With the most important exam in the lives of young lawyers-to-be around the corner, Legally India have compiled advice from those who know how to get you there. Please send this to your younger friends and relatives and add your advice and thoughts to help them on their way to Common Law Admissions Test (CLAT) success.
"It's not a matter of life and death," says Law School Tutorials (LST) 2008 academic head Kunal Mehra. "Stay calm and believe in yourself; breathe."
That is probably far easier said than done when your adrenaline is on overdrive on your way to the CLAT exam room. So, heed the advice from those who know to help you get there.
"Before you even plan to take CLAT you must be fully and correctly informed or else you will end up being a sailor without a navigator," says the product manager of the IMS Learning Resources Law program Rajneesh Singh.
A good place to start is to look at previous years' entrance papers of different law schools as sometimes questions get repeated from old papers, advises Paradygm Law Tutors course director Anita T.
And ultimately make sure you keep the finish line in sight and tell yourself constantly that each and every hour of effort is going to be worth it, says current LST national anchor Karn Jani.
Read on and learn how to tackle each of the 2010 CLAT's sections, which is being conducted by NLIU Bhopal this year.
Legal Aptitude/ Legal Awareness (LA) - 45 marks
Since times immemorial LA has been every law aspirant's Achilles Heel. And that hasn't been helped by CLAT authorities dilly-dallying on whether to include legal reasoning questions or not.
The faculty members at Paradygm believe that legal reasoning will be a part of the LA section this time around.
LST programme director and LA faculty Saurav Datta is also "pretty sure" that CLAT 2010 will have a legal reasoning component. "CLAT authorities came in for a lot of flak for their excluding legal reasoning last year."
"Legal reasoning is about logic with law thrown in. You have a principle which is a premise and which you apply to a legal problem" he explains. "I see students form ideas about ethics and law when doing legal reasoning problems… It is a must have section." Datta also believes that introducing legal reasoning will bring down the cut off of grades.
He also supports the recent decision taken by CLAT authorities to consider marks obtained in LA as a tie-breaker. "We all know how various Indian boards differ in doling percentages," he says.
Singh of IMS has a caveat: "Now many students will give undue importance to legal reasoning questions - it is better to maximise the total score than trying to increase your LA scores."
The lengthy nature of the legal reasoning questions also lends weight to Singh's other argument: "Attempt easier questions which will fetch you marks quicker."
Prof. A Raman of the Sriram Law Academy believes that having the Indian Constitution at one's finger tips and thorough knowledge of general legal terms, maxims and theories will hold the candidate in good stead. "Basic legal components such as the law of torts and law of contracts should also be studied," he says.
Ramanuj Mukherjee who teaches LA at IMS and has founded an online forum called CLATHacker says: "The CLAT 2009 paper is publicly available. It is for anyone to see that the standard of the questions in LA is steadily rising."
"The popular books available in the market are now proving inadequate. Students must supplement this by reading basics on subjects like Jurisprudence, family law and CPC from the internet," he adds.
With around four weeks to go for CLAT he advises solving the past year papers to see what areas need special consideration.
General knowledge (GK) and current affairs - 50 marks
Datta has some useful insights to offer. "Concentrate on law, governance and polity issues. If it's a river dispute or even if you are reading on Mughal history, etc., these areas must be carefully perused."
Raman of Sriram Law Academy says: "One should build solid knowledge of static GK especially economics, history and geography."
Anita T. recommends to students that they go through year books like Competition Success Review, Manorama or the Pearsons Year Book to brush up their current affairs.
According to Jani reading newspapers and magazines is imperative but mere reading will not help: one must make sure that the information being accumulated is explored and converted into knowledge.
"A law aspirant has to go through a complete change of worlds: from the board exams, where one mugs and leaves no space for fresh inputs, to an exam wherein an open mind comes in handy," he elaborates, adding that this requires indefatigable discipline and commitment.
Maths - 20 marks
Mehra, who taught maths and logical reasoning at LST says: "Focus on key areas such as arithmetic - i.e. time-speed questions, work, mixtures, ratios, percentages, etc."
He also advises aspirants to take each question as a puzzle and not to get lost in the maze of formulas.
Singh of IMS puts forward a different approach. "Those good in maths should try to develop speed by innovative short cuts and other techniques."
Anita T. believes that a lot of students face a mental block when it comes to maths. She advises aspirants not to practice high-end maths problems. "The maths section in the previous CLAT papers has never been tough."
Well, even the CLAT website reads 'Elementary Mathematics' with 'numerical ability in brackets.
"This is one section where a student can get a twenty on twenty, if they set their mind to it," adds Anita T.
Logical Reasoning (LR) - 45 marks
This cake contains two slices: critical reasoning (CR) and analytical reasoning (AR).
"CR is generally difficult for many and preparing for this will take time," says Singh, adding that AR skills are picked up by students easily with practice.
According to Mehra it is important that one uses only the information provided in the question and not let any bias or prejudice cloud one's thinking, "Make a conscious effort towards getting rid of your prejudices," he advises.
Anita T. says: "The more one practices this section, the more comfortable he or she will get with it."
Mehra further adds: "While practicing, go through the answers and explanations carefully to understand the flaw in your reasoning."
Mehra also advises eliminating wrong answers and when in a dilemma over some options, "go with your hunch and don't waste time".
Singh believes that a strong grasp over English language is helpful in solving the CR questions. Raman concurs: "Good comprehension skills will help the candidate understand the nuances of a CR question."
English - 40 marks
The English section of CLAT is of a moderate difficulty level. Generally our respondents have recommended reading Norman Lewis's now famous book 'Word Power Made Easy' for vocabulary and revise the grammar basics from the legendary Wren and Martin series.
A word of advice from the coaches
According to Anita T, a student must not become overconfident on getting high scores in mock tests as this can lead to complacency in preparations.
She is all for taking mocks on an OMR. "This allows students to get used to shading the OMR correctly."
And Mehra quips that CLAT is one of the very few exams in which mothers should not tell their kids to sharpen their pencils - a dark pencil with a blunt lead is what you ideally need.
And finally, be in a positive frame of mind as you enter the examination hall. "When shading the ovals, think: 'Harvesting is on in CLAT-Ville. What a pleasant moment,'" posits Singh.
"While taking the exam I would tell my head to move quickly and not waste any time on difficult questions," concludes Mehra. "To my heart I would say: 'Don't Stop.'"
Please send this to your younger friends and relatives and add your advice and thoughts in the comments to help them on their way.
Help your friends ace the 2010 CLAT and join you in law school
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exam might be easy but competition is not.......
5 questns here and there and you can go to nluj or nujs from Nalsar or NLSIU
clat is urs..........!!!!!!
please do read UNIVERSAL LLB at your own risk, its quite a crappy book for preparation.
"With around four weeks to go for CLAT he advises solving the past year papers to see what areas need special consideration".
THAT WOULD MEAN THAT WHEN THERE IS JUST A MONTH LEFT FOR CLAT, YOUR LEGAL APTITUDE PREPARATION STRATEGY SHOULD FOCUS ON SOLVING QUESTIONS FROM THE PAST YEAR PAPERS.
just chill and give it and dun take so much tension abt the result....because if u dun clear top 3 u can always come to GLC OR ILS which are far better than about 7 to 8 law schools
i dont think that clat is so simple
I am a class 12 student(science) & will be giving my boards next month. I had joined FIITJEE on a 2 yr IITJEE prep course. I was doing OK at my engg tests(I was literally pushed into this stream coz my bro is an IITian). But lately i hav realized that law is the best field for me. So i hav decided to giv up my engg plans & prep for CLAT instead this yr itself. I'll be having abt 45 days uptill may 9 for my prep. But i'm rely confused at hw to prep fr it. This is hw i plan study during those 45 days:
English: I hav already done Norman Lewis's vocabulary builder 2 yrs back. So i'll just be going thru all the notes i prepared while doing it. I'll revise grammer etc from Wren & Martin.
GK: I have been reading the newspapers fr the last 6-7 months with gr8 interest (abt 2 hrs daily) but not with the intent of prep for CLAT. I must hav read things but must hav also forgotten. Ppl hav been suggesting me to buy last 3 months Comp Refresher + Pearson GK Manual.
MATHS: I'm a JEE aspirant, so i don't think i'll hav a prob wid dat.
LEGAL GK/Reasoning: Now this is the part i'm rely confused with. Ppl hav suggested me too buy Manish Arora's Legal GK book + i hav got all the Legal material xeroxed from a friend of mine at LST. Will that do? Btw my dad's a judge, so he'll be of gr8 help i'm sure.
TO EVRY1 WHO CAN HELP ME: Plz share ur views on my plans & plz suggest any do's & dont's or anything that can be of any help to me. Will joining a 30 day crash course at [course] be productive or is it better to self study at home? I rely want to giv my best shot this yr itself.
Thanx in advance :-)
A. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
a.1- A concise GK manual by any renowned publisher (Pearsons, TMH). A book by some one called OP Khanna too is recommended.
a.2- If your subscribed newspapers and magazines thrilled the 'raddiwaala' and not you, a year boook (CSR, Manorama or Penguin and the like) would be useful.
a.3- Universal's CLAT book (a tome and costs around 400 bucks), is extremely useful, though according to many (and me) has many errors.
B. ENGLISH
b.1- Vocabulary- Word power made easy by Norman Lewis is a must.
b.2- Grammar- Wren and Martin.
b.3- Comprehension- Sample questions from LSAT which are freely downloadable from the LSAC's website are pretty helpful.
C. MATHS
c.1- M.Tyra is the author. The book is named something like 'Objective book for magical mathematics'.
c.2- RS Agarwala's book too is pretty popular.
D. LOGICAL REASONING
d.1- RS Agarwala's book on verbal and non-verbal reasoning.
d.2- MK Pandey's book is a hit with students too.
d.3- Reading tough texts and reading eclectically will help develop critical reasoning skills...reading a few well written SC judgements, something by Neitsche (did I get the spellings right?), Ashis Nandy etc will help. (Chances are that the law aspirant will not decipher anything and the brain will do a bit of gymnastics inside the cranium, but thats how you build this muscle) :-)
E. LEGAL APTITUDE
e.1- Legal Reasoning- Universal's guide is helpful. A caveat: Beware of the errors.
Also, if you are in a good coaching institution, you will get well researched materials on this subject. If you are not for coaching, get some older cousin's/friend's modules.
e.2- Legal Knowledge- Read newspapers. Embrace the legal section specially. Follow a few good blogs.
Note: This is all that I can recollect from my CLAT prep days. I have heard that Lexis Nexis too have come up with a lovely book on CLAT.
PS- Practicing past year papers of NLSIU and NALSAR are a must. If you can get hold of some NLIU Bhopal papers...that would be great!
PS2- This isn't meant to scare anybody. If you are an intelligent guy/girl, have command over the English Language and keep yourself updated with latest news and views, you will do well (with some effort obviously).
MUMBAI! ANY GOOD BOOK SHOP WOULD DO! :-)
And CLAT does lay a lot of emphasis on current affairs bit of General Knowledge. Again, without a good hold of statik GK, don't expect to ace this section.
bt do concentrate on ur preparation coz may ur preparation bcam ur luk........who noe's.....!!!!!!!! so yeah best of luck u all guys ....do wish fr me coz i m one f d compttr u r GONNA FACE .........!!!!!!!!!
i perparing legal gk form universal LLB but in ur last comment some say its a crap
was it ... and form wre i perpare LA advice some books
& form were i get pervious paper of NALSAR,NLU,NLIU
For info about preparation for LA and the 'list of books' please see the above posts.
This has to be sorted out amongst yourselves man!!
Tell your mom that its your life and your choices.
"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow them".
"We must let people march to their own beat and feel safe to be themselves around us. That’s what unconditional love is all about—being an encourager of people’s passions, loves, and dreams—even if you don’t agree with them”....these are culled from a Robin Sharma Book.
Well so CLAT is d new buzz...rit.... good to see the competition a dropper lik me wud be facin again this year........Well first of all...I agree CLAT is an easy exam in d sense dat it doesnt have an exhaustive course like in engineering or in medical......it may be just an aptitude test.....but dont rush my dear frens.......first have a look at how many get into the top six coveted institutions out of the near 15000 who appear for it.....
Competition is tough ma dear buddies.....its really tough.....
coz gettin into the harvard of d east is not dat easy........
Well so CLAT is d new buzz...rit.... good to see the competition a dropper lik me wud be facin again this year........Well first of all...I agree CLAT is an easy exam in d sense dat it doesnt have an exhaustive course like in engineering or in medical......it may be just an aptitude test.....but dont rush my dear frens.......first have a look at how many get into the top six coveted institutions out of the near 15000 who appear for it.....
Competition is tough ma dear buddies.....its really tough.....
coz gettin into the harvard of d east is not dat easy........
So in the last month, join some crash course and do some legal knowledge and reasoning stuff. Give as many mock tests as possible (with evaluation of course) to know where you stand nationally.
BUT a friend of mine told me recently that the NATIONAL LAW SCHOOLS have a course called CORPORATE LAW which gives the same kind of placements which a B school gives..... Well can anyone please tell me IS THAT TRUE?????????????????
i also heard him saying that the NATIONAL LAW SCHOOLS give starting salaries as high as Rs. 25 lacs p.a., of which i know he is BOASTING...........................
I mean how on earth can someone earn that much learning LAW.........if i m wrong prove me............... COS if dats even near to be true then ill also become one of the CLAT aspirants like you...... But i know its not true.....Let me see how many have the guts to prove me wrong........
The fact is that if you do well in the five years of law school from the top 5-6 NLUs, the starting salaries are a bit higher than those in top 5-6 IITs. In NLS/NUJS/NALSAR the starting salaries for those venturing in the corporate world should be around 9 lacs.
Even foreign 'magic circle' law firms recruit from these colleges and the salaries are huge too.
Some of the biggest paying law firms in India such as AMSS pay around 13-14 lacs per annum. But if money is the only criteria for you, better think again. In firms like these you have to work around nearly 12 hours a day!
i have done nothing and will start preparing from 15th march.
is that all good
For example for a serial quizzer who is from an English medium school and is an intelligent chap...CLAT would require at most a month of preparation!!!
Yes. You can.
he joined allmost all the tutorials in the town......as he was planning to get nobel prize...he sucked himself like a hell to crack a clat..he started his preps 2 yrs back...he is a real looser i can say....so dont study like a dog......study like a fox......do ur work smartly.....u just need to work for gk and current affairs n english too.....if u find other subject difficult....u too r a looser....u dont deserve to do law...u dont have a brain....u suck....
This is the crow here! Dogs have eaten the grapes! Sour grapes are left...and you have historically refused to jump hard and eat them. You pride yourself in lying on your ass. We are sorry for you!
R.A. Salvatore (The Halfling's Gem).
and the smart way to work is work hard.
Can u plzz give ur study tactics.....
so other can knoe how to crack clat...
wad shud person need to crack it.....ur suggestions plzz
thanku
Regards.
kaaw kaaw....lol
All that I will say is this-
The ABC of success in any exam are -
A-Means Awareness about your current situation . ( Like for example you might be really weak in GK ....so you should be aware about what your position is)
B-Means Belief in yourself.You have to believe in yourself that you can do it.( So you must believe that you can do it i.e you are capable of improving your GK)
and finally ,
C-Stands for commitment.After you know what the problem is and you have gained belief,commit yourself to only one goal - SUCCESS.Commitment means simply application of will power and incessant toil.
Remember it may take time but dont you give up !! Give your best and get the best for yourself.Believe me I too was bad at GK but now I simply rock at it.After I came to know about these principles I simply applied them and I got over it !!!!.
i am doin 12 th commerce...... and i am not able to follow the newspaper tat well this month as ma boards are goin on....... how would i tackle both ma boards as well as clat....as both are equally important to me....plzzzz help!!!!!!!!!
For now you should concentrate on your board exams only.
Just read the newspaper for about 30 min.
Then you have holidays for between Board exams and CLAT for about a month.
Study around 6-8 hours a day during that period.
You will do well.
i m a dropper.last yr widout ny prep, widout ny crashcourse..i got 120 in CLAT..so consider tkng drop 4 clat b8r optn..as i did mah 12th wid science bakground bt i hate engg 4m d bottom of mah heart n my wish was 2 b lawyer..2 help deprived people..so m here..n goin 2 cracki==i mean try my best 2 crack clat...alld bst 2 each n evrypersn..n thnx alot 4 their advices...tc
The thing is there is nothing to be nervous about. Prepare well and be confident. Enjoy the preparation bit, make that part perfect. Let go of the end result. If this sounds too utopian, make utopia an ideal.
I enrolled for LST course with Career launcher agra CLAT2010.
for several months now I cant approach mylst.com-- every time I try to, it says Re1.oo balance hence blocked. Have spoken to CL Agra ppl many times-- each time I am told it woud be corrected in few hours-- but to no avail.
Kindly do the needful and advise my father at
Please read comment #18 by me.
same ques from me....
anybody to answer ??
Join LST or IMS
LST has more students
IMS study mats are good
LST has VOIP classes
IMS Mock tests are very good
Plus boards are always to be taken as a challenge. Even if they dont matter much ahead in life, one shlould nevr be dat complacent. If u do well in borads it might not matter if u get a 80% or 90%+ but the amount of confidence u'll get is the biggest fruit of it all. U'll rerembr those days ur entire life wen u toiled hard to do well in boards and got a 90%+. It will rejuvenate u. Thats sumtymes mor important.
Competition exams hav their own value. They should be given proper attention too. But a balance has to maintained.
i want 2 no abt ils,pune,glc ,thier interview pattern , possibility of getting admission in them , starting salaries when 1 pass 4m them
its all bcoz no time is left 2 prepare 4 clat and excel in it SO GUYS PLZ HELP ME
AND GUIDE ME THRU DA RIGHT PATH ......
waiting 4 ur words
If you do really well in ILS or GLC you will get nearly every Indian job offer that a NLS-NUJS-NALSAR guy gets. I dunno about the foreign placments in ILS, GLC.
can anyone tellme abt da interview pattern of ils and glc..........
is it only a myth that these colleges do not take purvanchal candidates??????????
even aftr joining lst,do i need to go for other buks?????othr dan lst material??plz help!
Do the current affairs till March.
@66
That poorvanchal myth is as bad as a myth can mythically get. No such thing exists. Peace.
i hvnt started anethin yet....
n its only a month for d preps....
so u feel dat i cn prepare it well in such a short period.....are 30 days sufficient for gk/current affairs ??
Plzz help.....
IMS OR SREERAM
ANYWAYS YOU MUST BELIVE IN YOURSELF N GOO AHEAD ... NLUO IS ALSO ANOTHER OPTION !!!
I FEEL SERIOUSLY 30 DAYS R NOT ENOUGH !!! WERE U SLEEPING WHOLE YEAR ??? HOW COULD U THINK LIKE THAT ??? NOW EVEN GOD CANT HELP U DUDE !!!
DONT WASTE UR MONEY IN BUYING 2500 RS FORM , I THINK FROM THIS MONEY U CAN BUY 4-5 FOURMS OF OTHER LOCAL UNIVERCITIES
DONT GET DISCOURAGED BUT TRUTH IS TRUTH
BTW...it seems that CLAT aspirants will soon be from more diverse backgrounds with this initiative at NUJS www.legallyindia.com/20100331628/Law-schools/mass-movement-to-make-more-diverse-legal-profession-kicks-off-at-nujs
id:Puneeth[dot]prasanna[at]gmail[dot]com
Regarding old question papers...for that you'll have to buzz your friends in national law schools or give the CLAT/NLIU authorities a call
for solved papers check WADHWA'S LLB Entrance Guide - Solved Papers costing Rs. 540
For Rehearsal on papaers check WADHWA'S LLB Entrance Guide - CLAT Rehearsal costing Rs. 310
Answer: ILS is a good college. Among the top 10 in India. However, one should obvioulsy prefer NLUs especially if you get these: NLS-NUJS-NALSAR-NLIU BHOPAL-NLU JODHPUR- NLU DELHI.
Otherwise if you get GNLU, ILS, Symbi...tough choice. I will go with GNLU in such a situation. But depends.
Gyan: It doesn't matter which college you are into till it is a good one. It matters what you are into.
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