Experts’ Speak: Don’t let a low CLAT score stop you from moving ahead

By: Abhishek Vikram

If you are not sure whether you can improve your performance, or lack the patience to wait for one full year while your classmates are pursuing graduation, it is better not to drop a year for CLAT — opt for some other good law colleges apart from the National Law Universities which are at par with them.

Many aspirants of CLAT know what they are capable of and most of them are quite aware of their results. However, there are some others who get to see unexpected results, which leaves them with no other choice but to drop their idea of being a part of a National Law University for that session. However, there are several other options available for the serious and deserving aspirants if they are not seeking only an NLS tag. The different options available to the aspirants are:

Drop a Year or Not

This is a major question that every CLAT aspirant has in his mind after scoring marks below expectations because in most cases, they do not have a back-up plan. However, taking a drop of a complete year or not is an objective question, and the answer varies for every aspirant. It also depends on the reason why the aspirant has scored below his expectations — low knowledge is one of the reasons, but it is not the only reason.Therefore, the aspirants should know where they have lagged behind to have made a low score. In most of the cases, there are two major reasons why an aspirant's score falls below his expectations:

• Less Knowledge: This happens when the aspirant has started his preparation too late, say two months before the examination, and has a poor grasping power. Due to this, the aspirant is not able to get his basic knowledge of the concepts cleared up and ends in mugging them up, which is not the right approach to take a national level examination. In such cases, the aspirants skip a lot of topics and have a very small base of topics from which they can score. Due to low attempts in the examination, they are not able to score up to their full potential even if their accuracy is more than 90 per cent. In such a case, the aspirants should take a year drop if they feel they can improve their knowledge base for the examination.
• Low Efficiency: If someone has a high grasping power and has managed to cover a lot of topics during their CLAT preparation, but still scored low marks, there might be issues with their efficiency. Having knowledge is one thing and scoring marks in an examination is another. Both knowledge and efficiency are required to ace an exam. In this case, the reason behind the below expectations marks could have been lack of practice, which is obvious when one starts the preparation in the last months of the examination. If low efficiency is the reason behind the low score in CLAT, you should not drop a year completely. You can instead go for some other college or even course as a back-up option since you don't know what might happen in the future. During your graduation, spend time in practicing questions, and it is certain that you'll score well above your expectations in your next attempt.

However, if you are not sure whether you can improve your performance, or lack the patience to wait for one full year while your classmates are pursuing graduation, it is better not to drop a year for CLAT — opt for some other good law colleges apart from the National Law Universities which are at par with them.

Best Law Colleges to Choose Apart From NLUs

Once you are done with CLAT, you will have a lot of law colleges which shall be offering you admission based on your CLAT score. Therefore, even if your score is lower than the minimum cutoff score required for a National Law University (NLU), you can go for other government as well as private law colleges which have maintained an almost at-par standard. Some of the government colleges which take admission based on the CLAT score of the aspirants are:

• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
• NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
• West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences, Kolkata
• Faculty of Law, University of Delhi
• National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi

These colleges have a good reputation for education and have maintained the standards high enough to provide you with the best platform for a bright career in law. Hence, if you get a chance to get into any of them, don't miss the chance.

Besides these government law colleges and universities, there are several private law colleges as well which take admissions through CLAT as well as provide quality education to their students. However, they have a high fee as compared to government colleges. But if money is not a concern for you, you may opt for these colleges too:

• Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat
• Symbiosis Law School, Pune
• Army Institute of Law, Pune
• Nirma University, Ahmedabad 
• Christ University, Bengaluru, 

Once you get into a good college, you will have complete time and a good platform to learn and grow in the domain of law.

Other Entrance Examinations to Take for Admission in LLB

CLAT is an important examination for entrance into the best law colleges of India, but it is not the only exam which the aspirants can take to get into a good law college. There are several other examinations which can help you to secure a seat in some of the best law colleges of India, such as:

• Law School Admission Test (LSAT): For admission into Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Intellectual Property Law, Jindal Global Law School, etc.
• All India Law Entrance Test: For admission into Army Institute of Law
• Symbiosis Entrance Test: For admission into Symbiosis Law School
• Delhi University Law Entrance Test: For admission into Faculty of Law, Delhi University

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.