Exam Pattern
AIBE Exam Pattern
All India Bar Examination XXI (AIBE XXI) 2026
Nineteen subjects, 100 questions, three hours. That is 108 seconds a question, unusually generous, and it reflects a qualifying examination rather than a ranked entrance, sat on paper with an OMR sheet. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, so every question should carry one by the end. The spread across nineteen subjects is the real difficulty: no single area carries enough weight to repay deep preparation, and none can be written off entirely either.
AIBE XXI
Official 2026 pattern| Questions | 100 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 180 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0 per wrong answer |
| Sections | AIBE XXI (mixed 19-subject syllabus) |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| AIBE XXI (mixed 19-subject syllabus) | 100 | 100 |
Timing: Single unrestricted 180-minute timer for the Full Mock; no sectional lock, representing the official offline pen-and-paper OMR test.
AIBE XXI is the Bar Council of India's bar-enrolment qualifying exam, testing law applicable as of the exam date across 19 subjects (Constitutional Law, CrPC, CPC, IPC, Evidence Act, Family Law, Contract and Property Laws, Tort Law, ADR, PIL, Professional Ethics, Labour Law, Taxation, Administrative Law, Company Law, Environmental Law, Cyber Law, Land Acquisition, and Intellectual Property Laws), 100 questions for 100 marks in 3 hours, +1 correct with no negative marking. Every question applies a stated legal principle to a self-contained scenario rather than requiring memorised section numbers, case names, or dates, resolving an earlier rejection of AIBE in this project's history, which had assumed the paper has no reasoning format at all. The real exam permits bare acts as a reference during the test; that is an exam-day resource control, not a basis for lookup-only or trivia-only questions here.
Official source · checked 1 September 2026The AIBE XXI exam pattern is 100 questions carrying 100 marks, to be answered in 180 minutes. That works out to about 108 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. It is a single AIBE XXI (mixed 19-subject syllabus) paper.
AIBE XXI marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1 mark.
- There is no negative marking, so leaving a question blank can only cost you: an unattempted question and a wrong one score the same zero. Attempt everything.
- Worked example: attempt 80 of the 100 questions and get 60 right and 20 wrong, and you score 60 out of 100.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 108 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free AIBE mock test to see where your time actually goes.
AIBE exam pattern: frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in AIBE?
AIBE has no negative marking. An unattempted question always scores zero, so the choice is only ever between guessing and leaving it blank.
How many questions are there in AIBE?
AIBE has 100 questions. That leaves about 108 seconds per question in AIBE.
What are the total marks in AIBE?
AIBE is out of 100 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question.
How long is the AIBE exam?
AIBE runs for 180 minutes.