How To APPROACH CLAT

About the CLAT

Clearing CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) is neither as difficult as your fears nor as easy as your dreams. Today CLAT has become an intensive competitive exam with around 40-50 thousand candidates appearing. It is an exam which requires consistent study over a long period and that is what gives you an edge over this scary number of candidates and few seats.

Your Approach

One of the most important things that you need to understand is that this is an exam of strategy rather than ability. You need to solve the paper with some sort of strategy. Solving 200 questions in 120 minutes is a mammoth task. You may have an answer to each and every question but it’s of no use if you can’t solve it in the required time. CLAT is an exam in which the 50% of the task requires your ability and the remaining 50% requires your time management capabilities. You can’t afford to spend too much time on one question. So you need to practise solving questions with speed from the very beginning. Many students focus only on the method to solve questions and leave the task of solving with speed for the last. Unfortunately they have to repent this decision later on. Understanding the methods and approaches is very important and first of all they should be made crystal clear. But you should not wait too long before you start applying those methods with speed.

How to tackle this problem of speed is another question. One of the best solutions to this problem is to solve as many mock tests as possible. This is very important and it should be done very carefully. What this means is that solving mock tests does not mean that you are checking how much you can solve but how much you can’t solve. So every mock test should be given after some preparation and should be properly evaluated after giving. Many students think that they learn from mock tests but fail to realise the importance of learning before the mock test. So there is no point in giving mock tests without preparation. Also try to give those mock tests which most students give as this helps you in determining your All India stand.

Another thing to note is not to get de-motivated after scoring less. Most students who are able to get top universities through CLAT are not initially able to score good marks. It takes time to improve. Your marks do not improve after every mock test. They remain stagnant for some period. If this is happening then you need to change your strategy. It may be done by devoting some more time to a particular section or working hard on your ability to solve a particular section in which you are scoring less continuously. This is very important as well. Many students think that if they are not getting good marks in a particular section then they should compensate it by improving in other sections. This is a gamble with life. Because it is quite possible that the section in which you are good at comes difficult in the CLAT. If this happens then surely everyone will lose marks but the other students will score more than you because they scored well in the section in which you were not good at. So you can’t afford to be bad at any section. What you can afford is to be quite fair or normal in some sections and good at others. So ensure that you are not scoring too less in a particular section and if you are then devote your maximum time of preparation in uplifting it. This is also very important as there is a general instinct in most students to devote their maximum time to the section in which they are scoring good. This happens because you feel good while solving a section if you are able to. So it is very important to ensure that your maximum time of preparation is devoted to the section at which you are not scoring well.

Time Management

Another way of tackling the problem of speed is to form a table showing you the distribution of time spent on each section. You should divide the time of 120 minutes to different sections and then stick to it. Consider this as your ultimate goal to achieve that distribution. Also do not distribute the entire 120 minutes. Your goal should be to try to complete the paper before time and so distribute time accordingly. For example – Legal Aptitude – 30 min, Logic – 30 min, English – 25 min, Maths – 15-20 min and GK – 5-10 min. They do not total to 120 minutes but try to stick to such goals. It’s quite possible that you may not be able to achieve this but it will ensure that you are at least able to complete the paper in 120 minutes.

Other important areas

Also ensure that you are consistent with your GK. Believe me, and I request you to believe me: GK is a very important section. You can’t, you just can’t leave preparation of GK for the last one month or so. You need to be regular at it. Read various GK magazines, notes provided by your centre, prepare GK notes on day to day basis. It doesn’t take more than half an hour of your time. Also it is very important to focus on static GK.

Need for coaching

Another question is whether you need to join some coaching center.

Well YES, joining a coaching center has become a necessity. It provides you with guidance and, most importantly, resources which help you immensely in improving.

GK Sources

Current affairs- Pratiyogita Darpan, Competition success review (CSR), leadthecompetition  website, gktoday website, jagaranjosh website, centre notes etc.

Static GK – AP bhardwaj(TMH) for CLAT, Centre notes etc.

Do remember to revise all your sources in the end. 

In the end I will just say that you actually do not need to be very intelligent for scoring well in CLAT. You just need to prepare strategically. Do believe that whatever happens you will get into the best college and just strive hard to achieve this dream.