Author: Aditya Singh,
CLAT 2008 All India Rank 76
CLAT 2009, the second Common Law Admission Test being conducted for entry into the country’s premier national law schools is a fortnight away from testing your sincerity, focus, hard work and above all, your determination to soar as a legal eagle. Being a matter of 15 days it’s high time that the law aspirant get into launch mode now, similar to the mood in a space center during countdown time. Being tested in English, Mathematics, Logical Reasoning, Legal Reasoning and General Awareness, he should be studying in a streamlined, focused and tight manner. He ought to have finished learning the theory and must be practicing to be perfect. Here are some humble suggestions for our budding lawyers regarding preparation for and answering the different parts of the paper.
GENERAL AWARENESS: Being of vital importance in any field, the Common Law Admission Test requires thoroughness in current affairs, something achieved over a lengthy period of time. Reading the newspaper comprehensively on a daily basis is the optimum way to achieve this. However, the short span of a fortnight requires preparation on a war footing. Newspapers make for leisure while Competition Magazines do so for quick grasp. Indeed Competition Magazines are the best way to tighten your grasp on current affairs. Preparation for a law entrance examination shouldn’t stop you from venturing into the realm of the CAT and the IAS. Go to your nearest News Stall and scoop up all the IAS Competition Magazines with your wallet. Do the same for those MBA Entrance Ones! Upon doing so, open them up in the cosy confines of your study room-Your Mission Headquarters for the CLAT. Turn the cover page of your IAS refresher, chronicle, times etc. Etc. And go straight to the general awareness section. One must take note of the fact that the IAS Prelims are around a month away. To cater to the demands of last minute preparers who need loads of facts and figures, events and happenings in a 20-30 page module, magazine publishers have dedicated sections for general awareness and current affairs compressing all the relevant events of the past one year into 10 or 15 pages. In addition special articles are devoted to cover the Indian Constitution, Government and the Economy. These sections convey in a nutshell what encyclopaedias do in volumes.
ENGLISH
Words, their meanings and their usages too occupy a respectable place in the CLAT marking. To ease the onerous task of memorisation a number of tests are required which can help you refresh after each round of memorisation. For this the Merriam Webster Vocabulary Builder is recommended. The book has an extremely concise format which covers the words, their meanings and their usage. This sort of approach kills two birds with one stone as you learn the meanings as well as their usage in real sentences. The Merriam Webster book is divided into 20 or 25 sections with each section comprising 40 to 60 words, their meanings and their usages. There is a memory test every 10 words which tests the candidate’s ability to recall the meanings as well use the words in the correct sentences (given in ‘fill in the blanks’ format). Thus the student learns not only the meaning of the word but also when and where to use it. The importance of MBA entrance magazines too cannot be neglected in this regard. These magazines almost convert themselves into dictionaries, having hundreds of word meaning and usage tests. These are great for practise purposes.
MATHEMATICS
Mathematics, thankfully, is limited to Class 10 
having the nightmarish calculus and logarithms chucked out of the window. The test is beautifully arithmetical comprising simple problems of time, distance, speed, profit and loss, discount, simple interest and area and volume, which surely makes it a piece of cake for the arts student also. The theory can be done from any basic school text book and the rest is all but practice. Practice makes a man perfect, doesn’t it! Cracking the CLAT too requires you to be faithful to this time honoured rule. Solving 50 to100 practice problems per chapter should get you soundly prepared. Don’t balk at the humongous three digits figure…it’s all about reading and ticking options- a very basic task indeed! In a nutshell, practice what you study. Study of each chapter should have the solving of at least 200 to 400 questions accompanying it. Do multi-chapter practise on a daily basis given the limited time. Solve around 15 to 20 questions from each chapter. This way, adjusting the number of practised questions with the amount of time you have, tried covering all mathematics chapters in the limited time that you have.
Legal General Knowledge: In legal GK you may be asked questions regarding: Indian Constitution, various commissions, general information on the Indian judiciary and the law commission. As regards the Constitution, you may be asked questions on its article, especially those Articles pertaining to the Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, Directive Principles of State Policy, and some other articles covering the central government and the state government. Cover in brief the Articles governing Supreme Court and High Court. However it should not be in depth. If you have a ‘bare act’ of Constitution of India, you can see the opening pages which have a list of all articles (1 to 395) along with a one line description of each. It will help you. Moreover Universal’s book might have some good legal GK.
BASICALLY you must know which article contains what. There is no need to go deep into it and try to interpret it using case laws or read up intensively on it. You may also be asked on legal history, such as the legal developments in India before and after independence. For example, establishing of Supreme Court and High Courts and some basic but important information on them, such as the number of judges, types of cases decided and Also keep abreast of the latest in legal current affairs. You may search for “law” , or ‘law commission’ or ‘commissions’ or ‘constitution’ in the Times of India website.
45 marks of Legal GK is a lot. There I would advise you to study this from a source which can give it to you in a concise and compressed format. Thus try out Manish Arora’s book on Legal General Knowledge titled ‘Legal General Knowledge On Law’. You may also get information on the Indian Constitution from the Manorama, CSR or Penguin yearbooks.
LOGICAL REASONING (LR): Comprising tests like Assertion and Reason, Passage Reasoning and Statements and Contradictions, the LR section tests the ability of the candidate to understand paragraphs and logically connect them. Fifteen days permits one to buy a specialised book on logical reasoning and practise its questions. 300 to 400 questions can be very easily practised in 10 days. For that purpose, RS Agarwal’s book on Logical Reasoning is recommended. However look for other books because its passage reasoning questions weren’t sufficient for practise purposes.
Last but definitely not the Least, Practising Previous Years Question Papers is by far the best way to get you in tune for the examination. For that purpose the candidate should practise one question paper in during the time from 3pm to 5pm- the time period during which the CLAT will be conducted. This will help one get accustomed to giving the test in Exam-Like Conditions. Get hold of a question paper of CLAT-2008 and practise it out a timeframe of two hours. Be ruthless with yourself. An ambiguous answer deserves a zero. Tabulating your score at the end of the session will show your current preparation status. Target a minimum percentage score of 70 per cent marks. In CLAT ’08 the corresponding rank at this score (140 out of 200 =70 %) was 76. Target a double digit rank. It is sure to get you a college with guaranteed placement.
Analyse your performance after each test. Check your sectional performance from your marks in the five sections. Locate mistakes and see which chapter they concern. Get the correct answer from the solution papers (they come along with the test paper). Having done that, pick up that guide book of yours and practise 30-50 questions of that type of problem to seal its fate.
Practise one question paper daily. In addition also practise a model paper from a good guide book. While buying a guide book make sure that it has plenty of ‘passage reasoning’ questions. These questions occupy 10 or 20 marks of the paper and can seal your fate if you don’t get it right. Solve the previous question paper and the model paper at different times of the day so that you can work on the preparation defects you encountered in each paper, fine tuning yourself for the next test paper in the process.
Which test papers to buy? Considering that CLAT is just a year old and one question paper definitely is not enough for mastering the test, it would be advisable to purchase the last 16 years question papers of National Law School India University, Bangalore. These question papers come in a module and can be ordered from the University itself. NALSAR, which is conducting the CLAT this year, too is selling its own question papers. The question paper of CLAT 2008 can be purchased from there but the previous papers of NALSAR’s own entrance examination differ significantly from the CLAT pattern. The NALSAR paper does not have a Mathematics section and there is a long essay question which accounts for 25 to 30 marks. However the standard of legal and logical reasoning is very high as well as that of reading comprehension. Therefore, buy both if your wallet permits but given the paucity of time, buy NALSAR’s because it is setting the CLAT paper. Good Maths practise can be obtained from any decent guide book.
Wait! I completely FORGOT to mention a few tips on ANSWERING THE PAPER. This is the most important of them all, as how you carry yourself during those two hours of writing the paper will decide whether what you’ve being doing over the past one-two months was in vain or not. Remember; start with what you are familiar with. Start with your strengths. If your GK is strong, solve it first. If it’s Maths, solve it first. But remember to give the correct answer in the first shot. If unsure, just mark the correct choice by intuition. DO NOT spend time thinking over a doubtful question. You may or may not win the right answer but you will definitely end up losing time. Remember one thing for sure: You will NEVER get time to come back and answer the unanswered questions after completing the paper. You will probably still be marking answers when your answer sheet will be snatched by that merciless invigilator.
Having said this much, I am quite sure that many of our budding lawyers may still have doubts persisting. Worry not, for I am there to guide you. Don’t hesitate to write to me. Any questions, please check here below in the comments or check in our FAQ for CLAT.
Wishing you all the Very Best!
Email this to friend CLAT Statistics for 2008
Check out CLAT 2010 Quiz
Author: Aditya Singh
Knowledge Manager – Legal
GSG Team
Aditya Singh wrote the Common Law Admission Test in 2008. He scored an All India Rank of 76. He is currently pursuing BALLB Hons. at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
You can reach him at aditya@getsetgrow.org
sir,
i use the rs aggarwals logical reasoning book and use vikas aggarwal and rs aggarwals
objective english book. apart these i read and follow competetion master. pls suggest me some books and a course of action i will be giving clat in 2010 i can study for clat upto 4hrs a day.
awaiting your rply
Hi Soham,
I think those two books are fairly good enough and quite exhaustive, you can also refer to the GRE/GMAT books if you want to practice more. I have already mentioned in my article and in the discussions please let me know if you would like to discuss on any other specific topic.
Studying 4 hours perday for Clat is fair enough only thing you need to be focussed enough , firstly prepare a study plan and then every 15 days measure your performance you have achieved against that you have originally planned , secondly, Please take care of your health and stay fit , as you need to be fit for the long race , Thirdly, Keep on reading all types of magazines and information on the legal framework in our country this will make up your mental framework very much essential for studying law.
Best Wishes,
hey adi wassup
hmm i must say ur advice did work fr me
i prepared fr just 15 days and still got a rank of 934
although hv been selected in clat
but i also got a gud rank in aieee and hv been called by PTU
so m chosing dt coz my more of interest is in b.tech
but still thnx for ur advice bddy
m a bit unpleased dt i cud’nt meet u at nalsar
maybe next tym………….
Hi All,
I was out for few days so apologies for the delayed response .
@shiv
Thanks , Congrats and Wish you all the best for the future , I am sure we will meet sometime soon
ping me if you happen to come in Hyderabad.
what book wud u reccomend for english grammar
hello sir im righting my clat entrance in 2010 …whats d minimum marks i should score 2 get a seat in NLSIU bangalore ..i belong 2 B.C caste ..its ok if u say the mark approximately
hey Aditya, the articles’s very informative.I just wanted to ask you whether a commerce background (alongwith maths) will prove beneficial in cracking CLAT or no.
thanks,
momli
Dear Monisha,
Whether there is a change in syllabus or not, you will only get to know when the notification for CLAT 2010 comes out in January.
However, the general opinion is that it is advisable to prepare for both, legal GK as well as Legal Reasoning. You never know when it will change.
Take the case of the Indo US Nuclear deal.
The first agreement was signed in 2005. Major steps were taken in 2007. The deal was sealed in 2008-2009.
This is an issue which covered 4 to 5 years.
Therefore, if an issue is being heavily covered in the media, if it is of national importance, then time may not matter. They may give a question on the Indo-US nuclear deal even in CLAT 2020!
Therefore, read the newspapers thoroughly. Questions are more likely to be asked based on the importance of the issue rather than its position in time.
If you have any doubts do not hesitate to ask.
Best Regards,
Aditya.
@Pardhu
Please read the answers at the top
For English, use MBA Entrance Magazines for vocabulary practice. Try Merriam
Webster Vocabulary builder. But it is a book. see if you can handle it.
@Momli
If you really study hard for minimum of 3 months you can definitely crack it.
thanks!!
very helpful article
sir,
i am a science student….i want to prepare 4 clat 2010…….do i need any coaching to clear it.
or just ur above mentioned book will be sufficient.
Dear Neha,
CLAT does not necessarily require coaching. Dedicated self study for 6 months to 1 year can prepare you very well. Use the books I mentioned. Just give 2 hours a day regularly i.e study 2 hours every day, without fail. Read the edit pages. Your chances of getting through will improve significantly. Contact me for further assistance.
thank u so much sir
thanx Aditya,this info rili helped me and i cracked clat in the very 1st attempt being AIR-640….neways i just wanted you to suggest me how to prepare well for the enterance test of NLU-Delhi…i mean which areas should i pay more emphasis on?
kindly help..
Hey aDitya,can u plz brief me with some tips how to prepare for NLU-Delhi enterance…
kindly rpl..
Hi Saniya,
I have gone through the papers of both the entrance , and I guess the usual rules for preparation of Clat (which I wrote earlier) holds good. I would recommend focussing on the current affairs more, let me know if you are looking for specific details, I will try to dig out more and come back to you.
Best Regards,
Aditya
sir cud u plz suggest sme magazines 4 current affairs………
Hi Latika,
Reading the newspaper comprehensively on a daily basis(The Hindu, Times of India)
CSR(competetion sucess review) really good
Chronicle
If you want more…
India Today, Frontline….
thnx aditya…bt i rili get confused as others suggst me 2 pay more attention to da vocab part…so i was lookin forward if u can help me out to SORT out..as to what actually i shud do..plz help…
than for your reply sir i have another problem
where will i find about the recent developments in law?
what was the cut off marks for nalsar this year for General quota?
awaiting reply
thanx or your previous help
Hi Soham,
For recent developments in law you can keep an eye in newspapers , google news feed, TOI also sites like http://www.indlawnews.com/ http://www.einnews.com/india/newsfeed-india-law etc.
Regarding cut -off mark I have already commented in my previous posts, generally it varies, tough to predict.
Cheers – Aditya
hi aditya!
i m nw in 12th doin science nd just started preparing for Clat 2010. i hv some 6 months. currently i m following the universal’s guidelines to llb entrance exam, manorama yearbook 2009 nd a book called oxford word power. i hv a buk called verbal reasoning by R.S Aggarwal. plz tel me am i goin the right way. i read all the comments above bt i wnt a reply frm u nd then only i wl b satisfied. plz reply coz i hv other questions 2 ask. nd 1 more thing, the article u hv written is really inspiring. thanks fr the information. do reply yaar.
Hi Anand,
Thanks for writing to me. I can assure you that you are going in the right path. One a separate note , I would advise that you do regular practice and formulate your strategy keeping in mind the latest trends in quesion papers without affecting your normal study hours of class 12th. Do keep visiting our site, I am in process of compiling some FAQ’s and will be posting them soon. Let me know any other question you may have .
Cheers!
Aditya
Hi Aditya once again!
i hv a few other questions-hw much tym shud i devote each day 2 studying law havin 6 months of tym? wil that oxford better word power help?? frm whn shud i start practicing model papers? any idea abt CLAT 2010? plz reply soon. thanks for the previous reply.
Hi Anand,
I have posted the few FAQs for CLAT 2010
http://www.getsetgrow.org/2009/10/faqs-for-clat-2010/ let me know if that helps answer your questions.
Do post other questions you may have.
Warm Regards,
Aditya
wow.aditya bhaiya wat a brilliant job,,gr8 analysis.keep it up…
Thank you Ad Singh for the wonderful advice! Both of us made it to NALSAR last year thanks to you…You have been a great source of inspiration. We love you so so much! *applause*
i am preparing to give CLAT next year, however from what i have heard the ragging situation is not very good. Plz tell from YOUR EXPERIENCE about ragging scene in top colleges like NALSAR.
Also can u share with us about your life in Law colleges, about the debates and the moot courts comptt. you have done and your grades in NALSAR
Also it was a great article and really helpful, I hope we keep getting such advice from you
Hi Aarun,
Thanks for writing to us.
I have not come across any ragging experience as such , maybe some friendly brain teasers / IQ games for fun in the starting days. I would rather not term it as ragging. There may be still ragging happenning in silos in some colleges but remember the Indian legal system has become very strict now in terms of ragging and the punishment in place is very very strict , so chances of ragging are very very less.
College life is very exciting and full of activities, its fun out here . I am sure you will greatly enjoy the same. More importantly we need to be a voracious reader and read lots and lots of stuff and then debate and brainstorm in groups.
I am doing good in my grades now and hope to do better
Best Regards,
Aditya
Adi….1st wuld lyk 2 thnx 4 ur grt suggestion n tips for CLAT..
now comin 2 the point… can u clear my query regarding G.K…
as far as I kno GK is divided in two parts:
Static GK and Current Affairs…
for Current Affairs you suggested the CSR magazines…but i read Frontline magazines…is there any harm in this??
and what about Static GK…..??? Can we read NCERT books on history for Static GK..
or there is nothin as such Static GK??
n 1 more thing…4 Logical Reasoning…can we use Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-verbal resoning by RS Agarwal??
plz rply me …coz im in a grt cofussion???
@ Minal
Hi Minal
Yes, We can use the book by RS Aggarwal. There is general GK NCERT books may be useful now. But for focused preparation, buy yearbooks and guides.
Read the IAS magazines also. Look beyond CSR. Try the others Frontline is useful for knowledge. Read it, but dont forget the competition magazines.
Regards,
Aditya
hi , aditya sir i want to crack clat in 2010 with good rank and i am ready to prepare for it from today . sir , please tell me which books i should buy since there is a limited time and i am taken pcm in 12 and i have to give board exam this year. please reply soon
He chandan,
Please find all the information here
http://www.getsetgrow.org/2009/10/faqs-for-clat-2010/
sir ,also tell me how much time i have to allot for it per day.
which other book than rs agarwal for passage type logic reasoning………….do reply
Hi K
rather than RS Agarwal you can try this book also ANALYTICAL AND LOGICAL REASONING BY ARIHANT PRAKASHAN
sir m gonna give clat2010 and have been preparing for it along wth my 12th ISC preparation………sir m having a lot of problem managing both isc and law since i want to score well in both……sir can u suggest smthing in thios respect since my school prelims are also about to start……and sir how to improve current gk besides reading the newspapers??? plzzz help
!!!
Hi Gaurav,
When you are preparing for board exam as well as CLAT time management and hard work is very very important. You have plan accordingly and you have to execute the plan properly so that get a good score on both. But concentrate on your board exam more than CLAT.
For GK
Reading the newspaper comprehensively on a daily basis(The Hindu, Times of India)
Also read magazines like CSR(competetion sucess review) really good.
If you want more… you can go for
India Today, Frontline….
Please the previous questions that will answer lot of your queries.
Alseo please refer http://www.getsetgrow.org/2009/10/faqs-for-clat-2010/
for more information.
dear aditya,
i m in class XII (science + comp) n rite now preparing for jee (though, honestly i do not fancy much of my chances there). i m quite inclined towards doing law. Do you think there is still time to cover the entire syllabus and get through clat ’09? The biggest +ve that i have is my gk as i hav been goin for quizzes for the last 7 years (won bqc, eicher, terra quizzes among others) but my maths is disastrous. English is fine but again, legal gk is horendous too! Please suggest how i should go about preparing for the exam with prelims up the sleeve as well…
also, i m very much interested in int’l relations n politics. if i do my law and then go for international relations for my masters from say, jnu or other good coll, wt career options will i have?? plzzzz do reply….
awaiting your reply…..
P.S. – if possible, please contact me @ akshayddn@gmail.com
Dear Akshay,
Part of your query in answered in http://www.getsetgrow.org/2009/10/faqs-for-clat-2010/
Please check there.
Doing law itself will give you a very good career opportunities and Yes still there is time to cover the CLAT portion.Practice maths daily If you want a good career. Doing political science after law is not required.
also, you will study political science for 1 year as a law student.
Get manish arora for legal gk.Practice maths from a clat guide such as universals or wadhwa’s
Regards,
Aditya
hello,, firstly its a gr8 article 4 clat aspirants…. i want 2 ask honestly IS IT NECESARY 2 HV STUDY MATERIAL OF carreer launcher or any other institute 4 preparing ,,or students can prepare on der own by recomending selected buks…n can u provide inform bout how many students got xactly selection after 12th n how many after passing 1st yr.or dropping a yr ..
most imp question,, fronm can a student get his previos years question papers of nilsui or any other universties..?
It is possible to give CLAT without coaching.
Hi Soni,
As for information on students,
Take the case of my batch in NALSAR.
among boys, 1/2 are one-year droppers, while 1/2 came in after 12th.
As for previous years papers,
contact NLIU Bhopal as they are conducting CLAT.
All the Best!
Aditya.
hi aditya,
Thanx for replyin….
anpther thing that i wanted to ask was that i recently got to knw that career launcher is conductin a kind of mock clat test…do ya think it’ll be worth it??
Hi Akshay,
Any kind of Mock test will definitely help you for self analysis.