CLAT 2027 Previous Year Papers: 2023 Question Paper PDF, Highlights and Analysis With Topics and Sources

CLAT 2023 Section-wise Question Paper Analysis

In the CLAT 2023 question paper, newspapers and press statements accounted for the largest share, with 12 passages carrying 70 questions. Adding magazines, news websites, explainers and official sources, 17 of the 27 passages, carrying 99 questions, were news-linked.

All 35 questions in the current affairs section and all 40 questions in legal reasoning came from news-linked passages. Logical reasoning had 24 such questions out of 30. English and mathematics did not rely on news and had questions from textbooks, reports and original material.

CLAT 2023 English: 30 Questions, Books and Magazines

CLAT 2023 English Section Analysis

The English section had 6 passages with 5 questions each. Three came from books by Jia Tolentino (Trick Mirror), Snigdha Poonam (Dreamers) and Salman Rushdie (Haroun and the Sea of Stories). The other three came from Sumana Roy, Sowmiya Ashok and Aman Sethi.

Only one passage, by Rushdie, was fiction. The rest were essays, reportage and non-fiction, and four of the six dealt with India directly, from the kabadiwala to the Keeladi excavation.

CLAT English had a 20% share of the overall paper. The takeaway is that this section has moved from essays to classics and idea-heavy books. 

CLAT 2023 Current Affairs: 35 Questions, 100% News-Based

CLAT 2023 Current Affairs and GK Analysis

All 35 questions came from 5 news items, with 7 questions each. Each passage covered a different area: polity (Droupadi Murmu’s election), technology (the LaMDA AI claim), sports (the FIFA World Cup armband row), finance (the FTX collapse) and agriculture. All five stories were from 2022.

Questions also asked about related topics such as Kafala, the Digital Rupee, SUPACE and the Swaminathan Commission.

For CLAT 2027, the takeaway is that merely reading the news headline is not enough; connect those news items to bigger events and read the background topics and their related developments.

CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning: 8 Passages, 40 Questions

CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Analysis

This was the biggest section, with 8 passages of 5 questions each, or 40 questions. All passages were based on laws, rules or schemes, with no court judgment passage. The Wire alone supplied 3 passages, accounting for 15 questions or 37.5% of the section.

Topics included Section 498A IPC, the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, the Electoral Bond Scheme and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.

The takeaway is that legal reading has moved from news explainers on laws to judgments and editorials on them. Follow new laws and recent court rulings, and note the principle behind each.

CLAT 2023 Logical Reasoning: 80% From Editorials and Magazines

CLAT 2023 Logical Reasoning Analysis

Four of the five passages (24 of 30 questions) came from editorials, magazines, and a news website. Sources included The Telegraph, DownToEarth and The Swaddle. Topics in legal reasoning covered the rupee’s fall, trust in print media, the energy crisis and stereotypes in women’s careers. The fifth passage, from Rutger Bregman’s Humankind, was on negativity bias. 

All four passages were based on original puzzles and factual situations. The takeaway is that candidates’ skills for finding assumptions and weak arguments were tested, and the answers were inside the passage itself. 

For CLAT 2027, this section can no longer be prepared by reading editorials alone, so practice questions on puzzles and seating arrangements.

CLAT 2023 Quantitative Techniques Analysis: 15 Questions, 67% From Real Reports

CLAT 2023 Mathematics Section Analysis

Two of the three maths passages (10 of 15 questions, 67%) used real data, from Oxfam India’s India Discrimination Report 2022 and FAO fruit production figures. The third set, on judo weight groups, was original. Questions tested percentages, ratios, simple interest and averages.

Over the years, the topics have mostly stayed the same - ratios, percentages and averages. Practise reading tables fast, since interpretation takes more time than calculation.

CLAT 2023 vs CLAT 2026: What Changed and What Didn't

The section-wise weightage remained almost the same between CLAT 2023 and 2026, even though the paper was reduced from 150 to 120 questions. The 2023 paper helps CLAT 2027 aspirants understand how news and reading material become exam questions.

CLAT Previous Year Question Papers PDF Download

Candidates can download the previous years' papers to compare the old and revised patterns and practise questions from both formats for CLAT 2027.