Common law Admission Test(CLAT) is a national wide exam which is to be cleared inorder to get into a National Law University. This exam is conducted by 19 National Law universities(NLU’s) in rotation. On the other hand 43 other law schools also consider this CLAT score for the admission of candidates into their institute.
The candidates are eligible to appear for CLAT only after their Higher Secondary Examinations.This offers them an opportunity to get into undergraduate programmes in law and after graduation in law for Master of Laws(L.L.M) in these universities.Before the introduction of CLAT, the autonomous law schools in India conducted their own entrance exams ,requiring the candidates to prepare and appear for the tests separately. This had become a real difficulty for the aspirants inorder to prepare for each and every test , which differed in their syllabi .Also the test dates conflicted with the other turning it harder for the students. To get rid of such issues the central and National Universities have come together to conduct a common entrance exam CLAT.
This is how Common Law Admission Test have come up.
EXAM PATTERN
This law admission test is of two hours duration. The question paper consists of 200 multiple choice questions. CLAT is a computer based test that is conducted online . The test center’s for CLAT are issued by the CLAT authorities . The question paper includes five sections to be answered they are:
- General Knowledge and Current Affairs- 50
- English Comprehension -50
- Elementary Mathematics – 20
- Legal Aptitude – 50
- Logical reasoning – 40
For every correct answer 1 mark is awarded and for every wrong answer 0.25 marks is deducted from the total score .This exam is a standardized computer based exam.CLAT is conducted once a year usually conducted in the month of may.
Who are eligible to write CLAT 2018?
CLAT 2018 eligibility criteria requires candidates to fulfill multiple aspects so that they can apply and thereafter appear for this law entrance exam .Candidates would be eligible to apply for CLAT 2018 if they have completed their 10+2 or equivalent examinations with the minimum of:
- 45% marks in case of candidates belonging to general/OBC/specially abled person categories.
- 40% marks in case of candidates belonging to SC/St category.
Also, candidates appearing in qualifying examination in march/April 2018 are also eligible to apply. There is no age limit for the candidates appearing for CLAT
CLAT 2018 COUNSELLING
Once the results are declared, the aspirants who meet the cutoffs for CLAT test need to take part in the centralized counselling process conducted by the law entrance exam’s authorities .Candidates are allotted seats for CLAT admissions based on merit-cum-preference basis . This means ,that admission in law colleges is done basing their CLAT score and also by going through the preference order of colleges as mentioned by the candidates take part in CLAT counselling process they need to ensure that they are carrying all the important documents as mentioned in the national level law entrance exam’s information brochure.
Regarding the cut offs , they vary from year to year. Candidates are informed that the cut offs for CLAT are dependent on multiple criteria as follows:
- Difficulty level of the test
- Total number of seats on offer
The cut offs for Common Law Admission Test signify the score/rank at which aspirants are offered admission in different colleges accepting CLAT scores for admission. Thus the candidates are offered admissions in various NLUs ( National Law Universities).
“HERE ARE SOME GOOD BOOKS”
The competition in CLAT exam has reached an altogether new level with the coaching industry booming up and so, it becomes necessary to make a wise choice of books to utilize your time maximally.
- Study Package for CLAT and LLB by Bharadwaj
- Universal’s Guide to CLAT & LLB Entrance Examination 2017-18.
- Compulsory English for Civil and Judicial Services
- Arihant The Complete Success Package for CLAT
- Pearson’s concise GK Manual
- Panorama Year Book
- 10th and 9th CBSE Mathematics text books
APPLICATION DETAILS OF CLAT 2018
CLAT application process states that the aspirants need to fill the application form through “CAPS” i-e CLAT Online Application Processing System. Through this online interface, candidates can get in touch directly with CLAT office. In order to successfully fill CLAT 2018 application form, candidates are advised to use a faster network.
- The application fee for Unreserved/SAP/OBC- Rs4000
- SC/ST category students – Rs3500
This application is made available from Jan 01,2018 at www.clat.ac.in website
IMPORTANT DATES REGARDING CLAT 2018
- DEC 20 – CLAT Notification
- Jan 01 – Availability of application form
- Mar 31 – End date for online registrations
- Apr 20 – Issue of admit card
- May 13 – CLAT exam
- May 15 – Publishing answer key
- May 31 – CLAT 2018 Results
- Jun 7 – Counselling
- Jun 8 – Date of payment of admission fee of Rs50,000
- Jul 6 – last date for Admission process