All India Bar Examination

The All India Bar Examination (AIBE) is the qualifying test that the Bar Council of India (BCI) conducts for law graduates who want to practise as advocates. Clearing the AIBE exam earns you the Certificate of Practice, which you need to continue practising in courts and tribunals across India after enrolment with a State Bar Council. The exam is held twice a year, and the current cycle is AIBE XXII, scheduled for 29 November 2026.

This page brings the essentials together in one place: AIBE XXII dates, who can apply, the paper pattern, the 19 subjects and how many questions each carries, the open-book rule for bare acts, passing marks from recent cycles and a practical preparation plan. Two things changed the picture in 2026. The BCI lowered the qualifying marks for AIBE XXI after moderation, and the latest question booklet states a three-hour paper, so use this page together with the official notices rather than older guides.

Table of Contents

• AIBE Exam at a Glance

• What the AIBE Means for Your Career

• AIBE XXII Important Dates

• AIBE Eligibility in Brief

• Application Fee and How to Apply

• AIBE Exam Pattern

• AIBE Syllabus Summary

• Passing Marks and Recent Results

• After the Exam: Answer Key, Result and Certificate of Practice

• How to Prepare for the AIBE Exam

AIBE Exam at a Glance

Official website: https://www.allindiabarexamination.com/

What the AIBE Means for Your Career

The AIBE does not rank candidates and does not lead to a job. It is a minimum-standard test. The BCI introduced it under its rule-making powers in the Advocates Act, 1961, and made it mandatory for law students graduating from the 2009-2010 academic year onward.

The usual route works like this. You complete your LL.B, enrol with a State Bar Council on an undertaking to pass the AIBE, and practise on that provisional basis. Once you pass, the BCI issues the Certificate of Practice, and you can practise in any court in India and appear before tribunals and other bodies. According to the official AIBE website, provisional enrolment comes with an undertaking to pass within two years, and you may take the exam as many times as you need.

• It is pass or fail: There is no merit list. Your only target is the qualifying score for your category.

• It tests practical law: Questions lean on procedure, bare-act provisions and professional ethics rather than theory.

• It is open book: Your ability to find a section quickly in a bare act matters almost as much as memory.

AIBE XXII Important Dates

The BCI announced the AIBE XXII schedule along with the AIBE XXI result on 18 July 2026. The dates below come from that announcement.

Tentative dates come from the BCI schedule and can change, and registration deadlines have been extended in some past cycles. Track the notices on the official AIBE website and your registered email. For reference, AIBE XXI was held on 7 June 2026 and AIBE XX on 30 November 2025.

AIBE Eligibility in Brief

The official AIBE notification limits the exam to law students and graduates of BCI-recognised universities or BCI-approved colleges. You can register if you fall into one of these groups:

• Final-semester students: Students in the final semester of a 3-year or 5-year LL.B with no backlog from earlier semesters.

• Awaiting degree: Graduates who have finished the course and are waiting for the degree to be conferred.

• Graduates not enrolled: LL.B degree holders who have not enrolled with a State Bar Council, or who surrendered their enrolment.

• Enrolled advocates: Advocates enrolled on an undertaking to pass the AIBE.

Students and graduates of institutions that the BCI does not recognise cannot appear, and the notification puts the duty of checking recognition on the candidate. The notification sets no minimum LL.B percentage and no age limit. Final-semester and employed candidates sign an undertaking and upload self-attested semester marksheets. The full rules, including documents for each category, are on the AIBE eligibility guide.

Application Fee and How to Apply

Registration, fee payment and corrections run only online through the AIBE portal linked from the official website.

These fee figures are as reported for the current cycle and were not printed in a notice we could read in full. Confirm the amount, and the PwD fee, on the payment screen of the portal before you pay.

1. Register: Open the AIBE portal, verify your mobile number and email by OTP, and create your login. The registered mobile number cannot be changed later.

2. Fill the form: Enter personal, academic and enrolment details, and choose your exam city and language of the question paper.

3. Upload documents: Photograph, signature, LL.B marksheets or degree, enrolment certificate if enrolled, and the signed undertaking where your category needs one.

4. Pay the fee: Pay online before the payment deadline.

5. Check and correct: Use the correction window carefully. In AIBE XXI, mobile number, email, PwD status, caste category and exam city were not editable after payment.

Registration portal: https://aibe.digivarsity.online/WebApp/Forms/Authentication.aspx

AIBE Exam Pattern

The AIBE is a single objective paper. There are no sections with separate timing and no sectional qualifying marks.

What this means for you:

• Attempt every question: With no negative marking, a blank answer can only cost you.

• Use the bare act sparingly: At under two minutes per question, you cannot look up every answer. Look up only the questions that turn on an exact section number or wording.

• Mark the set code correctly: An error in the set code or roll number can get your OMR rejected.

Older pages may still show a three-and-a-half-hour paper. The AIBE XXI booklet printed three hours, so check the instructions on your admit card and booklet. The full breakdown is on the AIBE exam pattern page.

AIBE Syllabus Summary

The BCI published the AIBE XXII syllabus on 13 October 2026. It keeps the 19 subjects and 100-question split used in AIBE XXI. Criminal law subjects list both the old codes and the new ones (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam).

The seven subjects at the top of the table carry 62 of the 100 questions, so that is where most of your hours should go. Topic-level guidance for every subject is on the AIBE syllabus page.

Passing Marks and Recent Results

The standard rule is 45% for General and OBC candidates and 40% for SC, ST and PwD candidates. In practice, the BCI's Monitoring Committee has adjusted the pass mark in each recent cycle, by withdrawing questions or by lowering the score.

The XXI and XX figures come from BCI press releases as reported at the time; the XIX figures are as reported and indicative. Treat any relaxation as a bonus, not a plan, and aim for at least 55 to 60 correct answers. See the AIBE passing marks guide for the full trend.

After the Exam: Answer Key, Result and Certificate of Practice

The post-exam process follows the same steps each cycle. For AIBE XXI it ran as follows:

1. Provisional answer key: Released three days after the exam, with an online objection window of about a week. The objection fee was Rs. 500, refundable if the objection was accepted.

2. Final answer key: Published about a month after the exam.

3. Result: Declared on the official website (18 July 2026 for AIBE XXI).

4. OMR rechecking: An online rechecking window with a Rs. 500 fee, accepted only through the portal.

5. Enrolment certificate upload: Candidates who passed on an undertaking must upload their State Bar Council enrolment certificate. A notice dated 7 July 2026 set 6 January 2027 as the last date for candidates from AIBE XIX onward.

The Certificate of Practice is processed through the BCI and your State Bar Council once your enrolment details are complete.

How to Prepare for the AIBE Exam

Most AIBE candidates are final-semester students or new advocates with limited time. A focused 8 to 10 week plan works well.

Phase 1: Core subjects (weeks 1 to 4)

• Start with the 10-question subjects: Constitution, CPC and CrPC with BNSS. Read the bare act alongside a short revision source.

• Map old to new criminal codes: Keep a two-column table of IPC to BNS, CrPC to BNSS and Evidence Act to BSA section numbers, because questions can use either.

Phase 2: Remaining subjects and bare-act drill (weeks 5 to 7)

• Cover the 2 to 5 question subjects: Learn landmark cases, key definitions and limitation periods rather than full theory.

• Prepare your bare acts: Use clean copies and practise finding sections quickly using the arrangement of sections. Do not write notes or highlight inside them, because annotated copies can be refused at the centre.

Phase 3: Timed practice (weeks 8 to 10)

• Solve official papers: The official website hosts recent question papers and final answer keys. Solve them under a strict three-hour limit.

• Take full-length mocks: Attempt at least four to six timed mocks and review every wrong answer against the bare act.

BCI website: https://www.barcouncilofindia.org/