Students' Speak: Tips to prepare for CLAT in the last month.

Aspirants must be thorough with the current affairs of at least the past six months. For Maths, aspirants will have questions from the elementary level which could be time-consuming.

This article invites the attention of the aspirants for the last month’s preparation. However, these tips will be beneficial to others as well. As Common Law Admission Test (hereinafter CLAT) aspirants, I hope you will be aware of the basic requirements, subjects, marking scheme and other such information concerning CLAT. This article will only focus on last month's preparation tips for the aspirants. Before jumping directly on the subject matter, the author wants to make it very clear to the aspirants that the academic background of the aspirant is hardly a challenge. Only the Math section can be a challenge but that too can be handled strategically. 

An exam can never be cracked without a good book and with last month’s preparation, it becomes essential to have good books. I followed Lexis Nexis Publication (served as a source to get through with all the topics), Pearson (it has all the previous years' solved question papers) and CLAT by Harsh Gagrani (served as cross-reference book having shortcut methods). Aspirants can go for these books for an overall preparation.

The question paper includes five sections namely English, Logic, General knowledge, Maths, and Law. It has 150 questions for 120 minutes with 0.25 negative marking. Out of these five subjects, English, Logic and General Knowledge are the scoring sections. Aspirants need to focus on three sections more than the rest two for time management. To prepare for it, one has to at least finish the aforementioned books by heart. In the last month’s preparation, if the aspirant is attempting these three sections at its best and fairs mildly in the rest two, he/she has a good chance of getting into an NLU. 

For last month’s preparation, there have to be at least 10 hours sitting with discipline and dedication. Aspirants can prepare for static general knowledge from any good general knowledge book. However, the current affairs can be prepared from any current affair website. These websites provide monthly capsule. Aspirants must be thorough with the current affairs of at least the past six months. For Maths, aspirants will have questions from the elementary level which could be time-consuming (suggested to attempt only for once that too after completing all other sections in the exam). For the law section, aspirants must cover topics of Indian Penal Code, Indian Contract Act and Law of Torts. Questions in exams are based on the case laws, hence at times your answer could be different from that mentioned in the book for judicial pronouncements are delivered keeping every concerned factor in mind. 

For the self-evaluation, it is suggested to solve every previous year question paper which will also give a better idea about the weak and strong parts of the syllabus. It is suggested to solve at least 3-4 previous year question papers to get an idea as to where aspirant stands and what he needs to focus more.  

This article is not universal to every reader; your study plan could differ given the capability you possess. At last, there are few golden tips which must be followed as per the author:

1. Read the principle or preposition as black and white letters or understand the principle literally. 
2. Solve mocks or previous year question papers during the time period exam will take place as it builds your biological watch and helps you to concentrate better. 
3. In the exam, sections should be attempted in the given order, General Knowledge, English, Law, Reasoning and at last Math.

About the Author: The author is a third-year law student. He is currently pursuing B.A.LL.B. from National University Of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi. He has an interest in the constitutional law.