CLAT Essentials is proud to present Rajarshi Mukherjee, whose journey reflects the importance of staying curious, exploring passions, and embracing every step towards one’s goals.
A Kolkata native, Rajarshi completed his schooling at Salt Lake School, Kolkata, before beginning his journey as a law student at National Law University Odisha, where he is currently pursuing B.A. LL.B.. While academics have been an important part of his journey, Rajarshi has always found joy beyond the classroom as well.
A passionate sports enthusiast, he enjoys both watching and playing games like cricket, football, and badminton. His love for music and movies adds another dimension to his personality, reflecting his appreciation for creativity and storytelling.
As he begins his journey in the world of law, Rajarshi joins us to share his experiences, his path to law school, and the lessons that shaped his journey along the way.
Q. Congratulations on your outstanding achievement. Could you share your immediate reaction upon receiving the news that you are joining NLUO, and what this success signifies for you personally?
I remember just going through my phone one day and suddenly getting the notification about my selection at NLUO. I immediately told my parents about it and they were also very happy about it . I was overwhelmed by the news because I always wanted to study law in a premier institute and NLUO had been a dream university of mine for quite some time. This success to me personally signifies that hard work really does pay off. Even a few months back, if someone had told me about this I would’ve probably not believed them and it really was a wish come true for me. In my opinion , my admission at NLUO really helped me gain confidence in myself and gave me a sense of achievement I had never truly felt before .
Q. What motivated your decision to pursue a career in law?
To be honest, after my class 10, I really had to choose a career for me and broadly speaking, I had mainly four options, to study in fields of engineering, medicine, genral line or law. My mother is an advocate and thus I really had some insights into the profession even before I knew about CLAT. I had no interest in engineering and medical fields as such , so I chose law, however it should be noted that the fact that my mother was an advocate, also helped me in understanding about the profession and explain the realities of the profession. She introduced me to CLAT and I really couldn’t have achieved what I did without her guidance and support .
Q. Could you outline the daily routine you adhered to during your preparation? Specifically, how did you structure your day to ensure effective study hours versus necessary breaks?
Personally, I did not have a specific daily routine that I strictly followed throughout my CLAT prep, since every time I actually made a routine for myself, I failed miserably and following it. I also never stipulated particular number of hours each day dedicated to my prep, some days I was involved in my prep for as long as 12 to 15 hours and some days I barely even studied for an hour. In my opinion, CLAT is not an exam which requires long hours but rather, it needs consistency and quality preparation. My approach was always goal- oriented rather than time oriented. For example I would give myself targets for the day like “ I will be attempting 6 legal sections and 4 english sections from Clat mocks today “ rather than time oriented targets like “ I will study for 6 hours today.” This really helped me in maximising my speed because when the goal is clear , you automatically try yout best to achieve it as fast as possible.
Q. You were simultaneously managing school board exam pressure, CLAT preparation, and extracurricular commitments. How did you practically divide your time across all three — did you follow a fixed weekly schedule, and did school ever take priority over CLAT prep?
I had Humanities stream in my class 12 ISC and personally, I never really had an issue with the subjects. I was good in most of them and didn’t even need to dedicate long hours to them. I mainly had the vision very clear that I will focus on CLAT till December and once Clat is over, I will fully focus on boards. For me, the time between the CLAT exam and the board examination was long enough for me to complete the syllabus of the board examination in the time itself. My school never took priority over my CLAT preparation because having focus on a particular goal , for me was more important. Boards marks would not matter to me much if I had secured a good rank in CLAT and this was the idea for my entire prep. I did not have many extracurricular activities and the ones I did , I managed them without any issues. This approach helped me since in the end I got a good enough rank in my clat and above 95% in my class 12 boards which was good enough for me .
Q. Did your study routine evolve as the exam date approached, particularly in the final month? How did your strategy in the last 30 days differ from the initial phase of your preparation?
My overall study routine definitely evolved in the final days of my preparation. During this period, I gave more than 12 hours daily to CLAT , and revised gk thoroughly . In the initial days, I had neglected gk since I found it to be boring but my backlogs were not that bad and I could cover them in the final days along with revising other materials . For me, it was always short term goal oriented approach. I focussed on what I could achieve in the next 5 hours rather than what I can achieve in the next 5 months, because it made the goals reachable and d realistic, forcing me to put in the extra effort which I could have skipped if my goals were long term. This approach did not change even in the last few weeks of my preparation.
Q. The preparation journey is often long and arduous. How did you navigate periods of burnout or suboptimal performance in your mock tests to maintain your momentum?
The preparation journey , in my opinion can feel very long and arduous but I have a different perspective on it. On the face of it, CLAT might bee difficult but it is not complex. The pathway for preparation is very clear(except gk). You have to practice sectionals, give mocks and analyse them, that’s it. It is long and tedious but it is also very interesting. I enjoyed giving the mocks because every time I read a passage, it gave me so much knowledge, some of which stayed with me. Reading newspapers , taking daily quizzes on current affairs also made the process fun and non monotonous but yes, some burnouts are inevitable, and what I used to do when I felt burnt out was that I would just listen to music or play a video game I like or just do things I enjoy to energize myself again. I never saw suboptimal performance in mocks as a negative thing, if anything, they just exposed my weak sections and helped me to improve upon them. Moreover, I would rather get bad marks in mocks than a bad rank in CLAT so the insights I got into my prep with the help of mocks was very important and needed.
Q. CLAT is distinct for its high-pressure, speed-intensive nature. How did you manage exam-day anxiety, and did you utilize any specific techniques to maintain composure during the test?
I had already given so many mocks at the physical centre and had a strong enough faith in my preparation that exam-day anxiety really was not there for me. I did not have to utilize any techniques to maintain composure because it came with experience in such situation. For me, it was just another Sunday where I give a mock test.
Q. With the abundance of study material available, could you list the primary resources, books, periodicals, or platforms that you found most indispensable to your success?
The primary resources I used included mock tests from various coaching institutes like Clat Essentials, a monthly gk compendium from different institutes , daily gk from the Clat Essentials telegram channel, and I used to refer to some websites like Drishti Ias for my research in current affairs and static gk. In my opinion , its better to have a small number of sources and sticking to them instead of drifting continuously because more often than not, when we have too many options, it becomes very difficult to choose.
Q. How instrumental were mock tests in your overall preparation strategy? Specifically, how did they aid in your conditioning for the actual exam environment?
Mock tests played the most important role in my CLAT preparation. It not helps in understanding the test but also helps in the physical aspect of it which is, to sit for two hours straight without interruptions, focussed on the test. It makes you take crucial decisions like whether to leave a question if it is too difficult or not. It conditioned my mind to the extent that certain decisions during the exam became almost instinctual which saved me a lot of time.
Q. Beyond merely attempting mock tests, how did you approach the post-test analysis? Did you maintain a systematic record of errors to track your improvement?
Post mock analysis is in my opinion the foundation for a good preparation. If someone just keeps attempting mocks and not analysing them they often do “ negative work” because not only are they not improving themselves and rectifying their mistakes, making such mistakes become their norm and they keep repeating the same mistakes again and again. I had a piece of paper where I wrote all the marks I got in the last 10 mock tests and always tried to maintain a good record. I also recorded the sectional scores in each mock test and also I used to give myself a rating from 1 to 10 based on how satisfied I was with the marks because inherently , not all mocks are designed to make the student score similar marks. For example, I would give myself a rating of 8 if I got 80 in a hard mock test but a 7 if I got 80 in an easy mock test. Mock test analysis helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses which were pivotal in determining how good or bad my preparation is.
Q. Given the vast scope of General Knowledge and Current Affairs, what methodology did you adopt to stay updated efficiently without feeling overwhelmed?
The easiest way to not get overwhelmed my gk is to take some sources and sticking to them . you can refer to other materials as well but main sources should be limited. The truth about gk is that no matter how well you are prepared , there will always some questions you wont be able to answer and there is nothing wrong with that. It is advised to focus on gk from the starting of the preparation and staying consistent. I focused on the list provided by Clat Essentials in the forms of lmet , met etc. and studied them using online websites like Drishti IAS or monthly compendiums. Moreover, I attempted the daily GK quizzes on the Telegram channel.
Q. Time management is critical in a 120-minute examination. Could you walk us through your section-attempt strategy?
The best strategy for section- attempt does not exist. what suits one person will not suit another. It is completely subjective and can only be learned by attempting a lot of mock tests. My section attempt strategy was English- gk- legal reasoning- QT- logical reasoning. the core idea behind this strategy was that “gk” and “QT” acted as buffer between the reading heavy sections. However, this strategy is flexible and differed from mock to mock. If I found English to be difficult then I directly jumped to gk and saved English for last.
Q. In hindsight, is there any aspect of your preparation strategy that you would alter or improve upon if given the chance?
In hindsight, I really wish I gave up more time for AR since it was something I did not give much time to.
Q.I started my CLAT prep from the starting of class 11. In my opinion I started right on time. An aspirant should ideally start their preparation atleast 8 to 10 months before their exam.
I started my CLAT prep from the starting of class 11. In my opinion I started right on time. An aspirant should ideally start their preparation atleast 8 to 10 months before their exam.
Q. Did you take up any dedicated mentoring support, and how important do you think one-on-one mentoring from experienced educators is in shaping a student’s CLAT preparation?
Yes, I took dedicated one-on-one mentoring from mentors at my coaching institute, CLAT ESSENTIALS. One- on- one mentoring is very important in clat preparation because sometimes the issues the student cannot identify, the mentor can.
Q. The comprehension-heavy format of CLAT rewards strong readers. Was reading always a habit for you, or did you consciously build it during prep — and if so, how?
Reading was never a habit for me. I improved my reading ability by reading newspapers, online articles, and the mock test passages. I started off by reading about topics I was interested in and then slowly expanded the scope with time.
Q. What do you think was the most common mistake CLAT aspirants make?
The biggest CLAT aspirants generally make is ignoring gk. Some are over confident that they will be able to cover the entirety of gk in the last moments and some ignore it because it they consider it to be too difficult. It is a very big mistake since gk is the quickest way to gain marks in the exam because a student generally will not even spend more than 10 seconds for each gk question, whereas questions from other sections sometimes take more than 1.5 minutes to solve.
Q. How should students prepare for a difficult or unpredictable CLAT paper?
For future aspirants , I can just advice that be calm and give your best in the exam. Ideally , giving a high number of mocks will automatically instill this into any student’s mind but still, if you feel overwhelmed by the strange nature of a paper, just know that you are not alone, everyone else is also seeing the paper for the first time that day and have a similar reaction to it as you .
Q. Comparison with peers is one of the most silent yet damaging traps during CLAT prep. Did you ever fall into it, and how did you learn to block out that noise?
I never fell into this trap. it never really bothered me as such, but in general I think healthy competition is actually nice since it helps you improve yourself, for your own benefit rather than just solely trying to be better than someone else. One must know that students from different social contexts will inherently have differing skill sets and constantly comparing oneself to another will just result in more stress. The students should focus on giving out their best each day, and not focus on being better than someone else
Q. Based on your experience, what is your primary advice for future aspirants targeting CLAT 2027?
My primary advise to all the CLAT 2027 aspirants would be to stay calm and consistent throughout their preparation and not to worry too much about the results. If you focus on your work, results will come anyways.
Q. Finally, what is your message to students who are currently weighing whether to take a drop for CLAT 2027 — both those who should take it and those who perhaps shouldn’t?
First of all I want to wish the students best of luck in whatever career they are thinking of pursuing. I think any student who is facing a dilemma as to whether they should take CLAT or not, they should talk to their parents, mentors ,other CLAT aspirants or students at law schools to understand the realities of CLAT and law school and make an informed decision.
A CLAT Essentials Interview by Oyishee Bose