Students’ Speak: CLAT Preparation Tips & Tricks

By: Teresa Dhar

Only 30 days are left to preparing for Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). The exam that from this year onwards will be held offline in a pen-paper mode.

It’s difficult to keep our heads straight but we must do so and for that, we need a strategy. Basic things and patterns must be understood such as:

CLAT Study Material

• Lucent And Pratiyogita Darpan, along with quality newspaper and media apps, including The Hindu, Inshorts and Times of India.
• RS Agarwal And MK Pandey for logical reasoning
• Word Power Made Easy and books for English
• Past 10 years’ papers

So, most of the paper would be about comprehensive skills, critical reasoning and logical analysis.

1. English: It would be about 5-7 passages each of 450 words. Each passage would contain 5-7 usual comprehension questions. Questions could be regarding the main idea of the passage, what the author wants to convey, word-meanings, what is the tone of the story – the entire section should ideally take 35 minutes and each passage 5-7 minutes.
2. Current Affairs: Surprisingly, the current affairs section, too, has comprehension-based questions. There could 7-9 passages with each passage consisting of five questions and each passage would be up to 450 words. Questions may include extra-legal knowledge, current affair in the world and India and historically significant events. So, there might fill in the blanks or correcting the wrong words.
3. Legal Reasoning: Questions can be based on legal and philosophical knowledge, public policy and identifying principles and applying rules.
4. Logical Reasoning: Again, comprehension-based questions with passages of 300 words. The same method of logically deducing from the passage to answer the questions.
5. Quantitative Techniques: Includes mathematics of Class 10^th. But again, it’s not a one-line question. It would include a deduction and analysis of figures. To understand better, take a look at the above link to the sample paper.

CLAT Focus Points

The focus point for every individual should be different depending on their weak points.  For instance, if someone’s English is weak, then he should focus on that. Same goes for every subject in CLAT.

CLAT Revision Approach/Study Plan

If possible, then solve as many sample papers as possible. Go through the past years’ papers. If possible, take a crash course in some institution or online such as Career Launcher, Clatapult, etc. You’ll get a better idea of the pattern and that will give a better idea.

CLAT Last Week Tips & Tricks

There is no such thing as last week tips and tricks - it’s a scam, honestly. Last week is meant for revision – going over important topics in general knowledge or the weakest area in any subject. A thorough revision is what will get you going.

About the Author:

Teresa Dhar is a third-year student pursuing BA LLB from Chanakya National Law University.