CLAT PG

Candidates generally need an LLB or an equivalent law degree from a recognised university, with the minimum aggregate specified by the organising consortium for each category. Read the current information brochure on the official CLAT website, since eligibility percentages and any relaxation for reserved categories are set fresh each year.

It is a computer-based test of objective multiple-choice questions drawn from the postgraduate law syllabus, with negative marking for incorrect answers. The exact number of questions, sectional weightage, and marking scheme are announced in the official notification, so check the consortium site rather than relying on older patterns.

The official body publishes the current question count and duration in its notification and information brochure each year. These have changed between cycles, so confirm the figure on the official CLAT website before planning your pacing strategy or mock-test schedule.

The questions are at LLB level, not research level, but the breadth is wide and the options are often close. Difficulty comes from precision on statutory language and case law rather than from obscure topics. Candidates who know the leading judgments and can distinguish similar doctrines usually find it manageable.

Yes, wrong answers attract a penalty. Attempt questions where you can eliminate at least two options and leave pure guesses, because the expected value of a blind guess is negative. In mocks, track how many of your marked guesses converted correctly to build a realistic threshold.

Start with constitutional law, criminal law, and contracts and torts, since together they account for the largest share of marks and overlap with what you already studied for your LLB. Then add jurisprudence, property and family law, and company law. Keep current legal affairs as a light weekly habit rather than a last-minute cram.

They carry a modest weight but are the cheapest marks to secure, because recent Supreme Court Constitution Bench decisions and major statutory amendments often appear. Maintain a running list of landmark judgments from the past year with the ratio of each, and revise it monthly instead of reading daily news without structure.

There is generally no bar on appearing again in a later cycle, provided you still satisfy the eligibility conditions for that year. The consortium does not publish a lifetime attempt limit in its standard rules, but always verify the current brochure, as conditions can be revised.

Three recur: neglecting bare acts in favour of summaries, over-guessing under negative marking, and ignoring jurisprudence because it feels abstract. A fourth is poor time allocation in the computer-based interface. Practise full-length mocks in the actual interface so the navigation and on-screen calculator do not cost you minutes.

Yes, a small component covers research methodology, legal reasoning, and analytical ability, including identifying the ratio of a judgment and evaluating the strength of an argument. It rewards structured reading of case law rather than memorisation, so practise extracting the holding from judgments you already study.