UPES Integrated LLB Admissions 2025
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Getting success in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a dream come true for Jai Singh Rathor who secured AIR 3 in the merit list. Coming from a humble family from Patna, Jai Singh struggled to set his CLAT momentum but soon overcame the hurdles posed by financial constraints and uncertainty due to the repeated postponements. Talking about the CLAT preparation, he believes that newspapers have an important role to play and having a clear cut strategy is very important. Jai Singh started his journey from Patna and is now a student of India’s top ranked law school; NLSIU Bangalore. Talking to Careers360, he shared his experience of CLAT preparation and how he overcame the economic constraints defying the myth that legal education is not for middle class families. Read the complete interview below.
Question - Tell us about yourself; your name, address, family background.
My name is Jai Singh Rathor and I am native to Bihar and my father runs a small grocery store (Kirana Store) in Patna.
Question - Congratulations on getting AIR 3. How does it feel to be among the toppers and how did you celebrate your success?
Well, I was excited and jovial but for the celebration part, I didn't do much that day. I just sat with my family and enjoyed the time.
Question - Tell us about your school education. And why did you choose law for higher education? What kind of legal profession do you want to pursue after graduation?
I did my 12th from the state board and scored decent marks. I chose law because I was interested in political and international affairs. I want to learn Corporate Law as I am intrigued by its complexity.
Question - Tell us about your CLAT journey. How did it start? What problems did you face during preparation?
I started my preparation in January 2019. I was interested in Legal Affairs so after a brief analysis I chose law as my career option. But, when I saw the fee structure of the national law universities, I thought about looking for any other career option. Later I came across a scholarship programme of IDIA. I appeared in IDIA’s screening test and after financial background check I was selected as an IDIA trainee. I had many ups and downs during my CLAT preparation, but my mentors kept motivating me throughout.
Question - What Role did IDIA play in your CLAT success? How is it different from coaching institutes?
IDIA played a huge role in my success. It was like a big family guiding me for CLAT preparation. It also helped me in resolving my financial issues. IDIA bore my CLAT cost including the data packs for online classes during lockdown.
Question - Now that you have cleared CLAT, tell us which NLU and law course have you chosen? Any particular reason for choosing NLU and law course?
I will go to NLSIU Bangalore and study BA LLB. It is a dream for any law aspirant to study the best law school of India so, NLSIU was an obvious choice.
Question - Tell us about your CLAT preparation, what was your daily routine, how many hours did you study?
I needed to work on my English as it was a comprehension based test. For general knowledge. I think reading the newspaper is the key for getting good marks in the CLAT exam. It not only helped me in general knowledge but also in sections like English and to some extent in Legal And Logical sections too. For the Maths section, I solved questions related to the data interpretation given by my teachers. I studied for around 9-11 hours a day.
Question - This year, Consortium shifted its focus from testing prior knowledge to reading and critical thinking ability. How did you develop these skills?
The sudden change in the exam pattern of CLAT was frustrating at the start. But then, it came in our daily routine as we started practising. To develop the reading ability, I started reading the newspapers, articles and editorials. I also solved a good number of comprehension passage-based questions. The logical reasoning section requires critical thinking ability. There are mainly four types of questions in CLAT -
Strengthening or weakening the author's argument,
Identifying the central or main idea of the passage.
What can be inferred from the passage?
Assumption based questions.
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The questions of LR can be easily solved by identifying the author’s point of view and knowing how the author has supported his point of view. In this section, identifying the conclusion of the passage is also important.
Question - How did COVID impact your preparation for CLAT?
It was a boon in disguise because I got a lot of time to study and review every section of the CLAT. Nevertheless, It was a difficult time for everyone preparing for the exam.
Question - How did you keep yourself motivated on the face of repeated postponements and the lockdown?
The biggest motivation for me is my parents. My father stands in the store continuously for 10 hours a day. He is dedicated towards his work and this inspires me. My mentors also motivated me during the CLAT preparation which helped me to face the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
Question - The current affairs section this year was very different from the past years as it was analysis based. Tell us how did you prepare for this section and how did you answer the questions?
This is very true because CLAT is the only exam I know that ask current affairs questions in the form of passages. Answering CLAT questions from current affairs requires deep knowledge of the topics. I read the newspapers, made notes on the important topics suggested by the teachers. Further, I did research about the topics on the internet. The websites such as Drishtiias, The Print helped are a good source for current affairs preparation.
Question - Given that CLAT this year had reading comprehension based questions which are generally time-consuming. How did you manage time while answering the questions? Did you follow any particular strategy for attempting the question paper?
I gave a lot of mocks and learned time management. My strategy included -
Starting with the general knowledge section and giving 15 mins to it.
For the English section, I gave around 25 minutes.
Then to answer the logical reasoning, I used around 25 minutes
I took more time in answering legal reasoning and gave around 40 minutes to it.
Answering the maths section took around 15 minutes
Question - How was the Legal Aptitude section in CLAT 2020? Tell us about your preparation strategy for this section.
The legal section this year was moderate. Most of the questions that came in the exam were either from the mock tests or were discussed at my institute. I solved a lot of mocks and analysed my paper.
Question - How many sample papers and mock tests did you solve? How solving sample papers benefits in CLAT preparation
I solved the CLAT sample papers released by the CLAT consortium 2-3 times. I solved the mock tests and sectional tests provided by my teachers.
Question - Tell us about the English language section of your paper. How did you prepare for this?
The English language section can be divided into three parts, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and figure speech. For reading comprehension, I read articles, newspapers, and solved some comprehension based questions.
To deal with the vocabulary, I read two books, One was my institute book and the other one was World Power Made Easy. And lastly, for the figure of speech, I used coaching material and practised mocks.
Question - Tell us about the booklist that you followed for each subject; English, Current Affairs, Maths, Legal aptitude,e, and Logical reasoning.
For the new pattern, I wouldn't recommend any specific book as students now need to develop the conceptual clarity for each section. However, to start the preparation by referring to books like How to Read Better and Faster and "Wordpower Made Easy" For English. Reading the newspaper is crucial. It would help you in every section.
Question - Are you getting any scholarship from your university or Institute? If yes, tell us how one can take the benefits of scholarships?
Yes, I am getting a scholarship from IDIA. The scholarship is for financially weak students. The details of the scholarship are available on the official website of IDIA.
With an All India SC category rank of 1561 in CLAT, you have a strong chance of getting admission into several National Law Universities through the counselling rounds. Based on past year trends, this rank can fetch you a seat in NLUs like NLIU Bhopal, HNLU Raipur, RGNUL Patiala, and possibly even higher-ranked ones like WBNUJS Kolkata or NLU Jodhpur depending on how cutoffs move in the later rounds.
SC category cutoffs for top NLUs tend to vary each year, but many of them have admitted students with SC ranks between 1500 and 3000, especially in rounds 2 and 3. Your chances increase further if you list a wide range of NLUs in your preference order during counselling. Also, make sure to complete all required counselling steps, document verification, and preference locking on time to avoid missing out.
With your rank, you're well-positioned to get a seat—just stay active in the admission process and keep checking updates from the CLAT consortium.
Dear student,
For Delhi University’s BA LLB program through CLAT, EWS category admissions last year (2024) typically closed around a rank of 1100 to 1200. This means if you scored around 90–95 marks in CLAT, you had a good chance of getting in. The exact cut-off can change slightly each year depending on competition and seat availability, but staying within the top 1200 is generally safe for EWS candidates.
The cutoff for DU BA LLB for CLAT ews has not been released yet.You can check the cutoff in this website after notification of release of cutoff - https://clat2024.consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2024/
Yes, you can get direct admission into BBA LLB at VIPS (Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies) with 82 percent in your Class 12 exams, but not without appearing in CLAT or IPU CET.
VIPS is affiliated with Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), and admissions to BBA LLB are done strictly through entrance exams. The primary mode of admission is through CLAT UG, as GGSIPU has adopted CLAT scores for law programs in recent years. Previously, the IPU CET was used for law admissions, but that has been phased out for integrated law courses like BBA LLB.
So, even with a good Class 12 score, you cannot get admission into VIPS for BBA LLB without a valid CLAT score. The university does not allow direct management quota admissions outside the entrance process for its law programs. You may need to wait for the next CLAT attempt or consider private universities that allow direct admission based on 12th marks.
All the best!
Hi Akash,
It is good to see institutions like NMIMS have selected you for master of law based on your CLAT PG scores. If we compare the three then to be very clear:
For the best academic value and recognition choose NMIMS, or the Nirma University is also good. The DNLU is newer and can be considered as well but if we choose any one, then it is NMIMS.
ALL THE BEST !
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