Planning to crack the national level entrance examination for the law? Here are the details of the new exam pattern and tips to prepare for it.
While its basic nature and main objective remain the same, the Common Law Admission Test, or CLAT, has changed a lot. The changes make CLAT 2021, the admission test for the National Law Universities, more efficient, student-friendly, and better organized.
Those who qualified CLAT 2020 displayed certain traits:
- They
were able to read exhaustive and meaningful texts fast but with 70 to 85
percent accuracy
- They
did not see general knowledge (GK) as a burden and do not mug up but read
widely and with interest
- They
got over eight in “quantitative techniques” or QT [This section plays a
vital role in getting high scores]
- They
could maintain composure and also focus for long periods
- They
could handle and adapt to changes quickly.
CLAT 2021 is likely to reward the same
characteristics and skills.
CLAT 2021: A brief overview of the new pattern
Overall, the CLAT is designed to be a
test of aptitude for a legal education rather than prior knowledge, although it
is useful for the “current affairs” section.
The UG-CLAT 2021 will be a two-hour
test, with 150 multiple-choice questions carrying one mark each. For every
wrong answer, 0.25 marks will be deducted. The questions will be divided into
five categories or subjects:
- English
language
- Current
affairs, including general knowledge
- Legal
reasoning
- Logical
reasoning
- Quantitative
techniques
The following table shows how
important a section is based on the number of questions in it.
Subjects |
Approx. No. of questions |
Approx. Weightage (%) |
English language |
28-32 |
20 |
Current affairs, general knowledge |
35-39 |
25 |
Legal reasoning |
35-39 |
25 |
Logical reasoning |
28-32 |
20 |
Quantitative techniques |
13-17 |
10 |
CLAT 2021: Changes that matter
This year’s CLAT 2021 will be a
pen-and-paper test. This has some pros and cons.
ADVANTAGES
- Comfort because most would have written
paper-based tests since childhood
- Can look at the entire paper at once
- No scrolling required to read the full text of
a question
- Can do rough-work on the paper itself, and not
have to keep looking up at a screen
- No moving between pen and mouse constantly
DISADVANTAGES
- Navigation from one question or section to the
next is much faster on a computer-based test. This mode will take more
time.
- Marking and changing answers are both quicker on the computer. Marking optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets take
longer.
To overcome the problems, one must
practice by taking pen-and-paper mock tests. Use OMR sheets for marking the
answers. Make use of a pen for marking the sheets. CLAT aspirants must keep
many copies of OMR sheets and use them for section tests along with mock tests.
Just marking answers takes up six to 18 minutes and many exam-takers don’t
realise how time-consuming it can be. The quicker way to darken the ovals is to
use a thicker ball-point pen and by answering one full section at a time.
CLAT 2021: Most questions will be based on
paragraphs
This change may seem like a big one
but it isn’t. The only significant point is that the English questions are
likely to be all reading comprehension and the GK part, a little different.
Quantitative techniques (or mathematics) questions becoming paragraph-based
doesn’t make any difference to how a candidate must prepare. Most verbal
reasoning and analytical reasoning questions were already paragraph-based and
so was legal reasoning.
The reading-comprehension section
requires practising within time limits and maintaining at least 80 percent
accuracy while answering. The candidate must also check which way of solving
works best for them. There are mainly three ways to do so.
- Skim through the passage and then read the
questions. Come back to the passage as required. This method may save time
but may not work if the passage is dense.
- Read the passage carefully with full
comprehension and then answer the questions. This method works best if the
text is dense and forces you to read slowly.
- Read the questions first and then the passage.
This works well with a simple fact-based passage.
For GK, preparation is easier and
less time-consuming. This is because instead of 50 separate questions being
asked on different topics in a full paper, there will be only six to eight
topics in passage-form. This has increased the chances of only the very
important topics being included.
CLAT 2021: There only 150 questions instead of 200
This won’t make much difference from
the preparation perspective but may push the cut-off score up. In 2020, the
paper was quite tough and yet candidates needed to score more than 62 percent to
secure a seat in NLSIU Bengaluru.
Students but must decide on which
questions to skip or come back to later quickly and without wasting time.
Legal reasoning
This section can be tricky but now it
does not include common legal principles unlike the papers till 2019. It will
largely contain current affairs passages most relevant to the legal fraternity.
This has decreased the burden on students and they do not need to study laws.
These can be practised to become good
at legal reasoning:
Study the legal issues of the past
year: This will help enhance speed. Familiarity with a topic can increase both
the accuracy and speed of answering. Previously, familiarity with the common
principles helped but now the section is more about current affairs.
Stick to the law/rule/matter in the
passage: Though the golden rule is to just stick to legal principle, correct
answers are often a result of applying correct reasoning, common sense and
rational assumptions within the scope of the principle or rule.
Quality discussion: The only way to
improve one’s reasoning gradually is to make one’s mind more rational and
unbiased. Candidates should refrain from irrelevant discussions on a question
that does not have a distinct answer. While preparing for the legal aptitude
test, candidates will come across many materials which have wrong answers,
complex explanations and poor quality questions. Candidates should only focus
on quality study material and discussions for CLAT preparation.
Tackling tough sections: Legal
reasoning questions become tough or time-consuming when multiple principles are
involved, or the text is huge. Candidates can leave these questions in case
other sections or questions are easier. But sometimes, in a tough paper, one
will be forced to attempt such questions. Candidates will need to practice them
and they should read with patience and care.
CLAT 2021: Consortium support
The Consortium plans to publish
various preparatory materials for the UG-CLAT 2021, including:
- Guides to the question paper and sample
questions
- Model question papers
- Instructional materials and exercises for each
subject
The Consortium will also provide candidate,
who have successfully completed their application to the UG-CLAT 2021, access
to a learning platform where they will find the preparatory materials as well
as have their work scored on various exercises and model question papers.
Rajneesh Singh is an online CLAT
coach.