The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), is an All India entrance examination, conducted on rotation by 21 National Law Universities (NLUs) for admissions to their Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate degree programmes. The exam witnessed almost 60,000 candidates this year battling it out for less than 2500 seats in the National Law Universities.
Subjects
- English including comprehension- 40 marks
- General knowledge and current affairs – 50 marks
- Elementary mathematics – 20 marks
- Legal aptitude – 50 marks
- Logical reasoning – 40 marks
Visit the official website of CLAT for the syllabus.
English
- Refer “English Grammar and Composition” by Wren and Martin.
- Read the editorial section of newspapers daily.
- Practice reading text at faster speeds, eg: Evelyn Woods technique etc.
- Analyze the pattern from past year questions and practice your weak points.
- Solve 2 comprehensions and 1 practice paper daily.
General Knowledge
- It carries the most marks and takes the least amount of time to attempt.
- If you don’t know an answer, don’t ponder and move on.
- Read one newspaper daily in detail. eg: The Statesman, The Indian Express or The Hindu
- Watch the news for half an hour in the evening on Doordarshan or Rajya Sabha Tv.
- Refer one yearbook for static. eg: Penguin or Manorama.
- Subscribe to a monthly current affairs magazine and read it religiously, eg: Arihant Competition in Focus.
- Make bullet-point notes to revise later.
- Maintain a stable preparation plan of 1-2 hours a day for a minimum of 3 months.
- Invest 1 hour a day for static gk.
Elementary Mathematics
- Despite being the easiest subject on the paper, it is the most feared.
- Don’t spend too much time on modules but solve all past year papers several times.
- Spend one hour a day on it.
- Do not spend more than a minute or minute and a half on a question.
- Learn to get to the answer using tricks rather than lengthy process.
- Invest time practising more problems from past year papers, mocks, modules every day.
Legal Aptitude
- Read theory ONLY from the modules.
- Do NOT read bare acts, there is no need to go deep into the law.
- Solve questions from past year papers and mocks to know the pattern.
- It has the highest marks and only a finite number of questions, two hours a day for 3-4 months is enough to deal with every possible question.
- Trust your gut and go with the first answer you think is right.
Logical Reasoning
- The key to scoring well is solving as many questions as you can daily.
- There should be no element of surprise in the paper, you must have attempted every type of question in your preparation.
- Solve questions for 1 hour every day and 2 hours on a weekend from Universal’s logical reasoning for CLAT.
- Try to grasp the pattern of questions that repeat themselves from the past year papers.
- Attempt this section with a fresh mind, either first or second.
Key points to remember
- There is a negative marking of 0.25 for every wrong answer.
- The paper is a multiple choice objective type paper.
- There are 200 questions of 1 mark each.
- The duration of the exam is 2 hours.
Here is our database of CLAT preparation tips.