The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is an all India law entrance examination conducted by 14 National Law Schools/ Universities for admissions to their under-graduate and post-graduate degree programmes (LL.B & LL.M). CLAT 2015 is being conducted by the National Law University (NLU), Jodhpur on 10th May 2015.

With just 2 weeks to go for this all India level law-entrance exam, we provide you some tips & trick to crack CLAT paper for the under-graduate law programme (LL.B).

CLAT 2015 Pattern:

The CLAT 2015 paper for admission to the under-graduate law programme (LL.B) will have 200 questions for 200 marks and will be of 2 hours duration. The subject areas tested are:

1. English including Comprehension - 40 Marks
2. General Knowledge/ Current Affairs - 50 Marks
3. Mathematics - 20 Marks
4. Logical Reasoning - 40 Marks
5. Legal Aptitude/Legal Awareness - 50 Marks

Crack CLAT 2015 in 2 weeks:

Law entrance exams may not seem to be as competitive as engineering & medical entrance exams like IIT-JEE & AIPMT, but the students who take CLAT tend to be quite focused & intent on getting through their dream law college. Do not take this exam lightly & if you have not been preparing for it since right after your class XII boards, here are a few pointers that will help you score better in each of the 5 sections of CLAT 2015. This article will help you prepare for CLAT 2015 in 2 weeks:


1. English including Comprehension: The English section of CLAT 2015 will test your aptitude in comprehension passages and grammar. In the comprehension section, you will be questioned on your understanding of the passage and its central theme, meanings of words used in the passage etc. The grammar section will include questions on correction of incorrect grammatical sentences, filling of blanks in sentences with appropriate words etc.

“If you had started preparing for CLAT after your board exams, you won’t have enough time for vocabulary building. Instead focus on what problems you face in the English section while taking CLAT mock tests. Identify your weak points & work on them in these last two weeks. You can look at the high-frequency words (such lists are usually provided by coaching centres) if you do want to expand your vocabulary in these last few days” says Rajneesh Singh, national product manager for law at IMS Learning Resources Pvt Ltd.

2. General Knowledge/Current Affairs: The GK section of CLAT 2012 will only test you on your knowledge of current affairs (broadly defined as matters featuring in the mainstream media between March 2011 and March 2012). This is one of the most scoring sections of CLAT & is often the deal-maker or breaker. So don’t be caught unprepared in this section!

Reading the newspapers regularly & keeping a tab on all matters that were highlighted by the media in the last one year would have been sufficient preparation to tackle this section. But if you had not been doing that, some last-minute tips by Rajneesh Singh to score high in this section: “To get into the top three NLUs you need to score at least 32-35 marks in this section. Pick the right GK materials. “CLAT Essentials” by Abhinav Shrivastava is the best resource. This book is concise & to the point & would work well, even if you pick it up in the last 5 days leading up to the exam. The Panorama yearbook by Pratiyogita Darpan would be another excellent reference book. The clatgk.com test series is yet another source of GK questions.”

"Apart from going though yearbooks like the Manorama, CSR etc. don’t miss any of the awards (sport, national), the Commonwealth games, the upcoming Olympics. CLAT is a law entrance exam, so it goes without saying that you should be updated about recent happenings in the legal field eg. Legislations like the introduction of the Citizens CharterBill that was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011" advises Alok Kumar Ranjan, director of Law Ambition Institute, a coaching institute for law entrance exams.

3. Mathematics: Re-visit your elementary mathematics formulae and concepts i.e. maths taught till the class 10 to crack the Mathematics section of CLAT 2015. “Try to choose & attempt at least 3-12 easy questions out of the total 20. If you are good at mathematics, then scoring 17-19 marks would not be difficult” advises Mr. Singh.

4. Logical Reasoning: The logical reasoning section of CLAT 2015 will assess your ability to identify patterns, logical links and rectify illogical arguments. The type of questions asked will be from a wide variety of logical reasoning questions like syllogisms, logical sequences, analogies. Visual reasoning will not be tested.

Mr. Singh adds further, “There are two types of questions in this section - logical (verbal/critical) and analytical. Analytical questions need a lot of practice before you can reach a comfort level. The logical questions won’t be difficult to tackle if you have some basic logical sense in place, otherwise a little bit of practice will help you tide over (Books for practice – M K Pandey). If you’re already good with logical reasoning then graduate to solving LSAT pattern questions.”

5. Legal Aptitude: For the legal aptitude section of CLAT 2015, take note that you will not be tested on any prior knowledge of law or legal concepts. If a technical/legal term is used in the question, that term will be explained in the question itself. The questions will be designed to test you only on your “legal aptitude”.

This section will test your legal “reasoning”, not legal “knowledge”. According to Mr. Singh, practice is again the key to cracking this section. “If you’re good at logical reasoning, you’ll do well in legal reasoning as well. Try getting your hands on the previous years’ question papers. Questions get repeated from this section quite often with little or no changes”.

“CLAT usually never tests your knowledge of legal terminology unlike entrance exams of IP university or SET (Symbiosis)” said Ranjan.

Things to keep in mind while taking CLAT 2015 law entrance exam:

• There is no negative marking in CLAT, confirms Ranjan. You must therefore try to attempt as many questions as possible.
   
• Since there are no specific time limits for any section, you can follow any order while attempting. However, it is better to start with the GK section, advises Ranjan. It has got 50 questions for 50 marks which you’d either know or won’t know. You can get over with this section in no time & rest assured of at least 30-40 marks if your GK preparation has been good.
   
• Completing a section in the first 15-20 minutes will give you a psychological edge & will bolster your confidence as you proceed to the next section which ideally should either be English or Logical Reasoning. The English section too will have some sitters like antonyms, synonyms, fill in the blanks etc. which can be tackled in a few minutes.
   
• Ranjan further advises that the Mathematics & Legal Reasoning sections should be kept for the end as they can be quite time-consuming.
   
• The average cut-off last year was around 138. Try scoring in that neighbourhood & you will definitely find a seat in one of 14 law schools. 

You have 2 weeks to go for CLAT. With enough practice, you can do wonders! Click here for free sample tests of CLAT.

Nishatha Abraham Bijeesh

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