Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)

The consortium of National Law Universities has postponed the CLAT 2020 on account of COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown 4.0. The Common Law Admission Test will be conducted with prior notice of at least 21 days. The CLAT application form has also been extended till July 1.

CLAT 2020 will be conducted in offline mode at more than 60 centres across the country. Admissions through CLAT are offered in the 22 national law universities of India and other affiliated law schools. At the undergraduate level, the NLUs are offering around 2538 seats while around 724 seats are being offered for the LLM course.

This year, the Consortium of NLUs has updated the CLAT exam pattern for both UG and PG law entrance tests. At the undergraduate level, the number of question asked in the test have been reduced from 200 to 150 and consisting of comprehension type questions. The CLAT syllabus includes fours subjects namely - English language,  Current affairs including general knowledge, Logical reasoning, Legal reasoning and quantitative ability.  There will be 150 multiple choice questions each carrying one mark. Candidates will be given two hours to answer the questions. 

At postgraduate level, the CLAT syllabus includes topics like Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Administrative Law, Law of Contract, Torts, Family Law, Criminal Law, Property Law, Company Law and others. 100 multiple-choice questions and two essay writing questions will be asked in the test.

Candidates appearing in the test will need to carry CLAT admit card at the exam centre. The admit card will be released a few weeks before the exam date. CLAT 2020 result will be declared after the exam. The minimum eligibility criteria for appearing in the national-level exam is a 10+2 pass scoring minimum 45% marks (relaxation in minimum marks applies to reserved categories). Also, there is no upper age limit for appearing in CLAT 2020.

The Consortium of NLUs has prescribed the eligibility criteria for both CLAT UG and CLAT PG. The eligibility criteria of CLAT 2020 includes educational qualification and age limit and is explained below.
CLAT 2020 - Eligibility for UG program:

• Qualifying exam: The candidate must have passed 10+2 or an equivalent exam from a recognised university or board.
• Marks in qualifying exam: General category candidates need minimum 45% marks in the qualifying exam,  while SC and ST candidates need only 40% marks.
• Age limit: There is no upper age limit for appearing in CLAT 2020
  Candidates appearing in the qualifying exam are also eligible to appear in CLAT 2020, however, such candidates will be offered admissions only if they fulfil the other parameters of the eligibility criteria.

Mode of Application : Online

Mode of Payment : Net Banking | Credit Card | Debit Card

CLAT application form 2020 has been released till July 1 on account of lockdown 4.0. The online registration for CLAT 2020 started on January 1. Eligible candidates can visit the CLAT official website for registering themselves. To CLAT application form can be filled only after creating a CLAT account by using the details like name, contact information etc. The detailed CLAT application process is explained below.
How to fill CLAT 2020 application form

• Registration: The first step in the application process, the candidate has to register by entering details their name, email id, mobile number, and other details. 

• Fill in relevant details: The application form will have various sections like personal, academic and contact details which have to be duly filled.

• Upload documents: Scanned copies of signature, photograph and other documents in prescribed specification (refer table below) has to be uploaded.

CLAT 2020 - Document specification                   

• Application fee: Depending on the category of the candidate, the application fee may vary as shown in the table below.

Know how to fill CLAT application form 2020 -

Application Fees

With the help of CLAT preparation tips 2020, candidates will get a fair idea of how to prepare for the Common Law Admission Test. Candidates can check here the important points of CLAT 2020 Preparation Tips - 

• Candidates need to be well-versed with the exam pattern and syllabus.
• Practice sufficient mock tests and sample papers to edify learning and to hone problem-solving skills.
• CLAT aspirants are also advised to follow a proper time-table for preparation.
• Candidates should choose books that are easy to follow, meet the quality standards, and contain lots of practice material to prepare for the exam.
• Regular revision is the key to score good marks in exam.
• Maintaining equanimity is crucial for effective preparation. To achieve that stay in the moment, instead of flying into the future or pondering the past. 

The CLAT consortium has changed the CLAT exam pattern. The changes include reducing the number of questions to 150 from 200. Also, comprehension-based questions will be asked from Quantitative Techniques, English, Current Affairs, Deductive Reasoning and Logical Reasoning. The updated CLAT 2020 exam pattern is provided below.
CLAT Exam pattern 2020 (Updated)

CLAT Exam Pattern (OLD)

Candidates appearing in the national-level exam could access the CLAT 2020 mock test online. There are multiple benefits of taking CLAT mock test 2020, some of which are enumerated below:

• Mock tests contain similar type of questions to those asked in the entrance exam. So, solving these problems will help the candidate judge the difficultly level of the exam and plan accordingly.
• The success in mock tests can be taken as indicative of exam readiness or lack of it. If readiness is lacking, one may need to pull up one's socks and try harder.
• Success in these tests would also give the candidate lot of confidence that he/she can carry to the exam.
• Mock tests will teach the candidate time management skills and also how to wriggle out of a tricky problem by keeping a cool head.
• Effective prioritising of questions is an art that can be cultivated by solving CLAT mock test. Students who master this art will be able to lock down all the sure-shot questions first, before moving on to tricky and not-so sure questions. 

The Consortium of NLUs will release the CLAT 2020 admit card to all successfully registered candidates. To download the CLAT admit card, the candidate needs to log-in by entering one's mobile number and password. On exam day, the applicant needs to carry with them the admit card of CLAT 2020 without fail, along with a valid photo ID proof. 

The CLAT admit card would carry such details like the name and address of the exam venue, date and time of CLAT 2020 entrance exam, and roll number of the candidate. Candidates are also advised to carefully go through all the exam day guidelines mentioned on the CLAT 2020 admit card to stay out of trouble. Keep the CLAT admit card safe until the admission process is over.

The provisional answer key of CLAT 2020 will be released soon after the conduct of exam. By consulting keys given in the provisional CLAT 2020 answer key, the candidate will be able to calculate the number of questions they managed to respond correctly. Now using the official CLAT 2020 marking scheme, the candidate will be able to calculate the probable score, and in turn their chances of admission (use previous years' cutoff data for the purpose). Any candidate who has any objections regarding any of the key (s) will be allowed to filed objections. Authorities, after considering all complaints will release the final answer key of CLAT 2020. The keys given in the final CLAT 2020 answer key will be considered to be the final authority or correct answers to questions asked in the exam.

The Consortium will announce the result of CLAT 2020 soon after the release of the CLAT answer key. Candidates can access the CLAT 2020 result in online mode by logging in using their registration/application number and date of birth. The CLAT result will contain all the important details related to the candidate's performance in the exam. The information on CLAT result includes the qualifying status of the candidate, section-wise and overall marks along with the personal information. After the declaration of the result, candidates will have to appear in the counselling and seat allotment process of participating NLUs. The admissions will be offered on the basis of merit and maximum intake of the universities.

The CLAT cut off will be released by all participating NLUs separately. The Cutoff of CLAT 2020 will be the minimum marks (or lowest rank) for which admissions into an NLU is offered. The various parameters on which CLAT 2020 cutoff would depend include - number of applications received for admission, sanctioned seat intake, the performance of applicants in the entrance exam, etc. Below are the details of the previous year cut-off of CLAT with the details like opening rank and closing rank.

CLAT 2019 Cutoff

Mode of Counselling: Online

The qualifying candidates are called for attending the CLAT counselling which is conducted in all participating colleges. For appearing in the CLAT 2020 counselling, all eligible candidates will be issued counselling call letters in online mode. Next, the candidate has to register for CLAT counselling 2020 online by clicking on the counselling link and providing user-id/ registration id and password. The objective of the conducting CLAT counselling is to verify the details of the candidates and confirm his/her eligibility for the admission.
As part of the counselling registration, one has to enter their choices of colleges and courses and submit their educational and other documents such as category certificate etc. The CLAT 2020 seat allotment will be based on both the merit rank of the candidate and choices opted for admission, so one needs to bear caution and only enter the best matches.