Experts’ Speak: CLAT preparation tips to get admission to top NLUs

By: Abhishek Vikram

The basic task for qualifying any exam with flying colours is to make a note of the scoring topics for that exam. If you have a control on the most scoring topics in an exam, you are halfway through it already. 

CLAT is an entrance test conducted by the National Law Universities of India (NLUs) to admit law aspirants into national colleges. However, the exam is a tough fight for getting into the 17 best colleges across India and requires a strategic preparation. Therefore, we have some tips for the aspirants of CLAT which they may follow to improve their performance in the exam.

CLAT Scoring Topics

The basic task for qualifying any exam with flying colours is to make a note of the scoring topics for that exam. If you have a control on the most scoring topics in an exam, you are halfway through it already. Since CLAT is no different, a good preparation would demand that you have a list of the most scoring topics in each section of the paper.

• Mathematics: Mathematics as a subject is too vast and it's not everyone's cup of tea to find it interesting. However, there are a few topics which will appear in most questions in CLAT, and that is where most of the effort should be focused. Instead of taking up a book and beginning from page 1, you should first try to have a grip on the following topics, which are the most important ones in the mathematics section from CLAT point of view:

1. Unitary Method
2. Profit, Loss, and Discount
3. Time and Work
4. Time and Distance
5. Ratio and Proportion
6. Percentage

• Logical Reasoning: As the name suggests, logical reasoning is a must-have skill for any law aspirant since the entire profession is based on logic. However, without any practice, it is very difficult to score well in this section because it is asked in CLAT under two different sections — Analytical Reasoning and Critical Reasoning. Again, you need not waste your time and energy on all the topics you find in the books. Instead, concentrate on the below-mentioned topics and master them to have a good score in this section:

Analytical Reasoning

1. Directions
2. Blood Relations
3. Venn Diagrams
4. Clocks

Critical Reasoning

1. Assertions and Reasons
2. Assumptions and Conclusions
3. Deductions and Inference

• Legal Aptitude: Legal Aptitude is something which a law aspirant cannot afford to overlook, especially when they are appearing for CLAT. But again, there are a thousand of terms involved in law and it is not possible for an average human to know everything. Therefore, experts advise focusing only on the ones which have a high number of cases and are used frequently in the domain. There are not too many of them to be focused on and they include:

1. Constitutional Laws
2. Contract Laws
3. Criminal Laws
4. Family Laws
5. Intellectual Property Laws
6. International Laws

• General Knowledge: General Knowledge is a vast section and not too much can be done in this section if you have decided to ignore it. However, it is going to boost up your score if you get a question from a topic you have covered. The most important topics to study in this section are:

1. Current Affairs of at least last one year
2. Legal aspects of what's happening in politics
3. River Systems, Mountains, Peaks, etc.

• Verbal Ability: This section is highly scoring if you have put in substantial effort into it because there are no ifs and buts involved in it. However, it's recommended that you focus on the following topics to prevent your efforts from being wasted as not everything given in the books is going to have a high weightage in the CLAT question paper. For ease in revision, focus on the following topics:

1. Antonyms and Synonyms
2. Detection of Errors
3. Vocabulary and Grammar
4. Comprehension

CLAT Revision Approach

Once the aspirants know what they need to focus on while studying for CLAT, they face issues in adopting the right approach. They struggle to get a foolproof study plan and spend lots of time to explore the online and offline world, which is of no use. However, following are some tips which can be highly beneficial if followed:

• Make sure to follow a newspaper to study English and Current Affairs. It helps in learning new words, becoming aware of the current events, and improving comprehension skills.
• Always have a daily target, a weekly target, and a monthly target. It's important to meet those targets regularly.
• For logical reasoning section, there is no alternative to practice. You need to practice as many questions as you can.
• Always be curious and look for answers to the questions that arise due to curiosity. Don't put them for some time later, or you'll forget them.
• Mathematics and practice also go hand in hand. The more variety of questions you practise, the more confidence you get while solving higher-level questions.
• Make sure to take occasional mock tests to analyse the areas where you lag behind and need to work.

Tips to Prepare CLAT at Home

If you are preparing for CLAT at home, without joining any coaching, you need to understand that discipline is your key to success. Provided that you are not preparing just for the sake of preparation, and really want to get a seat in a reputed law college in India, here are a few tips to be followed:

• Get the latest syllabus for CLAT. It is important to know the right topics to put in your energy and efforts.
• Follow simple book, the ones which you are comfortable studying from. You can do a short analysis of 3-4 good books and then choose 1 book to follow.
• Make a study plan, preferably a task list if the time table approach does not work for you.
• Set daily, weekly, and monthly targets and make sure to achieve those targets.
• Always solve previous years’ questions after every few days, say two weeks or 20 days to know where you stand in the level of your preparation. Improve accordingly.
• Make sure to join a test series to give mock tests and compete in an exam-like environment. It is better to know where you lag behind before the final exam.

About the Author:

Abhishek Vikram is an alumnus of the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, pursuing B.Com LL.B. He has a keen interest in Indian History & Polity. In his free time, he likes to read books and watch movies.