January 11, 2011

Quick tips for last minute preparation of CEED

Crash the CEED

With just a few days remaining for CEED, how do you feel? Do you feel that, you have just spent too much time in sketching those pretty girls? Or that you don’t have sufficient knowledge yet? You don’t have to worry; this post tells you how to crash the CEED.

Pick up the last years paper. If you still haven’t picked up the last years CEED paper please do it at once. If you don’t find anything worth just hit this IIT Bombay link for CEED 2008 paper. It was one of the toughest.

1. Rapid sketching crash. Just pick up that pencil and start with the following exercise. Its just a warm up and give about 15 minutes for it.

Now, try your hand at some of these



Don’t forget the perspective view


And finally, draw a few sketches quickly from your imagination. Don’t take reference of a real object. Remember as you can and draw fast.
1. A bicycle
2. A man drinking coffee
3. A 3-pin plug (like one used for clothes iron)
4. An office chair
These four sketches should take no more than an hour.

2. Creativity crash.
Try to list 20 uses of the following and sketch any 10 of them.
1. An old CD
2. An old plastic bottle
3. An old cell phone
Give each exercise about 20 minutes.

3. Materials brush up.
Can you tell which all materials are used in your cell phone? Perhaps a quick answer will be transparent plastic, black plastic and some really shiny plastic. Maybe a little more depth will be helpful. Please take a quick look at the following link from How Stuff Works. It’s simple enough for a layman. and a quick info on metals here.

4. A quick brush up on manufacturing processes:
1. Casting – Make a cavity in a material not affected by heat and pour molten stuff into it
2. Molding – Make a cavity in an inert material and pour liquid into it (similar to casting except the material is not always molten or too hot)
3. Forming – Take a piece of metal and hit it really hard between two stronger pieces of metal. to change its shape. If you force it though an opening, then its called extrusion. If you press it between two bodies it is called ‘Pressing’. If those two pieces are revolving then it is called ‘Rolling’.
4. Bending – As the word says its bending. Fix one end and hit the other.
5. Shearing – A process very similar to using your scissors
6. Milling – Removes layers off the material piece. Can generate flat surface or slots
7. Turning – A process that revolves the material piece about an axis to create an axi-symmetric surface
8. Grinding – removes thin layers of material to make a surface smooth
9. Welding – Joins two pieces of metal by melting them, then allowing the melt to mix and allowing them to cool.
10. Coating – covers a surface of a material with another material (typically paint or powdered metal)

5. Don’t forget the simplicity. 
As the Occam razor goes ‘the simplest answer is often correct’. So try to keep your answers simple as possible, yet clear to be understood.

6. Finally, remember the 4 C:

1. Creativity: CEED is all about it! Its not GATE, where you are offered 4 choices. Therefore more creative answer, more you score!! So just think of the possible solutions no one will think of!

2. Clarity: How clearly you articulate an idea. For example, if you want to convey a plane flying in the sky, the best view perhaps will be the view from the ground!

3. Communication: How well you communicate the concept. This directly counts on your ability to sketch! So practice it well.

4. Coherence: While presenting a sequence of events how well is the last frame relevant to the next frame. This directly points to the "read the comic strip" in the post

There you have 4 'C's of CEED :)


Hope that helps.
Best of luck

31 comments:

Glitzy said...

Thank you so very much Prasanna!!

Any tips on what to revise for GK? Cuz in 09 i think they had asked some GK questions also...

I hope so many will be benefitted with this post!!

Good luck to all those are appearing for CEED this year....

Unknown said...

This post is really very helpful..n came up at the rightest of times..:D

Thanks a looot again PG!!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

In 2009, there was a question in Materials and Processes showing chairs, tea cup, plastic mugs...and are required to give info on MATERIAL and MANUFACTURING PROCESS. I still haven't got a correct answer from anyone...Please do help. What are my chances of cracking CEED if I cudn't score at this section? Also, what's the minimum percentage one must score for cracking CEED? I aim for Animation...

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello Bipin,
I posted a new post as a comprehensive reply to your query. Plz find it at here

Even if you completely leave this section and have attempted rest of the paper pretty well, you can score very well.

There is no 'fixed' percentage for cracking CEED. Most of the institutes have a cut-off percentage that varies greatly each year. According to our best information, some institutes call some first 300 top scoring applicant. This means your relative score is seen.

Hope this helps :)

Best of luck

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Dear Glitzy,

It is very hard to cover all the GK in this small blog. Otherwise i'd have given up CEED and appeared for KBC hee hee. Frankly speaking, even i could answer only about half of the questions from GK section. I guess it does not affect the score that much, provided you have attempted rest of the paper very well.

You can still read the solution to Q.9 in 2009 CEED paper here

Anonymous said...

Hi, Prasanna this is Srinivasan here. I wanted to know when to use colours as the questions dont mention any use of colours. For instance if the question is to design a multi-purpose stick for old or a pair of scissors for blind, am i allowed to use colours? Or simply you are allowed to use colours other then a question where it is mentioned to use only pencils? Thank you in advance.

Anonymous said...

Hey, its me again Srinivasan. Didnt put this in the early questions. Any idea about negative marking for g.k questions or questions about materials and manufacturing methods? Thank you once again.

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello,
You can probably use colours. If they mention pencil only, then best not use colour pencils either. Just to be on the safe side.

According to my best information, there is no negative marking. Unlike GATE.

Anonymous said...

hey, its Srinivasan here. Thanks for your help for preparing the paper. It didnt go well by the way. I will try next year again. It was just full of drawing. Too much compared to last couple of years i guess. 3 hours for quantity and quality seemed impossible. Even the pictorial questions where not that easy. But anyways one more year to go. Thanks once again.

Anonymous said...

Yeah one more thing. I would like to know how did it go for others. - Srinivasan Pillai. Thank you.

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello friends,

Nice to hear that the blog was of help to u. Even a low CEED score can help you secure admission to good institutes, so dont give up hope. Just fill out the forms. Who knows u may get in :)

Anonymous said...

Hey Prassana, sorry to bother you again! Can you name any other institutes for product or automobile designing other then the IIT's which consider the CEED score as well? Thank you. Whats the minimum score considered for IITs, any idea? - Srinivasan

Anonymous said...

Awesome, that’s exactly what I was scanning for! You just spared me alot of searching around

Unknown said...

dear prasanna sir,
i came to your blog surfing ceed info...and found it very intresting and helpfull.last year i appeared for ceed.cleared screening but was nt able to score in the mains...dont know why...?but i have been selected in NIFT m.des.
i paid my 1st sem fees and then decided to withdraw!!!shoud i go for nift or its worth giving ceed again this year.
i have a crush on automobile design...
and i am nt joining nift for ceed2013.
also mention how to answer the product design section of last year(designing bottle cap opener for elderly).also i was confused how to answer the story boarding.(female dengu mosquito with five diffrent characters).i will be greatffull to u if u answer to my questions.
pls do reply sir...!!!THANKS.

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello Dhiraj,
Is it worth going to NIFT or MDes from IIT? When you applied for NIFT and got selected, you must have thought about it. Maybe you like fashion technology and all. I guess, your priorities decide if its really worth appearing for CEED or going back to NIFT.
About the pickle bottle opener for elderly, you will design the product that will fulfil certain requirements of elderly people. For example, elderly people have less strength and muscle control, so the bottle opener should amplify the force. 2ndly, it should cater to different sizes of pickle bottles and finally, it should be made of materials that are appropriate for these requirements and look pleasing.
About the question of female dengue mosquito story line, what are you exactly confused about? Can you elaborate? You have to describe the story, then draw character sketches and finally the storyboard.

Unknown said...

dear prasanna,
i'm appearing for this year ceed exam.i completed my b.e this year and i'm not sure of getting my provisional certificate (think i'll get it by sept 2013) by july.is there any other altenative?

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello kedge,
CEED 2013 site says, you can upload a digital copy of your latest mark-sheet as a proof that you will complete your bachelors this year

Unknown said...

hi
as you know barely 2 weeks are left for the exam
i am from nift and just started preparing since i was busy with work at college
is it possible to be prepared well for the exam in such short time??
what does the exam want to see?
any last minute advice?

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello Mitali.

Thanks for dropping by.

I feel you can easily get through CEED with good score by preparing these two weeks in these two weeks. First of all, just think about your sketching skills. I guess u are from NIFT so your sketching must be good. Probably you can focus a bit more on your concept generation

Suppose you generate concept that is so creative that 99 percent people can think about it, you will get good marks! also, added marks if you sketch it decently!

Unknown said...

any suggestions on how to generate funky ideas quick?

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hi Mitali,

I recommend the use of attribute methods to generate lots of concepts that are both creative and relevant. Methods like brainstorming focus on the quantity, but may not be always of good quality. You can read about this method here

Unknown said...

Hi Prasanna! I m a mech engg student. I am good at art work. Have been a fine art student (4yrs basic and 4 yrs diploma) clay moulding and engineering drawing student in 11th n 12th standard. Good at AutoCAD and photgraphy also. I m gng for CEED first time. very nervous for it. I m a die-hard M.Des aspirant. Art is the only thing in which I m excelled. So could u plz give me some tip/suggestions for CEED. how to brush up my skil...wt extra efforts i hv to put up? Is it possible to make in first attempt?

Unknown said...

also I want to know wt is the cut off marks for part A and is there any negative marking for wrong answers in Part A?

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello Bismita,

Your nervousness is understandable. I guess with your background in arts and engineering, you posses both skills needed for CEED.

I need to give you apart from the basic preparation given on this site. In CEED the examiner might want to see a large variety and creativity in you solutions. Probably, you can focus on this aspect during your preparation than purely focusing on the sketching and aesthetics. For this you might need to see my posts on creativity, especially Attribute Method given under "Resources" tab. Finally, when you appear for CEED, keep yourself relaxed and imagine that you are appearing for FUN

According to this page, there is negative marking in Part A. The cut-off marks will be decided based on the average scores of the students. So its impossible to tell yet.

Are you appearing for NID entrance too? I feel your profile is much suited for NID entrance.

Unknown said...

Hey, thanks a lot for that information. No I m not appearing for NID :( Now as very few days are left for CEED. Jst wish me goodluck :)for that.
Well I hv two doubts in solution of 2012.
1)Ur asnwer for question number 2 is(C)rite i.e 5 p.m bt I think its wld b option (D) coz jst luk at the shadow its very dark sharp bcoz of light. n a sharp shadow is only form during nite under a light (as i hv seen in movies/serials) i.e 8 p.m.
2)Ur answer for question nmbr 3 is (B). As per me it shld b (D). I think when a light passes thru the edge of a cube, edges r not formed in a shadow. So no edge is visble in shadow. n the shadow is sm wt like trapezium.
This is sm wt my point of view.

Prasanna Gadkari (M.Des in Product Design from I.I.Sc. ) said...

Hello Bismita,

First of all, Best of luck for CEED :)

Looking at the length of the shadows, I feel that these long shadows can be cast by sunlight that is setting around 5 pm. Also if it were from artificial source the shadows wont be parallel. The shadows might appear to be dark because of the quality of photograph which is anyway taken in poorly lit environment

For predicting shadows I use the technique as show here You can find the solution on this page too.

Best of luck again :P

Unknown said...

Hey thanks again for clearing my doubt. went thru ur suggestd site, now evrything is clear, Thanx a lot :)

Unknown said...

love this post!

AG Poly Pack Pvt. Ltd. said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Post a Comment

Discussion