CLAT Syllabus tests the knowledge of the candidates in various sections. Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is held every year in May. The CLAT will be held on the 9th of May in 2022. CLAT is an entrance exam via which the students are admitted into various Law universities. CLAT is also the only entrance through which one can get admission in the National Law Universities. Out of 23 Law Universities, 22 accept the scores of the CLAT examination. National Law University Delhi (NLUD) conducts its own entrance exam known as the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET).
Thousands of people prepare for this exam each year. But before one can start with the exam preparation, it is important to have an idea about the exam pattern and the syllabus.
CLAT 2021 Eligibility
- Students who wish to appear for CLAT should have passed class 12th from any recognized board.
- The General and OBC candidates should have a minimum aggregate of 45 percent marks in their qualifying examination to be eligible. SC and ST candidates on the other hand should have a minimum aggregate of 40 percent.
- Candidates whose results have not been announced yet are also eligible for appearing for CLAT. Although these candidates would have to show a proof of them having passed their qualifying examination at the time of admission.
CLAT Exam Pattern 2021
| Level | Undergraduate |
| Mode | Offline (pen-paper) |
| Duration | 2 hours or 120 minutes |
| Total Marks | 150 |
| Type of Questions | Objective Type |
| Total Number of Questions | 150 |
| Marks Awarded for Correct answer | + 1 |
| Marks deducted for incorrect answer | -0.25 |
The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2021 is broadly divided into five sections. The distribution of marks is as follows:
| S. No | Sections | No. of Questions | Weightage |
| 1 | English including comprehension | 28-32 | 20 % |
| 2 | Mathematics | 13-17 | 10 % |
| 3 | Logical Reasoning | 28-32 | 20 % |
| 4 | Legal Aptitude | 35-39 | 25 % |
| 5 | General Knowledge and Current Affairs | 35-39 | 25 % |
CLAT Syllabus 2021
The CLAT syllabus 2021 is divided into 5 major topics. Let’s take a look at them
English
According to the new syllabus pattern of CLAT 2021, this section will include around 4-5 passages of 450 words each. These passages can be taken from contemporary or historical fiction and nonfiction writing. The reading level of the passage would be set to the level of reading comprehension of a 12th class student and would take 5-7 minutes to read.
Each passage question will include a series of questions that would test a candidate’s reading comprehension, summarization, interpretative and language skills. It is important that the candidates work on their vocabulary and practise their comprehension skills to get through this section.
Mathematics
Under the new CLAT 2021 pattern, this section would include questions about given sets of facts, proportions, graphs or other diagrams centric, pictorial or textual representations about numerical information. The questions based on these representations would test a candidate’s derivative, interpretative and inference skills.
This section of CLAT will also include topics from 10th standard mathematics like:
- Ratio
- Proportions
- Mensuration
- Statistical estimation
- Basic Algebra
General Knowledge and Current Affairs
Based on the new CLAT pattern 2021 this section will include passages of about 450 words. These passages could be derived from various news-oriented, journalistic and non-fiction sources. This section could also test a candidate’s examination skills when it comes to legal information and knowledge based on the passage provided to them.
Each passage will also include a set of questions based on them. These series of questions will test a candidate’s awareness about various aspects of general knowledge and current affairs including but not limited to topics like:
- Contemporary National and International events
- Art and Culture
- Prominent historical events
- National and International current affairs
Logical Reasoning
According to the new CLAT syllabus this section will include passages of about 300 words each. These passages will be followed some questions that will assess how a candidate:
- Is able to recognize an argument and its various aspects
- Critically analyse a pattern and infer a conclusion from the said premise.
- Decode the information in a passage and then apply that newly learnt information to new situations.
- Draw associations, relationships and analogies. Identify different sets of contradictions and congruences and then come to an informed conclusion of an argument.
Legal Aptitude
This section under the new CLAT syllabus will include passages of 450 words each. These passages could be related to various scenarios and situations that will include legal principles, arguments and public policy or moral philosophy questions. For this section, a candidate needs to have general legal awareness about contemporary legal and moral issues and about landmark cases and their judgements. These passages will include questions based on them that test a candidates ability to:
- Identify the overarching theme, rules, arguments and counterarguments given in the passages
- Apply rules and principles in various fact based situations
- Understand and interpret how the changes and modification in the rules and principles have subsequent effect on the situations provided.
Preparation Tips
- Introspect and find out your weak and strong points. Strategize in a way that strengthens your weak points and re-freshens the strong ones.
- Make sure that you work on your reading and writing speed. It is important that one takes care of their time management skills along with their syllabus management as well. Efficiently managing time is a valuable skill during CLAT exam
- Develop your own shortcuts and tips that will help you solve and get through a question faster.
- Form a schedule that is suitable to you and that helps you in covering your syllabus thoroughly and in time. Also make sure that you assign some time to revision too in your schedule.
- It is imperative that you go through the previous year’s question papers. Analyzing previous year’s question papers will help you in forming an idea about the pattern of the question paper and the type of questions asked.
- Most importantly during this stressful time don’t forget to take a break and keep some time aside for relaxation. Indulge in activities that help you relax and refresh your mood like walking, meditating, listening to music, watching your favourite shows or reading your favourite novels.
It is important to keep up to date with the pattern of exams and the changes over the year. Preparing in advance would help to cover the syllabus of CLAT in time. To check out further details about the preparation strategy for CLAT, take a look here.
