The Constitution of CLAT Prep to counter the changing patterns of CLAT
DO – 1
Give a final check before you begin.
Is this the best suited career for you? Is this what you exactly wanted to do in life?
Those who begin without this are in high chances of getting out of the track or not able to give their best.
If there is confusion, do take professional help from an able career counsellor.
It will make you and your parents feel more confident and consequently your involvement with the cause will get enriched with the fullest desire to achieve success.
DO – 2
Be fully and correctly informed. Before you plan you must be fully and correctly informed. A plan without the information may force your basic plan to change frequently. Instead of depending on hearsay, make sure that your information is based on proper authentic sources.
The decision of the CLAT Consortium determines the structure and the nature of questions of CLAT. It is very important to be well informed about the latest pattern. You may take a test on CLAT pattern to check the essentials). This will help to plan correctly. This test should be taken without any preparation.
Collect relevant past year papers of different entrance tests. This will help you to optimise your time of preparation. Without the proper knowledge of the type of questions that might come, you sail in the sea without a navigator.
After getting all necessary information, it is vital to choose the proper books, study materials and guides. Choosing your training institute also comes at this stage.
DO – 3
When to start the Preparation? The answer is from right now. Maybe from the 9th Class, maybe from 11th.
There are several basic abilities which need to be developed as soon as possible.
Do – 4
It is very important to know the factors which will provide the competitive edge this time.
The deciding factors (also based on the recent announcements)
- Logic
- CR
- Reading Speed
- Quick and accurate Comprehending
- Current affairs (This cannot be done in last hours hence very crucial)
- Maths (Since paper is likely to be lengthy those who are good at this can save lots of time by using shortcuts)
Do – 5
Do get the answers to the questions given below.
Where do I stand at present?
How do I prepare?
Who will answer this question?
You can do that yourself.
Get well informed with the pattern and nature of questions. Then take 2-3 CLAT based tests to know your strengths and weaknesses particularly in terms of expected pattern of CLAT 2026. Then prepare an action plan. You may contact me (rajneeshsingh@outlook.com) to get a personalized study plan made for you.
Do – 6
Have a customised preparation plan.
I will suggest some plan/strategies subject wise.
(This is a general one. One needs to plan according to their weaknesses and strengths.)
In regard to preparation strategies, I believe that dedicated studies are definitely needed. All 5 sections – English, GK, Legal, Logic and Quant are equally important for CLAT and any of them might become the deciding factor for CLAT. Therefore, it is imperative to have a clear understanding of all the sections.
Giving mock tests and analysing them, helps cover all these sections. Apart from that, sectional tests based on different needs are helpful. Also, prepare GK regularly, and make notes if possible. One should read newspapers daily as well, it has two benefits:
i) Having diversified knowledge about various topics
ii) Improving the reading speed.
Another very important thing which one should regularly practice is analytical reasoning and quantitative techniques. To improve logical reasoning one can also solve LSAT and GMAT CR (Critical Reasoning) and RC (Reading Comprehension) type questions. I believe that if one religiously does this and prepares well then this should be sufficient enough.
Timetables should be scheduled based on the priority list at hand. One should categorise different tasks based on how important and how urgent they are and then based on it should schedule study time and prepare a proper timetable.
Maths preparation
I know for the majority of you this is not your favourite one. This makes it very vital. Since many are weak in this area therefore those who are good/average in this area must capitalize.
I am terrible at maths. – Work on the basics. It is not very tough. Good news is that easy questions come and the syllabus is very less. There are 6-8 chapters from where most of the questions come.
I am not good at maths – Somewhat same as above. If you do not have boards then you can work on developing short cuts apart from the concept.
I am good / excellent in maths – You can miss this opportunity to take the competitive edge. Develop the ability to apply short cuts. It is not enough to only know the short cuts. Try to practise applying while appearing in Sim CLAT. Initially you will feel the discomfort but you will be able to do it 2-5 times faster. This will save lots of time and this will be like answering GK questions for you.
Reasoning preparation
Law is Logic. Hence it is always likely to be tested big time. Be it Logical or analytical (Critical reasoning), closeness to rationality is tested. This tests your logic as well as comprehending ability. This also tests your rationality and argumentation powers. A good grasp over English helps. Therefore, you will require lots of practice apart from building a good logical mind.
Critical Reasoning has been a vital part of many entrance tests and it has been gaining more importance in recent days. This area is troublesome for many. The reason is not because it is tough. The reason is that most of us are not clear what exactly is being asked.
What are the attributes generally required to be good at Critical Reasoning.
- Good reading speed
- Quick and accurate comprehending
- Logical and unbiased mind.
- To the point thinking mind
- Good Vocab
- Most importantly correct concept of the topic
Logical Reasoning on chapters like coding, arrangement, series etc require lots of practice. In general, for being good at reasoning one should solve lots of puzzles. Thereafter lots of practice is required.
Legal Aptitude preparation
Assuming that this section will have mainly legal reasoning questions, all I can say is that if you are good at analytical reasoning, you will be good at this area too. Legal reasoning is an extension to critical reasoning. Knowledge of law is never required. In fact unnecessary knowledge of law generally becomes misleading. A good lawyer is one who can analyze and reason out a solution to the problem. Knowledge of law comes next. Then why one requires to ask questions in CLAT for testing for a correct or the best candidate for national law school. (Legal knowledge is asked to test your general awareness, mainly from the constitution. And by asking these they try to test you whether you keep an eye on important things around you or not. A lawyer requires a good knowledge of socio, economic and political areas.)
I remember one incident. One student in very much agony came to me complaining about a legal reasoning faculty. He had a discussion on one question with the faculty but was not satisfied. He said that the answer cannot be what she is saying because this is not the law. He also added that he has checked this with his lawyer father.
I saw the question and then I explained to him that since the given principle does not mention anything like that then one cannot consider something else to conclude the answer. There might be a wrong principle (wrong by actual law) given in the question. This has happened before. So the idea is to stick to the provided principle only.
Therefore is it beneficial to study chapters like Negligence or vicarious liability?
Yes it is.
You should not study these to remember the law. You should study for the following reasons.
- It helps you to enhance your reasoning skills.
- It helps to get accustomed to the pattern and hence increase the speed. If a new pattern comes it will be new to all.
- You learn how to apply a principle.
- You learn how to dig out the essentials from a fact.
- You come through all high frequency mistakes by practicing such tricky questions.
English preparation
This is the area which many neglect. But, the moment you neglect this you are likely to be out of the race.
Why?
At least an average level of English is a definite requirement. Since the question comes easy and 17-22 is easily gettable so you cannot afford to be poor in this. The moment you lose 10-15 marks here, you are out of the race.
Also good English is a must for Logical and Legal reasoning. And most importantly good English is a must for a good lawyer.
The questions are similar to the school exams. Therefore it does not require lots of effort if your vocabulary and basics are good. Still one requires practicing lots of tests before the big day.
Those not good at English need to put up with hard work.
- Building up a good vocabulary
- Reading a lot
- Developing a sound, quick and accurate comprehending ability.
Do – 7
Test, test, test and finally test yourself with simulated tests.
Begin with a test – It will help you to decide the correct initial plan.
Keep testing yourself – It will help you to check if you correctly implement the initial plan and be able to work on your weakness. It will help to correct and revise the plan.
Take lots of simulated tests with allIndia rankings – This will help you to prepare tactics in the final lap.
Do – 8
Do group study if possible.
Preparing in a group helps a lot while preparing for GK. A selection/formation of a correct group is very crucial. Social groups on the internet can be also extremely helpful. It will keep you well informed too.
Do not hesitate to leave the group if it is wasting your time
Do – 9
If your preparation is losing track due to some problem then some of these might work.
- Back to the basics. Start thinking again why you decided to become a lawyer? How to prepare? What if I do not get through?
- Talk to someone who is very appealing to you. Mother, Father, God, a teacher, a mentor, a friend. Not about CLAT but about building up a career.
- Do something which you have never done. Something to which being successful is not a necessity. For example, taking a ride in the park which you fear a lot.
- Do something which you love the most.
- Do something which you hate the most.
- Stop preparing/thinking about CLAT for a couple of days.
Do – 10
Remain Consistent.trust in the process and not get overwhelmed due to it. There are going to be many challenges in the journey, but you have to maintain your calm and remain consistent. Consistency and self-discipline are the two things which will help you to reach your goal.
Don’t – 1
Do not get fully dependent on the test prep institute. They can at most work as a catalyst. The real work has to be from you. There are many who look up to the institutes to such an extent that they forget that the real work has to come from them. There are many who become very relaxed after joining one test prep class. The journey has just begun. An institute can work wonders, provided you utilize them to the fullest extent. You should not think that you are the bogies of a train and that the institute is the engine. Rather, you should think that you are a train which has to reach the final station on time and carry the required load efficiently. The test prep institute can work here as a fast track, signals, guards, stations and Fuel supplier.
You do get many benefits like quick coverage of the topic, simulated tests, study material, competitive environment, quick related information tactics and strategies. But do not make that so important that you forget your own importance.
Don’t – 2
Do not practice from the book/guide which has wrongly printed the study material on legal and critical reasoning. There are many books present in the market of this category. Once you develop a wrong concept, it will be very difficult to rectify that.
Don’t – 3
“I want NLSIU only”
You have made a big mistake by announcing this.
Better is to say to one “I will put my best to get NLSIU or maybe top three”. Do not create unnecessary pressure on you. You already are under a lot of pressure.
In this situation one bad score in a simulated CLAT mock can make you so discouraged that in your subconscious mind you will lose interest. The fact that you have announced it publicly also raises people’s expectations.
This is because you can only enhance the chances but there are many parameters which are not in your hand. If you are determined to put in the best effort you have all chances to get the best.
Don’t – 4
Do not watch a news channel when you have less time in hand. Better to read various sources and the newspapers. It will be quicker. On TV, you lose lots of time. (However, Televisions can be useful for those who have time and are good at visual memory).
Don’t – 5
Do not join lots of test prep training institutes.
This may misguide you. Choose one or at most two. The other one for a test series or for the study material. Choosing the correct one is very crucial. Do proper research before you join. Try to collect information from your friends. Do walk in to all centres and talk in detail. On the internet there are many related discussions. This also varies from location to location.
Make sure you do not overload yourself with study material. Start with a few. Finish them and then look for the next. Math and English require very specific prep therefore be limited to the correct study material.
Don’t – 6
Do not try to become perfectionist at the beginning. Your time should be optimized. You may be wasting time in something which was less required and finally you were not left with enough time to take up something which was much more important.
At first keep small targets. You can always come back to the same once you feel that all important ones are covered.Keep sacrificing and keep switching.
This advice is for those who are perfectionists.
Don’t – 7
Do not try to do rote learning for GK and vocabulary building.
While learning the new words try to create interest in it. Be it GK or vocab, a regular revision is the best. Memory depends on repetition provided the interval of the repetition is correctly timed and the number of repetition is optimized.
Don’t – 8
Avoid getting into a process/shortcuts for solving Critical and legal reasoning questions
These will make you prone to getting trapped into tricky questions. The short cuts and defined process can be effective for a chapter like syllogism or some Logical reasoning questions, however a chapter like assumption, arguments or legal reasoning questions do not require this. What is required is a rational and analytical set of mind.
Don’t – 9
Do not avoid or delay taking simulated tests. Many students make the mistake of thinking they should only start testing themselves after finishing the syllabus. This is one of the biggest misconceptions. By doing so, you continue to treat CLAT like a school exam. We are so conditioned by school exams that it becomes difficult to adjust to the tactics required for aptitude tests, where questions are objective and have options. In school exams, most questions are subjective and all are compulsory. This mindset needs to change.
First, understand that you are not required to solve all the questions. I often hear students say the paper was very tough and they couldn’t complete it. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself to finish the entire paper—it’s not needed. For example, in IIT-JEE, scoring even 40% in the mains can be considered extraordinary, whereas in board exams, 85% might be considered just average.
Taking simulated tests helps overcome this mindset. It prepares you mentally and tactically for the actual exam.
Don’t – 10
Don’t hesitate to mail me if you have any queries. (rajneesingh@outlook.com)
“Law is the need of every place and so are the Lawyers”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rajneesh Singh is a distinguished educator and mentor with over 24 years of experience in entrance training and course development for a wide array of competitive exams, including CLAT, CAT, GMAT, IIT JEE, MCA, Bank Exams, CSAT, BBA/IPMAT, Hotel Management, and NIFT.
Academically accomplished, Rajneesh holds a BA and MA in Economics from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, where he was also the university topper. Additionally, he earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad, further solidifying his skills.
Rajneesh has co-authored four books on the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) published by Cengage, and two books on the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). These publications are a testament to his expertise and dedication to helping students succeed in competitive examinations.
As the Founder and Chief Mentor at CLAT Essentials and The Do-Zen, he has been instrumental in guiding countless students towards achieving their academic and professional goals. His leadership roles in the past extend to being the National Product Head for IMS Learning, overseeing all undergraduate products and job-related courses, and serving as the City Head at Career Launcher in Kolkata and the Centre Head at Professional Tutorials.