with their ranking in brackets. A very high rank (high being 5) means you are advised to prepare to the full for that topics, and a very low rating (low being 1), means you are advised not to spend much time on that and any rating in between means you are advised to give importance accordingly (time).

Verbal Reasoning

• Syllogism (2)
• Logical Sequence of Words (2)
• Blood Relation Test (1)
• Series Completion (2)
• Cause and Effect (2)
• Dice, Venn Diagrams (3)
• Cube and Cuboid (2)
• Analogy (2)
• Seating Arrangement (3)
• Character Puzzles (4)
• Direction Sense Test (5) 
• Arithmetic Reasoning (3)
• calendar (1)

Non Verbal Reasoning

• Series (4)
• Analogy (4)
• Classification (4)
• Analytical Reasoning (5)
• Mirror Images & Water Images (2)
• Embedded Images (2)
• Pattern Completion  (5)
• Figure Matrix (3)
• Paper Folding (5)
• Paper Cutting (5)
• Rule Detection (5)
• Grouping of Images (3)
• Shape Construction (2)
• Image Analysis (5)
• Cubes and Dice (5)

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Month : September

• 3rd week - CEED/UCEED Mock-test/previous paper test (to get hold of pattern)
• 4th week - GK on  art history, renaissance, designers, famous paintings/works, aptitude on images/math, mensuration, non-verbal reasoning 

Month : October

• 1st week - Perspective study, vanishing point concepts, practice/test on ability tests, IQ ques, reading and paragraph comprehension, GA on authors, art history, renaissance, mechanism and everyday usage things working, basic concept behind that, CEED/UCEED Mock-test/previous paper test, non-verbal reasoning
• 2nd week - print/color media study, India culture, animation study, logical arrangement of words, illusions, pattern analysis, pictograph puzzles, aptitude on images/math, mensuration, odd-man-out type ques, verbal reasoning  
• 3rd week - paragraph comprehension, Architectural concepts, mechanism and everyday usage things working, basic concept behind that, pattern analysis, aptitude on images/math, CEED/UCEED Mock-test/previous paper test, verbal and non verbal reasoning
• 4th week - GK on painters/paintings, designers, famous persons, facial expressions, Mathematical aptitude, image based aptitude ques that improve observation/visualization and imagination skills, pictograph puzzles, mensuration/math aptitude, CEED/UCEED Mock-test/previous paper test

Month : November

• 1st week - ability tests (identifying pattern in a given set), verbal reasoning, math aptitude, solid geometry/projections, CEED/UCEED Mock-test/previous paper test, GK on India culture, 
• 2nd week - Solid/image manipulation, geometry etc, GK on materials, typography, font, Architecture, mensuration, odd-man-out type ques,  non verbal reasoning revision
• 3rd week - latest products, authors, architecture, video/media, animation,  math and image aptitude revision and practice, ability practice, pictogram puzzles, color schemes practice, CEED/UCEED Mock-test/previous paper test,  environmental awareness, Paragraph comprehension revision
• 4th week - English verbals, meanings, synonyms and antonyms,, revision on painters/paintings, designers, famous persons, India culture, art history,   animation terms, Mock tests or previous year papers (as many as possible), CEED/UCEED Mock-test/previous paper test

Month : December

• 1st week - revision on GK: art media, colors, designers, font, typography, photography, logos, authors, architecture, video,  renaissance,  CEED/ UCEED Mock-test/ previous paper test

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Here's my old post on - time-table analysis for CEED exam preparation

Hope this comprehensive time-table helps you prepare well!

If you feel like some topics are uncovered in the above weekly plan, please do comment here so that others would also know. 

All the best for your start :)

My experience with CEED exam with suggestions

You are here CEED >> My experience with CEED exam with suggestions

Hi friends, CEED 2014 exam is over. Now, It's time to share my experience as well as my view points based on my observation during CEED exam, that might help you avoid some of the mistakes that I did during exam. I also gave some tips/suggestions in this article. 

How did I start Part-A ?

Keeping in mind that for Part-A; 60 minutes will be given (for 50 questions) and the remaining 120 minutes shall be dedicated to Design (Part-B), I decided to spend on an average one minute for each question and yes it worked for me that's because almost all the questions were general decisive type and fortunately this time there were no mathematical aptitude questions. So I didn't face any problem and it went well.

Mistakes that I did while attempting Part-A

We know that all the 50 questions were MCQ (Multiple choice) type, the thing is for those questions (not design aptitude but general awareness questions like logo, institute name etc) - the answer for which i'm only 50% - 0% confident, I answered them by making a guess. I think this happened to be the biggest mistake for scoring comparatively lesser mark in Part - A. Anyway thanks to this blog Resources - I and Resources - II pages that I went through two days before exam, which helped me get more idea on general awareness. Overall, I cleared Part - A and was thus qualified for Part - B evaluation.

How did I start Part - B ?

As we all know that, Part - B has to be attempted in two sections, first section consists of three mandatory questions and the second consists of three optional design questions out of which one question need to be answered. So, I started with the mandatory question. The first question is to sketch a human in kitchen - opening the fridge door in perceptive. I did a very good sketch, I also gave shadings, decorations and more to that, thinking that first impression might give best impression but hell with that ! it already consumed 50 minutes and I still need to show some kitchen accessories !. So, I thought it might ruin my other attempt and therefore quickly winded that. 

Then I started doing the question on three creative sketches and multi use of household umbrella. I was in a hurry as I need to complete the remaining three questions in less time. So, out of hurry, I just started sketching without any idea of what creative thing to be included, after three four attempts, I finally completed that with little satisfaction. Then 

came story writing by observing the given picture. Thanks to my writing as well as to my habit of reading story books like Tinkle and more. I quickly framed a story and then wrote the same in the space provided. 

Now I was left with only 35 min for the 50 marks optional question. I was confused and was thinking which to select, then I made my mind and started doing comic strip in a hurry. Within 3 minutes; I noted that I have to sketch 20 frames ! but sketching a single frame is talking much time because of lack of practice. 

Then I forced myself to erase the did work and finally I started doing Product design of multi-use dustbin to be used in platform. Now in order to avoid the previously did mistake of being in hurry, I spared some minutes just to frame and create a concept and wow an idea flashed in my mind. I quickly grabbed the pencil and started sketching my idea, time left was 15 min !. I started putting all the concepts on the paper very roughly and of course quickly. 

I showed the concept in three sketches. Later I gave separate view for parts (just like exploded view) for more clarity but with rough sketches, then with little detailing and shading. Finally I even wrote 4 to 5 brief factors stating the material to be selected, why that concept was selected and it's functionality. Cool, times up, exam was over.

My expectations and outcome

I expected to get more marks in mandatory section (3 questions) as I was satisfied with that boy-fridge-human sketch; even the story writing went well, better than the umbrella question. I was expecting very less marks for the 50 marks design question. Like I said above - I did very rough sketch that too 3 to 4 sketches only. 

But surprisingly I scored 20 marks for the design question and only 9 for the remaining three questions ! It gave me a shock but anyhow I was qualified with good rank.

Based on my experience, I understood the following things

1. Attempting more doubtful questions of Part - A was a drawback. 
2. The biggest mistake that I did was starting the 15 marks questions instead of 50 marks design question. I should better have started with 50 marks question first, that might have  helped me in getting more marks !.
3. Due to time factor and in a hurry, we tend to sketch immediately after going through a question, without giving time for idea/concept generation. Trust me, idea/concept is more important in CEED. Sketching is just a way to express your ideas. So, it will be better to spare some minutes just for concept. We may even think for two to three short and fast ideas and select the one best suited to the requirements in question.
4. I still feel that rough, simple but clear sketching is enough. But honestly speaking, due to lack of practice, I missed fastness in sketching and so couldn't do much. I would better have practiced sketching every day or once in two days before 40-45 days to exam.
5. Much of my time was consumed and even I got confused in selecting the one to be attempted among three optional design question. I feel Product Design type of questions were a boon (at least to people of my kind) and so it's always better to aim for such questions where we are good at !.

The above are some of my view points that I felt like sharing with you, so that you may prepare accordingly and avoid any such mistakes.

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