The All India Bar Examination (AIBE) X, which was finally conducted yesterday after one full year, was “very easy” to score on according to one candidate.

One NLU graduate who works for a corporate law firm commented: “[It was] very very easy. It’ll be a work of art if someone fails.”

“The weirdest part was that many people at many centres were not allowed to leave before 1-1:30pm whereas one could reasonably - and all people I know - finish the paper by 12pm [within 2 hours]. So it was frustrating for them also,” the candidate added.

He said that questions on case law would have been the toughest of the lost, in his estimation, but those also would be relatively easy for practicing lawyers.

AIBE-X test takers may now have to wait several months for their results and practice certificates, going by previous track records. The Bar Council of India (BCI) handed practice certificates to most of those (but not all) who passed the AIBE-IX, nine months after the exam was conducted in 2016.

Advocates require practice certificates in order to file a vakalatnama in court – the official document which lets a lawyer represent a litigant in court. Law graduates who have enrolled with a state bar council need to pass the AIBE in order to be eligible to practice in a court of law.

The AIBE-X was also a costly affair, with the BCI quietly hiking its fee by 28 per cent to Rs 3,500, and continued not to provide any study materials to the candidates, unlike in the earliest, lower-priced editions of the exam.

The admit card for the exam was made available to candidates just eight days before the exam, also after several delays.