Law is a lucrative career in India. Many students aspire to study in top-notch law colleges of India. CLAT gives students the chance to fulfill their aspirations by joining NLUs (National Law Universities). The postponement of exams and the changes in exam patterns have created fear and panic among students.
The CLAT is a national-level entrance examination conducted in India for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate law programs offered by participating National Law Universities (NLUs) in India.CLAT is a national entrance exam for admissions to UG and PG law programs offered by 22 National Law Universities(NLUs) in India.
CLAT 2024 exam overview
- What is CLAT
CLAT is organized by a consortium of National law universities comprising representative universities. Several affiliate universities and organizations also use the CLAT exam for admissions and recruitment respectively.
- What is CLAT 2024
All admissions to the 5–year integrated LLB and LLM programs that commence in the academic year 2024-2025 shall be through CLAT 2024.
- How is the CLAT 2024 exam structured?
- The Undergraduate (“UG”) CLAT 2024, for admissions to the Undergraduate courses that commence in the Academic Year 2024-2025 at the participating National Law Universities shall comprise 120 (One hundred and Twenty) questions instead of 150 (One hundred and Fifty) questions as in previous years. Candidates will have 2 (Two) hours to complete the test, as in previous years.
- The exam will continue to organize the 120 questions into five sections: English Language, Current Affairs including General Knowledge, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques.
- There shall be no change in the syllabus and number of questions for the Postgraduate CLAT 2024. 4. The Consortium of NLUs shall make every effort to assist candidates in preparing for CLAT 2024 and extend any support it can to make CLAT 2024 a student-friendly and accessible examination.
Notification And Important Dates
The Consortium of National Law Universities released the notification for CLAT 2024 on June 15, 2023.
Important dates for CLAT 2024
Applications have opened from 1st July 2023. Candidates can fill out the form and apply for the exam. The deadline or last date to submit the application form is 3rd November 2023. The authorities will conduct the exam one month after the notification, i.e., on 3rd December 2023, for admissions in 2024.
Application and Eligibility Criteria for CLAT 2024
Eligibility criteria for CLAT 2024
The eligibility criteria for the UG program are as follows:
- There is no upper age limit for candidates appearing for the UG Program through the CLAT 2024.
- Candidates must secure the following minimum percentage of marks in their qualifying examination (i.e., 10+2 or an equivalent examination):
- Forty-five percent (45%) marks or its equivalent grade in case of candidates belonging to General / OBC / PWD / NRI / PIO / OCI categories
- Forty Percent (40%) marks or equivalent in the case of candidates belonging to SC/ST categories.
- Candidates who may be appearing for their qualifying examination in March/ April 2024 are also eligible to appear for the CLAT 2024 examination. However, the institution will require them to produce evidence of passing the qualifying examination at the time of admission. If they fail to provide it, they will lose their right to be considered for admission.
- The candidate must submit the result of the qualifying examination (i.e., 10+2) at the time of admission, and if they fail to do so, they will become ineligible for admission to the course they have applied for.
- If more than one candidate secures an equal number of marks in the CLAT 2024, the break of the tie shall be by the following procedure and order:
- Higher marks in the component/section on Legal Aptitude in the CLAT 2024 exam;
- Higher age;
- Computerized draw of lots.
Syllabus and Marks distribution for CLAT 2024
The UG-CLAT 2024 would focus on evaluating the comprehension and reasoning skills and abilities of candidates. Overall, the test assesses the aptitude and skills necessary for legal education rather than prior knowledge, although prior knowledge may occasionally help candidates answer questions in the Current Affairs including General Knowledge section.
The UG-CLAT 2024 shall be a 2-hour test, with 120 multiple-choice questions carrying 1 mark each. There shall be a negative marking of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer. These questions will be divided into the following 5 subjects:
- English Language
- Current Affairs, including General Knowledge
- Legal Reasoning
- Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Techniques
English Language
In this section of the UG-CLAT 2024, you will be provided passages of about 450 words each. The exam will draw these passages from contemporary or historically significant fiction and non-fiction writing, and a 12th-standard student should be able to read them in about 5–7 minutes.
Each passage will be followed by a series of questions that will require you to demonstrate your comprehension and language skills, including your abilities to:
- Read and comprehend the main point discussed in the passage, as well as any arguments and viewpoints discussed or set out in the passage;
- Draw inferences and conclusions based on the passage;
- Summarize the passage;
- Compare and contrast the different arguments or viewpoints set out in the passage; and
- Understand the meaning of various words and phrases in the context that they are used in the passage.
Current Affairs Including General Knowledge
In this section, you will be provided passages of up to 450 words each. The exam setters will derive the passages from news, journalistic sources, and other non-fiction writing. The questions may include an examination of legal information or knowledge discussed in or related to the passage, but would not require any additional knowledge of the law beyond the passage.
Each passage will include a series of questions that require you to demonstrate your awareness of various aspects of current affairs and general knowledge, including:
- Contemporary events of significance from India and the world;
- Arts and culture;
- International affairs; and
- Historical events of continuing significance.
Legal Reasoning
In this section, you will be expected to read passages of around 450 words each. The passages may relate to fact situations or scenarios involving legal matters, public policy questions, or moral philosophical inquiries. You will not require any prior knowledge of the law to attempt the questions in this section. You will benefit from a general awareness of contemporary legal and moral issues to better apply general principles or propositions to the given fact scenarios.
Each passage will be followed by a series of questions that will require you to:
- Identify and infer the rules and principles set out in the passage;
- Apply such rules and principles to various fact situations; and
- Understand how changes to the rules or principles may alter their application to various fact situations.
Logical Reasoning
The Logical Reasoning section of the UG-CLAT 2024 will include a series of short passages of about 450 words each. Each passage will be followed by one or more questions that will require you to:
- Recognize an argument, its premises, and conclusions;
- Read and identify the arguments set out in the passage;
- Critically analyze patterns of reasoning to assess how particular premises or evidence influence conclusions, and determine how altering these premises or supporting facts can strengthen or weaken those conclusions.
- Infer what follows from the passage and apply these inferences to new situations;
- Draw relationships and analogies, identify contradictions and equivalence, and assess the effectiveness of arguments.
Quantitative Techniques
The Quantitative Techniques section of the UG-CLAT 2024 will include short sets of facts or propositions, or other textual representations of numerical information, followed by a series of questions. You will derive information from the passages or questions and apply mathematical operations to that information.
The questions will require you to:
- Derive, infer, and manipulate numerical information set out in such passages; and
- Apply various 10th-standard mathematical operations on such information, including from areas such as ratios and proportions, basic algebra, mensuration, and statistical estimation.
Preparation tips for CLAT 2024
The Consortium plans to publish various preparatory materials for the UG-CLAT 2024, including:
- Guides to the question paper and sample questions;
- Model question papers; and
- Instructional materials and exercises for each of the subjects that the UG-CLAT 2024 comprises.
The Consortium will also provide candidates who have successfully completed their application to the UG-CLAT 2024 access to a learning platform where they may access the preparatory materials described above, as well as their scores on various exercises and model question papers.
Consortium shall also organize online sessions for such candidates, in which subject experts shall provide guidance on how best to prepare for each of the sections of the UG-CLAT 2024, and how candidates may approach the questions in each section.
In addition, you should develop your capacity to read and understand bodies of text, ensure you stay abreast of news and current affairs by regularly reading quality newspapers and periodicals, and improve your speed of answering questions on quantitative techniques by practicing with materials such as 10th standard mathematics textbooks.
Conclusion
Candidates who are taking CLAT need to give themselves at least 6-8 months for preparation. To get success in CLAT 2023 candidates should understand the exam prior to starting their preparation. One should do more and more practice by giving and analyzing mocks and also practicing previous year’s papers so as to become familiar with the pattern.
