Common Law Admission Test (CLAT)
Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is conducted by The Consortium of National Law Universities(NLUs). The Consortium of NLUs has its headquarters at Bangalore. The exam was previously conducted by an NLU each year and the decision of conducting the examination by a consortium was taken after multiple issues cropped up year after year in the CLAT examination.
CLAT is a national level entrance exam which offers admission to students in undergraduate and postgraduate law courses in the National law universities of India. It is the top entrance exam for law aspirants in India and is held once in a year. There are a total of 22 NLUs in India and apart from the NLUs many other colleges also accept the scores of the CLAT examination.
CLAT | Examination Sections
The CLAT Examination is slowly becoming a popular examination among the XII standard students. Not only commerce and humanities but also a lot of science stream students appear for the CLAT examination every year. The number of students taking the CLAT examination has risen from 13,000 in 2010 to 60,000 in 2020. This popularity of the CLAT examination is also due to the increase in the number of NLU’s in India and also the placements of the Top NLUs in India, which is at par with that if the IITs.
The CLAT exam is conducted in an online mode. The exam pattern for the CLAT exam has been changed from 2020 onwards. The new pattern introduced will have objective type questions. All the questions are in multiple-choice question (MCQ) types. Students will be given a total time of 120 minutes to attempt the entire question paper.
The CLAT question paper is divided into 5 sections. The sections are English, General Knowledge, Numerical ability, Legal Aptitude, and Logical Reasoning. There are a total of 150 questions. There is no separate division of timing for each section. The language medium of the examination is English and there is negative marking for every wrong answer marked by the student.
CLAT | Examination Pattern
The CLAT exam pattern has been revised from 2020 onwards. It is very important for the students to know the new pattern of the CLAT examination as published by the Consortium of the National Law Universities. The new pattern will have a total of 150 questions. All the questions are MCQ and objective type questions. This means for every question, students will get 4 options out of which only one option contains the right answer. You will have to select the correct answer option. There is a penalty of -0.25 marks for every wrong answered question. Each question carries 1 mark. So for every right answer candidates get a +1 mark.
| Exam | CLAT |
|---|---|
| Mode of Exam | Online |
| Number of Sections | 5 |
| Total Questions | 150 |
| Total Time | 120 minutes |
| Type of Questions | MCQ |
| Correct Answers | 1 mark each correct answer. |
| Negative Marks | - 0.25 for each wrong answer. |
| Language | English |
The CLAT examination lays a lot of importance to reading and comprehending which is an important skill for any lawyer. Hence most of the questions in the CLAT examination is based on reading and comprehending. The weightage for Legal Reasoning and General Knowledge is the highest and Mathematics has a very low weightage in the CLAT examination.
The exam is a computer-based online test. The candidates will be given 120 minutes to attempt all the questions. There are 5 sections in the question paper. The English section has 28 – 32 questions. There are 35 – 39 questions that are asked from the General knowledge section. There are 13 – 17 questions of Numerical ability. The legal aptitude section will have 35 – 39 questions and approximately 28 – 32 questions are asked from the Logical reasoning section. The section-wise distribution of questions in the CLAT exam is as follows.
| Section | Number of Questions |
|---|---|
| English | 28-32 |
| General Knowledge | 35-39 |
| Numerical Ability | 13-17 |
| Legal Aptitude | 35-39 |
| Logical Reasoning | 28-32 |
| Total | 150 |
CLAT | Results announcement
Results are declared after the successful completion of entrance tests for all candidates within the stipulated time. The results are declared online on the official website of the exam. The CLAT exam results are in the form of a scorecard containing scores of each section and overall total marks scored in the test. The scorecard also indicates the All India Rank and category rank in the CLAT test. Based on the ranks, the admission to courses at a particular NLU campus is carried out. The better the rank the more chances of getting into the best campus. For getting somewhere between 1 – 200 rank in the CLAT candidates must score more than 105-115 marks out of 150 in the test.
The candidates’ scorecard contains the following details:
- Name of the Candidate
- Father’s Name
- Roll Number
- Application Number
- Category (as per CLAT form)
- CLAT Score
- All India Rank (AIR)
- Category Rank
- NRI Rank
- NRI Sponsored Rank
It is recommended to print out the scorecard as it will be required at the time of counseling for admission. After the declaration of scores and ranks of the candidates, the Consortium of NLUs releases the cut off ranks for different campuses of NLUs.
The allotment of the seats is based on the preference of the candidates where a higher ranking candidate gets the first preference of choosing a college. There is also a domicile criterion in the CLAT college counseling and a student from a particular state can take advantage of the domicile seats in the NLU of his domicile state.
While allotting ranks according to the scores of the candidates in the CLAT exam, two or more candidates may have the same scores. No two candidates can have the same rank. So to break the ties, there are certain tie-breaker rules set by the conducting authority. The tiebreaker guidelines of the CLAT exam are as follows.
- The candidate who has more marks in the Legal aptitude section is given first preference.
- The candidate who is older is given second preference in ranks in case of the tie remaining after rule 1.
- If the tie persists then a computerized draw is conducted, whoever gets their name in the lucky draw is ranked higher than the other. But the tie is likely resolved by the first two rules.
How to check the CLAT exam results online?
The results are released online on the Consortium of NLUs’ official website. Students have to log in using login details to check the scores and the rank allotted to them. A step by step guide is given to check your CLAT results online.
Candidates may follow the steps below to review their CLAT 2020 result and download the scorecard as well from:
Step 1: To visit CLAT Consortium’s official website
Step 2: Click on the Results link of CLAT
Step 3: Enter the required login details i.e. registration/ application number and birthdate
Step 4: Click the Send button
Step 5: Go to the registered account’s ‘Score Card’ tab and click there
Step 6: Check rank, score and qualification status for CLAT
Step 7: Print the result sheet and your CLAT scorecard
CLAT | Cut-off
The cutoff for CLAT is released after the declaration of scores and ranks by the conducting authority. There is only an overall cut-off for the CLAT examination and there is no sectional cut-off. This makes it easy for the students to pick their favorite section and score high. The cut-off for different NLU campuses is different. The cut off for any National Law University depends on the following factors.
- Total number of candidates who appeared in the test
- Total seats available for admission to UG courses
- Difficulty levels of the shifts
- Previous year cutoff trend
- Domicile state of the students
Once the cut-off is declared, the student will go through the counseling process, where he gets to choose his preferred NLU based on the category and domicile ranks and the preference indicated at the time of filling up the CLAT application form.
The cut-off marks for top NLU’s are as follows
| NLU | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLSIU Bangalore | 58 | 66 | 59 | 58 |
| NALSAR Hyderabad | 129 | 137 | 130 | 123 |
| NLIU Bhopal | 376 | 390 | 469 | 339 |
| WBNUJS Kolkata | 227 | 260 | 213 | 221 |
| NLU Jodhpur | 354 | 376 | 343 | 347 |
| HNLU Raipur | 638 | 657 | 576 | 555 |
| GNLU Gandhinagar | 468 | 494 | 457 | 465 |
| CNLU Patna | 1098 | 1186 | 909 | 91 |
Other colleges accepting CLAT exam scores
Apart from the 22 National Law universities, there are many other Law Schools that accept the CLAT scores for admission to UG and PG courses. But NLU Delhi does not accept CLAT scores as they have their admission process through the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET). The other colleges apart from NLU that consider CLAT marks for admission are as follows.
- University Odisha, Cuttack
- Alliance School of Law, Bangalore
- Amity University. Noida
- Asian Law College, Noida
- Delhi Institute of Rural Development(D.I.R.D.), Holambi, Delhi
- Azim Premji University, Bengaluru
- Geeta Institute of Law, Panipat
- Disha Law College, Raipur
- Galgotias University, Greater Noida
- IFIM Law College, Bengaluru
- Institute of Law, Nirma University, Ahmedabad
- Halal Law of School, Greater Noida
- Indore Institute of Law, Indore
- JECRC University, Jaipur
- Jagannath University, Jaipur
- JIMS Engineering Management Technical Campus of Law
- NIMT Institute of Method and Law
- MATS University, Raipur
- NMIMS – Mumbai campus – Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies
- SRM University, Haryana
- Maharaja Surajmal Brij University, Bharatpur
- Manipal University, Jaipur
- Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida
- JECRC University, Jaipur
- Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad
- Mewar University, Chittorgarh
- Siddhartha Law College, Dehradun
- The Northcap University School Of Law – Gurugram, Haryana
- K.N. Modi University, Rajasthan
- Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur
- Faculty of Law, Marwadi University, Rajkot
- Karnavati University United world school of Law – Gandhinagar
- Reva University, Bangalore
- RNB Global University, Bikaner
- Rennaisance Law college, Indore
- Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore
- Ramaiah Institue of Legal Studies (RILS), Bengaluru
- Maharishi University of Information Technology, Delhi NCR
- Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University
CLAT Registration | How to Apply?
Candidates who wish to appear for the CLAT exam must first register themselves for the examination. The registration process is followed by the submission of the online application form. The step by step process to fill and submit the online application form is as follows:
- Visit CLAT Consortium’s official website.
- Then click on the ‘Register’ tab and fill in all their personal information, such as name, telephone number, and password. Upon clicking on the register button, candidates will check the information they have entered after submission of the data.
- Applicants are then expected to log in to their account by entering their mobile number and receiving OTP on their personal numbers on the computer, and confirming activation. After the account is enabled, candidates are expected to sign in to their accounts to begin the process of registering.
- Enter your personal details asked carefully and then click on submit.
- You will be then asked to scan and upload some documents. The list of required documents are:
- Scanned passport size photograph
- Scanned signature in the specified format
- Scanned copy of Caste Certificate in pdf format
- Scanned copy of state domicile certificate
- Once all documents have been submitted the final step is to pay the application fee. Candidates can pay the application fee online using debit card/credit card / net banking; or by using bank challan offline mode.
CLAT Eligibility | Who can Apply?
In both CLAT UG and CLAT PG programs, the Consortium has defined the eligibility requirements specifying the age limit and academic qualification needed to appear for the exam. The CLAT eligibility requirements for UG programs are listed below.
Age Limit: There is no upper age limit for CLAT 2020 as set out in updated regulations.
Academic qualification: in the case of SC / ST students, candidates must have passed 10 + 2 or any equivalent exam with marks of at least 45 percent, 40 percent.
CLAT Examination | Syllabus
NLUs consortium publishes official CLAT Syllabus, and the program does not change. As mentioned on the official website CLAT Syllabus for the UG program is as follows:
The syllabus for UG courses are:
- English: Comprehension Passages, Language & Grammar, Word Meanings, Correct/Incorrect Sentences
- Legal Aptitude: Problem-solving ability, Study of law, Research aptitude, Questions based on hypothetical situations, Important court verdicts
- General Knowledge & Current Affairs: Static general knowledge including History, Environment, Polity, Geography, & Current affairs based on events of national and international importance, awards, sports, new appointments, and honors, etc.
- Logical Reasoning Logical and Analytical reasoning skills
- Quantitative ability: Algebra, Profit & Loss, Time & Work, Speed & Distance, Venn Diagrams, Permutation & Combination, Statistics, Mensuration
