UGC NET Law December 2026: Date, Pattern, Cut-offs and Strategy

UGC NET Law December 2026 will be held from 14 to 18 December 2026 and on 21 December 2026 in computer based mode, with the subject-wise date to be announced separately by the NTA. The paper is 150 questions for 300 marks in 180 minutes with no negative marking, and in the June 2026 session the unreserved cut-off in Law (subject code 58) was 204 for JRF and 178 for Assistant Professor. Online applications close on 28 October 2026, with a late-fee window till 31 October 2026.

UGC NET Law December 2026: key dates

The NTA opened the portal on 8 October 2026 and issued a corrigendum on 16 October 2026 revising the exam dates from 14 to 19 December (with 20 and 21 December as buffer days) to 14 to 18 December and 21 December 2026. Every date below is from the updated information bulletin.

The subject-wise schedule, which tells Law candidates their exact day, has not been published yet; the corrigendum says it will be released separately. Keep all six days free until the date-wise schedule appears on ugcnet.nta.nic.in, and check the admit card for the centre, date and shift.

Application fee

Gateway charges and GST are extra, and the Rs 500 late fee is added over the category fee between 29 and 31 October.

Exam pattern for Law (subject code 58)

The pattern is common to all 87 subjects. There are two papers, both objective, attempted in a single sitting of 180 minutes with no break between them. Law is Paper II and carries twice the weight of Paper I.

Two rules in the marking scheme deserve attention. A question that you answer and then mark for review is still evaluated, while a question left unanswered is not evaluated even if it is marked for review. And if a question turns out to have more than one correct option, two marks go to everyone who picked any of them. Since there is no penalty for a wrong answer, leaving any question blank is a mistake.

The ten units of Paper II are Jurisprudence; Constitutional and Administrative Law; Public International Law and IHL; Law of Crimes; Law of Torts and Consumer Protection; Commercial Law; Family Law; Environment and Human Rights Law; Intellectual Property Rights and Information Technology Law; and Comparative Public Law and Systems of Governance. The topic list under each unit, with weightage and a book list, is in the UGC NET Law syllabus 2026 guide.

Eligibility in brief

General and EWS candidates need at least 55 per cent in the Master’s degree, and OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD, PwBD and Third Gender candidates need at least 50 per cent, in each case without rounding off. Final-year LL.M. students can apply provisionally. Candidates with a four-year or eight-semester bachelor’s degree can also appear, with a minimum of 75 per cent in aggregate and a five per cent relaxation for reserved categories. For JRF the upper age is 30 years as on 1 December 2026, with up to five years of relaxation for reserved categories, women and research experience. There is no upper age limit for Assistant Professor eligibility or Ph.D. admission.

How the cut-off is decided

There is no fixed passing mark. The information bulletin lays down a five-step method. The number of candidates to be declared eligible for Assistant Professor is fixed at 6 per cent of those who appeared in both papers across all subjects. That pool is split among categories as per the reservation policy. To be counted at all, a General or EWS candidate must score at least 40 per cent aggregate in the two papers taken together, that is 120 out of 300, and a reserved category candidate at least 35 per cent, that is 105 out of 300. The slots for each subject and category are then worked out in proportion to how many candidates of that category cleared the minimum in that subject, and the aggregate marks at which the slots run out become the cut-off. JRF slots are allocated the same way from a separate pool, and normalised marks are used where a subject runs in more than one shift.

So the Law cut-off moves with the strength of the field in that session, not with the difficulty of the paper alone. JRF slots are far fewer than Assistant Professor slots, which is why the unreserved JRF line has sat 22 to 30 marks above the Assistant Professor line in each of the last three sessions.

UGC NET Law cut-off trends: last three sessions

The figures below are taken from the subject and category wise cut-off documents published by the NTA after each result. All marks are out of 300. The number in brackets is the count of candidates that the NTA lists against that cut-off.

Three things stand out. The unreserved JRF line has stayed between 200 and 218, which is 67 to 73 per cent of the total marks. The unreserved Assistant Professor line has stayed between 178 and 188, roughly 59 to 63 per cent. The December 2025 session ran higher than the June sessions on either side of it, and its figures are the highest in the table for every category and every level. A safe target for December 2026 is therefore 190 plus for Assistant Professor and 220 plus for JRF in the unreserved category, with the OBC-NCL, EWS, SC and ST targets around 10 to 30 marks lower as the table shows.

Strategy for the seven weeks left

There are roughly seven weeks to the first exam day. The pattern rewards breadth and recall, so the plan should cover all ten units and Paper I at least twice.

Weeks 1 to 3: first pass of all ten units

Take the ten units in the order the syllabus lists them and finish one unit every two days, using the official topic list as the boundary. For Law of Crimes learn the new section numbers of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam alongside the old IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act numbers. Paper I needs 45 minutes a day from the start, not an afternoon at the end; its ten units of five questions each are the cheapest 100 marks in the exam.

Weeks 4 and 5: previous papers and the weak units

Work through the last six to eight Law papers question by question and tag each wrong answer to its unit. The units that produce the most errors get the second pass first. Constitutional and Administrative Law, Jurisprudence and Law of Crimes are the longest units in the official topic list, so the second pass should not skip them even if they feel familiar.

Weeks 6 and 7: full-length timed tests

Sit at least six full 150-question mocks in a single 180-minute block. The aim is a stable attempt order: Paper II first if your Law recall is strong, Paper I first if you tend to run out of time on reading comprehension. Review every mock on the same day.

Checklist before you apply and appear

• Apply on ugcnet.nta.nic.in before 11:50 pm on 28 October 2026, or by 31 October with the Rs 500 late fee, and pay the category fee of Rs 1,150, Rs 600 or Rs 325.
• Choose subject code 58 Law and check the Master’s degree percentage, category certificate and exam city choices before the correction window closes on 4 November.
• Download the exam city slip on 23 November and the admit card on 7 December, and watch for the subject-wise schedule that fixes your date.
• Carry the admit card, a valid photo identity and the documents the admit card lists; a pen is provided at the centre and the bulletin’s barred items list applies.
• Attempt all 150 questions. There is no negative marking and unanswered questions are not evaluated.

Exam angle: what the numbers mean for you

Treat 120 out of 300 as the floor that gets you counted and 190 as the floor that gets you qualified for Assistant Professor in the unreserved category. If your mock scores are settling at 150 to 170, the fastest gains are in Paper I, which most Law candidates leave for the last week and underscore, and in the three or four Paper II units where the official topic list is short and the questions repeat: Jurisprudence, Family Law, Environment and Human Rights Law, and Intellectual Property Rights. If you are already at 190 plus and want JRF, the margin comes from the long units, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Law of Crimes and Commercial Law, where recent amendments and recent Supreme Court decisions are asked. Candidates who are also sitting the AIBE XXII a few weeks earlier should note that the Law of Crimes, Evidence and Constitutional Law reading overlaps, and that the AIBE is open book while the NET is not.

FAQs

What is the exam date for UGC NET Law December 2026?

The NTA has fixed the UGC NET December 2026 examination for 14 to 18 December 2026 and 21 December 2026. The exact day for Law, subject code 58, will be published in the subject-wise schedule, which the NTA has said it will release separately. The exam city intimation is due on 23 November 2026 and the admit card on 7 December 2026.

Is there negative marking in UGC NET Law?

No. Each question carries two marks for a correct answer and there is no deduction for a wrong answer. Unanswered questions are not evaluated, so every question should be attempted.

What was the UGC NET Law cut-off in June 2026?

For the unreserved category the June 2026 Law cut-off was 204 out of 300 for JRF, 178 for Assistant Professor and 160 for Ph.D. only. The OBC-NCL figures were 190, 164 and 148; EWS 194, 164 and 144; SC 180, 154 and 138; and ST 174, 150 and 134.

Can a final-year LL.M. student apply for UGC NET December 2026?

Yes. Candidates in the final year of the Master’s degree, or those whose result is awaited, can apply and are admitted provisionally. They must complete the degree with the required percentage within two years of the result of the NET to claim eligibility.

Can I apply after 28 October 2026?

Yes, from 29 to 31 October 2026 with a late fee of Rs 500 over the category fee. After that the portal closes; the 2 to 4 November window is only for correcting an existing application.

Sources

• NTA UGC NET official website, the only portal for the December 2026 application
• NTA public notice dated 8 October 2026 opening the UGC NET December 2026 application
• NTA corrigendum dated 16 October 2026 with the updated Information Bulletin for UGC NET December 2026
• NTA subject and category wise cut-off marks, UGC NET June 2026
• NTA subject and category wise cut-off marks, UGC NET December 2025
• NTA subject and category wise cut-off marks, UGC NET June 2025

The quickest way to find out where you stand against the 178 to 218 band is a full-length timed test under exam conditions. The Lexfolio UGC NET Law mock tests give you four complete 100-question Paper II papers with explanations, each covering all ten units, and the exam packs page has the AIBE and CLAT PG sets for candidates preparing for more than one exam this winter.