For a student aspiring for a career in law in India, it is required for them to get admitted into a good law college and pursue a relevant law course of study. And to get admitted into that good law college, an aspirant has to appear and clear an entrance exam as the step towards realization of their ambitions.
Here it will be relevant to know that there are several law entrance exams conducted throughout the country in order to help the aspirants secure a position in one of the many law colleges in the country. There are many entrance tests conducted for admission to law colleges in India like CLAT, LSAT, and AILET etc.
CLAT or Common Law Admission Test
CLAT or Common Law Admission Test is a centralized test for admission to 19 National Law Universities having approximately 1500 seats all across India.
A student must secure at least 45% or its equivalent grade in class 12th exam in case of candidates belonging to General / OBC / PWD / NRI / PIO / OCI categories to be eligible for this exam (40% or its equivalent in case of SC/ST categories). There will be no upper age limit for UG Programme in CLAT 2020.
In CLAT, the selection is strictly on the basis of merit. The UG-CLAT 2020 shall be a 2-hour test, with 150 multiple-choice questions carrying 1 mark each. There shall be negative marking of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer. These questions would be divided across the following 5 subjects:
- English Language
- Current Affairs, including General Knowledge
- Legal Reasoning
- Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Techniques
AILET or All India Law Entrance Test
AILET or All India Law Entrance Test is conducted by National Law University Delhi (NLU Delhi) to offer admission to eligible candidates in undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG) and doctorate (PhD) level law courses. This is a university-level entrance exam only for admissions at NLU Delhi as the university does not accept any other law entrance exam for admissions.
A student should score minimum 50% marks in aggregate in class 12th (65% for foreign nationals) and he should be less than 21 years as on 1st July of the year of admission.
The duration of AILET exam is 90 minutes (1 and 1/2 hour) consisting of 150 questions having the weightage of +1 for each correct answer. There is no negative marking. The section-wise details of AILET marks system is as follows:
- English-35 Marks
- General Knowledge-35 Marks
- Legal Aptitude-35 Marks
- Reasoning-35 Marks
- Elementary Mathematics-10 Marks
In the AILET exam, 30% of the paper is in the form of G.K.-based law questions which are formed on the basis of the latest legal decisions and happenings of national and international affairs. Moreover, students must be well informed and aware about the current happenings. It would be wise to get some relevant study material to work on it and for that matter you may purchase the preparatory book set from any coaching institute.
LSAT or Law School Admission Test
LSAT or Law School Admission Test is generally 4 hour long standardized test administered 4 times in a year for candidates looking for admission in law schools in the US, Canada, Australia, and other countries.
A decent grade on Law School Admission Test (also known as LSAT), is viewed by many to be the most important part of getting into a top-tier law school. Instead of testing what you have already learned, it is designed to measure and project your ability to excel in law school. Because of this focus, the LSAT is vastly different from many other standardized tests that students take in high school or college. Its exclusive nature requires that you clearly understand its format and the type of questions that will be asked.
The test is broken into five separate sections:
- Analytical Reasoning
- Two Logical Reasoning Sections
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing Section
The writing section is provided to each law school to which a given student applies. The other sections are 35 minutes long each and contain 24 to 28 questions. Know that there are two logical reasoning sections, that portion of the test carries the most weight—it counts for 50 percent of the final score. Those sections test student’s ability to analyze and criticize arguments that are presented to them. The analytical reasoning section consists of four “logic games,” which test the student’s ability to understand the structure of complex relationships. The reading comprehension section is much closer mirrors, those that can be found on other standardized tests, asking students to understand what they read in the limited time they are given.