Plagiarism In AILET (NLU-Delhi Entrance Test) 2019

Currently, the Common Law Admission Test ("CLAT") has been under the scanner due to the numerous blunders in the conduct of the exam through the years. A petition filed by Prof. Shamnad Basheer is pending before the Supreme Court to reform the manner in which CLAT is conducted and establish a permanent body that conducts the test in a professional and competent manner. This is the first time that AILET has come under scrutiny too.

On the first Sunday of May 2019, tens of thousands of students pinned their hopes on AILET 2019, the entrance test for the prestigious law college NLU-D. They were severely let down by the system as a substantial portion of the AILET 2019 paper was plagiarised from a variety of sources detailed in the table below.

National Law Universities ("NLUs") enjoy a significant amount of autonomy when it comes to deciding the standards and curriculum of legal education in India. With the financial and intellectual resources at the disposal of NLUs to conduct a national level entrance test (and considering the high entrance examination fees charged by them), a well-designed and competently conducted test is the minimum expectation. A national level entrance test must adhere to some basic standards of professionalism, competence and fairness. Test-development and test administration must be taken extremely seriously by the organising agency, because the test seeks to create an entry-barrier that regulates who gets to go to law school, and eventually who gets to enter the legal profession. The criteria on which this entry-barrier is sought to be created must be fair, equitable and objective that correctly estimates the "aptitude" for legal education.

The general practice in test-setting is creation of a question bank by professional test-setters, including psychometricians and test item developers, for the use of the organising entity year after year. The question bank is frequently updated. The professional test-setters are also tasked with conducting extensive research (psychometric and otherwise) on the quality of questions developed. This is done in order to determine, among other things, cultural fairness of the test and whether the test adequately measures the attributes it is meant to measure (in the context of CLAT and AILET, the attribute sought to be measured is "aptitude to study law").

The break-up of the AILET is as follows:

English 35

General Knowledge 35

Legal Aptitude 35

Reasoning 35

Mathematics 10

Total 150

Of the 150 questions that constituted the AILET exam, sources for at least 61 questions were located online.

Of these, at least 23 questions were identifiably lifted from GMAT test preparation material. Please bear in mind that GMAT is a graduate-level entrance test. To offer the same set of questions to school students in India is grossly unfair. It is worrying that the National Law University Delhi, a premier law university in India, conducted a national level test in such an unprofessional manner.

Particularly, the English and the Reasoning sections of the test have been lifted from the GMAT Official Guide 2019. The test-setters have taken efforts to make the questions taken from the GMAT Official Guide and other sources unidentifiable by changing certain non-material details in questions. For example, the paragraph on which questions 1 to 8 are based has been taken from page 416 of the GMAT Official Guide (Guide). In that, the name "Jon Clark" that appears in the Guide has been replaced with "Surajendu Kumar" in the AILET. The table below lists the Question Numbers on the AILET against links to possible sources of these questions.

Whereas some similarity in the pattern of questions is unavoidable, the plagiarism in AILET 2019's case does not go unnoticed. It shows gross recklessness and incompetence on part of the agency setting the paper. This is detrimental to students who give the exam in hope of a level playing field where they get an opportunity to study at a top law college.

Please refer to the table below for more details.

S.No.	Question Number(s)	Source	Notes (if any)
1	1-8	https://gmatclub.com/forum/jon-clark-s-study-of-the-effect-of-the-modernization-of-a-telephone-ex-88689.html	Replaced the name from "Jon Clark" to "Surajendu Kumar"
2	9	https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loquacious	Copied the second example on the link.
3	10	https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/precocious	Copied the third example from "Examples of "precocious""
4	11	https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ineluctable	Copied the second example from "Recent Examples on the Web"
5	12	http://englishgrammar.adbazzaar.com/the-same-words-used-as-different-parts-of-speech.html	Question created using exactly the same sentences
6	13	https://books.google.co.in/books?id=CmgtDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq="why,+it+is+surely+nanak"&source=bl&ots=2gHYZUTcs9&sig=ACfU3U1AwlpEJHR_NMgPh4mU2OW4u8uCXQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwzsfeirHiAhVSWX0KHeUSC9QQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q="why, it is surely nanak"&f=false	From Wren and Martin, page 145. Question created using exactly the same sentences.
7	14	https://gmatclub.com/forum/although-she-was-considered-among-her-contemporaries-to-be-the-better-208881.html	Replaced Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Kassia.
8	15	https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-ruined-structure-found-at-aqaba-jordan-was-probably-a-church-as-206001.html	Replaced Aqaba, Jordan to Aizawl, India.
9	16	https://gmatclub.com/forum/starfish-with-anywhere-from-five-to-eight-arms-have-a-strong-regener-132488.html	Replaced "Starfish" with "Octopus"
10	17	https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-eyes-of-the-elephant-seal-adapt-to-darkness-more-quickly-than-any-220382.html	Replaced "Elephant Seal" with "Catfish"
11	18	https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-first-trenches-that-were-cut-into-a-500-acre-site-at-tell-hamoukar-225551.html	Replaced Tell Hamoukar, Syria with Haji Piyada, Afghanistan.
12	19	https://gmatclub.com/forum/while-it-costs-about-the-same-to-run-nuclear-plants-as-other-types-of-134755.html	Replaced nuclear plants with atomic power plants.
13	20	https://gmatclub.com/forum/about-5-million-acres-in-the-united-states-have-been-invaded-by-leafy-242544.html	Replaced names and numbers.
14	21	https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-california-a-lack-of-genetic-variation-in-the-argentine-ant-has-35018.html	Replaced names.
15	22	https://gmatclub.com/forum/rivaling-the-pyramids-of-egypt-or-even-the-ancient-cities-of-67423.html	Replaced names.
16	23	https://gmatclub.com/forum/tides-typically-range-from-three-to-six-feet-but-while-some-places-sh-242545.html	Replaced names.
17	24	https://www.englishgrammar.org/figures-speech-part-iii/	Copied the sentence from an English grammar website.
18	25	http://www.english-for-students.com/Figures-of-Speech.html	Copied the sentence from an English grammar website.
19	26	https://www.indiastudychannel.com/english/2095-Figures-Speech.aspx	Copied the sentence from an English grammar website.
20	27	NA
21	28	https://www.englishgrammar.org/figures-speech-part-iii/
22	29	NA
23	30-35	http://www.lic.nkfust.edu.tw/ezfiles/5/1005/img/791/1012362.pdf	Copied from a Taiwanese entrance test (linked).
24	36-70		GK Section
28	71	BLOG: https://legalpoint-india.blogspot.com/2016/03/delhi-judicial-service-exam-2010-pt.html	Copied from Delhi Judicial Services Exam 2010 (Q.No. 193) Legal principles added.
30	72	BLOG: https://legalpoint-india.blogspot.com/2016/03/delhi-judicial-service-exam-2010-pt.html	Copied from Delhi Judicial Services Exam 2010 (Q.No. 190)
31	73	BLOG: https://legalpoint-india.blogspot.com/2016/03/delhi-judicial-service-exam-2010-pt.html	Copied from Delhi Judicial Services Exam 2010 (Q.No. 188)
32	74	NA	Alcock v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police. Would not categorise this as plagiarised. No source located for the questions.
32	75	NA	Smith v Littlewoods Organisation Ltd Summary of facts copied from: https://www.lawteacher.net/cases/smith-v-littlewoods.php. Would not categorise this as plagiarised. No source located for the questions.
33	76	NA
34	77	NA	Tate & Lyle v Greater London Council Summary of facts copied from: http://www.e-lawresources.co.uk/cases/Tate--and--Lyle-v-Greater-London-Council.php/ Would not categorise this as plagiarised. No source located for the questions.
35	78	NA	Hedley Byrne v Heller
36	79	NA	Dunlop v Selfridges
37	80	NA	Chinnaya v. Ramayya
38	81	https://brainly.in/question/7851519
39	82	NA	Reference: BRITISH INCOMES AND PROPERTY http://library.umac.mo/ebooks/b31870752.pdf. Not directly copied from the source mentioned, but based on certain passages from the book but it shouldn't count as plagiarism.
40	83	NA
41	84	NA
42	85	NA
43	86-105	NA	All of these questions test legal knowledge.
44	106-112	https://schoolbag.info/test/lsat/8.html	Taken from LSAT Practice test. Language changed.
45	113	https://www.examveda.com/statement-the-company-x-has-rejected-first-lot-of-values-supplied-by-company-a-and-has-cancelled-its-entire-huge-order-quoting-use-of-inferior-quality-material-and-poor-20092/	Language changed.
46	114	http://www.allindiaexams.in/discussion/20911
47	115	http://www.allindiaexams.in/reasoning/verbal-reasoning-questions-answers/evaluating-course-of-action/2
48	116	NA
49	117	NA
50	118	NA
51	119	NA
52	120	NA
53	121-122	NA
54	123-127	Passage taken from the book Test Of Reasoning By Thorpe (page 3.259) https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=0070620318	Language changed
55	128	NA
56	129	NA
57	130	NA
58	131	NA
59	132	NA
60	133	NA
61	134	NA
62	135	NA
63	136	https://gmatclub.com/forum/according-to-the-last-pre-election-poll-in-whippleton-most-voters-241367.html	Copied with minor changes.
64	137	https://gmatclub.com/forum/according-to-the-last-pre-election-poll-in-whippleton-most-voters-241367.html	Copied with minor changes such as in name of the country changed.
65	138	https://gmatclub.com/forum/proposed-new-safety-rules-for-the-beach-city-airport-would-lengthen-201652.html	Copied with minor changes such as the name of the country changed.
66	139	https://gmatclub.com/forum/debater-the-average-amount-of-overtime-per-month-worked-by-135640-20.html#p2071061	Copied with minor changes such as the name of the company changed.
67	140	https://gmatclub.com/forum/proponents-of-the-recently-introduced-tax-on-sales-of-new-luxury-boats-241472.html	Copied with minor changes such as from "boats" replaced with "cars".
68	141	https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=4-ccet-hackthonen	Question 10 copied. Order of multiples choices changed.
69	142	https://www.examveda.com/three-wheels-can-complete-40-24-and-16-revolutions-per-minutes-respectively-there-is-a-red-spot-on-each-wheel-that-touches-the-ground-at-time-zero-after-how-much-89722/	Question copied with non-numeric details changed in the question. Multiples choices changed.
70	143	NA
71	144	https://doubtnut.com/question-answer/a-coaching-institute-has-students-in-3-batches-x-y-and-z-in-a-certain-examination-the-average-marks--3640124	Question copied with non-numeric details changed in the question. Multiples choices changed.
72	145	https://doubtnut.com/question-answer/shobhas-mathematics-test-had-75-problems-ie-10-arithmetic-30-algebra-and-35-geometry-problems-althou-3951789	Question copied with non-numeric details replaced in the question. Multiples choices added.
73	146	https://doubtnut.com/question-answer/a-merchant-marks-his-goods-at-25-above-the-cost-price-due-to-a-slump-in-the-market-his-cost-reduces--3952485	Question copied with non-numeric details replaced in the question. Multiples choices changed.
74	147	https://www.sscadda.com/pipes-cistern-quant-questions-for-ssc	Question 10. Copied from SSC Mains
75	148	https://www.quora.com/Two-trains-running-in-opposite-directions-cross-a-man-standing-on-the-platform-in-27-seconds-and-17-seconds-respectively-and-they-cross-each-other-in-23-seconds-What-is-the-ratio-of-their-speeds	Question copied with non-numeric details replaced in the question.
76	149	https://doubtnut.com/question-answer/a-car-overtakes-a-bus-travelling-from-delhi-to-jaipur-at-4-30-pm-the-car-reaches-jaipur-at-6-00-pm-a-3953291	Replaced Jaipur with Agra. "8:30 pm" in answers replaced with "9:45" p.m.
77	150	https://brainly.in/question/892370	Language of the question changed.