CLAT 2019 Topper Interview: AIR 2, Harsh Tomar wants to become a corporate lawyer

Harsh Tomar is the CLAT topper 2019 with AIR 2. Know what prep strategy he adopted to crack the CLAT exam in his interview below.

A student of Servite Convent School, Hoshangabad, Harsh scored total 176.75 marks in CLAT 2019 and secured All India Rank (AIR) 2. His section-wise scores in the exam include 45 in Legal Aptitude, 38.75 in Logical Reasoning, 41.5 in General Knowledge, 17 in Mathematics, and 34.5 in English.

Belonging to a family with law background, Harsh’s father is an Advocate at Consumer Forum in Hoshangabad and mother is a housewife. He also has an elder sister who is pursuing BA LLB degree from HNLU Raipur.

In a candid interview with Shiksha, Harsh shares how he chose law as his career, what prep strategy he adopted to crack CLAT, his future plans and more. Go through the complete interview below:

I always used to be in the top 10 students in our coaching and was quite confident of my preparation. So with CLAT 2019 result I expected that I could be among top 50 students but still AIR 2 was somewhat unexpected.

I worked with full fervour from the very first day I joined my coaching. I prepared a schedule for every day and tried to complete it. I focused on accuracy and speed equally, I used to set a timer and attempt Maths and Logical Reasoning questions within a time limit.

I was a dropper so there was no other extra burden of boards at the time of CLAT preparation.

I was a student at Legal Edge Bhopal. I prepared for the exam there for one year.

I studied a lot the whole year but whenever I felt bored I picked any novel and read it. I also read two English newspapers (The Hindu and The Guardian) daily. I divided my whole CLAT preparation period in two parts. In the first few months I devoted most of my time in improving my weaker sections (English and Legal Reasoning). At the same time, I also practiced Maths and Logical Reasoning on alternate days.

I am not in favour of reading plethora of material and books for a same topic because it can confuse the student easily. I relied mostly on our coaching material. Besides, I also read the following books:

• A Modern Approach to Logical Reasoning by RS Aggarwal
• Analytical Reasoning by MK Pandey
• Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by RS  Agarwal
• Lucent’s Objective General Knowledge
• GKToday & AffairsCloud (websites) for Current Affairs

Apart from these books, I also used to practice CLAT past year question papers to prepare for the exam, especially Legal Reasoning.

I believe that to clear CLAT with a good rank you just can’t leave preparation for any subject weak. I understood it quite early that’s why I worked a lot on my weak subjects. For instance, for Legal Reasoning I tried to first understand the concepts and then practiced lot of questions. Maths and Logical Reasoning were my strengths but I gave equal attention to them as well. I practiced five questions related to these subjects daily. For Maths, I also tried to understand various tricks and shortcuts that could save my time in calculations.

I gave AILET 2019 and secured AIR 15. I also appeared for MHCET Law (AIR 32) and SLAT (129 marks).  

I took PCM (Physics, Chemistry, Maths) in class 11^th due to my love for Maths. But after one year I found Physics quite difficult for me. At that time I consulted with my elder sister, researched about law and picked it as my career.

I would advise them to stay focused for the whole time they prepare for CLAT and study with a proper schedule. It is not important to study 10 topics a day partially but one topic thoroughly. Also, revising what they study is the key to success. I would also ask them to give approximately 50 CLAT mock tests and analyse them carefully.

I want to explore corporate law sector and would like to work on the nitty gritty of it.