CLAT 2017 Topper Interview: AIR 1 Rajat Maloo shares his Success Mantra

CLAT 2017 Topper: Rajat Maloo, AIR 1

A resident of Rajasthan’s Jaipur city, Rajat Maloo cracked CLAT 2017 exam for UG course admissions with an impressive 154.25 marks out of a total of 196 marks. A Science stream student from Jayshree Periwal High School, Rajat initially thought of pursuing engineering but then felt a calling towards Law stream. Son of Ramesh Maloo and Santosh Maloo who are Financial Advisors, Rajat said that “my parents heartily supported my decision to opt for law despite my being a Science-Maths student”.

Shiksha spoke exclusively to Rajat Maloo about his CLAT prep strategy and experience of giving the law entrance exam. You can read the detailed interview below.

I believed that I could do it and I dreamt it while preparing for it. But after giving CLAT, I expected a single digit rank but AIR 1 came as a pleasant surprise.

I attribute my success to my parents, grandparents and my teacher Navneet Singh Sir.

I was regular throughout the year as it was my drop year after Class 12, although it was my first attempt at CLAT. I knew that GK was my weak section. So, I read newspapers throughout the year regularly which helped me with both GK and English. And I also gave a lot of mock tests and tried to get accurate mock after mock and practiced to avoid silly mistakes. 

For English, I read Word Power Made Easy, a vocabulary and Objective English book for grammar. I was good at Maths so I didn't prepare much for it. For the Logical Reasoning section, I prepared for critical reasoning only by going through MK Pandey book. For Legal Aptitude section, I went through my coaching material and a lot of mocks. For Current Affairs and GK, I read newspapers and gktoday.in website's quizzes. For Static GK, I read a book by Tarun Goyal.

I took coaching from Navneet Singh Sir at Lawprep Jaipur. 

I studied regularly for 6-7 hours daily and avoided distractions like social media and followed this throughout the year.

Maths and Logical Reasoning were my strengths but I still practiced them. From the beginning I knew that I would have to prepare for GK and Legal Aptitude section. So, throughout the year, I consistently prepared these subjects. 

I like to read novels, play guitar and badminton.

I took AILET and SET apart from CLAT. My rank in AILET is 12.

No. Earlier, I prepared for Engineering Entrance Exam but last year after Class 12, I decided to opt for law as I was not interested in Engineering.

After Class 12, I researched various career options and I realised that I could use my abilities and skills in the best way in law. And I also realised the power of law to do morally correct things for the society. So, that's why I chose law.

GK section had a lot of current affairs questions like previous years’ papers. Maths was a bit lengthy, this year, so it took time. Also, as there were a few errors in the question paper, it wasted a lot of precious time. View CLAT 2017 answer key & question paper errors here.

I want to join NLSIU Bengaluru.

Be regular and punctual in your studies and never lie to yourself. 

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