The Common Law Admission Test or CLAT was first conducted in 2008, when the National Law School of India University in Bangalore decided to streamline admission to the various NLUs. At the time there were seven of them; now, there are 26 NLUs in all.
All NLUs accept CLAT scores except for NLU-Delhi which has its own admission test. Some public and private colleges also accept CLAT.
The examination consists of multiple sections — English language, current affairs/general knowledge, legal reasoning, logical reasoning and quantitative aptitude. Says Shouvik Kumar Guha, associate professor at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Calcutta, “There are around 3,000 seats in all these universities combined and around 70,000-80,000 aspirants appear for the exams each year. CLAT 2024 will have 120 questions as compared to the usual 150. The challenges posed by the question paper, competition and time constraints can
be overcome through preparation, perseverance, planning and focus.”
Here are tips to crack the CLAT from current and former law students and educators.
Long prep
Naman Anand, 23, graduated from the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law in Patiala, Punjab, five years ago. He says, “CLAT requires a tedious two-year preparation process. It is important to start early.” Shivendra Pandey echoes this. He started his law journey after his school-leaving exams. “I had a month to prepare for CLAT 2019, and I did not get into the top 10 NLUs. I joined Delhi University and took the exam again in 2020. This time I got into Nalsar University of Law in Hyderabad.” Guha says, “During your preparation, if your rate of improvement is not as quick as you had hoped for, do not give up. Try to remember this is a marathon and not a 100-metre dash.”
Mock tests
Anand talks about the importance of taking mock tests. He says, “In 2018, CLAT was an online test, but recently they have reverted to the traditional pen-and-paper format. You must keep practising in the same format. Keep putting yourself in that atmosphere so you are mentally ready in the exam hall.” Kriti Bhatnagar, educator at Unacademy — an online educational platform — talks about how students wait till the last minute before giving mock tests and that is not a great strategy. Guha’s advice: “Focus on tackling sections you are confident about and then return to the other sections.”
Firm focus
There is an abundance of resources available to help prepare for the test. Coaching institutes, online courses, the Internet and social media groups. Do not allow the excess to overwhelm you. “It is one’s own ability, thinking, reasoning skills, common sense and logic that are going to be tested in this examination,” says Guha. Develop clarity of thought, hone your reading skills, read at least one newspaper regularly, learn to speed-read, says Guha. He adds, “Practise quantitative problems on a daily basis.”
All of this has to be done alongside school studies without compromising them. And it is achievable, provided one makes these things a part of one’s routine. Adhya Sarna, a final-year student of Amity Law School in Noida, says, “One of the major reasons I couldn’t crack CLAT was my divided attention. I was trying to score well in my board exams while studying for the entrance exam as well.”
So what happens if you don’t make it to an NLU?
Anand says, “The law college you land in is a trampoline of sorts, on the basis of which you can jump and rise. It is up to you how high you want to jump and how far you can go. I have seen people from completely unheard of law colleges doing brilliantly in their life. Being at an NLU definitely gives you good opportunities but one cannot say that the best opportunities today solely lie with them.”
Last updated on 21 Nov 2023
