COMMON LAW ADMISSION TEST (CLAT)

  Kiarra Gaba, Blogger at Edumarz

CLAT(Common Law Admission Test) is a centralized national level entrance test held after grade 12 or higher secondary education. This centralized national-level entrance exam opens a gateway for admission into any of the 22 NLUs(National Law Universities), self-financed law colleges, and PSUs. Most PSUs like BHEL, Coal India, etc. accept the CLAT scores for the recruitment of eligible candidates for the company’s legal position.

• HIGHLIGHTS:

• REGISTRATION:

For registering for the CLAT exam the candidates are asked to visit the official website and then get themselves registered by filling in the nominal details like phone number email ID, etc. Through the details generated, login into the main page. Fill the application form by filling in personal details and uploading documents. Fill in the personal communicational details like your email ID, contact number, etc. then enter your educational details including previously scored percentile. Enter your exam center preferences according to your comfort. Mention the reservation details if required or applicable then proceed to make payment. Make sure you check the details thoroughly before submitting it completely. Make the payment online through any online source like net banking, credit/ debit card, etc.

The fee structure for the General/ OBC/PwD/NRI/PIO/OCI category is INR 4000/-.

And for the SC/ST/BPL category is INR 3500/-.

• SYLLABUS:

• UNDERGRADUATE(UG) –

The topics/ syllabus covered under the UG exam are – 

1. English Language
2. Current Affairs, including General Knowledge
3. Legal Reasoning
4. Logical Reasoning
5. Quantitative Techniques

• POSTGRADUATE(PG) –

1. Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Administrative Law
2. Law of Contract, Torts, Family Law, Criminal Law
3. Property Law, Company Law
4. Public International Law, Tax Law
5. Environmental Law, and Labour & Industrial Law.

• ELIGIBILITY:

• UNDERGRADUATE(UG) –

1. Must have a class 12 degree or an equivalent degree from a reputed and well-recognized institution. 
2. The candidate must have cleared the degree with at least a score of 45%. For the SC/ ST candidates, the minimum percentile is 40%.
3. There is no maximum age limit for admission into undergraduate courses.

• POSTGRADUATE(PG) –

• The candidate must hold a 3 year LLB degree or an integrated LLB degree of 5  years.

1. They must have passed the degree with a minimum score of 50%. The minimum score for the SC/ ST candidates is 45%.
2. For application into any postgraduate course, no maximum age limit is fixed.

• EXAM PATTERN:

• UNDERGRADUATE(UG) –

• POSTGRADUATE(PG) –

• PREPARATION:

The topics that need to be covered along with the material that needs to be thoroughly studied by the candidates would involve – 

• UNDERGRADUATE(UG) –

1. Lucent’s General Knowledge
2. Pratiyogita Darpan
3. Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
4. High School English Grammar and Composition by Wren & Martin
5. English newspaper – The Hindu or The Indian Express
6. Bare Acts of Indian Constitution
7. Legal Awareness and Legal Aptitude by AP Bhardwaj
8. Universal’s CLAT Guide
9. Indian Constitution – Fundamental Rights, Duties, Judiciary, Parliament, Directive Principles of State Policy, Local governments
10. Essential amendments and provisions
11. Important judgments
12. Current legal affairs
13. Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by RS Aggarwal
14. Analytical and Logical Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal
15. Analytical Reasoning by MK Pandey
16. Analogies
17. Series
18. Seating arrangement
19. Syllogisms
20. Blood relations
21. Logical sequences and matching
22. Calendars and clocks
23. Quantitative Aptitude by RS Aggarwal
24. Elementary Mathematics with Numerical Ability
25. Class 10th NCERT Textbook
26. Newspapers – The Hindu or The Indian Express
27. Current affairs for CLAT and legal issues
28. Newspapers and magazine editorials and articles
29. Ratios and proportions
30. Basic algebra
31. Mensuration
32. Statistical estimation
33. Algebra
34. Newspapers – The Hindu or The Indian Express, etc
35. CLAT and UPSC Civil Services current affairs
36. Geography, history, polity, and economics through NCERT.

• POSTGRADUATE(PG) –

1. Constitutional Law
2. Administrative law
3. Family law
4. Property law
5. Jurisprudence
6. Criminal Law
7. Labour and industrial law
8. Intellectual Property Law
9. Public international law
10. Company law
11. International Law
12. Tax law
13. Law of Contracts
14. Environmental law
15. Law of Torts

• LAW UNIVERSITIES:

The list of National Law Universities in India which are a part of NLUs:

1. National Law School of India University, Bangalore
2. NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
3. National Law Institute University, Bhopal
4. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
5. National Law University, Jodhpur
6. Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
7. Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
8. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow
9. National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi
10. Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
11. Chanakya National Law University, Patna
12. National Law University Odisha, Cuttack
13. Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Vishakhapatnam
14. National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi
15. National Law School and Judicial Academy, Guwahati
16. Tamil Nadu National Law University, Trichy
17. Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai
18. Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur
19. Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad
20. Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla
21. Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur
22. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat
23. National Law University of Delhi

• RESULT:

The result can be accessed by the candidates on the official website by logging in through the details generated while registering. The tie-breaker while marking the exams is that the candidates getting higher marks in the legal aptitude section will be preferred over others. If this tie continues then the elder candidate will be ranked higher than the other. In the end, if still, the tie continues then the marking will be decided by the computerized draw.