CLAT Preparation Tips By Sonal Gupta, CEO of Maansarovar Law Centre

How to Crack the CLAT Exam?

The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a national-level entrance exam for undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) law programs offered by the National Law Universities in the country. The exam is organized by the Consortium of National Law Universities consisting of the representative universities. This exam decides the fate of the students because the university you study from plays an important role in shaping your future.

Let’s go through the exam details:

Five sections are asked in the CLAT entrance with 150 questions in total

• Law

• General Awareness

• English

• General Aptitude

• Maths

Now the first thing we need to see is that two different approaches must be followed

A. Comprehensive Approach

B. Subject wise Approach

Comprehensive Approach

1. Practising Previous years is a must

You must practice up to 7-8yrs of previous year papers of CLAT and AILET to get a fair idea of the level of exam.

2. Maintaining a register of the difficult questions

You have to maintain 5 subject-wise registers each namely maths difficult questions, reasoning difficult questions, law difficult questions, etc. Whenever you solve a previous year paper or a mock test and are unable to solve some questions of a topic that you have already studied or found a new question or a good question then note it down in that respective subject register By doing this you will create a very good question bank all compiled in one register. Next time before any mock or actual exam just practice profit and loss from your notes and this register, I guarantee you that your performance will improve and you will be able to solve questions that most people won’t be able to do.

3. For any subject, NEVER refer to more than two books

Two books are sufficient for each topic along with your class notes and your self-created unique question bank(as mentioned above). Once you finish solving these books, keep revising them only. Don’t think that you will get more material from more books. That leads to only confusion and frustration. Stick to 2 books for each subject.

4. Always begin studying with a planned schedule in hand

Before you start studying each day, set a target. For eq. 10th January 2019 – Maths – Profit and Loss Law – Murder English – Prepositions Set a practical weekly target every Sunday night and achieve it. It will bring utmost joy once you will achieve your target. Also if you manage to achieve your target before time and you still have some hours left in that day then do not begin studying more. Use that time to relax and entertain yourself.

5. Give your maximum time to work on your weak areas

Giving time to things like static GK will take away your seat because that area is not at all scoring but giving time to Maths, reasoning, law, polity, English vocabulary, etc. will shoot up your score like a rocket.

6. Join a coaching centre only after taking trial classes

It helps us in giving regularity to our preparation and also their methods of teaching and approach is essential for success. However, hard work from your end is equally required. You cannot depend blindly on coaching as the same stuff is taught to hundreds of more students, so at least to surpass them you need to put in your own efforts.

7. Don’t skip your classes, consistency is the key to success.

Subject Wise preparation:

1. Maths

Maths is one of the most scoring topics and scoring 100% in this area is possible however we need to have a realistic approach. We need to realize that there may be a question or two which is way too difficult or beyond the expected syllabus so our realistic aim should be scoring 90%-95% in this area.

If you’re doing self-preparation then please realize that some time you may come across an extremely lengthy or difficult question. Our aim should be managing 90-95% of questions of every topic and if we come across such impossible questions then try asking your teachers or friends for the solution. If still, you feel that it is way too difficult and cannot be solved using concepts and in time then avoid such questions from your preparation. We don’t have to prepare for freak questions.

Study Material for Maths

(i) R.S. Aggarwal (Quantitative Abilities)

(ii) M.Tyra ( Magical Maths)

(iii) Class Material

(iv) Your self-created unique question bank

2. Reasoning

Reasoning is the most scoring area and you must aim for 100% in this area. Every question is possible to be solved and you must aim at scoring 100% in this area. Practice is the key to score 100% in reasoning so give it your time and effort.

Study Material

(i) R.S. Aggarwal ( Reasoning)

(ii) Sijwali ( Arihant Publication)

(iii) Class Material

(iv) Your self-created unique question bank

3. English

This is the most neglected area however it is extremely scoring if efforts are made in the right direction. Include learning vocabulary in your daily routine. You cannot learn 1000 words in one week. So make a daily target of 20-25 words, 20 idioms, and so on.

Study Material

(i) Previous Year Papers and Mock test

(ii) S.P.Bakshi

(iii) A.P.Bhardwaj

(iv) Class notes.

4. General Awareness

The General Awareness section can be divided into two parts

• Current Affairs

• Static GK

Current Affairs,
For current affairs, the best approach to be followed is reading the newspaper regularly (any newspaper can be chosen- The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, etc) and following a news channel. From these sources, note down 10-15 points every day that you feel are important from an exam point of view.

While preparing for the exam, you must not refer to more than two sources of news. Your self-created daily pointers along with your coaching notes are sufficient.

Static GK

For static GK questions are mainly asked from Indian Polity, History, Geography, Economics, and Science. Out of all these subjects, Polity remains the most important. It covers around 50-70% of the static GK part. So for this reason, maximum effort has to be put into this subject. The syllabus of the remaining subjects is too vast to be covered and also the weightage of their questions is low. So, excessive time should not be spent on reading these subjects. It is observed that most of the static GK questions asked in the exam are related to the current news.

7. Legal Awareness

• Do not try to learn this subject

• Your focus should be on current legal affairs

• Study basic ingredients of law

• Know the syllabus and stick to those laws only

• Study under the guidance of Sonal mam

At the end of the day, it all comes down to your dedication and sincerity towards your goals. Always aim high but also learn to love what you’re studying else it will feel like a burden. Try to find time to relax and enjoy between your study hours because it is important for your mental health. I wish all the students all the very best for their exams!

About Author

Currently the CEO of Maansarovar Law Centre & Sonal Gupta Judicial, Sonal Gupta was a student who turned into a successful lawyer and mentor. She was the top-ranker throughout her law school and is now responsible for shaping the career of more than 5000 students. She wants to simplify the law and make it a ‘Citizen’s Heaven’ rather than a ‘Lawyers Paradise’. Apart from work, Sonal loves to read non-fiction novels, explore lesser-known countries, and watch documentaries. She is also learning to play the piano.