All India Law Entrance Test (AILET)

All India Law Entrance Test

Acronym	AILET
Type	Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) format
Developer / administrator	National Law University, Delhi (NLU Delhi)
Knowledge / skills tested	English Language, Logical Reasoning, and Current Affairs and General Knowledge
Purpose	Entrance to NLU Delhi
Year started	2008
Year terminated	none
Duration	1 hour 30 minutes
Score / grade range	-37.5 to 150
Score / grade validity	1 year
Offered	yearly
Restrictions on attempts	none
Countries / regions	India
Languages	English
Annual number of test takers	20,000 (Approx.)
Prerequisites / eligibility criteria	Senior Secondary Exam [High School] in any stream (for UG courses) Graduation in law ( for PG courses)
Fee	₹ 3,500
Scores / grades used by	National Law Universities, Private Law Colleges, PSU's
Qualification rate	0.55% (Approx.)
Website	nationallawuniversitydelhi.in

All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) is an All-India entrance examination conducted by National Law University, Delhi (NLU Delhi) only once a year. The exam is conducted for admission undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG) and doctorate (PhD) level law courses at National Law University, Delhi (NLU Delhi) only. The exam is for one and a half hours and is held in a pen-paper-based mode from 11:00 am to 12:30 am every-year. The paper consists of 150 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) spanning three different sections - English Language, Logical Reasoning, and Current Affairs and General Knowledge.

The test is taken after the Higher Secondary Examination or the 12th grade for admission to integrated under-graduate degree in Law (BA LLB) and after Graduation in Law for Master of Laws (LL.M) programs offered by National Law University, Delhi (NLU Delhi).

Background

See also: Legal education § India, and Autonomous law schools in India

Almost all law entrance exams are conducted at around the same time, i.e., April to June. With the emergence of other law schools, which also sought to conduct their admission tests, students faced a hard time preparing for them. From time to time this issue to conduct a common entrance exam to reduce the burden of students to give multiple tests was raised, but given the autonomous status of each law school, there was no nodal agency to co-ordinate action to this regard”. He further informed that the matter drew national attention when a Public Interest Litigation was filed by Varun Bhagat against the Union of India and various National Law Universities in the Supreme Court of India in 2006. The Chief Justice of India directed the Union of India to consult with the National Law Universities to formulate a common test. The move was strongly supported by the Bar Council of India, but NLU Delhi stood its ground and continued conducting its own entrance exam.

The instant question that comes to mind is – Why is NLU Delhi doing it differently from the rest of the NLUs? This was answered by NLU Delhi’s Founder Vice-Chancellor, Ranbir Singh in 2011 when he told a leading newspaper, “AILET was created in 2008 by NLU Delhi separately from the CLAT, which is the unified entrance exam to national law universities and others. The reason behind it was the poor administration of CLAT and the motivation to select students for whom NLU Delhi was not a lower preference”.

Eligibility

• All candidates, other than those applying under the Foreign Nationals category, should appear for the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) and selection shall be solely on that basis. The Foreign National and OCI/PIO candidates are also required to apply online on the same portal.
• Candidate have passed the Higher Secondary School Examination (10+2) system or an equivalent examination thereto securing in the aggregate not less than 45% of the total marks (40% in case of SC/ST/Persons with Disability).  The Eligibility condition for admission of students under the Foreign Nationals Category shall be 65% marks in the Higher Secondary School Examination of (10+2) system or an equivalent examination.
• Candidates appearing/awaiting results of the qualifying examination can also apply and appear in the Entrance Test. However, the eligibility by such candidates shall have to be obtained by the cut-off date, which will be notified along with the Notification of Entrance Test result and in case such candidate is placed in compartment in the year of the admission, would be treated as ineligible.
• Foreign National Candidates are exempted from taking All India Law Entrance Test (AILET). The other regulations regarding the eligibility for admission will be the same as applicable to the other candidates. The candidates belonging to OCI/PIO category shall have the option to apply either under the Foreign National category or under the category of Indian students. In case the OCI/PIO candidate apply under the category of Indian National, they have to appear in the All India Law Entrance Test along with other candidates.
• Definition of Foreign Nationals: The candidates who possess citizenship of a country other than India and hold valid passport of foreign country.
• Definition of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)/Person of Indian Origin (PIO): As notified by the Govt. of India.

Exam Pattern

This law entrance exam is of one and a half hours duration. The CLAT question paper consists of 150 multiple-choice questions. There are five sections in CLAT exam paper which are:

• English including Comprehension
• Current affairs including General Knowledge
• Logical Reasoning

The break up of marks is generally as follows:

Subjects	Number of Questions	Marks
English Language	50 questions	50
Current Affairs, including General Knowledge	30 questions	30
Legal Reasoning	70 questions	70
Total	150	150

Marking Scheme: For every correct answer, aspirants are given one mark and for each wrong answer 0.25 marks are deducted from their total score.

• If two or more candidates get the same marks at the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET), their merit will be determined on the basis of higher marks in the section on LOGICAL REASONING in the AILET 2023.
• If the merit is still same, then the candidate senior in age shall get preference. If still there is no change in merit, then computerized draw of lots shall be taken into consideration.

References

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