CLAT is a national-level entrance exam that helps aspirants gain admission to undergraduate and postgraduate law programs in 24 national law universities in India.
CLAT allows you to secure admissions to the prestigious National Law Universities considered the top law schools in the country, apart from other private law schools that also accept the score. Once you graduate from these top NLUs, you can be placed in the country's best law firms, including AZB & Partners, Argus Partners, Majmudar & Co, Fox Mandal & Associates, and Khaitan & Co.
Since you already know the significance of this exam in excelling in your legal career, the article below deals with all the minutest details that you should know while preparing for this competitive exam, ranging from in-depth analysis of the syllabus to the strategies that you should adopt while taking CLAT exam.
CLAT was conducted for the first time in 2008 after the public interest litigation was filed by a parent of an aspirant in 2006 for running a single test for admission to all the NLUs. The first exam was conducted offline.
CLAT offers admissions to students in the undergraduate and postgraduate law programs offered by NLUs.
Students in this section are required to answer questions from two 450-word passages that can either be fictional or nonfictional and can be read in 5 to 7 minutes. Aspirants in this section must demonstrate their comprehension and language skills.
The questions that students are required to answer in the passage can be in the form of:
To improve English language skills, the first and foremost thing you are required to do is read the newspaper every day and also attempt CLAT mock tests to understand the type of questions and difficulty level of the exam.
In the GK section, a student must answer questions from a passage up to 450 words, which can be based on various topics, including Contemporary events of significance from India and the world, Arts and culture, International affairs, and Historical events of continuing importance. The questions assess students' awareness of various aspects of current experiences and general knowledge.
Considering the recent trend of questions in CLAT 2023 in the current affairs section, the aspirants should focus on topics like history, politics, general science, technology, books, authors, sports, and industries since the questions were moderately complex.
Though many books are available, which we have listed below, the best study resource for being up to date with GK is reading newspapers every day. Newspapers are the best source for one to remain updated with what is happening worldwide.
Students in this section are asked questions based on short sets of facts or propositions, including other textual representations from areas such as ratios and proportions, introductory algebra, measurement, and statistical estimation.
This section is often “moderately difficult” since the examiner has the scope to ask tricky questions.
Even in this section, students have to answer questions from the passages that are not particularly focused on law but are a blend of legal matters, public policy questions, and moral philosophical inquiries. Students are not required to have any core knowledge of law but benefit from the knowledge they gain from general awareness of contemporary legal and ethical issues.
While giving CLAT UG, students are not required to focus solely on case laws since they are not required to memorize the names of the cases, but the same is asked in the form of a passage wherein students are presented with the legal principle based on case law. Students are given a statement and four options, and they must apply that legal principle to opt for the correct answer.
Preparation Tips
To crack this section, it's essential to have a good reading speed, which one can get by reading law magazines to have legal perspectives on issues and practicing more and more questions from previous year's papers.
This section includes a series of passage-based questions in the form of syllogisms, blood relations, directions, and seating arrangements wherein students are required to read, identify the arguments and recognise their premises and conclusions.
To solve the questions under the section, students should develop critical reasoning and logical thinking skills. Additionally, the student should familiarise themselves with the concepts of syllogisms, blood relations, directions, and seating arrangements and their applications so that they can develop their foundational understanding and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
The CLAT exam is of 120 marks which the students are required to complete in 2 hours
1 mark for every correct question and -.25 for every incorrect question
The entire paper is divided into 120 questions from five main subjects, namely English language and current affairs, including general knowledge, legal reasoning, logical reasoning, and quantitative techniques. Questions from the English language and logical reasoning occupy roughly 20% of the questions each, while current affairs and legal reasoning occupy 25% of the paper. Questions on quantitative techniques occupy 10% of the article.
English Language- 22 to 26 questions
Current affairs- 28 to 32 questions
Legal reasoning– 28 to 32 questions
Logical reasoning– 22 to 26 questions
Quantitative techniques– 10 to 14 questions
Competitive exams often demand students to memorize the subjects. Still, CLAT is different as it requires students to learn and develop critical thinking, understanding, and engaging skills, as well as reasons that need practice and learning. Against this backdrop, it becomes essential for an aspirant to create a study plan to equally focus on all the subjects from which they can expect questions. One should keep taking mock tests to assess the weak areas and dedicate more time to them.
Mock tests are an excellent self-assessment tool for students to identify their strengths and weaknesses in every section. We at St Peter's Law Academy allow our students to take alternate weekly tests every 14 days coupled with monthly tests, quarterly tests, and half-yearly tests. Though we conduct subject-wise tests throughout, students can also grab themselves subject-wise tests anytime they want.
English Language - Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis, High School English Grammar and Composition by Wren & Martin, Objective General English by RS Aggarwal, Barron’s Pocket Guide to Vocabulary, The Pearson Guide to the CLAT by Pearson's, CLAT Guide by Tata McGraw-Hill
General Knowledge and Current Affairs - Lucent’s GK, Manorama Year Book, Competition Success Review, India Year Book, and Pratiyogita Darpan. Also read leading newspapers like Hindu, Indian Express, and Hindustan Times.
Mathematics - Quantitative Aptitude by RS Aggarwal, Class 10th NCERT Textbook, Data interpretation by R.S Aggarwal, Elementary Mathematics with Numerical Ability by Prateek Jain, Magical Book on Quicker Maths by M Tyra
Legal Aptitude - Universal’s CLAT Guide, Bare Acts of Indian Constitution, Legal Awareness and Legal Aptitude by AP Bhardwaj, LexisNexis Butterworths, Objective Legal Aptitude by R.S Aggarwal, Important Judgement That Transformed India by Alex Andrews George
Logical Reasoning - Analytical Reasoning by MK Pandey, Analytical and Logical Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal, Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by RS Aggarwal, A New Approach to Verbal and Analytical Reasoning by Arihant, 501 challenging Logical Reasoning Practice book, Quantitative Aptitude ebook (ALL Parts Solved) by RS Aggarwal
Time management is crucial not only while you're preparing for the exam but also when you are taking the exam. At the D day, time management plays a vital role, and thus, to convert your hard work into success, you should always pre-decide the time you would allocate to each section and the time you would further devote to a particular question.
For last-minute revision use these books -
Time Allocation during the Exam
To ensure that one completes all the sections within the given time limit, one should always begin the exam by attempting the GK questions first, which should then be followed by English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Aptitude.
The CLAT exam is challenging, and the scores that you get in this exam decide your entire career ahead, but things would not go well if you are stressed and nervous by looking at the questions. The mantra to crack the exam is to deal with all the questions calmly and not fret over the unknown.
CLAT is a game changer for any student who aspires to excel in their legal career since it allows an aspirant to study at the most prestigious law colleges. Though it is a competitive exam, it can be aced with the tips that we have dealt with elaborately above with hard work and perseverance.
The key sections in the CLAT examination are English Language, General Knowledge and Current Affairs, Mathematics, Legal Aptitude, and Logical Reasoning.
To prepare for General Knowledge and Current Affairs, refer to Lucent’s GK, Manorama Year Book, Competition Success Review, India Year Book, and Pratiyogita Darpan. Also read leading newspapers like Hindu, Indian Express, and Hindustan Times.
When students solve previous year question papers, they get a fair idea of the type of questions that they can expect in the exam.
One can find additional resources and references for CLAT preparations by opting for the exhaustive study material from experienced mentors at St Peter's Law Academy.
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