The One-Page Primer for CLAT Preparation

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.