CLAT 2016 Preparation Tips

With Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2016 to be held on May 8, law aspirants are gearing up for

the law exam. During the preparation phase, aspirants need expert guidance and suggestions for

cracking the coveted law entrance exam. Careers360 brings yet another article from the series of ‘CLAT

2016 Preparation Tips by Experts’, for law aspirants like you, where experts share tips to crack CLAT

2016.

Excerpts of the Edited Interview

What should be a law aspirants’ strategy in the next months to CLAT?

With less than five months to go for CLAT, a law aspirant should lookout for sources of intense testing

and revision. A candidate, who has pretty much completed his course, should aim to solve at least one

mock test every 3-4 days. Also, a student should practice all the previous years’ CLAT and AILET papers

(all sections) to get a hang of the level of difficulty which usually comes in these examinations.

What specific strategy do the aspirants need for Online CLAT 2016?

I am suggesting some of the specific measures to you for the Online CLAT 2016 –

While practicing mock tests, take note of the problems that you’re facing

Most of the online Mock Test Series give fantastic analysis to the students of the tests

they’ve taken. This includes percentile analysis, question analysis, details explanations

to questions, national rank etc. Don’t ignore such analysis and make full use of them

Be aware and make full use of all links/buttons. If there is a doubt with any feature of

your testing platform, ask your invigilator (e.g. what does ‘mark for review’ mean?)

How mock tests can help law aspirants and how many mock tests need to be taken in the remaining

months?

Mock Tests, when taken in a simulated environment, replicate the actual CLAT taking experience,

which will prove to be highly beneficial to the aspirants. A student should ideally join a Mock Test

series providing dozens of Mock Tests and as stated before, should try and give a Mock test every 3-4

days.

Which books would you recommend them for preparing different sections of CLAT?

I would recommend a number of books for preparing different sections of the Common Law

Admission Test (CLAT). Naming the same–

English – ‘Objective English’ by Pearson

Mathematics – ‘Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations’ by R.S.

Aggarwal

G.K – GK Today and Jagranjosh for Current Affairs. GK Today Quizzes and

Pearson/Lucent Concise GK Guide for Static GK.

Legal Aptitude – ‘The Pearson Guide to the CLAT’ by Harsh Gagrani for Legal

Reasoning. ‘Legal Awareness and Legal Reasoning’ by A.P. Bharadwaj, and ‘The

Ultimate Guide to the LLB Entrance Examinations 2016’ for Legal Knowledge.

Logic – ‘A Modern Approach to Verbal Reasoning’ by R.S. Aggarwal and ‘Analytical

Reasoning’ by M.K. Pandey

How do they need to prepare for ‘Legal Aptitude’ section as it’s considered the most important?

Indeed the section, ’Legal Aptitude’ is considered the most important of all as the section

carries 50 marks. Moreover, in case of tie, the candidate having more marks in Legal Aptitude

is given preference over others. Therefore, you need to concentrate a bit more on this section.

I would like to share few suggestions for the important section–

a. Don’t look for multiple sources. Multiple answers to same/similar questions will confuse

you and do more harm than good. Rather, look for one/two good sources where you get atleast

1400-1500 questions before the CLAT. Join any good coaching centre’s Test Series for the

same.

b. This is probably clichéd – but stick to the principle! And do not use any outside knowledge

while answering questions.

c. Don’t read too much theory, but do prepare for Torts, Contracts and Criminal Law, as

questions from these topics come mostly in Legal Reasoning and not in Legal Knowledge.

Reading too much theory will further make you mark answers not based on your reading of the

principle but based on your outside knowledge.

d. Don’t forget to give due emphasis to Current Legal GK. Many questions this year were asked

from it. Though there is no separate source for this, any good CA source will suffice for this.

e. Time is also a key to cracking this section. Less than 45-48 seconds per Legal Reasoning

question and less than 12 seconds per Legal Knowledge question should be your eventual aim.

Any more expert suggestions for the law aspirants?

Be open to newer kind of questions – This was the biggest lesson from CLAT 2015! The CLAT

Committee has often resorted to giving generic notifications, whereby they can rightfully

incorporate questions on newer formats. When you’re done with your usual material, it won’t

hurt to buy a couple of books of CAT/MAT and practice newer kind of questions from it.

Revise – Especially for the students who have devoted a year to prepare for the CLAT, it is

very easy to complete many prep books in the first few months. However, if you don’t find

time to revise whatever you did back then, there is a good possibility you’ll forget a good chunk

of important material by the CLAT day. Devote ample number of hours in the last one-two

months to revision.