Judicial Services Examination: Handbook

---

BOOKS

---

S. NO.	SUBJECTS	BOOKS
1	Constitution	Diglot Bare Act, J.N. Pandey, D.D. Basu, PYQ’s
2	Code of Civil Procedure	Diglot Bare Act, C.K. Takwani, T.P. Tripathi, PYQ’s
3	Indian Evidence Act	Diglot Bare Act, Batuk Lal, Rajaram Yadav, PYQ’s
4	Indian Penal Code	Diglot Bare Act, S.N. Mishra, Ratanlal Dhiraj Lal, PYQ’s
5	Criminal Procedure Code	Diglot Bare Act, R.V. Kelkar, S.N. Mishra, PYQ’s
6	Transfer of Property Act	Diglot Bare Act, T.P. Tripathi, S.N. Shukla, PYQ’s
7	Indian Contract Act	Diglot Bare Act, Avtar Singh, S.K. Kapoor, PYQ’s
8	Madhya Pradesh Static GK	Mahaveer Prakashan, Lucent, PYQ’s
9	Current Affairs	Pratiyogita Darpan, Ghatna Chakra, PYQ’s
10	English/ Hindi Grammar	Manas Publication, Shekhawat Publication, PYQ’s
11	Translation	Diglot Bare Act, PYQ’s

BEFORE PREPARATION:

1. The above quote means “if you leave law in the middle, it’ll not be loyal to you”.
2. Judicial services are all about maintaining familiarity with the language of the law.
3. There are 3 D’s that one should follow to be a Judge i.e.: –
   • Determination
   • Dedication
   • Discipline
4. Aspirant must be committed towards cracking Judicial Services Examination (JSE).
5. Time management technique must be followed by aspirants (divide your day into two sections i.e., Law and G.K.).
6. Selecting the target State Judiciary and not get confused with every approaching vacancy.
7. There are basically three categories of examination: –
   • Uttar Pradesh & Bihar (G.K., G.S. based examination)
   • Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh & Punjab (conceptual based examination)
   • Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan & Chhattisgarh (primarily bare act-based examination)

BEFORE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION:

1. Aspirants should know that preliminary examination will only be a qualifying stage, that doesn’t mean one should not be serious about it instead it is as important as the final stage.
2. Syllabus for the law portion is very concise but the resources are very vast so stick to the minimal and helpful resources.
3. Do not compromise on Bare Acts.
4. Sources for Case laws: –
   • Daily Newspapers
   • Live law
   • Bar and benchers
5. After a thorough reading and understanding of each subject, start following macro study through Bare Acts only (red pen and highlighter is highly recommended).
6. Adopt reverse study technique (which includes first mains then preliminary) or one should opt mains centric preparation.
7. Keeping up with the current affairs (including legal and social topics) and specially make habit of reading newspaper on daily basis.
8. Practice as many MCQ’s following time bound test series.
9. Go through the arrangement of Bare Acts which includes: –
   • Index
   • Schedules (if any)
   • Chapters
   • Sections
   • Important Dates
   • Amendments following its enforcement date

BEFORE MAINS WRITTEN EXAMINATION:

1. Aspirants’ must keep this in mind that the mains examination is a subjective type so one cannot prepare for it after preliminary examination instead of start preparing for it from the very beginning.
2. Practice answer writing (at least 4-5 answers a day and mark your time) in a structured way, take 10 seconds to make a synopsis in your mind that includes what to cover or what not to, and don’t write it in a haphazard way.
3. Generally, all answers should follow uniform pattern, and stick to the question.
4. To avoid panic situation in the last minute of the examination prepare an ideal answer for the mains.
5. Following synopsis will help you to frame answers (5-6 pages): –
   • Introduction; which includes relevant section number and act name (3-4 lines).
   • Body:
     • Definition or Section; try to write Bare Act as it is and if not try to include as many key words given under Bare Acts.
     • Illustration
     • Commentary; a little bit
     • Difference; if asked or required
     • Case laws
   • Conclusion (3-4 lines).
6. Macro study will help you in this stage as well to write a good and relevant answer.
7. Prepare current legal & social issues for Essay writing.
8. Refer diglot for translation.
9. Learn by heart the format of the Judgment Writing and practice judgment writing on a daily basis (at least 2 per day).
10. Divide your day for judgment writing in two parts i.e., civil and criminal (which automatically includes settlement of issues and framing of charges).
11. As reading problem of judgment writing is a time-consuming process however daily practice will help candidates to cope up with this.
12. Don’t wait for the results of the preliminary examination and right after preliminary examination start revising for your mains as till then you have already prepared answers for your mains.
13. Aspirants’ needs to know that majorly High courts are the authority to conduct the judicial examination in which there are no academicians, there are judges who will measure your knowledge to hold the post and they will prioritize Bare Acts and Case Laws over the text books.
14. Last but not the least practice as many previous years question paper as one can do before examination.

BEFORE INTERVIEW:

1. It is a test of personality not knowledge, an aspirant should understand evaluators have already measured their knowledge through preliminary & mains examinations (which includes way of talking, presentation, appearance, presence of mind and approach towards the conceptual answer).
2. Candidates must go through the Bare Acts to clear the conceptual knowledge as they can ask anything from law either direct section number/name or conceptual questions, it’s totally their discretion.
3. In this stage as well, aspirants will get the benefit of macro study.
4. Have perception on current legal or social issues.
5. Candidate must answer with confidence which matters the most, regardless of any language they choose to answer that will make a huge difference.
6. Confidence is the key to get success, we all know this but for confidence candidate should start talking in front of mirror (very basic exercise) and make a habit to read out loud the provisions of Bare Acts.