The All India Bar Exam (AIBE) has been postponed from 21 March 2021 to 25 April 2021, according to a notification on its website (see above).

The ambitious (and unlikely) schedule of holding two bar exams by March 2021, which had been announced in December 2020 after a Covid-induced AIBE-drought, has hereby been derailed.

A tougher AIBE or not really?

The decision follows the AIBE having decided around a week ago to change the exam’s open-book nature to a closed-book exam without any warning.

For the now-April 2021 exam, only bare acts would be allowed but no other notes.

If you want to get an idea of the previous AIBE papers and whether you can manage with just the bare acts, you can check out the AIBE 4 through 12 question papers here.

A recent AIBE taker told us that being allowed to take bare acts in without notes was “not too bad”, since “till now, they ask 75-80 questions right out of various bare acts”.

“Any way you never have the time to read through notes and books for just one answer. The case names they ask (10-15 questions) are so obscure, I doubt most commentaries would have it either,” they said. “So I guess, this makes it easier for students to know what material (bare acts) ought to be carried anyway.”

Acts of God, BCI, etc excluded

As for the April 2021 exam, as nearly always with the BCI, the new schedule also remains subject to, well, anything:

*Council reserves the right to extend the said examination date in case of unavoidable circumstances. In that case, any request for refund/adjustment of fees shall not be entertained.

The new announced schedule is:

Online registration close 22nd March, 2021

Last date for payment 26th March, 2021

Last date for completion of online form 31st March, 2021

Online release of admit cards 10th April, 2021

Date of Examination 25th April, 2021