THE concept of National Law Universities to act as a new standard in legal education came up because the pattern of legal education at traditional Universities was found to be unsatisfactory. In the course of time, 14 National Law Universities were established to achieve excellence in legal education.

Until 2007, the National Law Universities, scattered across the country, conducted their own entrance exams. This arrangement cost law aspirants both inconvenience and expenditure.

To make things simpler, the Vice Chancellors of seven law schools came together to form a committee that proposed the adoption of a common entrance exam by all National Law Universities. In 2008, The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) was introduced.

It was decided that National Law Universities would take turns to conduct the exam. For instance, CLAT 2008 and 2009 were conducted by National Law School of India University, (NLSIU), Bangalore and NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, respectively. CLAT 2010 will be conducted by the National Law Institute University, Bhopal on May 9 at centres across the countries. Click here for details on CLAT 2010.

Three National Law Universities conduct their own exams and do not admit students through CLAT. These include the National Law University, Orissa (NLUO) in Cuttack, Orissa, and National Law Universities, Delhi (view table below for complete list of participating universities).

Purpose, nature, scope
CLAT aims to test aspirants on their ability to apply the law to a given event or set of facts, on their knowledge of concepts and their general awareness.  The 200-mark paper comprises 200 questions and is conducted in a time span of two hours.

Section-wise preparation

i. General Knowledge/Current Affairs
General Knowledge can broadly be classified into two prime areas:
 

• Static GK: This pertains to information which does not change much. For example, basic knowledge of economics, history and geography. It’s imperative to have a firm grasp over static GK on important topics from quality sources.
• Current Affairs: Questions will  be on international affairs, prizes and awards, economy and planning and cinema, among others. You could refer to Competition Success Review, Manorama and Pearson’s Year Book. Also brush up by reading newspapers and magazines; merely skimming through the pages won’t add much value. Students must ensure that the information acquired is explored and converted into knowledge. In simple words, read newspapers like you would textbook, thoroughly analysing different articles and drawing meaningful conclusions.

 Questions and topics, which appeared in earlier exams:

• The Chairman of 13th Finance Commission.
• On which river is the Baghlihar Dam?
• Nuclear deal-related issue.
• What is dumping?
• What is Capital Account Convertibility?
• What is the Kyoto protocol?
• Who presented the budget the maximum number of times?
• First Lady Chief Justice of High Court in India.
• First President of the Indian National Congress.
• From which country is the world’s richest person?
• What is the Chipko movement?
• What is a hedge fund?
• What is a creamy layer?

iii. Logical Reasoning
This section can be divided into two sub-sections:

• Critical Reasoning (CR) and
• Analytical Reasoning (AR)

While CR is usually considered difficult by students, practice will help you master AR with ease. With LR questions, you must keep an open mind, while reading the text; any bias could inhibit clarity. During practice, calibrate your performance by carefully pinpointing errors in your reasoning with the help of answers and explanations. The elimination method can be useful when dealing with tricky problems. A firm command over the English language is crucial when understanding some of the more complexly-worded questions.
A few types of questions which appear in this section are as follows:

• Strong Argument/Weak Argument
• Statement and conclusions
• Assertion and Reason

iv. English
 If you generally tend to score decently in English, then expect this section to be of a moderate difficulty level. If not, be sure to devote a few hours extra per week to English.
Some types of questions you can expect in this section:

• Reading Comprehension
• Error spotting
• Sentence completion
• Antonyms and Synonyms
• Para jumbles

A sure-shot way to score well in this section is to cultivate healthy reading habits. Read books, good newspapers like The Hindu and magazines like Outlook. What matters here is not just what you read, but how you read as well. The best way to increase your vocabulary is that whenever you come across a new word, look up the meaning in your handy dictionary and note it down along with the sentence you saw it in, in your register. If you focus on 10-odd words every day, your job is half accomplished. For vocabulary, study Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. It costs just Rs. 100 and consists of 18 sessions which teach words from the roots. This is a much better approach than merely mugging up words as it also helps you correctly decipher the meaning of new words and develop an “understanding” of the English language. For basic grammar Wren and Martin is good enough.

v. Mathematics
This section is not known to be tough and even the CLAT website mentions ‘Elementary Mathematics with numerical ability’, in brackets. A decent amount of practice and clarity on basic concepts should ensure high performance. Focus on key areas such as arithmetic i.e. time-speed, work, mixtures, ratios, percentages, and other such topics.

Questions like ‘If a person earns double in March, his income in March is what part of his yearly income?’ and ‘Water and milk are in the ratio of 1:2 in 60L, how do you make the ratio 2:1 by adding water?’ have appeared earlier in CLAT. While these are obviously quite easy, someone trying to rush through the section may end up committing some silly mistakes.

The key to success: be fearless. Many students miss out on the easy marks due to a childhood phobia for Math.  However, it’s a fact that these questions can boost your score. Get started by going through concepts at a comfortable pace and the solved examples in detail, to help understand concepts, better. Thereafter, you could solve as many questions as possible and review the solutions of those you cannot solve. It would be good idea to revisit your NCERT school Mathematics textbooks of Class 8, 9 and 10.

Exam strategies and time management
Start by allocating a time-frame for each section in accordance with the distribution of marks. For example, the English section should get (40/200)*120 minutes = 24 minutes of your total time of 120 minutes. Similarly allocate time to each section and attempt a few mock tests, following this time distribution.

After attempting a couple of mock tests, you would realise your areas of strength and weakness and thereafter make adjustments accordingly. For example, you may find that English is your area of strength and you are able to attempt all questions in merely 15 minutes leaving you with a surplus of 10-odd minutes.

At the same time, you may find that you need more time for Logical Reasoning so you can allocate these 10 minutes there. Thus after a few mock tests and adjustments you should be able to arrive at a stable time-distribution strategy.

The mock tests are an ideal platform to identify your weaknesses. You should spend a good amount of time reviewing each and every question you got wrong to identify your weak areas and work hard on them. In addition, reflect and identify if there was any flaw in way you went about attempting the paper. For example, maybe you spent too much time on a tough question or section.
 
Think you can
For any examination, besides having technical skills, you must be mentally calibrated for a higher performance. From Day 1, cut out all negative thoughts such as “I’ll never learn this”, “it’s too hard”, the infamous “I can’t”. To quote Henry Ford, “Whether You Think You Can or Can’t, You’re Right”. So stay positive. Of course, this should not result in being complacent. Regular testing will help you know where you stand, and help you stay on track. Some amount of trepidation is natural, but in times of doubt, just resolve to work harder. Let that be your mantra for success at the CLAT. Best of luck! 
 
Karn Jani is the National Academics Anchor, Law School Tutorials. With imputs by Nitin Jindal.