How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison
  • Law Exams
  • CLAT Exam
  • How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison

How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison

Shubham BhakuniUpdated on 08 Dec 2025, 10:32 AM IST

CLAT 2026 has been conducted on December 07, 2025. Around 88,657 candidates (UG and PG) appeared in the entrance exam. The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is one of the most popular law entrance exams in India. According to the CLAT consortium, the attendance percentage for CLAT 2026 was 96.83% for undergraduate applicants and 92.45 % for PG candidates. Of these, the male–female ratio was approximately 0.72:1. CLAT is a gateway to 25 NLUs, GNLU off-campus in Silvassa and IIULER Goa. This makes CLAT one of the most preferred law entrance exams among LLB aspirants. RPNLU Prayagraj and IIULER Goa are the new universities that are part of the consortium from the academic year 2025-26 onwards.

This Story also Contains

  1. How many students appeared in CLAT 2026?
  2. How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Every Year - Last 5 Years Data
  3. CLAT in comparison to other major law entrance exams
  4. Seat intake of NLUs and low passing rate
How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison
How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Exam

NLUs are spread across around 22 states and a union territory, Delhi, making it reasonable to have a Common Law Admission Test. Consolidating all NLUs (except NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya) into the CLAT Consortium also helped the law entrance exam become one of the most sought-after entrance exams for the study of law. As a result, over 60,000 candidates have appeared in CLAT every year since 2018. The CLAT registrations spiked to 75,183 in 2020, followed by a gradual decline. After touching a low of 54,253 in 2023, the registration improved again in 2024 and rose to 71,243 and then 78,914 in 2025 .

How many students appeared in CLAT 2026?

According to the consortium, 92,344 candidates registered for the 2026 CLAT. Out of these, 72,631 appeared in the UG, and 16,026 students took the PG entrance exam.

Number of students who appeared for CLAT 2026 exam

Registration

(UG + PG)

Appeared

(UG + PG)

CLAT UG

CLAT PG


Registered

Appeared

Registered

Appeared

92,344

88,657

75,009

72,631

17,335

16,026

In the CLAT 2025 exam, 78,914 candidates registered for CLAT of which 75,361 appeared in the exam. For the CLAT PG 2025 exam, 16,082 students registered, and out of these, 14,817 appeared for the exam. The course-wise data is given below.

Number of students who appeared for CLAT 2025 exam

Exam name
Registered for CLAT 2025
Appeared in CLAT 2025
Absent
CLAT UG62,83260,5442,288
CLAT PG16,08214,8171,265
Total78,91475,3613,553
Amity University-Noida Law Admissions 2026

Among top 100 Universities Globally in the Times Higher Education (THE) Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2026

UPES Integrated LLB Admissions 2026

Ranked #18 amongst Institutions in India by NIRF | Ranked #1 in India for Academic Reputation by QS Rankings | 16 LPA Highest CTC


How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Every Year - Last 5-years data

How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Every Year - Last 5 Years Data

Year

Total registeredTotal appeared
202578,914

75,361

2024

71,243

68,786

2023

54,253

51,469

2022

60,895

56,472

2021

70,277

62,107

2020

75,183

59,443

*data covers both UG and PG CLAT exams

CLAT in comparison to other major law entrance exams

Apart from CLAT, there are several other law entrance exams in India at national, state and university levels. The most prominent among these are the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) conducted by National Law University, Delhi, the Symbiosis Law Admission Test (SLAT) conducted by Symbiosis International University, and the Common University Entrance Test Law conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

At the state level, Maharashtra Common Entrance Test — Law is one of the most popular law entrance exams. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala also have state-level law entrance exams.

However, in comparison to CLAT, the next biggest entrance exam, MH CET Law has around 25,000 candidates for 5-year LLB which is almost one-third of CLAT candidates. MH CET 3-year LLB which is a graduate-level entrance exam has over 60,000 candidates appearing every year.

major law entrance exams

Seat intake of NLUs and low passing rate

The success rate in CLAT, like any other national entrance exam is very low. Only 4-6% of the candidates participating in CLAT make it to NLUs. Such a low success rate in CLAT is mainly linked to limited seats offered by NLUs and high competition among students.

The remaining 95% of candidates either appear in other law entrance exams or use their CLAT scores for admission to CLAT-affiliated law schools.

In the last 5 years, the number of national law universities (NLUs) has increased to 25. Accordingly, the overall seat intake has also improved in CLAT. Among NLUs, NLSIU is the only university that offers 300 seats in BA LLB. NLIU Bhopal, which offers BA LLB and BSc LLB has an intake of around 200+ seats. All remaining NLUs offer fewer than 200 seats.

Overall, NLUs offer a combined intake of around 4000+ with various combinations of integrated LLB programmes. In comparison to other national-level entrance exams, the intake is low. IITs offer over 17,000 seats, whereas 21 IIMs have a combined intake of approximately 5,500 seats through the Common Admission Test (CAT).

Affiliate Colleges: Where 95% of CLAT Candidates Can Apply

60+ CLAT-affiliated law schools in India accept CLAT scores. Among the government colleges, the University of Delhi and IIM Rohtak are the most preferred law schools among students. Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and its affiliated law colleges also accept CLAT scores.

However, a majority of law schools affiliated to the CLAT Consortium are private law schools. The prominent private law colleges accepting CLAT scores are Nirma University, Gujarat, UPES Dehradun, BITS Law School, Alliance University and SVKM'S NMIMS University

You may also check -

CLAT 2026 College Predictor
Know your admission chances in National Law Universities based on your home state & exam result for All India Category & State Category seats.
Try Now

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How many NLUs are accepting CLAT scores?
A:

25 NLUs, GNLU  off-campus in Silvassa and IIULER Goa accept CLAT scores. Apart from these, 60+ affiliated law schools accept CLAT scores.

Q: When is CLAT 2026 exam date?
A:

CLAT 2026 has been conducted on December 7, 2025.

Q: How many candidates are appearing for CLAT 2026?
A:

Around 88,657 candidtes appeared for CLAT 2026.

Articles
|
Upcoming Law Exams
Ongoing Dates
BITS LAT Application Date

27 Aug'25 - 6 Jan'26 (Online)

Ongoing Dates
NLSAT Application Date

15 Nov'25 - 23 Mar'26 (Online)

Certifications By Top Providers
Study from Still Life
Via Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
Political Ideologies
Via Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune
Introduction to History of Architecture in India
Via Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune
Introduction to Peace and Conflict Management BGP-001
Via Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
Home Science-Extension and Communication Management Level-2
Via English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad
Education for Sustainable Development
Via Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Swayam
 162 courses
Edx
 129 courses
Futurelearn
 74 courses
NPTEL
 74 courses
Explore Top Universities Across Globe

Questions related to CLAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CLAT ?

With an AIR of 34724 and OBC category rank of 7153, chances of getting a seat in DSNLU Visakhapatnam are low in early rounds. However, since you are already invited for counselling, there may be some chance in later rounds depending on seat vacancy and cut-off movement. You should participate

With a CLAT LLM rank of 13656, getting a top NLU is difficult. You may have chances in lower-ranked NLUs or private law universities, depending on seat availability and category.


You can check CLAT LLM counselling details here:

https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-llm-cut-off


Hello there,

Having a 15000 general rank and 1740 as your SC category rank, your chances of securing a seat are very low. As per the previous trends, it is a direct no for you to get into the top-tier NLUs since the closing general rank is around 1500-3000. If

With a CLAT PG rank of 1257 in the SC category and being a woman candidate with Rajasthan domicile, you do have a realistic chance of securing admission to several National Law Universities, though the top NLUs may be difficult at this rank. Admission chances depend heavily on category-wise cut-offs,

With a CLAT PG rank of around 11,000, getting admission into the top National Law Universities (NLUs) is not likely, as their general category cut-offs usually close much earlier. However, you still have realistic chances in lower-ranked and newer NLUs, especially in the later rounds of CLAT counselling or through