AILET, the All India Law Entrance Test, is the single admission test that National Law University Delhi runs entirely on its own, for its own five-year BA LLB (Hons.) and one-year LLM programmes. Unlike the other National Law Universities, NLU Delhi is not a member of the Consortium of NLUs and does not accept CLAT scores at all; a candidate who wants a seat at NLU Delhi specifically must sit AILET, even if they are also sitting CLAT for the other 24 NLUs. AILET 2026 drew 23,960 BA LLB registrations (22,532 appeared) and 3,257 LLM registrations, competing for just 120 BA LLB seats and 81 LLM seats. The AILET 2026 admission cycle has fully closed; the AILET 2027 notification is expected soon, with the exam itself likely falling in mid-December 2026. A separate test, AIET, covers NLU Delhi’s PhD and insolvency-law programmes, not this exam.
| Date | Update | Source |
|---|---|---|
| May 9, 2026 | AILET 2026 counselling completed after four allotment rounds for both BA LLB and LLM | National Law University Delhi |
| February 4, 2026 | AILET 2026 third seat allotment list released | National Law University Delhi |
| January 8, 2026 | AILET 2026 first provisional seat allotment list released, 6:00 PM | National Law University Delhi |
| December 19 to December 27, 2025 | AILET 2026 counselling registration window (invited candidates only) | National Law University Delhi |
| December 18, 2025 | AILET 2026 result declared, 3:15 PM; final answer key published for BA LLB and LLM | National Law University Delhi |
| December 14, 2025 | AILET 2026 exam conducted nationwide, offline pen-and-paper mode, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM | National Law University Delhi |
| Full name | All India Law Entrance Test |
| Acronym | AILET |
| Conducting body | National Law University Delhi (NLU Delhi), directly, not a consortium |
| Mode | Offline, pen-and-paper (OMR-based) |
| Level | National |
| Frequency | Annual, single sitting (typically a Sunday in mid-December) |
| Tracks | AILET BA LLB (Hons.) and AILET LLM, separate applications and fees, same exam day |
| Question format | Standalone multiple-choice questions |
| Total marks (BA LLB) | 150 |
| Total marks (LLM) | 100 |
| Duration | 120 minutes (2 hours) for both tracks |
| Question count (BA LLB) | 150 across 3 sections |
| Question count (LLM) | 100, drawn from mandatory LLB subjects |
| Negative marking | -0.25 per incorrect answer; 0 for unattempted |
| Marks per question | +1 |
| Application fee (2026 cycle, revised) | ₹3,000 General/OBC; ₹1,000 SC/ST/PwD; SC/ST/BPL women exempt |
| Official website | nationallawuniversitydelhi.in |
| 2026 cycle registrations | 23,960 BA LLB (22,532 appeared), 3,257 LLM (2,787 appeared) |
| Participating institution | National Law University Delhi only, a single institution (unlike CLAT’s 24-NLU pool) |
| Seats offered (2026 cycle) | 120 BA LLB (110 Indian Nationals, 10 Foreign Nationals/OCI/PIO); 81 LLM |
| Notification released | June 17, 2025 (revised July 22, 2025) |
| Registration window | August 7 to November 10, 2025 (extended) |
| Admit card released | November 26, 2025 |
| Exam date | December 14, 2025 (Sunday, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM) |
| Objection window on provisional answer key | Until December 16, 2025, 12:00 PM, ₹500 per objection fee |
| Final answer key and result | December 18, 2025, 3:15 PM |
| Notification | Late June to July 2026 tentative |
| Registration window opens | Early August 2026 tentative |
| Registration window closes | Early-to-mid November 2026 tentative |
| Exam date | Mid-December 2026 (roughly a week after CLAT, based on 2026-cycle spacing) tentative |
| Counselling registration opens (invite-only) | Mid-to-late December 2026 (anchored on 2025 cycle: December 19, 2025) tentative |
| Counselling registration closes | Late December 2026 (anchored on 2025 cycle: December 27, 2025) tentative |
| First seat allotment list | Early January 2027 (anchored on 2026 cycle: January 8, 2026) tentative |
| Third seat allotment list | Early February 2027 (anchored on 2026 cycle: February 4, 2026) tentative |
| Counselling completed (fourth and final round) | Early May 2027 (anchored on 2026 cycle: May 9, 2026) tentative |
AILET eligibility, like CLAT’s, is really two separate rule sets, since the BA LLB and LLM tracks admit into different degree levels, plus a distinct rule for Foreign Nationals, OCI, and PIO candidates. AILET BA LLB requires a Class 12 pass (or appearing candidate) with 45% aggregate marks for General and OBC candidates, and 40% for SC, ST, and PwD candidates, with no upper age limit. AILET LLM requires an LLB degree with 50% aggregate marks for General and OBC candidates, and 45% for SC, ST, and PwD candidates, also with no upper age limit.
| Age limit (BA LLB and LLM) | No upper or lower age limit. NLU Delhi has not fixed an age cap for either track. |
| Qualifying exam, BA LLB | Class 12 pass (or equivalent) in any previous year, or appearing in the admission year, with eligibility verified against original documents at counselling. |
| Educational qualification, BA LLB | 45% Class 12 aggregate for General/OBC; 40% for SC/ST/PwD; 65% for Foreign Nationals/OCI/PIO. |
| Qualifying degree, LLM | An LLB (three-year or five-year integrated) or equivalent law degree; candidates awaiting final results may apply, subject to proof at counselling. |
| Educational qualification, LLM | 50% LLB aggregate for General/OBC; 45% for SC/ST/PwD; 55% for Foreign Nationals. |
| Number of attempts (BA LLB and LLM) | Uncapped. A candidate may reappear any year they meet the qualification requirement, matching CLAT’s uncapped-attempts structure. |
| Seat pool structure | All seats filled through a single All India merit list; NLU Delhi does not operate a domicile or home-state quota. Of 120 BA LLB seats, 110 are for Indian Nationals and 10 for Foreign Nationals/OCI/PIO. |
The AILET application is fully online through NLU Delhi’s own admissions portal at nationallawuniversitydelhi.in, entirely separate from the Consortium’s CLAT portal. For the AILET 2026 cycle the registration window ran August 7 to November 10, 2025 (extended). A candidate applying for both BA LLB and LLM must submit two separate applications, since they are treated as distinct entrance processes with separate fees, even though both are answered on the same exam day.
| Document | Format | Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photograph | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the admission notice | Recent, plain background, face clearly visible |
| Signature | JPG / JPEG | As specified in the admission notice | Handwritten, scanned, not typed or stylised |
| Class 10 certificate (DoB proof) | As specified in the admission notice | Required at application for BA LLB candidates | |
| LLB degree or provisional certificate | As specified in the admission notice | Required for LLM candidates; final-year students upload a bona fide or provisional certificate instead | |
| Category certificate (if applicable) | As specified in the admission notice | OBC / SC / ST / PwD / BPL as relevant |
| Category | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| General / OBC | ₹3,000 | ₹3,000 |
| SC / ST / PwD | ₹1,000 | ₹1,000 |
| SC / ST / BPL women | Exempt | Exempt |
AILET BA LLB carries 150 questions across three sections: English Language (50 questions), Current Affairs and General Knowledge (30 questions), and Logical Reasoning (70 questions). Every question is a standalone multiple-choice question, unlike CLAT’s fully passage-based format. Total marks are 150, with +1 for a correct answer and -0.25 for an incorrect answer, no sectional time limit within the 120-minute window. AILET LLM carries 100 MCQs in the same 120 minutes with the same marking, drawn broadly from mandatory LLB subjects (Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Contract, Torts, Criminal Law, Property Law, Company Law, and others) rather than the three BA LLB sections.
| Mode | Offline, pen-and-paper (OMR-based) |
| Duration | 120 minutes (2 hours) for both tracks |
| Question format | Standalone multiple-choice questions |
| Total questions (BA LLB) | 150 |
| Total questions (LLM) | 100 |
| Total marks (BA LLB) | 150 |
| Total marks (LLM) | 100 |
| Marks per correct | +1 |
| Negative marking | -0.25 per incorrect answer |
| Unattempted | 0, no penalty |
| AILET BA LLB sections | English Language (50 questions, ~33%), Current Affairs and GK (30 questions, ~20%), Logical Reasoning (70 questions, ~47%) |
| AILET LLM structure | 100 standalone MCQs across mandatory LLB subjects (Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Administrative Law, Contract, Torts, Family Law, Criminal Law, Property Law, Company Law, Public International Law, Tax Law, Environmental Law, Labour and Industrial Law); no published per-subject weightage |
AILET BA LLB’s pattern changed meaningfully entering the 2026 cycle: the standalone Legal Aptitude and Elementary Mathematics sections were dropped, duration was extended from 90 to 120 minutes, and the remaining questions were redistributed into the current three-section, 150-question format, with legal-principle questions folded into the enlarged Logical Reasoning section. AILET LLM was simplified in the same cycle from a two-section format with a descriptive component to a single 100-question MCQ-only paper. AILET 2027 is expected to follow this current format pending the official notification.
Under +1/-0.25 marking, the break-even rule is the same as CLAT’s: eliminating at least one of four options before guessing raises a candidate’s odds above the 1-in-4 break-even point, a positive expected-value decision, while a pure blind guess on four options is break-even. Because AILET’s Logical Reasoning section alone carries 70 of the paper’s 150 marks, roughly 47%, a candidate’s command of pattern-based and legal-principle reasoning drives a proportionally larger share of the final score than in CLAT’s more evenly distributed five-section structure.
Unlike CLAT’s passage-based format, AILET BA LLB tests each subject through direct, standalone multiple-choice questions rather than a fixed reading extract, closer to a conventional topic list than CLAT’s comprehension-first structure. The breakdown below reflects NLU Delhi’s own published section weightages and recent past-paper analysis.
The largest section by question count (50 of 150), testing reading comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary directly rather than embedded exclusively in a passage.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Reading comprehension | 30-35% of section | Passage-based main idea, inference, and author’s intent questions |
| Vocabulary | 25-30% of section | Synonyms, antonyms, word usage |
| Grammar and sentence correction | 20-25% of section | Error identification, sentence structure |
| Idioms and verbal ability | 10-15% of section | Idiomatic usage, fill-in-the-blank, one-word substitution |
A smaller share of the paper than CLAT’s equivalent section (25%), covering static GK alongside recent-events current affairs rather than CLAT’s near-exclusive 12-month news focus.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| National and international current affairs | 40-45% of section | Government policy, major events, appointments, international relations |
| Static general knowledge | 25-30% of section | History, geography, polity, science |
| Legal and constitutional awareness | 15-20% of section | Landmark judgments, constitutional provisions, legal terminology |
| Sports, awards, and honours | 10-15% of section | Recent sporting events, national and international awards |
The dominant section by weightage since the 2026 pattern change absorbed the prior Legal Aptitude section’s principle-and-fact-pattern questions. No prior legal knowledge is assumed; any stated legal principle is given within the question.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Legal-principle application (folded in from former Legal Aptitude) | 25-30% of section | Applying a stated legal rule to a hypothetical fact pattern |
| Analytical and pattern-based reasoning | 25-30% of section | Series, coding-decoding, analogies, ranking |
| Syllogism and logical deduction | 15-20% of section | Assertion-reason, syllogism, statement-conclusion |
| Blood relations and arrangement puzzles | 10-15% of section | Seating arrangement, blood relations, direction sense |
| Critical reasoning and argument analysis | 10-15% of section | Identifying assumptions, strengthening and weakening arguments |
No official per-subject weightage is published for AILET LLM; questions are drawn broadly across the mandatory subjects of a standard LLB curriculum, the same subject list CLAT PG draws from.
| Unit | Weightage | Key topics |
|---|---|---|
| Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Administrative Law | Not published | Fundamental rights, legal theory, administrative action |
| Contract, Torts, Family Law | Not published | Contract formation and breach, negligence, personal law |
| Criminal Law, Property Law, Company Law | Not published | Offences and defences, property rights, corporate governance |
| Public International Law, Tax Law, Environmental Law, Labour and Industrial Law | Not published | Treaties and international obligations, taxation principles, environmental regulation, labour rights |
A defensible AILET preparation plan treats the exam’s standalone-question, Logical-Reasoning-heavy format as the central fact. Unlike CLAT’s comprehension-first structure, AILET rewards direct topic mastery, particularly in Logical Reasoning, which alone determines nearly half the final score. The plans below assume a candidate is also preparing for CLAT in parallel, since the two exams share enough underlying skills that most serious NLU Delhi aspirants sit both.
12-month plan
Months 1-4: Build a daily reading habit and a current-affairs log. The same foundation CLAT preparation requires. Begin light logical reasoning practice, focused on pattern-based question types (series, coding-decoding, analogies) rather than legal-principle sets, since AILET's Logical Reasoning section is broader in scope than CLAT's dedicated Legal Reasoning section.
Months 5-8: Layer in dedicated Logical Reasoning practice at volume. The section carries 70 of 150 marks. Begin timed sectional practice, aiming well under a minute per question given AILET's tighter per-question time budget than CLAT's passage-based pacing. Start one full-length AILET-format mock every two weeks from month 6.
Months 9-12: Mock-heavy phase, alternating AILET and CLAT formats. Two full-length AILET mocks per week from month 9, rising to three to four per week in the final six weeks, with dedicated post-mock review of Logical Reasoning errors specifically, since that section has the largest single impact on the final score.
6-month plan
Months 1-3: Combine current-affairs reading with Logical Reasoning practice from day one. The section's outsized 47% weightage leaves little room to defer it. Work through a dedicated logical and analytical reasoning book covering series, syllogism, and puzzle-based question types.
Months 4-5: Begin weekly full-length AILET-format mocks. Calibrate against the most recent one or two cycles' actual papers first, since the 2026 pattern change means older AILET papers under the previous five-section format no longer reflect the current test.
Month 6: Mock-heavy. Three to four full-length AILET-format tests weekly, with time-per-question discipline as the core focus, since AILET's 150 questions in 120 minutes leaves less time per question on average than CLAT's 120 questions in the same window.
90-day plan
Days 1-30: Triage toward Logical Reasoning first. Given its 47% weightage, a candidate with limited time should prioritise this section over English or Current Affairs and GK, both smaller shares of the paper.
Days 31-60: Mock-heavy. One mock per day from day 31, all under strict 120-minute timing, with particular attention to time-per-question pacing across all 150 questions, since AILET has a tighter average time budget per question than CLAT.
Days 61-90: Stamina and review. Mocks every alternate day, with the final ten days split between a current-affairs review of roughly the preceding twelve months and a final Logical Reasoning accuracy push, since both are the sections most sensitive to last-minute preparation and to score, respectively.
Coaching genuinely helps candidates who are new to Logical Reasoning as a dedicated discipline, since AILET's heavy reliance on that single section rewards focused practice more than broad reading. For most other candidates, particularly those already preparing for CLAT, a full separate offline coaching programme just for AILET is rarely necessary; the reading and current-affairs habits CLAT preparation already builds transfer directly, and the incremental preparation AILET specifically requires is concentrated Logical Reasoning practice that a good reasoning book and disciplined mock schedule can cover without a second full coaching enrolment.
Several test-series providers (LegalEdge, Career Launcher's CL-LST, IMS, LawPrep Tutorial) publish AILET-specific mock series alongside their CLAT series, typically bundled or offered at a modest incremental cost for candidates already enrolled in a CLAT-focused programme. Honest take: a candidate who has already built strong CLAT-prep fundamentals and adds a dedicated AILET mock series in the final two to three months usually does not need a separate ground-up coaching course for AILET alone.
Topper insight (pending)
Verified AILET topper from the 2025 or 2026 cycle, rank inside the top 50 (either BA LLB or LLM), with scorecard verification, willing to be quoted by name. AILET 2026 toppers were named in press coverage and on aggregator sites, but a publicly reported name without direct outreach and explicit consent to be quoted does not meet this page’s sourcing bar; those names were deliberately not used. Format to be used once a contributor is sourced: "[Name], AIR [rank] in AILET [year] [BA LLB/LLM], recommends [specific tactic]. ‘[direct quote in their own words],’ they say."
| Book | Subject | Price (₹) | One-line take |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning (R.S. Aggarwal) | Logical Reasoning | 400 | The most widely used general reasoning book for standalone-question formats like AILET’s; strong on the pattern-based question types that dominate the section. |
| Analytical Reasoning (M.K. Pandey) | Logical Reasoning | 450 | Strong on argument-structure and critical-reasoning question types, a useful complement to R.S. Aggarwal’s more pattern-heavy coverage. |
| Legal Aptitude for CLAT and Other Law Entrance Exams (A.P. Bhardwaj) | Logical Reasoning (legal-principle subset) | 500 | Still useful for AILET’s legal-principle questions even though AILET no longer has a standalone Legal Aptitude section, since the underlying question type persists inside Logical Reasoning. |
| Lucent’s General Knowledge | Current Affairs and GK (static component) | 200 | Good for the static-GK slice of the section; needs pairing with a current news source for the section’s news-heavy remainder. |
| Word Power Made Easy (Norman Lewis) | English Language | 350 | Standard vocabulary builder; pairs with daily newspaper reading rather than replacing it. |
LegalEdge and Career Launcher’s CL-LST both publish AILET-specific mock tests, typically as an add-on to their CLAT test series rather than a fully separate programme. IMS and LawPrep Tutorial offer comparable AILET mock series. A candidate with solid CLAT-prep fundamentals plus a dedicated AILET mock series in the final stretch typically covers what is needed without a ground-up separate coaching enrolment.
The activity with the highest score-to-effort ratio in exam prep is mock-test analysis. Solving a mock takes hours; analysing it correctly takes longer. Most candidates skip the analysis. The candidates who score well do not.
| Year | Difficulty | Hardest section | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Moderate-Hard | Logical Reasoning | First cycle under the new three-section, 150-question, 120-minute format; the enlarged Logical Reasoning section (70 of 150 marks) drew the most reported difficulty |
| 2025 | Moderate-Hard | Legal Aptitude (since discontinued as a standalone section) | Last cycle run under the older five-section, 90-minute format before the 2026 pattern change |
| 2024 | Moderate | Legal Aptitude | Legal Aptitude and Quantitative Techniques consistently reported as the more time-consuming sections under the older format |
| 2023 | Moderate | English Language | Denser comprehension passages reported relative to prior years |
| 2022 | Moderate | Legal Aptitude | Principle-and-fact-pattern questions reported as the section requiring the most careful reading under time pressure |
Logical Reasoning questions concentrate most heavily on pattern-based formats (series, coding-decoding, analogies) alongside legal-principle application questions absorbed from the former Legal Aptitude section. Current Affairs and GK draws from a broader mix of static and recent-events content than CLAT’s news-only focus, with a recurring block on legal and constitutional awareness. English Language concentrates on reading comprehension and vocabulary, tested as standalone questions rather than exclusively within a passage.
| Year | General | OBC-NCL | EWS | SC | ST | PwD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AILET has no separate qualifying cutoff | The unified merit list rank itself is the only cutoff that matters; the admission cutoff table below is the complete picture | — | — | — | — | — |
| College | General (HS) | General (OS) | OBC (OS) | SC (OS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Law University Delhi, BA LLB (third allotment list, General, 2026) | — | 71 | — | — |
Our 2027 admission cutoff projection uses the AILET 2026 cycle’s third-list closing rank as the latest confirmed reference point, applies no drift correction beyond noting AILET’s registration count has grown steadily since its first cycle, and has not been calibrated against any confirmed AILET 2027 figures, since the exam has not been conducted as of this review. Treat any 2027-specific number as provisional until National Law University Delhi publishes the actual merit list and allotment data. The confirmed final (fourth) allotment list closing rank for AILET 2026 by category was not available in this research pass; aggregator figures for that specific round were inconsistent and are not used here.
Use the College Predictor with full methodology disclosure →AILET results are typically declared by NLU Delhi within days of the exam, after the short objection window on the provisional answer key closes and the final answer key is locked. The AILET 2026 result was declared December 18, 2025, at 3:15 PM, just four days after the exam, faster than CLAT’s typical two-to-three-week turnaround. Scorecards are downloadable from nationallawuniversitydelhi.in using the application number and password used at registration.
An AILET rank is valid only for that cycle’s own counselling at NLU Delhi; it cannot be carried forward to a later year’s admission cycle. A candidate who does not secure or accept a seat in a given cycle must reappear the following year for a fresh rank.
AILET is conducted as a single offline sitting nationwide, not across multiple computer-based shifts, so the shift-to-shift percentile normalisation that exams like JEE Main require does not apply. Every candidate answers the same paper under the same conditions on the same day.
NLU Delhi accepts objections to the provisional answer key for a short window, roughly two days for the 2026 cycle (through December 16, 2025, 12:00 PM), with a ₹500 fee per objected question. Ordinarily, no further changes are made once the final answer key is locked. Unlike CLAT’s 2025 cycle, which saw a court-directed re-evaluation, no comparable judicial intervention has been reported for AILET in recent cycles.
AILET counselling is run entirely by National Law University Delhi itself, for its own seats only. This is the exam’s single biggest operational contrast with CLAT: where the Consortium of NLUs coordinates a rank-ordered, multi-round process across 24 member universities, NLU Delhi’s counselling exists purely to fill its own 120 BA LLB and 81 LLM seats, based on AILET rank within category. As with CLAT, counselling registration is not open to everyone who applied; only candidates whose rank clears a threshold, roughly three times the number of available seats for the 2026 cycle, are invited to register.
Because AILET counselling fills seats at exactly one institution, the "choice filling" decision is fundamentally different from CLAT's. A CLAT candidate ranks 24 universities against each other; an AILET candidate is deciding whether to accept a seat in a specific BA LLB or LLM cohort at NLU Delhi at all, since there is no second AILET-accepting institution to rank against it.
Do not assume a rank just outside an early round's cutoff means the cycle is over. As in CLAT's counselling, later rounds open up as higher-ranked candidates who hold offers elsewhere, including at CLAT-accepting NLUs, decline or fail to confirm their AILET seat; track every round rather than stopping after the first list.
Treat the counselling fee and the seat confirmation amount as two separate, sizeable payments. At ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 for counselling registration plus a further ₹50,000 for seat confirmation in the first round, the combined upfront cost is substantial, and a candidate should confirm genuine intent to join NLU Delhi before committing to both.
A candidate juggling both CLAT and AILET offers should map out the payment and freeze deadlines for both processes side by side. Since the two counselling calendars run largely in parallel through December to May, missing one process's deadline while focused on the other is a real and avoidable risk.
After the fourth and final allotment round, NLU Delhi may separately announce a spot round for any seats that remain vacant, typically requiring physical reporting on short notice. Check the university’s official website directly for spot-round announcements rather than relying on aggregator coverage.
Talk to a counsellor about your strategy →Top 1 AILET-accepting institutes by NIRF Engineering rank. Each links to the full college page with placements, fees, hostel, and student reviews.
| NIRF rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| #2 | National Law University Delhi | New Delhi |
| Comparison | Mode | Conducting body | Frequency | College scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AILET vs CLAT | Pen-and-paper vs pen-and-paper | NLU Delhi itself vs Consortium of NLUs | Annual vs Annual | NLU Delhi only vs 24 Consortium NLUs |
| AILET vs SLAT (Symbiosis) | Pen-and-paper vs computer-based | NLU Delhi itself vs Symbiosis International | Annual vs Annual | NLU Delhi only vs Symbiosis Law School campuses only |
| AILET vs LSAT India | Pen-and-paper vs computer-based | NLU Delhi itself vs Law School Admission Council (India) | Annual, single sitting vs Multiple sessions | NLU Delhi only vs a separate network of private law colleges |
| AILET BA LLB vs AILET LLM | Standalone MCQ, 150 questions vs standalone MCQ, 100 questions | Same university, separate papers | Both annual | 5-year integrated law degree admission vs LLM admission |
Pending verified contributors
6 to 8 verified test-taker reviews required. Curation mix: one recent AILET BA LLB topper (top 1 percentile), one AILET LLM candidate for the postgraduate-track perspective, one average rank-holder who secured a seat in a later allotment round, one non-qualifier or candidate who did not clear the counselling invitation threshold, one repeat test-taker, one first-attempt test-taker, and one candidate who sat both AILET and CLAT in the same cycle. All must be scorecard-verified and year-stamped. Without these the page cannot meet the experiential E-E-A-T moat requirement.
The AILET 2027 notification has not been released as of this page’s last review. Based on National Law University Delhi’s typical release rhythm, the notification is expected around late June to July 2026, registration around early August 2026, and the exam itself around mid-December 2026, roughly a week after CLAT’s expected exam date based on the spacing observed in the 2026 cycle. All dates are tentative until the official notification confirms them.
AILET is run directly by National Law University Delhi for admission to its own BA LLB and LLM programmes only. CLAT is run by the Consortium of NLUs for admission to 24 other National Law Universities; NLU Delhi is not a Consortium member and does not accept CLAT scores. AILET has 150 questions to CLAT’s 120, uses standalone MCQs rather than CLAT’s passage-based format, and is markedly more competitive, with roughly 188 candidates per seat compared to CLAT’s roughly 20 to 25 candidates per seat.
A Class 12 pass (or appearing candidate) with 45% aggregate marks for General and OBC candidates, or 40% for SC, ST, and PwD candidates. Foreign Nationals, OCI, and PIO candidates need 65%. There is no upper age limit and no cap on the number of attempts.
An LLB degree (or a candidate awaiting final results, subject to proof at counselling) with 50% aggregate marks for General and OBC candidates, or 45% for SC, ST, and PwD candidates. Foreign Nationals need 55%. There is no upper age limit.
Yes, but they are treated as two entirely separate applications with separate fees, even though both exams are held on the same day. A candidate eligible for both tracks, unusual since BA LLB requires Class 12 status and LLM requires an LLB, would need to submit two applications.
No. Those programmes, along with the Joint Master’s/LLM in Intellectual Property Law and Management, are admitted through a separate test called AIET (the All-India Entrance Test), held on a different date under a different notification. AILET covers only the BA LLB and LLM tracks.
AILET tests every question as a standalone multiple-choice item, unlike CLAT’s fully passage-based format built around roughly 450-word extracts. AILET’s Logical Reasoning section alone carries 70 of 150 marks, close to half the paper, a much larger single-section concentration than any one of CLAT’s five more evenly weighted sections.
Rough benchmarks for the General category BA LLB seat pool, based on the 2026 cycle’s third allotment list: a rank around 71 or better secured a General-category seat at that stage of counselling; the final round typically closes at a somewhat higher rank, though the confirmed final figure for 2026 was not available in this research pass.
NLU Delhi’s founding Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Ranbir Singh, explained in 2012 that a key factor was that NLU Delhi would have entered the Consortium as the 13th law school on students’ preference lists, behind the older NLUs, alongside cited administrative and financial autonomy concerns. NLU Delhi chose instead to build its own admission process, AILET, which has grown from roughly 4,000 applications in its first year to over 23,000 for BA LLB alone by the 2026 cycle.
Similar to CLAT, AILET counselling registration is not open to every candidate who took the exam. Only candidates whose rank clears NLU Delhi’s own threshold, roughly three times the seat count, are invited to register and pay the counselling fee (₹30,000 General, ₹20,000 SC/ST/OBC/EWS/PwD in the 2026 cycle), followed by a separate seat confirmation payment once allotted.
Yes, entirely separate. The application fee (₹3,000 General/OBC, ₹1,000 SC/ST/PwD in the revised 2026 cycle) is paid when applying for the exam itself. The counselling fee (₹30,000 or ₹20,000 depending on category) and the separate seat confirmation amount (₹50,000 for the first round in the 2026 cycle) are much larger payments made only after being invited into counselling and allotted a seat.
There is no cap on the number of attempts for either AILET BA LLB or AILET LLM. A candidate can reapply every year as long as the underlying educational eligibility, Class 12 status for BA LLB or LLB status for LLM, continues to be met.
No, particularly for a candidate already preparing for CLAT, since the two exams share substantial preparation overlap in reading and current-affairs habits. The incremental preparation AILET specifically requires is concentrated Logical Reasoning practice, which a dedicated reasoning book and a disciplined mock schedule can usually cover without a full separate coaching enrolment.
No. NLU Delhi does not accept CLAT scores under any circumstance; a candidate targeting NLU Delhi specifically must sit AILET separately, even if they hold a strong CLAT rank that secures a seat at one of the 24 Consortium NLUs.
Sources
