Busting myths regarding CLAT preparation

Several affiliate universities and organisations also use the CLAT exam for admissions and recruitment respectively. Law is a five-year integrated programme offering degrees such as BA LLB, BBA LLB, BSc LLB, BCom LLB with specialisation in Civil Law, Tax Laws, Patent Laws, Criminal Laws, International Laws, Labour Laws, Cyber law, etc.

Eligibility for undergraduate programme

There will be no upper age limit for UG programme in CLAT 2024. Candidates who are appearing in the qualifying examination in March/April, 2024 are also eligible to appear in CLAT 2024 examination. However, they shall be required to produce evidence of their passing the qualifying examination (i.e. 10+2) at the time of admission, failing which they shall lose their right to be considered for admission.

About the examination

UG-CLAT is designed to evaluate the comprehension and reasoning skills and abilities of candidates. Overall, it is designed to be a test of aptitude and skills that are necessary for a legal education rather than prior knowledge, though prior knowledge occasionally may be useful to respond to questions in the Current Affairs section.

The test areas of UG-CLAT 2024 are:

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

English Language

In this section, passages of about 400 to 450 words each, derived from contemporary or historically significant fiction and non-fiction writing are given. A Class 12 student may be able to read in about 5-6 minutes. Each passage will be followed by a series of questions that will require a candidate to demonstrate his comprehension and language skills, including his/her ability to:

— Read and comprehend the main point discussed in the passage, as well as any arguments and viewpoints discussed or set out in the passage.

— Draw inferences and conclusions based on the passage.

— Summarise the passage.

— Compare and contrast the different arguments or viewpoints set out in the passage, and

— Understand the meaning of various words and phrases used in the passage.

Current Affairs including general knowledge

In this section, passages of up to 400 to 450 words each, derived from news, journalistic sources and other non-fiction writing are given. The questions may include an examination of legal information or knowledge discussed in or related to the passage, but would not require any additional knowledge of the law beyond the passage. Each passage will be followed by a series of questions that will require a candidate to demonstrate his awareness of various aspects of current affairs and general knowledge, including:

— Contemporary events of significance from India and the world;
— Arts and culture;
— International affairs; and
— Historical events of continuing significance.

Legal Reasoning

In this section, passages of around 450 to 500 words each, related to fact situations or scenarios involving legal matters, public policy questions or moral philosophical enquiries are given. This section will not require any prior knowledge of law. But a candidate can benefit from a general awareness of contemporary legal and moral issues to better apply general principles or propositions to the given fact scenarios.

Each passage would be followed by a series of questions that will require a candidate to:

— Identify and infer the rules and principles set out in the passage;
— Apply such rules and principles to various fact situations; and
— Understand how changes to the rules or principles may alter their application to various fact situations.

Logical Reasoning

This section will include a series of short passages of about 250 to 300 words each. Each passage will be followed by one or more questions that will require a candidate to:

— Recognise an argument, its premises and conclusions;
— Read and identify the arguments set out in the passage;
— Critically analyse patterns of reasoning, and assess how conclusions may depend on particular premises or evidence;
— Infer what follows from the passage and apply these inferences to new situations;
— Draw relationships and analogies, identify contradictions and equivalence, and assess the effectiveness of arguments.

Quantitative Techniques

This section will include short sets of facts or propositions, graphs, or other textual, pictorial or diagrammatic representations of numerical information, followed by a series of questions. A candidate has to derive information from such passages, graphs, or other representations, and apply mathematical operations on such information. The questions will require students to:

— Derive, infer, and manipulate numerical information set out in such passages, graphs, or other representations;
— Apply various Class 10 mathematical operations on such information, including from areas such as ratios and proportions, basic algebra, mensuration and statistical estimation.

(The writer is a senior faculty member at the T.I.M.E institute)