The Bar Council of India has amended its rules so that final‑semester LLB students can take the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) and the exam will be held twice a year. In January 2026 the BCI told the Supreme Court it had “framed rules enabling final-year law students to take the AIBE” and that the exam “will be conducted twice a year”.
Students must still pass their final university exams before enrolment, but they will no longer lose a year waiting to take the bar test. The Supreme Court noted this satisfies its earlier directive from September of 2024, that final-year students “cannot be left in the lurch” by a timing gap. With the twice‑yearly schedule, missing one AIBE session should no longer force graduates to wait a full year to qualify. (Bar pass rates and other exam details for 2025 will be reported by the BCI in due course.)
The reform is widely seen as a pragmatic response to bottlenecks in legal qualification, particularly given the large number of law graduates entering the Indian market each year. Education commentators suggest it may also reduce financial pressure on students during the transition to practice. However, some have called for further transparency around exam standards and pass rates to ensure that expedited access does not compromise professional competence.