CLAT 2026: Exam Date, Syllabus, Registration, Eligibility, Pattern, Preparation Tips

The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) will open the CLAT 2026 application form tentatively in July 2025. Candidates can register online from the official website, consortiumofnlus.ac.in. The Consortium of National Law Universities will conduct CLAT 2026 tentatively on December 6, 2025. Around 60,000 candidates are expected to appear for CLAT UG and 10000 candidates are expected to appear for CLAT PG. The CLAT 2026 UG syllabus will have sections on English, current affairs, legal reasoning, logical reasoning, and quantitative techniques. The CLAT PG syllabus covers various areas of law. CLAT 2026 will be conducted in offline mode at exam centres in 131 cities across India. The revised CLAT exam pattern has only 120 questions spread across the five sections and candidates get two hours to complete the exam.

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This Story also Contains

1. CLAT 2026 Eligibility Criteria
2. CLAT Application Form 2026
3. CLAT Syllabus 2026
4. CLAT 2026 Exam Pattern
5. CLAT 2026 Preparation Tips
6. Participating NLUs in CLAT 2026

Candidates can gain admission into 5-year LLB programmes by appearing in Common Law Admission Test. On the other hand, they can gain admission into LLM programmes by appearing in the Common Law Admission Test-PG. Currently, 24 NLUs are participating in CLAT, which together offer around 3400 seats in 5-year LLB and around 1300 seats in LLM.

CLAT 2026 Highlights

CLAT 2026 Exam Date

The Consortium of NLUs will notify the CLAT exam date on its official website. CLAT 2026 is likely to be conducted on the first Sunday of December 2025 which will fall on December 6, 2025. Aspiring candidates must keep track of the important dates for CLAT 2026 to successfully register and appear for the exam. The table given below provides the dates for CLAT 2026. The dates are tentative and will be updated upon release of official notification.

CLAT 2026 Dates

CLAT 2026 Eligibility Criteria

The Consortium of NLUs prescribes the CLAT eligibility criteria 2026 on its official website. The CLAT eligibility criteria include conditions about minimum educational qualifications, minimum required passing marks and age limit if any. Candidates must ensure they fulfil the eligibility criteria of CLAT 2026 before registering and appearing for the exam. Candidates who are found to not satisfy the CLAT eligibility criteria at any stage of the admission process will be disqualified.

CLAT Eligibility Criteria 2026

CLAT Application Form 2026

The Consortium of NLUs will open the CLAT application form tentatively in July 2025. Candidates can submit the CLAT application form 2026 from the consortium’s official website. To submit the application form of CLAT 2026, candidates must follow steps such as registration, filling out application form details, and payment of the application fee. The deadline to submit the CLAT 2026 application form is likely to be the first week of November 2025.

Steps to Complete CLAT 2026 Application Form

Candidates must visit the official website, consortiumofnlus.ac.in to submit the CLAT 2026 application form. Given below are the various steps involved in the submission of the application form of CLAT 2026.

Step 1: Registration

Candidates must first complete the initial registration to generate CLAT login credentials which is the first step in the CLAT application form 2026 process. The candidates will be required to provide their email ID and mobile number to set up their CLAT 2026 account. Candidates must preserve these login credentials as they would need to log in to their account at various stages of the CLAT 2026 admission process such as downloading the CLAT admit card, checking the CLAT result, and registering for CLAT 2026 counselling.

Step 2: Filling up details in CLAT 2026 application form

The second step in the CLAT 2026 application process is to fill up the details in the application form. These details include the following:

• Personal details: This includes providing personal information regarding one’s name, parent's name, date of birth, and category.

• Educational qualification: The candidate has to provide details about their educational qualification, namely class 10 and Class 12 details.

• Communication details: Here, the applicant must provide the permanent address and communication address details. However, it must be noted that the entire admission and counselling process is conducted in online mode.

• Uploading of documents: Candidates have to upload their passport-size photograph and signature as per the prescribed format and specifications.

Step 3: Providing CLAT exam centre preferences

The next step for the candidate is to provide the CLAT 2026 exam centre preferences. A candidate can provide a maximum of 3 choices in the order of their preference. The consortium will allot the exam centre after considering the availability and the preferences submitted by the candidate.

Step 4: NLU preferences

The applicants are required to submit their NLU preferences at the time of submitting the CLAT 2026 application form. The candidates would be considered for admission in only those NLUs that they have included in their CLAT NLU preference list. It is therefore important for candidates to carefully assess their level of preparation and chances of selection in a given NLU before submitting their preferences.

Step 5: Payment of CLAT 2026 application fee

The last step in the CLAT 2026 application process is the payment of the prescribed CLAT application fee. Only after payment of the application fee will a candidate be able to complete CLAT 2026 registration. The table given below describes the CLAT 2026 application fees.

CLAT 2026 registration fees

CLAT Syllabus 2026

The Consortium prescribes the CLAT 2026 syllabus on its official website. The syllabus of CLAT 2026 contains five sections namely English, current affairs including GK, legal reasoning, logical reasoning, and quantitative techniques. The CLAT PG syllabus includes topics on different areas of law. Aspiring candidates must carefully go through the CLAT syllabus 2026 to chart out a study plan for CLAT preparation. This will help candidates understand the important topics for each section of CLAT.

CLAT UG Syllabus

CLAT PG Syllabus 2026

CLAT 2026 Exam Pattern

The Consortium of NLUs prescribes the CLAT exam pattern on its official website. The exam pattern of CLAT 2026 provides information on the test structure, the number of questions, sections, and marking scheme in the exam. A thorough understanding of the CLAT 2026 exam pattern is essential to come on top in the exam. The CLAT exam pattern consists of 4-6 passages in each section which are then followed by multiple-choice questions based on the passage. Each question in CLAT 2026 carries one mark and there will be a negative marking of 0.25 for every wrong answer.

CLAT Exam Pattern 2026

CLAT 2026 Preparation Tips

CLAT2026 is considered one of the most difficult law entrance exams in India. It is very reading-intensive and lengthy and sees intense competition every year. A good level of CLAT 2026 preparation will enable a candidate to bag the limited seats on offer at top NLUs. A few section-wise tips on how to prepare for CLAT are given below.

CLAT English Language Preparation Tips

The CLAT English language section is a test of one’s reading and comprehension skills and proficiency in grammar. Candidates must develop regular reading habits to improve their reading speed. They can also refer to CLAT English books on grammar, and flashcards to develop a good vocabulary.

The passages in the English section are mostly snippets taken from articles appearing in newspapers or magazines. So, candidates must also build a habit of reading daily newspapers and magazines to find it easy during the exam.

CLAT Current Affairs including GK Preparation Tips-

The CLAT current affairs and GK section has questions that focus on recent events or any events from the past that have contemporary relevance. Candidates must stay updated with current affairs by following the news regularly. They can also make use of knowledge encyclopedias such as Manorama yearbook or Lucent’s GK. A regular reading habit for law magazines will keep the candidates updated on legal current affairs.

CLAT Legal Reasoning Preparation Tips

Even though the CLAT legal reasoning section does not require the candidate to have prior knowledge of the law, the questions deal with legal principles and concepts that are covered in a given passage based on which the questions are asked. Therefore candidates must refer to good law books that cover various laws such as Constitutional law, criminal law, child rights, and family law among others.

Regularly reading law magazines will also help the candidates develop good legal aptitude and perform well in the legal reasoning section.

CLAT Logical Reasoning Preparation Tips

The CLAT logical reasoning section tests the candidates to think logically and solve problems and puzzles such as directions, seating arrangements, analogies, and blood relations. Candidates must constantly practice with problems and puzzles that require them to apply logical reasoning to sharpen their thinking abilities. They can refer to books such as A Modern Approach to Logical Reasoning by R S Agarwal which will help them in building conceptual clarity and also contain enough practice questions.

CLAT Quantitative Techniques Preparation Tips

The CLAT quantitative techniques section is of class 10th level. It tests the candidate's ability to perform basic arithmetic operations, calculating ratios and proportions, profit and loss, and time and work. To prepare for the CLAT maths section, candidates can refer to books such as Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations by RS Agarwal and the Class 10 NCERT Maths textbook.

Participating NLUs in CLAT 2026

Currently, 24 NLUs are participating in CLAT. While all the participating NLUs offer the 5-year LLB programme, there are a few NLUs that don’t offer the LLM programme or do not admit students into LLM through CLAT. The complete list is given below

CLAT Colleges 2026