Pravosudni ispit

It is a two-stage examination: a written part consisting of practical assignments in the main areas of law, followed by an oral part before an examination committee covering the prescribed subjects. The written part must normally be passed before you sit the oral. Confirm the current structure and subject list with the official body.

The written papers are sat on set days and the oral examination is conducted in a single session before a committee. The number of assignments and the exact schedule are set by the official rules and change from time to time, so check the current figures published by the official examining authority rather than relying on second-hand accounts.

It is a demanding exam because it requires working knowledge of many codes at once, not just recall. Pass rates vary by session and are published, where at all, by the official body; treat any figure quoted by a preparatory course with caution and check the official source for the current statistics.

Yes - retake and re-sitting rules exist, but they specify waiting periods, the number of permitted attempts, and whether you must repeat the whole examination or only the failed part. These conditions are set out in the governing regulation; read that text directly and confirm your position with the official body before planning a re-sit.

Most candidates begin serious preparation several months before the session, after finishing practical training. Start with the largest and most heavily weighted areas - civil, criminal and administrative law with their procedural codes - then add commercial, labour, family and inheritance law. Leave the final weeks for written practice and mock oral examinations.

Do substantive law and its procedural code together, never separately: examiners test how the two interact. Begin with civil and civil procedure, then criminal and criminal procedure, then constitutional and administrative law. Afterwards take commercial and company law, labour and social security, family and inheritance, and finish with ethics, EU and international law, which are smaller but easy marks to lose.

Three recurring failures: knowing a code's rules but not its procedure, so answers stall on jurisdiction and deadlines; ignoring the smaller subjects and losing easy points; and writing unstructured answers that bury the conclusion. Practise stating the issue, the rule, the application and the result, and rehearse aloud - the oral part rewards concise, organised speech.

You should be able to name the governing statute and the relevant article for core rules, and to explain leading positions on contested points. Exact case citations are less important than accurate reasoning. Examiners probe whether you understand why a rule exists, so be ready to defend an answer rather than recite it.

It helps, but it is not a substitute. Drafting real submissions and observing hearings builds the practical skill the written part tests, yet trainees often specialise narrowly. Deliberately rotate through different practice areas during training and keep a personal list of procedural questions to resolve during study.

The official examining authority publishes the governing regulation, application deadlines, session dates, required documents and the current fees on its website. Those published figures are authoritative and supersede anything in study guides, forums or preparatory materials, so check them at the start of your preparation and again before applying.