CLAT Syllabus

CLAT UG Syllabus:

1. English with comprehension:

There are broadly two sub-sections here. One for grammar and the other for comprehension. The comprehension section tests the candidates proficiency in English by determining how they interpret the comprehension passage. This would include identifying the central theme, understanding the passage and the words used in it. The grammar section requires the candidate to identify grammatical mistakes, correct sentences, fill in the blank with appropriate words etc. Reading regularly especially newspapers and magazines is useful in this area as it improves the reading speed and the vocabulary. For grammatical errors any high school English book should suffice. Also useful is – “Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis”

2. General Knowledge and Current Affairs

Apart from improving one’s GK through various sources, it is very helpful to join an online students community that discusses GK questions relevant to CLAT. This would include scanning previous year papers for questions. It is also useful to be up to date with legal updates in the country. To improve GK, Pearson’s static GK book is useful – “The Pearson Concise General Knowledge Manual – 2014 (English)”

3. Elementary Mathematics

As the name suggests, the syllabus includes class 10 mathematics topics. The focus here should be on speed techniques and short cut methods to arrive at the solution. The math is fairly basic. Familiarity with numbers is helpful for using short cut methods. Topics like percentages, ratio – proportions, averages, speed time distance related problems are common. To improve speed refer to “Magical Book On Quicker Maths (English) 3rd Edition”

4. Legal Aptitude

There are different type of questions in this section. Most of the questions cover either law knowledge or law reasoning. Law knowledge requires a lot of theory learning. To help the candidate understand better, this section consists of a lot of civics basics with more focus toward law. Topics range from basics of Tort law, criminal law etc to constitution. Then there is logical reasoning but with legal context. Candidate will be presented with a legal principle and asked to apply that to a given set of facts. This requires candidates to logically analyze this proposition and the facts associated with it. Refer “LST’s Legal Reasoning Module by Sachin Malhan and Bhavin Patel”.

5. Logical Reasoning

Logical reasoning tests the candidate’s ability to identify patterns, logical links and rectify illogical arguments. While practicing for this section, even if you get the answer right, go through the explanation for the right answer to verify your reasoning. If the reasoning matches, it means you have understood the question correctly and you are analyzing the options correctly. Why your answer is right or wrong is a very important question to ask yourself during preparation for logical reasoning. Never assume any information unless it is clearly stated in the premise. Refer – “A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning (English) Revised Edition”, “The Hand on Guide to Analytical Reasoning and Logical Reasoning” – by Bhardwaj P