School of Law, Rights and Constitutional Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences offers Masters in Law to LLB graduates in a different course structure which merges law with social sciences. The program provides for specialization in Access to Justice, a concept of Human Rights.
If you are committed to developing and advocating for marginalized and vulnerable groups of society, you should be doing LLM from TISS. But you cannot just wake up one day and attend classes, right? For that, you will have to appear for an entrance test, sad, we know. We are here to take some of that burden off your shoulders. In this article, we will talk about how you can join the LLM program of TISS through its entrance test TISS-NET. TISS-NET is a common computer-based test for all programs. Let us first understand who can appear for this test, and that too in simple quick to understandable points.
Eligibility for TISS-NET for LLM
First you need to know if you should even take the stress of an entrance test. Students with an LLB degree with minimum 50% marks (45% for SC and ST) are eligible for the program. Students in their final semester can also apply for LLM.
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Admission Process for TISS
Stage 1: TISS-NET (50% weightage)
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Syllabus: English (30 marks), Mathematics and Logical Reasoning (30 marks) and General Awareness (40 marks).
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Sectional Cut-off: Only for General Awareness (35% in case of General, EWS, KM and AF; 30% in case of OBC; No Sectional Cut-off for SC and ST)
After clearing Stage-1, applicants are eligible to appear for Stage-2.
Stage 2: TISS Online Assessments (OA) (50% weightage)
This is Program specific assessment. For LLM, you will be assessed based on two components. First extempore and second, interview. For extempore, the panel who will be interviewing you later will give you three topics, and you can choose one among them. You will be allotted maximum 5 minutes to speak about a topic. We will now discuss in detail on how to prepare for OA.
Read on to know whether you should pursue an LLM in 2024-25.
Preparing for OA
Extempore
You enter the room, and there is a panel of people ready to decide whether you should be admitted to LLM. It sounds intimidating and it is. So, first things first, you need to be very calm and prepared because as soon as you are settled they will give you a topic to speak on. If you are not comfortable with the topic, you can ask for another one but no more.
Now, the topic of extempore is generally on a contemporary issue. For its preparation, it is advisable to keep yourself updated on the recent socio-legal issues of the country. As the course is designed in a way which caters to the need of marginalized and vulnerable sections of society, it is important to put more focus on those areas without losing the sight of important legal concepts.
Make sure that you start with a brief introduction on the topic, then speak about your point of view on the same, ending it with a suitable and positive conclusion, all in 5 minutes. Because of time constraints, it is crucial to mentally prepare a framework of what you are going to speak and for this you can take a minute or two before you start speaking on the topic.
Interview
For the interview, you need to prepare yourself from multiple aspects. Firstly, you need to thoroughly study the Detailed Application Form (DAF) you have filled during the admission process. DAF contains questions on your interest on the chosen program, any previous work experience, and your biographical sketch. The panel uses it to assess your interests and there are chances that a lot of questions will come from what you have written on your DAF. For instance, if you have volunteered for a cause before, there is a probability that you will be drilled about that experience if you have mentioned it in your DAF. Thus, you must be honest on your DAF because you might have to speak about it at length during your interview.
So, what next? As you are a graduate of law appearing for LLM admission, you are expected to have a basic understanding of the law. So, you need to prepare yourself accordingly. Questions from subjects like Constitution of India, Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, and other major laws might be asked to see your legal understanding. The panel would not be directly asking you sections or articles, the questions would require more descriptive answers.
Apart from this, just like any other interview you would be appearing for in your life, even in this one, it is important that you choose your answers carefully. Do not talk about something you cannot go in detail about if needed. A lot of times the panel forms a question from your answer. Although, it has a positive side as well. It can prove to be helpful when you are well versed on a given topic and have great in-depth knowledge about it.
Again, knowledge about ongoing socio-legal issues is important as the panel might raise a question on that issue asking for a legal solution. This will help them in assessing your legal knowledge along with your understanding on contemporary issues.
To summarise, it is not as intimidating as initially sounded, right? You need to prepare for three things, TISS-NET, extempore and the interview, and keeping yourself aware helps in all three of them. You can start with reading news daily, not just the sports or entertainment section. Keeping yourself calm always is equally important, just knowing what recent judgement has been passed will not be as useful if you would not be able to talk about it, would it? At the risk of sounding cliché, we will just say, “Do your best, forget the rest.”