CLAT PG Topper Interview 2019: AIR 5, Shiwali Agarwal wants to become a Legal Advisor

Shiwali Agarwal became the CLAT PG topper 2019 with All India Rank (AIR) 5. Shiksha got in touch with her to know the preparation strategy she adopted for the exam and more.

The CLAT PG 2019 topper, Shiwali Agarwal scored a total of 102.3 marks in the law entrance exam. Her section-wise scores in the exam include 68.3 marks in Section A (Objective) and 34 marks in Section B (Subjective).

Shiwali has completed her BSL LLB from Indian Law Society’s Law College, Pune, and LLM from National Law Institute University, Bhopal. For the past few months, she has been preparing for various competitive exams, and CLAT 2019 was one of them.

Reading legal literature is one of Shiwali’s favourite hobbies. However, apart from this she enjoys reading novels (fictional as well as non-fictional), short stories, and poetry. She also likes to write short stories and poems in English and Urdu. Whenever time permits, she hears poetry recitals of notable Urdu poets. She is also a visual artist, and painting is not only her hobby, but also a part time profession. She has sold a few paintings (even internationally), and intend to continue to do so in the future as well. She also enjoys cooking and baking.

Shiwali’s father is a business man and my mother is a homemaker. She has an elder sister, who holds a Doctorate in Biotechnology, and is venturing into the Research and Development sector.  

Shiksha got talking to Shiwali to know her CLAT prep strategy, study schedule, future plans and more. Go through the complete interview with Shiwali below:

I don’t think anyone expects to be the topper of any examination, as it is contingent on a number of factors. I had prepared well for the examination, and was definitely expecting a good score. When the CLAT answer key for the Objective part was released, I was a bit disappointed, but had my hopes high for scoring decently in the Subjective part, and that is precisely what happened.

I would like to approach this question section-wise.

As for the Objective Questions (Part A), I made sure to read the bare text of all the laws prescribed in the CLAT syllabus first, and then proceeded towards reading the theoretical part. Since Constitutional Law was to constitute 40/100 marks in the first part, I made sure to make myself thorough with it. Apart from reading the text books, I solved as many question papers as I could. I made it a routine to solve at least two question papers every day, during the last 20 days. I referred to previous year question papers of CLAT, AILET, and UGC NET. This helped me analyse my strengths and weaknesses and work upon them accordingly.

The Subjective Part was a deviation from the past few years, and was introduced this year after a gap of almost 5 years. It was therefore a bit of an uncharted territory. However, after having analysed the CLAT previous year question papers (till 2014), I got a faint idea as to the kind of questions that may be asked. If you look at the type of questions that were asked in the Subjective part this year, they were not purely legal, or those which are typically taught during our law course. Therefore, reading text books was not enough to prepare for the same. I used to read the newspaper every day, and also read articles on Livelaw and Bar & Bench. This helped me stay updated with the current legal and general affairs, and also develop well informed opinions regarding them.

As I was preparing for other examinations as well, CLAT preparation only took a proportion of my study schedule. I used to dedicate 4-5 hours a week to prepare for the same 3 months before the examination. During the last 20 days, I dedicated my entire schedule to CLAT (7-8 hours a day). I started with Constitutional Law, followed by Jurisprudence and International Law, then the rest of the miscellaneous laws.

For Constitutional Law, I referred to the bare text, Laxmikanth’s book on Polity, MP Jain’s book on Constitutional Law for brushing up the case laws, and AK Jain’s book for quickly revising the theory.

For Jurisprudence, I referred to VD Mahajan and Paranjape. I often took help of videos on YouTube whenever I faced hiccups understanding a particular legal theory/philosopher.

For International Law, I referred to Malcolm N Shaw and HO Aggarwal.

For IPC, I did not go beyond the bare text.

For Contract Law, I referred to AK Jain’s book to revise the theory, in addition to reading the bare text thoroughly.

For Intellectual Property Laws, I only referred to the bare text.

My strong points were Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, and Contract Law, and I made sure to revise them thoroughly. Solving question papers was a great confidence booster for me. As for the other subjects, which weren’t particularly my strength, I read the laws multiple times, and marked my points of faults. I would go back to those topics at a gap of 3-4 days to refresh my memory. This helped me to a great extent.

I gave CLAT UG, and the preparation for the two is quite different. Time management is more crucial in CLAT UG, as compared to PG. Moreover, practice matters much more in UG than PG. CLAT PG is a much more defined territory, and thus easier to prepare for.

I only wrote CLAT, and I do not plan to write any other law entrance examination, as my intention is to work as a Legal Advisor in a PSU (Public Sector Undertaking).

I decided to pursue law when I was in Class XII, and dedicated my time to prepare to enter into a good legal institution since then. Until then, being a Science student, I was caught with the idea of engineering. However, things took a different turn, and I am thankful for having chosen this field.

Just one thing – there are no shortcuts. Keep reading newspapers and legal blogs apart from the legal text books, and it will go a long way in developing your understanding of law.

I plan to work in the Legal Department of Public Sector Undertakings.