Designing your own world

Vikas Dahiya

If you admire the kind of infrastructure being developed in various parts of the world and aspire to be one of the architects who can create such work, then the right career for you is architecture. One must be creative, have good spatial ability, aesthetic sense and good at drawing to get into this field. To achieve the dream of becoming an architect, the ideal path is to do Bachelors in Architecture (B.Arch) after your Class XII. The career opportunities for architects are very high because of the increasing demand of novelty in construction and designing fields. There is demand for architects in both government and private organisations.

Eligibility criteria

• Candidate must have passed Class XII (with physics, chemistry and mathematics) or equivalent examination.
• From the academic session 2019, diploma holders are no longer eligible for admission to architecture programme.
• 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 Class XII.
• Candidate must be minimum 17 years of age as on July 31, 2020.

Syllabus

Mathematics

Algebra, matrics, trigonometry, coordinate geometry, 3-D geometry, calculus and statistics.

General aptitude

Objects, texture related to architecture and built environment. Interpretation of pictorial compositions, visualising three-dimensional objects from two-dimensional drawings, visualising different sides of 3-D objects.

Analytical reasoning, mental ability (visual, numerical and verbal), general awareness of national/ international architects and famous architectural creations. Mathematical reasoning: Statements, logical operations like and, or, if and only if, implies, implied by.

Understanding of tautology, converse, contradiction and contrapositive. Sets and Relations: Idea of sets, subsets, power set, complement, union, intersection and difference of sets, Venn diagram, De Morgan's Laws, relation and its properties. Equivalence relation — definition and elementary examples.

Drawing test

Understanding of scale and proportion of objects, geometric composition, shape and building forms.

Preparation tips

• Understand the NATA Exam pattern properly.
• Go through the syllabus given in the brochure and prepare each and every topic.
• While preparing for the exam, you cannot overlook the importance of previous years' papers. Inculcate a habit of attempting these along with their analysis. Evaluation of your result will help you figure out which areas you are strong in and the areas you need to focus on.
• You should get familiar with the latest cut-off marks, which will help you to get an idea about a safe score for sailing through the examination.
• Do take mock tests to check how much have you improved.
• After going through your syllabus once, increase the number of mock tests you take.
• Also, a number of test series are available online. Join and strengthen your preparation to crack the exam.

The writer is a career counsellor and mentor at GradeUp

college/institutions under NATA

1. School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

2. Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai

3. Department of Architecture, IIT Roorkee

4. Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh

5. Department of Architecture, NIT Tiruchirapalli

6. Department of Architecture, NIT Calicut

7. Department of Architecture, BIT, Mersa

8. RV School of Architecture, RVCE, Bangalore

9. Rizvi College of Architecture (RCA)

IIT, Roorkee, and IIT, Kharagpur, are the only IITs giving admission based on NATA only.

National Aptitude Test in Architecture

National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) is a national-level undergraduate exam which is conducted by Council of Architecture (COA) for admission to five-year B.Arch. Previously, NATA was conducted once every year, but from 2019, the exam will be conducted twice a year, first in April and then in July. NATA measures the aptitude of the applicant for specific field of study, ie Architecture. The test measures drawing and observation skills, sense of proportion, aesthetic sensitivity and critical thinking ability

Scope for architects

• One can work for either government or private organisations in areas like construction (design offices, houses or apartments, government or private colonies, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, schools or colleges, etc)
• Urban Planning Department
• Public Works Departments
• Interior designing
• Global market, especially USA, Australia and Dubai, provide attractive career and jobs for architecture graduates
• After completing graduation, you can go for the higher studies. You can pursue Masters degree or further studies in architecture field
• One can run his own consultancy firm depending upon experience and area of interest

Consumer goods, durables players keen on hiring apprentices

Fast-moving consumer goods and durables (FMCG/D) companies are keen on hiring apprentices to meet their talent requirements.

According to a report of the National Employability Through Apprenticeship Programme (NETAP) and TeamLease Skills University, around 45% of the FMCG/D industry has expressed inclination to hire apprentices.

The country’s eastern region was on the top with 46% companies showing interest to hire apprentices, followed by southern (42%), northern (41%) and western (34%) regions, according to the report titled ‘Apprenticeship Outlook and Index’.

The report is based on a survey of 502 employers across 12 sectors and four regions, on the current levels of hiring of apprentices and employer sentiment.

It also includes the Apprenticeship Index (comprising the Candidate Index and the Employer Index), which measures the effectiveness of the apprenticeship programmes in India.

“We are delighted to see the positive conviction among FMCG/D players who are extensively looking at hiring apprentices. The employers are fast realising the potential of apprenticeship to meet their talent requirements.

With betterment in ease of doing business, strengthening of product development and distribution capabilities, coupled with rising consumerism, we expect the demand for apprentices to grow stronger,” Sumit Kumar, vice-president of NETAP at TeamLease Skill University, said.

The report also showed that western and northern are the country’s highest-paying regions. Further, it said around 89 per cent of the employers preferred a six-month to one-year tenure rather than short-duration apprentices. PTI