How to prepare for CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude section - Expert tips by Harsh Gagrani

Important topics for CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude preparation

Given that CLAT aspirants are left with only four months to the examination, there are a few topics specific to legal aptitude which they should go through during these months to acquire a decent grip on the section. These are the following sections where law aspirants need to concentrate-

• General theory of Law of Torts 

• Contracts and Criminal Law 

• Constitution and Polity

Candidates should go into the depth of constitution and polity, since it forms a significant part of legal knowledge. The first three topics, that is, Law of Torts, Contracts and Criminal Law are a part of legal reasoning.

Apart from studying these topics, candidates should make sure that they practice a copious number of CLAT mock test as well as AILET mock tests.

Going through the mock tests of CLAT once candidates have solved them and focusing on the questions that they got wrong is also of vital importance.

Read here - How CLAT mock tests are important for exam preparation?

Recommended Books for preparing Legal Aptitude of CLAT 2019

Candidates can refer to the following books recommended to prepare for CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude at their preparation stage.

• LA/LR (6th Edition) by AP Bhardwaj for Legal Knowledge

• Complete CLAT Companion by Harsh Gagrani for Legal Aptitude (Both Reasoning and Knowledge).

• LegaLE magazine provided by LegalEdge for Current Legal Knowledge

Candidates can refer to these books while preparing for CLAT legal aptitude to practice and brush up their concepts. Gagrani suggests that along with the aforementioned books, mock test series by any good coaching centre will suffice.

How to tackle Assertion-Reasoning questions in CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude?

The law aspirants face the most difficulty while responding to Assertion-Reasoning type questions in CLAT Legal Aptitude section. The only way through which candidates can deal with this section is by deepening their legal knowledge, since these questions are a quintessential part of legal knowledge. Candidates can improve their legal knowledge by going through the aforementioned books.

The candidates, however, need not study the specific topics in depth to prepare for Legal Aptitude for CLAT 2019. The ‘not-so important’ topics are miscellaneous topics of Legal Aptitude, which normally cover topics like Intellectual Property Rights, Property Law, Family Law etc. Very few questions are asked in the test from these topics, and such questions are of a basic/superficial level. To crack these topical questions, practicing previous years’ papers will be enough.

When to take mock test for CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude preparation?

Before practising mock tests, candidates should ensure that their preparation for CLAT is complete. Candidates should not attempt the CLAT mock test if they haven't revised and gone through the analysis of the previous one. To improve scores in the Legal Aptitude section of CLAT, candidates have to continuously make efforts to reduce mistakes, and this can only be done by analyzing the CLAT 2019 mock tests that they take.

 It is a well known CLAT preparation tip that a candidate must solve around 80 mock tests before the exam. However, law aspirants should focus on quality over quantity while preparing for CLAT 2019 legal aptitude. Gagrani suggests a golden tip on how candidates can boost their conceptual clarity with the help of mock tests as he says, “Don't just make a mental note of the mistakes they have been making (which most students do!), make an actual note in a notebook. Write down meanings of difficult words, common mistakes candidates are making, current legal knowledge questions that they came across in that notebook. This notebook will come in handy in the last few weeks of their CLAT 2019 preparation.

Time Management Tips for CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude preparation

Candidates can apply this time management strategy while solving the legal aptitude section in CLAT 2019 paper. Candidates are advised to apply this strategy while solving the mock tests and check if it works out for them.

A student should aim to solve a Legal Reasoning question in 45 seconds and a Legal Knowledge question in under 12 seconds. The following strategies should help in achieving this:

1. Use the following order for solving questions- Principle - Fact - Option - Double check language of correct option with principle and mark. DO NOT double check with facts. Double checking with facts, in most cases, leads to wastage of time, without really improving the accuracy.

2. Improve Legal Vocabulary. The more acquainted candidates are with Legal Maxims (like Audi Alterem Partem, Volenti Non Fit Injuria, Scienti Non Fit Injuria etc), Legal Terms (Defamation, Nuisance, Trespass) and Foreign Phrases (Ab initio, ex parte, force majeure etc), the lesser time they will devote in understanding principles and thus lesser time would be spent solving each question.

3. Work on the reading speed in general. Do speak with CLAT mentor on how to do this.

Last week strategy to prepare for CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude

How a candidate prepares for CLAT 2019 during the last week matters as much as their year-long preparation. The candidates should only focus on the following two things while preparing for CLAT 2019 Legal Aptitude section in the last week-

• Going through the Previous Years' Legal Reasoning questions again

• Revising Current Legal Knowledge Notes

Legal Aptitude is one of the easiest section to master, especially when compared with other sections of the CLAT. All it needs is smart work in the right direction!

Do follow the above-mentioned tips and the candidates will see exponential growth in their Legal Aptitude CLAT 2019 score.

CLAT 2019 will be held on May 26, 2019, being conducted by the National Law University Odisha, Cuttack, for candidates who seek admissions into its undergraduate law programmes. Candidates qualifying the entrance test will get an opportunity to grab a seat for themselves amongst 2600 offered by the 21 participating institutes.