CLAT 2023: Three-month preparation guide
Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is an all-India Entrance Examination conducted by the Consortium of NLUs for admissions to their undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes (LL.B & LL.M).
Who conducts CLAT?
The 22 NLUs in the country conduct the exam on a rotational basis.
National Law Universities (NLU) are public law schools in India and the top law universities of the country, sanctioned by the relevant state acts.
When is CLAT 2023?
This year, the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) will be conducted on December 18, 2022, which is hardly a few months away.
What makes CLAT 2023, difficult?
That being said, cracking CLAT 2023 isn’t a cakewalk. 70,000 students fight for a few thousand seats. The chances of getting into a top NLU are tough which makes it the most competitive law entrance exam in India.
With the change in pattern in 2020, cracking CLAT 2023 requires a lot of preparation. Lengthy passages are not only difficult to understand but comprehending and deducing answers are a tedious and confusing task.
While preparing for CLAT 2023 focus must be made on the following subjects based on the marking schemes in the CLAT 2023 Exam.
You must cover the syllabus, prepare short notes, practise sample questions and the previous year and make strategies for CLAT 2023.
CLAT 2023: Syllabus and Exam Pattern
Subject/topics | Number of questions | Percentage weightage |
English Language | 28-32 questions | 20% |
Current Affairs, including General Knowledge | 35-39 questions | 25% |
Legal Reasoning | 35-39 questions | 25% |
Logical Reasoning | 28-32 questions | 20% |
Quantitative Techniques | 13-17 questions | 10% |
Question Pattern for CLAT 2023
“The UG-CLAT 2023 would focus on evaluating the comprehension and reasoning skills and abilities of candidates. Overall, it is designed to be a test of aptitude and skills that are necessary for a legal education rather than prior knowledge, though prior knowledge occasionally may be useful to respond to questions in the Current Affairs section” as per the Consortium.
The Consortium further added, “The UG-CLAT 2023 shall be a 2-hour test, with 150 multiple-choice questions carrying 1 mark each. There shall be negative marking of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer.”
It is pertinent to mention that the questions would be divided across the following 5 subjects:
- English Language
- Current Affairs, including General Knowledge
- Legal Reasoning
- Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Techniques
CLAT 2023 Daily Study Plan
Topic | Time Allotment |
English Language | 45 mins |
Quants | 45 mins |
Logical Reasoning | 1 hour |
Legal Reasoning | 1 hour |
GK/Current Affairs | 1 hour |
Solve Previous Year Papers | Weekly twice |
Practice Mock Tests | Weekly Once |
How to Make CLAT 3 Months Study Plan?
1st Month: Legal Reasoning and Quants
- Legal Reasoning section that requires you to learn and apply basic concepts in the CLAT 2023. Legal Reasoning is only such section. You can get accuracy in this section and score well.
- Go through CLAT materials and cover topics like contracts, torts, etc. Learn judgment and amendments as most of the questions are directly based on law.
- For Quants, it’s just a class of 10th maths. Go through the concepts and practice as many questions as you can.
- Revise whatever you study every 15 days.
- Attempt as many practice papers as you can.
2nd month: GK, English and Logical Reasoning
- Start topics from Maths, Verbal, and Reasoning, and English one by one.
- Make sure to read the English newspaper daily or find/prepare crip notes for CLAT daily news.
3rd Month: Revise. Revise. Revise.
- This final month shall be dedicated to revising.
- When I say, I mean for a paper full of deduction and passage-based questions, revise concepts but solve as many questions as you can.
- This month shall be entirely dedicated to solving question papers and revising all the topics.
- Give as many mocks as possible.
Important Points To Prepare for CLAT 2023
Schedule for Study
Dedication along with determination is the key. Prepare a study schedule for CLAT 2023. The aforesaid plan would give you a rough idea of what you can do. Make sure you stay away from distractions which may cost you a year.
Revise Concepts
Giving a final shape to your preparation is also necessary. Revise. Revise. Revise. The next three months must be spent as per the schedule. Don’t divert and confused with new concepts. Keep confidence in yourself. Revise what you studied.
Make Handwritten Notes
Crisp notes were taken down in your own handwriting to speed up your learning and revising process. Coupled with notes with flow charts or diagrams would make the preparation easier. In the final stages of preparation, the CLAT 2023 notes will also come handy when you have to revise 5 different subjects.
Improve Reading Skills
With the change in pattern in 2020, cracking CLAT 2023 requires good reading skills. Candidates find it difficult to read and answer lengthy and complex passages.
So, CLAT 2023 aspirants shall read a lot. These skills could be acquired using English national daily newspapers such as The Hindu or The Indian Express. Reading editorials, legal documents, and journals or well-renowned books.
Practice
Practice makes a man perfect! That said, solve as many questions as possible in the last month. For practice, you can refer to questions from
- Previous CLAT papers
- Mock Tests
- Practice Questions from your materials
Practising will help you recognise your weaknesses and help you to work on them to excel in your CLAT 2023. Hence, a great tool to identify your weakness shall never be avoided.
The article was first published here.