Is CLAT 2026 Necessary for Law Admission? Your Guide.

The CLAT 2026 examination is set to take place on 7th December 2025. Students have until 31st October 2025 to register for the exam. The CLAT exam is one of the popular entrance examinations held in India. However, the exam can be difficult and has a significant amount of competition to get into top NLUs. This article highlights key details of whether the CLAT 2026 examination is necessary for students to get into top law institutions in India.

Courses Students Can Get Through CLAT

The CLAT 2026 examination can help open up several avenues for students in various top institutions. The CLAT examination helps students get into several top-level 5-year LLB courses. These programs consist of LLB courses integrated with other specializations as well.

Provided below is an overview of the LLB courses students can pursue after the CLAT examination along with the relevant course durations:

Students Can Also Read: How to Check CLAT Application Status

CLAT 2026 Importance

The CLAT examination is a very essential exam all students aiming to pursue the field of law should attempt to give. The examination helps students get into some of the best law programs and law schools in the country. The CLAT examination helps students get admission into top institutions such as NLSIU, NALSAR and NLU Bhopal amongst other top law colleges.

The CLAT examination also allows for a wider variety of colleges to gain admission to as the exam is held by the Consortium of NLUs. Thus, even if a student doesn’t get into the best of the best institutions or NLUs, they can also get into prestigious universities under the NLU name. After the scrapping of the LSAT, various law institutions have also started to consider NLU scores as part of their admission process as well.

Other Law Entrance Examinations

Beyond just the CLAT examination, there are other law exams that students can give as well. These law examinations help students get into other universities and/or courses beyond just NLUs. Here are some of them:

AILET

The All-India Law Entrance Test (AILET) examination is conducted by NLU Delhi. NLU Delhi is not part of the Consortium of NLUs and does not come under the CLAT exam. The AILET examination helps students get admission to specifically and only NLU Delhi. The exam helps students get into a fairly limited number of programs such as BA LLB, LLM and PhD.

LSAT

The LSAT examination was conducted by the LSAC. The examination was discontinued from this year onwards. The LSAT examination helped students get into some of the best private law colleges in India including Jindal Global Law School or Amity Law School. However, the exam has now been discontinued as of 2025.

Self-Hosted Examinations

Various top law institutions, especially after the discontinuation of the LSAT, have begun to conduct their own entrance examinations for their various 5-year or even 3-year long LLB programs. The colleges that host their own exams consist of mainly private institutions such as Jindal Global Law School and Symbiosis Law School.

Conclusion: Is CLAT Necessary?

While the CLAT examination is a very popular exam to get into the top-most institutions to pursue LLB in India. There is a significant amount of competition to the CLAT with a limited number of available seats at the top NLUs. While the CLAT exam can be an exam students should aim to crack, it is not mandatory for students to give.

The AILET and other private law school examinations are available for students to give and clear. However, students should research the particular law colleges they wish to get into before deciding upon the law-school entrance exams to get into. Doing so can ensure that they have a clearer path to their overall goals.

CLAT 2026 Important Dates

Provided below is an overview of the important dates for the CLAT 2026 examination. Keeping these dates in mind is very important for students as being updated with these key dates ensure students are in the loop on all key events and deadlines about the CLAT UG 2026 examination.

The important dates for the CLAT exam are as follows:

Also Read: How to Prepare for CLAT 2026 From Scratch