AIBE XXII (22) 2026 – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Four categories of candidate are eligible, provided the institution is recognised or approved by the Bar Council of India:

• Final-year, final-semester LL.B. students of a 3-year or 5-year course, provided they carry no backlogs from previous semesters
• Law graduates who have completed the course but have not yet been conferred the degree
• Graduates who hold the degree but have not enrolled with any State Bar Council, and those who enrolled and have since surrendered the enrolment certificate
• Candidates already enrolled with a State Bar Council

A candidate from a university or college not recognised or approved by the Bar Council is not eligible at any stage of study, and the Bar Council places the burden of checking recognition on the candidate.

No. Enrolment is not a precondition for sitting the examination. Candidates who have not enrolled, and those who have surrendered their enrolment certificate, may apply. Enrolment does become relevant afterwards, because the Certificate of Practice attaches to an advocate enrolled under section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961.

Yes, provided they are in the final semester and carry no backlogs from any previous semester. Self-attested scanned semester mark sheets must be uploaded: Semester I to V for a 3-year course and Semester I to IX for a 5-year course where the final semester is still running. A prescribed undertaking must also be submitted with the application.

Yes. Law graduates in employment who have either not enrolled or surrendered enrolment because of that employment may apply. In that case the period of enrolment after qualifying is limited to six months, subject to resignation from the job, failing which the candidate has to reappear for the AIBE.

The Bar Examination is mandatory for all law students graduating from the academic year 2009-2010 onwards and enrolled as advocates under section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961. Advocates who graduated before that are not required to appear.

A national qualifying examination conducted by the Bar Council of India under Rules 9 to 11 of Part VI, Chapter III of the Bar Council of India Rules, framed under section 49(1)(ah) of the Advocates Act, 1961. It tests whether a law graduate has the minimum professional competence to practise. Clearing it is what entitles an advocate to the Certificate of Practice.

29 November 2026. Registration opened on 19 August 2026 and closes on 27 October 2026, with online payment to 28 October and corrections to 30 October. The admit card goes live on 14 November 2026.

Rule 10(1)(a) of the Bar Council of India Rules provides that the Bar Examination shall be held at least twice each year, in such months and at such places as the Bar Council may determine from time to time.

100 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours, for 100 marks, one mark per correct answer with no negative marking. That works out at ninety seconds a question. Eligible PwD candidates receive 20 minutes extra per hour.

Nineteen subjects, with the following weightage: Constitutional Law 10, CrPC and BNSS 10, CPC 10, IPC and BNS 8, Evidence Act and BSA 8, Contract with Specific Relief, Property and Negotiable Instruments 8, Family Law 8, Tort with Motor Vehicles and Consumer Protection 5, Professional Ethics 4, ADR including Arbitration 4, Taxation 4, Public Interest Litigation 4, Labour and Industrial Laws 4, Administrative Law 3, and Company Law, Environmental Law, Cyber Law, Land Acquisition and Intellectual Property Laws at 2 each.

Online, through the official AIBE website. Create a login, complete the registration form, upload the prescribed documents, and pay the fee online. Candidates who sat AIBE XX or AIBE XXI and did not qualify should not register afresh; the Bar Council’s notice of 19 August 2026 states that they may log in with their existing User ID and password.

₹3,500 for General and OBC candidates and ₹2,500 for SC, ST and PwD candidates, payable online. The last date for payment is 28 October 2026, a day after registration closes. Bank charges or taxes may be levied in addition.

Registration closes on 27 October 2026. Online payment runs to 28 October 2026 and the correction window closes on 30 October 2026. The three are not the same deadline.

Yes. The mode is offline, pen and paper, and open book. Candidates may carry Bare Acts without notes, comments or annotations.

The instruction printed on the AIBE question paper reads: “Bare Acts without notes are allowed. In case of unavailability of Bare Acts without notes, Bare Acts with least short Notes will be allowed subject to the discretion of the Examiner/Invigilator.”

Bare Acts without notes are therefore allowed as of right. Anything carrying short notes is allowed only at the discretion of the examiner or invigilator, which is not a permission to rely on. Printouts of Bare Acts as published in the Official Gazette, and bare indexes of Acts, may also be carried. Guides, textbooks, commentaries and annotated editions are not allowed.

In practice, no. Bare Acts marked with pen or highlighter are frequently rejected at the centre, even where the underlying Act is permitted. Carry clean, unmarked copies, and treat permissibility as subject to verification by the invigilator. Taxmann’s Bare Acts for the AIBE are published without comments for this reason.

A printed admit card and a valid government-issued photo ID such as Aadhaar, Passport, Voter ID or Driving Licence. Entry is refused without both. Carry two printed copies of the admit card.

Candidates with 40% or more disability are entitled to 20 minutes of extra time per hour, on production of a valid disability certificate. Scribes are permitted as per Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment guidelines. The scribe must be two to three academic years below the candidate’s qualification, must not be from humanities with Political Science or Legal Studies, and must carry valid school ID, age proof and address proof. Candidates arrange their own scribe.

45% for General and OBC candidates and 40% for SC, ST and PwD candidates. On a paper of 100 questions that is 45 marks and 40 marks.

Two mechanisms move it. Where questions are withdrawn after the objection window they are removed from evaluation with no bonus marking, and the paper is marked out of the reduced total: in AIBE XX five questions were withdrawn, so the paper was scored out of 95 and the pass mark became 43 and 38. Separately, the Monitoring Committee may moderate a result: for AIBE XXI it reduced the qualifying marks by three, to 42 and 37, on a paper marked out of 100.

The Bar Council’s press release of 18 July 2026 gives the result declaration for AIBE XXII as between 7 and 10 January 2027, following the provisional answer key, the objection window and the final answer key.

No. Rule 10(1)(e) of the Bar Council of India Rules provides that an unsuccessful advocate may appear again for the Bar Examination without any limit on the number of attempts, and no penalty attaches to reappearing.

Effectively, yes, and it is separate from the examination. A law graduate who enrols with a State Bar Council before clearing the AIBE receives a provisional enrolment certificate. It permits work under a senior advocate but not independent practice or appearance in court, and it is valid for two years from the date of enrolment. The AIBE has to be passed within that period for the enrolment to remain effective.

Rule 11(1) of the Bar Council of India Rules requires the Certificate of Practice to be issued by the Bar Council of India, to the address of the successful advocate, within 30 days of the date of declaration of results, under the signature of the Chairman. The result process and CoP guide sets out the steps.

Enrolment registers a law graduate as an advocate with a State Bar Council. The AIBE, and the Certificate of Practice that follows it, determine whether that advocate may actually practise. An enrolled advocate without a Certificate of Practice cannot represent clients in court.

Not independently. Until the Certificate of Practice is issued, a provisionally enrolled advocate may work under a senior advocate but may not appear independently in court.

Yes. The Certificate of Practice is required to appear before any court, tribunal or legal authority in India, and once held it allows practice in any court across the country. Enrolment and the certificate are of lifetime validity, with no requirement to reappear.

Work the Bare Acts you will actually carry, not a summary of them, and tab them at chapter level so you can reach a provision quickly. Work past papers under timed conditions rather than reading them. Prepare the conceptual material separately, because roughly a quarter of a recent paper turns on case law and doctrine and cannot be answered from a Bare Act at all. Keep the criminal codes current: recent papers have asked under the BNS, BNSS and BSA and under the codes they replace, in the same paper.

Yes. The Bar Council publishes each paper on the official AIBE portal during the objection window that follows the examination. Taxmann’s CRACKER for the AIBE carries 1,162 solved questions from twelve papers, AIBE X to AIBE XXI, regrouped subject by subject with an answer key closing each subject, plus three full-length mock tests with practice OMR sheets.