Law Applications, Writing Tests and Interviews
For the 2025 admissions exercise, If you wish to change your first choice to Law, you must let us know by emailing admissions.smu.edu.sg by 21 March 2025.
For the 2025 admissions exercise, shortlisted applicants who have applied by 9 March will take the writing test on Saturday, 15 March. Shortlisted applicants who have applied after 9 March (and by the final application deadline) will take the writing test on either on Friday, 28 March or on Saturday, 29 March. Please be informed that you must take the test on the assigned date; it will not be possible for you to take the test on another of the test dates except in exceptional circumstances.
Interviews are scheduled to take place on 29 March, 5 April, 12 April, 14 to 17 April and 19 April. We will aim to let shortlisted candidates know their assigned dates as soon as possible. Please be informed that your interview will take place on the assigned date; it will not be possible to reschedule the interview except in exceptional circumstances.
Both writing tests and interviews are conducted in-person, on campus. We strongly advise all applicants to be mindful of the abovementioned dates when making travel arrangements.
Shortlisted applicants will receive invitations to take a writing test. After the test, certain applicants will be further shortlisted for an interview. Only shortlisted applicants who attend both the writing test and the interview will be further considered for admission.
To be considered for the Bachelor of Laws programme, you must have indicated that programme as your first choice of programme.
The writing test will be about one and a half hours long. Candidates will be presented with one or more passages and asked to provide written responses to several questions. The test will allow candidates to demonstrate their skills in understanding, synthesising, and critically thinking about newly acquired information, as well as in forming and communicating a personal response in a clear and concise manner. Where candidates require further knowledge to answer a question but that knowledge is not available, they should state this and elaborate.
The interviews will give candidates the opportunity to demonstrate similar skills, but in the setting of a conversation between two interviewers and two interviewees. Candidates are encouraged to respond to the interviewers as well as fellow interviewees at appropriate points during the interview – for example, to ask clarifying questions or to present opposing views.
The writing test and interview may discuss legal issues, but will not require that candidates have any prior knowledge of the law, philosophy, or any other discipline. If you want to prepare for the writing test and interview, we advise you to get into the habit of reading well-written publications on any general topic and thinking critically about what you have read and how you might respond.
