Tips & preparation strategies for CLAT 2021

Amandeep Rajgotra 

The CLAT 2021 is scheduled to be conducted on June 13, 2021, which is three days after the board exams will get over. While this comes as a rude shock to the students, another dilemma remains the preparation strategy and focus whether to prepare for boards or CLAT and how to manage both effectively.

 Looking into the larger picture for the future and career aspects in law, it is not that simple as it may seem. Preparing for law demands a lot of focus along with determination and perseverance to crack the beast like entrance exams for the most reputed law colleges in India. Many aspirants lose the chances of fulfilling their dreams assuming the journey frivolously.

 Hence the pre requisite hard work required to crack the exam is well evident. Studying at the 11th hour is never a fruitful exercise, it does not fetch the students much benefit, but if they make it a regular routine to prepare for a paper which is a multiple choice question based exam with a disciplined outlook, they are sure to achieve their goals. It’s always good to have a path and vision from an early age.

 Primarily it is important to understand the format and sections of the exam paper, which contains the following sections:

 a) Legal Aptitude: Being the most important section this also happens to be the deciding sections in case of a tie break. The section is passage based consisting of questions on legal knowledge and terminologies and requires a lot of reading. The candidates should be well versed with the recent happenings in the Legal world.

b) General Knowledge and Current affairs: This is another passage-based section with questions covering Culture, World Affairs, and Current Affairs. Reading newspapers regularly is the most relevant and appropriate thing to ace in this section. Pattern shows that most of the questions have been put up from certain newspaper articles and editorials.  c) English (Comprehension and Grammar Based): The section has reading comprehension which includes questions on grammar and vocabulary. The passages are medium to small in length and require a deep understanding of the text. The questions are more inference based.

d) Logical Reasoning: This section has passages on critical reasoning and complex arrangement. Critical reasoning demands good comprehension ability and critical thinking ability. The questions on assumptions, strengthening and weakening arguments, conclusions require a lot of practice.

e) Elementary Mathematics: The questions will cover Data interpretation which covers sub topics such as Ratio Proportion, Average, Percentage, Profit and Loss, and Mixture Allegations. The section includes short sets of facts, graphs, or other diagrammatic representations.

The following tips will help you in achieving your goal:

 1. Strategic Planning: Strategic planning helps in prioritising the subjects and topics requiring more attention than the others as per the learning style of each individual. While this includes preparing for class XII as well, dedicating only three hours a day (classes and self-study) for CLAT and the remaining time can be utilised for Class XII.

2. Effective time management: As the objective of the aptitude test is to check the articulate thinking, it is not advisable to compulsorily attempt all the questions. Instead one should focus on maximising the scores by attempting known questions. In fact, sometimes this urge to attempt all the questions can bring your accuracy level down drastically under timing pressure.

3. Regular Practice: Any entrance exam preparation requires regular practice. An aspirant should target to attempt the questions with 80-90% accuracy. When you practice, you must try to identify the question types within each section that you are good at, and those that you are not good at. This will help you save time on the actual exam. Current Affairs are always a make-or-break section for anyone.

4. Mock tests and analysis: With PSIS interface, consisting of diligently made mock exams for CLAT provides a real time experience.  It is very important to work constantly on improving vocabulary and learning current affairs. This will help you enhance your score. Although, you can always modify this strategy based on your performance in the Mock Tests.

Most of all stay confident as it is important for a person to have self-belief. Self-motivation helps in developing a perspective and reaching the set goals effectively. Since the pattern is more reading based, normally, students are not able to complete the paper. Therefore, they feel demotivated and leave preparation midway. Regular intervals in your daily schedule where you take out time for yourself will help you achieve success.

 The writer is National Head (law), PRATHAM Test Prep