NIFT is not very tough exam for this you need to join a coaching but if you think that  the coaching is necessary for you then you can join near by your locality. You can crack this exam with the little hard work & preparation to do the self study.

Here are some books you can prefer for the preparation:

NIFT/NID Exam Guide by Datason RP

NIFT National Entrance Exam by Verma

NIFT Entrance Examination ( Guide ) by D Mittal

To know the level of the questions you can prefer the previous year papers.

You can prefer the below given tips for the exam preparation:

Develop Observation & Visualisation Skills-The most crucial purpose of the exam is to test candidates’ creative and imaginative skills. Apart from that, the questions are framed in order to judge their general awareness, observation skills and visualisation as well. It is a common myth among students that only good sketching is essential to crack the entrance exam. This is not true, as developing the aforementioned skills is equally important. You need to work on enhancing this skill set first.

Improve your Speed-Having exceptional drawing skills and creativity is useless if you don’t have speed. The whole idea is to be able to present your imagination and uniqueness in the exam in the limited time duration. You should work on enhancing your speed so that you can answer all the questions in the given time.

Solve Sample Papers- Practice sample papers as much as you can. This will give you an idea about the types of questions that are asked in the exam. You will know the overall difficulty level of the entrance test as well. Moreover, this will aid in increasing your speed to a great extent. Solving previous years’ papers will also let you know the sequence in which you should answer different sections. Practice NIFT Entrance Exam Sample Papers.

Improve General Awareness- It is not necessary that you cram up your mind with each and every General Knowledge book. Awareness about current happenings is more important. For this, read newspapers daily. Moreover, you should also know about famous designers who have contributed in this challenging field. Spend time on reading fashion & design books/Magazines.

Good Luck!