CLAT 2020 was finally held on 28th September 2020, after a lot of postponement due to the COVID-19 crisis. Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is the entrance examination for any of the top law institutions in India. The exam followed an online choice-based test mode. This was the first test to be conducted after the updating of the CLAT syllabus and CLAT question paper pattern.
The 2020 CLAT exam had a total of 150 questions to be answered in a time limit of 120 minutes. Each correct answer was given one mark, while 0.25 marks were deducted for each wrong answer.
Given below is an overview of the sections in the test, the number of questions included in each one of them and the level of difficulty:
| Section | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty |
| Reading Comprehension | 30 | Easy to Medium |
| GK including Current Affairs | 36 | Difficult |
| Legal Reasoning | 39 | Easy |
| Logical Reasoning | 30 | Moderate |
| Quantitative Techniques | 15 | Easy to Moderate |
| Total | 150 | Moderate |
Section-Wise Analysis of CLAT 2020
1) English Language
The English Language section of CLAT 2020 consisted of a variety of topics including book excerpts and current affairs. The types of questions that appeared in this section included the following:
- Grammar-based: Parts of speech
- Inference-based and Fact-based: Reading comprehension
- Vocabulary-based: Synonyms, antonyms, meanings.
CLAT 2020 included questions from the following subjects and topic areas:
- Climate change
- Excerpts from short stories The Cat by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and A Reflection by Kate Chopin.
- Excerpt from the novel The Case for the Defence by Graham Greene.
- COVID-19
- Bois Locker Room Scandal on Instagram
There were a total of 6 passages with each containing 5 questions. Being able to answer around 25 to 26 questions meant a good attempt. Since this section was moderately difficult, it needed around 27 to 30 minutes to be completed.
2) General Knowledge and Current Affairs
This section contained questions of general knowledge and current affairs between the timeline of June 2020 and September 2020. There were a total of 7 passages together forming a total of 36 questions. The ideal score for this section is 20 to 30. The section, which was moderately difficult contained the following topics:
- Rupee Appreciation and Forex Reserves
- Rafale Delivery
- Lipulekh, regarding the India and Nepal issue
- National Education Policy
- National Infrastructure Policy
- SCO Summit regarding the India and Pakistan issue
- UAE-Israel Mediation by Trump
3) Legal Reasoning
This section had a total of 39 questions from 8 passages and was the easiest in this year’s CLAT 2020 test paper. All of the topics asked are usually the ones most covered by students during CLAT preparation like:
- Torts.
- Contracts.
- Criminal Law.
- Constitutional law.
- International law.
- Intellectual Property Law.
- Family Law.
- General Legal Principles.
The specific topics asked in CLAT 2020 were:
- Force Majeure in Contract
- Regina vs Hicklin/Common Standard Tests
- LG Polymer Gas Link
- Principles of Natural Justice
- Palghar Mob Lynching
- Arnab Goswami vs. Union of India
- Common Intention and Similar Intention
- Article 20 & Ex Post Facto Laws
The questions concerning Common Intention and Similar Intention were a bit difficult. But the rest of the questions were of easy level. Since the section was really long, it would’ve taken a candidate 35 to 37 minutes to complete it. Answering 28 to 29 questions is considered ideal.
4) Logical Reasoning
Logical Reasoning is the section where time management becomes an important factor. This section was neither easy nor difficult. A candidate would be able to allocate 30 minutes to this section and ideally, answering 25 to 27 questions is considered best. This section had a total of 30 questions and the passages were based on the following subjects:
- Logical Sequences.
- Puzzles.
- Family/Blood Relation.
- Coding/Decoding.
- Seating Arrangement.
- Number Test.
- Ranking and Order.
- Verbal Reasoning.
5) Quantitative Techniques
The quantitative Techniques section had 3 sets containing a total of 15 questions. The first set had math questions that were easy for the students who are interested in the subject. The topics that were covered included:
- Arithmetics
- Algebra
- Geometra
- Sequences
- Probability
The other two sections were relatively a bit difficult. Attempting the first section would easily score 5 marks and answering the rest of the sections depending on how much time you spent on the first. However, a score of 8 can be considered good for this section as it was moderately difficult.
The CLAT 2020 cut off mark for all National Law Universities is 85. While the cut off mark for the top three NLUs is 103, that of the top 10 is 95. Hope this article was of help to you. To check out further details about the preparation strategy for CLAT, take a look here.
