Law Entrance Exams in India - Syllabus, Eligibility, Application form, 2024 Notification

All about Law Entrance Exams in India

Law entrance exams are conducted at the national, state or university level for admission to various Law courses like BA LLB, LLM, Integrated Law Courses, etc. There are a number of law colleges in India offering various law courses.

Students who wish to have a career in the legal field can pursue 3-year LLB course post completion of graduation degree. They can also save a year by opting for 5-year Integrated Law courses (BA LLB, BBA LLB), which can be pursued after Class 12^th.

The regulatory body for law education in India is Bar Council of India (BCI).

This article will help the students aspire to pursue a career in this field an idea about the various entrance exams conducted in India.

Law Entrance Exam Eligibility

Undergraduate Programs

For admission into the Under Graduate programmes, the student should have passed 10+2 or equivalent examination with minimum:

• 45% marks for the General Category
• 40% marks for the Reserved Category

Students giving the entrance exam while/before appearing for the qualifying exam must furnish proof of passing the qualifying examination at the time of admission.

Postgraduate programs

For entering the Post Graduate programme, the student should have passed the qualifying examination (LLB/Five-Year Integrated LL.B. (Honours)/any other equivalent exams) with minimum:

• 55% marks for General Category
• 50% marks for Reserved Category

The candidate must have passed/appeared for the final semester of the qualifying examination on the date of admission.

Age Limit

The minimum age limit (as of 1^st July) is as follows

• 20 years for Unreserved/NRI/NRI Sponsored category
• 22 years for SC/ST/OBC/Specially Abled Persons category

There is no upper age limit for appearing for the examinations.

Law Entrance Exam Structure

Law entrance exams try to assess the language proficiency, legal aptitude, reasoning, general knowledge, etc. Some of the common topics include:

• English
• General Knowledge
• Legal Awareness and Aptitude
• Logical Reasoning
• Preliminary Mathematics

The duration of the exam ranges from 90 to 140 minutes and the total number of questions range from 100 to 150.

Some of the tests, such as the IPUCET and LSAT, are conduct exams offline in the ‘Pen and Paper’ mode. Otherwise, most of the tests are conducted online and contain multiple choice questions. The total marks of the tests range from 100 to 200 marks. Tests like CLAT, IPUCET, PUCET, DU-LLB have negative marking while exams like MH CET and SLAT do not have negative marking.

Exam pattern of MH-CET exam is as follows:

Upcoming Law Entrance Exams

Law Entrance Exam 2018 Dates and Notifications

Law Exams Admission Process

• The students will have to register themselves online on the official website of the test before appearing for the test. They should also check whether they are eligible to appear for the examination.
• During the registration the student will have fill in personal and communication details. They will also have to upload a photograph, scanned copy of their signature, ID proof, etc.
• Pay the required application fee.
• Once the results of the exam are declared, the student can go ahead with the counselling procedure as explained in the Notification issued by the Authority conducting the exam.
• In the counselling process, the student will generally have to log in to the official website by entering the Login ID and password and fill in the required details such as the rank, score, etc.
• On the day of counselling, the student will have to verify their original documents as well as its photocopies and the allotted counselling centre.

Application Fee

After submitting the application form, the student will have to pay the examination fee which usually ranges from Rs. 250 to Rs. 5,000 depending on the college. The said amount can be paid online through Debit Card/Credit Card/Net Banking.

However, in some cases the registration fee will be accepted only through Debit Cards/Credit Cards issued in India. Offline payment can be done by posting a Demand Draft to the admission office or through the SBI e-challan method.

Seat Allotment for CLAT

CLAT is one of the top law entrance exams that facilitate the admission of students into various NLU’s (National Law Universities) and other government/private colleges.

The seats are allotted on ‘merit cum preference’ basis. This means that the student is admitted to a college by taking the rank/score as well as the preference listed by the student into consideration. Some of the important documents that are required during the counselling process are

• CLAT Application Form
• Rank Card and Score Card
• Class 10 and 12 Mark Sheet
• Minority Certificate

The CLAT authorities publish three admission lists. Once the 1^st list is published, the provisionally selected students will have to pay the counselling fee of Rs.50000. The students can either ‘LOCK’ or ‘UPDRADE’ their allotted college.

In the 2^nd list, a ‘Waiting List’ of the candidates is prepared against the students who have dropped out from the counselling process. After the 3^rd list is announced and the admissions are done successfully, the students will have to complete the admission formalities according to the CLAT Schedule.

Law Entrance Exam Syllabus

The syllabi for the entrance exams are different for each exam. The common topics across all the entrance exams are English language and comprehension, numerical aptitude, general legal awareness, legal aptitude etc.

The numerical ability questions include basic mathematical questions that the student must have learned up to standard 10. One of the most prominent law entrance tests is the CLAT which includes the following topics:

Marks Weightage

The weightage of different sections can be illustrated in the following manner: