In this article, Simran Sabharwal of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, gives Timeline for Law Entrance Examination in India.

My dear Law aspirants, this is the time of the year when you all will be working hard to crack that 120 minutes of paper. In this journey of ups and downs, you will learn a lot. From enhancing your vocabulary to working hard to grasp those math tricks, coaching institutes will teach you most of the things. But what most of them will fail to tell is how and when to fill the forms. This article will focus on what all exams to appear and what should a law aspirant keep in mind in the last days of exams.

Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)

There are many exams which a law aspirant can take and get admission in Law colleges. Beginning with the most important exam, which is necessary for admission in any law college is Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), an online based exam which is conducted on every second Sunday of May. The exam is conducted for 18 National Law Universities.

All India Law Entrance Test (AILET)

All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) is conducted every year on the first Sunday of May. It is a gateway to admission in National Law University, Delhi. For further details related to AILET, click here

Symbiosis Law Aptitude Test (SLAT)

Symbiosis Law School also conducts exam on the first Saturday of May usually before AILET. From last year onwards, this exam is conducted online. It also changed it’s exam name from Symbiosis Entrance Test (SET) to Symbiosis Law Aptitude Test (SLAT). The registration starts in the last week of January on this site.

Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET)

Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MH-CET) marks the starting of law exams in India. It is conducted first in the row and usually in the last week of April. Click here.

Indraprastha University Common Entrance Test (IPU-CET)

Like Maharashtra, for admission in Delhi Law colleges, Indraprastha University Common Entrance Test (IPU-CET) is conducted after CLAT, in the third week of May. Himachal Pradesh National Law Entrance Test (HPNLET) and Law School Admission Test (LSAT) are conducted on the same day for last two years. Students have to make a wise choice and choose the exam for which they wish to appear at, as the time of the exam also clashes.

Here’s a timeline of the major law entrance exams conducted in the year 2018

Furthermore, exams like Bhartiya Vidyapeeth Common Entrance Test (BVP-CET), Banaras Hindu University Law Entrance Exam, UPES Legal Studies Aptitude Test are conducted post CLAT for entrance into other law schools. Apart from exam dates what is more important is to avoid blunders while filling the forms as a student has no other option left later. Exam takers in anxiety commit various mistakes. The points they should remember are-

Fill the forms at once – Take 2 days out of your busy schedule and fill the forms altogether

• BLUNDER NO.1 – Almost all the exam conducting bodies release the application forms in the first week of January. Now, plan when you have to fill the form. Do not fill the form on the very first day as it sometimes happens that the form is taken back due to several glitches.
• As there many exams in the month of May, every week a new form is released by the concerned authority. Plan advice is to wait for all the forms to release and then spare a day or two and submit all the applications. Otherwise, your entire month of January and February will be spent in filling-up of forms.
• Fill your forms in mid-February as by that time all forms are out and you will not waste much time daily.  Don’t join the “time- waster’s” association and fill the forms wisely. The last few months left for the exam are very crucial for your preparation.
• Keep your photographs, thumbprint and signature scanned beforehand. Also, make note of which colour ink they prescribe for signature. A lot of fuss were created in CLAT-2018 due to the colour of the ink and the students had to re-fill their forms, wasting a lot of money. Though not much time should be devoted to filling-up of forms yet the forms should be filled with all the authentic information as you cannot rectify it later.

Fill the CLAT preference properly

• BLUNDER NO. 2 – Remember, to fill your CLAT preference list properly. A lot of students make this common mistake. Preference list cannot be amended later and the exam taker has to go to any of the colleges despite his/her good rank.
• Make sure the colleges you want to be in are in the top of your preference list. One of my friends got an AIR 245 which could have easily given her a seat in NLU-J but due to her bad preference list, she landed in NLU-O.
• The list has to be filled with the application form and cannot be rectified after the results have been declared. Also, do keep in mind whether your state has domicile for state students or not.
• A separate box is made which ought to be ticked if your state has reserved seats for the state candidates.
• Furthermore, take note whether you are ticking the right category box. It is advisable to have your category certificate with you. The application form should be properly filled as there is no option to rectify your errors but only to repent.

Cross check the Exam date and the Exam Center

Quite often than not, exam dates of some law entrance test clashes. For example, Himachal Pradesh National Law Entrance Test (HPNLET) and Law School Admission Test (LSAT) are conducted on the same day for last two years.

BLUNDER NO. 3- May is considered to be the month of Law Entrance Examinations. Either the dates clash or the exams are held consecutively. With this in mind, remember to fill your centres properly. Let’s say if an exam will be conducted on 13th May and the next exam is on 14th May, keep both the exam centers in one city.

Do not prefer your home city for one of the exams and any other place for the next exams. If dates clash and your center preference are not filled properly, you may have to miss one of the exams. IPU-CET and MH-CET have their centers, usually in Delhi and Mumbai respectively.

Also, these two exams are conducted on the next day of another exam. Likewise, SET and AILET are conducted back-to-back. In order to appear for all the exams, make sure your center is filled properly. Application forms ask for three choices of centres which you want to prefer for exam taking.

Usually, the first preferred center is allotted, but make sure that your other two choices are made keeping in mind the next exams. You surely don’t want to waste your time travelling and fatigue. Therefore, select your options prudently.

If you are confused on how to fill the CLAT form,  then check this link out www.clat.ac.in

Filling an application form is easier only if all the instructions are followed. Read the instructions given by the authorities properly. This is the time of the year when law aspirants are working hard to crack CLAT or AILET. Remember, to take as many mocks as possible and to analyse it properly. Don’t let the cut-off list cut off your spirit. From January onwards, various forms will be out. Filling those wisely is the most important work amidst all other preparation stuff.

So, pull your socks up law aspirers and make your way to a law school.

ALL THE BEST!

Remember law aspirants, legal knowledge and reasoning are heavily tested in any law entrance test. Be prepared to tackle the toughest problems. To help the clat takers, LawSikho has come up with course on Clat, advanced legal reasoning and legal gk. 

For many of you English, logical reasoning, Maths, GK are much more manageable than this one large chunk of the exam: legal aptitude! It can be broken down mostly into two parts: legal reasoning and legal GK. Both can give a tough time to even the most diligent and ambitious students, especially because they are taught so unsystematically.