The date is fixed. NLU Delhi announced that AILET 2027 will be held on Sunday 13 December 2026, from 2 to 4 PM, across India, and applications opened on 7 August 2026 on nationallawuniversitydelhi.in. What's not fixed in the sources I found is the last date to apply. One site expects a November deadline without a late fee. That's a forecast, so read the official notification for the real date.

What AILET is, and how it differs from CLAT

AILET is the All India Law Entrance Test conducted by National Law University, Delhi. It admits students to the five-year BA LLB (Hons) programme and, using the same date, to the LLM. NLU Delhi uses only AILET for its admissions, which separates it from the other national law universities that use CLAT.

That has a practical consequence. A student who wants NLU Delhi has to take AILET, whatever their CLAT result. Many candidates sit both, since the two exams fall within a week of each other this year: CLAT on 6 December and AILET on 13 December. One is a consortium exam, the other is a single university's test, and their patterns have differed in the past.

AILET 2027 dates, as reported

Here is the schedule as I could confirm it from news and education sites.

The exam date is 13 December 2026, a Sunday, from 2 to 4 PM, according to a Careers360 news report on NLU Delhi's announcement. Applications opened on 7 August 2026. Candidates are told to reach the centre at least one and a half hours before the exam, per one site, so plan to be there by about 12:30 PM. The admit card is expected in the last week of November, about two weeks before the exam, according to an education site, though NLU Delhi decides the date.

What's less clear is the deadline. A Physics Wallah explainer says the last date to apply without a late fee is in November 2026. Another site says the last date will be given in the notification. If you haven't applied, treat the deadline as imminent and check the official site today.

Registration: how to apply for AILET 2027

The process is online on the NLU Delhi website. Based on how the steps are described, you register, receive a registration number and password, fill in the application form, upload your documents and pay the fee. The fee amount comes from the official notification, and I won't quote a figure that I couldn't confirm.

Documents you'll usually need: a recent photograph and signature in the required format, your Class 10 certificate for date of birth, Class 12 details or proof that you're appearing, category certificates if you're claiming reservation, and any other document the notification lists. Keep scans clear and sized as the form asks.

Save your registration number and password in a safe place. You'll need them for the admit card and for later notices.

Your remaining days: a worked example with numbers

Time is the main constraint now. Here is a simple calculation, so you can see what you actually have.

Say today is 30 October. The exam is on 13 December. That's 44 days. If you take one rest day a week, you have about 38 working days. Suppose you divide the time into three blocks: 14 days for filling gaps in each section, 16 days for timed practice, and 8 days for final revision. If you can put in four hours a day on weekdays and six on weekends, you have roughly 170 hours in total.

Now compare that with what you need. If your mock results show that one section drags down your score, allocate extra time there from the first block. If you're also writing CLAT on 6 December, the second block overlaps, and your timed practice does double duty. The week between the two exams is the one to protect, because it can be used to adjust for AILET's own style.

The figures here are an illustration, not a prescription. Count your own hours, and adjust.

The pattern: what to check in the notification

The AILET pattern has been consistent for several years, according to one site, and NLU Delhi hasn't announced changes for 2027 in the sources I found. The exam is offline, in English, and a Careers360 report puts the 2027 UG paper at two hours, from 2 to 4 PM.

I won't state the number of questions or the marking scheme here, because older summaries of AILET gave a different paper length, and I couldn't confirm the 2027 structure from the official notification. Open the notification and read the pattern section, including the sections, the marks and the negative marking.

A useful habit: when you read a pattern from a coaching site, ask where it came from and which year it describes. Patterns drift, and a table from two years back can mislead you.

Tie-breakers and the admission process

Selection is by AILET rank, with tie-breaker rules published in the notification. Check the clause carefully, since the order of the tie-breakers can decide rank in a close contest. After the result, NLU Delhi runs its own counselling process, with seat acceptance and fee payment deadlines. A seat can be lost by missing those deadlines.

Reservation categories and horizontal quotas are listed in the notification, and your certificates need to be in the prescribed format. For OBC-NCL and EWS, the issue date matters, since the validity is often tied to the financial year.

Mistakes to avoid

Applying through an unofficial website. Reach the form from nationallawuniversitydelhi.in only.

Assuming AILET matches CLAT. The syllabus overlaps in areas such as reading comprehension and legal reasoning, but the structure and timing can differ.

Ignoring the reporting time. If you're told to arrive 90 minutes early, plan your route accordingly.

Skipping the notification. Summaries often copy last year's details.

Leaving the application until the last day. The deadline hasn't been confirmed in what I read, so don't gamble on it.

Taking mocks only for CLAT. Add at least a few AILET-style papers once you've read the official pattern.

Paying through anyone's link. Pay only through the portal.

If you're writing both CLAT and AILET

The two exams are a week apart, which helps and hurts. It helps, because the preparation overlaps. Reading comprehension, legal reasoning, logical reasoning and current affairs are shared strengths. It hurts, because you can't keep a full study load running for both and still rest.

A reasonable approach is to treat 6 December as the first checkpoint and 13 December as the second. In the week between, review your CLAT performance, look at where you'd lose marks in AILET, and do a couple of AILET-style papers. Sleep, meals and light exercise matter, since you'll sit two long exams in seven days.

If you have to choose between the two, think about your first-choice university, your budget and the programme. That's a personal decision for you and your family.

Where to check, and what to do this week

The official source is nationallawuniversitydelhi.in. NLU Delhi publishes the notification, the application form, the admit card and the result there. News and coaching sites help with summaries, but dates and patterns should be confirmed from the notification.

This week, do three things. Visit the official site and find the last date to apply. If you haven't registered, do it now. Then read the pattern section of the notification and plan your remaining 44 days or so, with the first checkpoint on 6 December and the second on 13 December. That's enough structure to keep you steady without adding pressure you don't need.