CLAT 2020 exam pattern changed: Know the recent developments 

The CLAT 2020 exam, which is conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs), is scheduled to be held on May 10, 2020. The complete details about the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) are available online. The online registrations for the CLAT 2020 were started from January 01, 2020, and it is predicted that the admit card will release in the third week of April. The candidates planning to take CLAT 2020 can fill the application forms until March 31, 2020.

Changes in the exam pattern

Some changes are introduced in CLAT 2020 exam, from this year comprehension based questions will be asked from Quantitative Techniques, English, Current Affairs, Deductive Reasoning and Logical Reasoning. Also, the number of questions in the exam will now be 150 rather than 200.

According to the President of the Consortium, Prof Faizan Mustafa, asking the students to complete 200 questions within 120 minutes is not right as it makes the situation more stressed for the students. The main agenda of taking this exam is to select the eligible students for the National Law Universities who are expert in reading texts and can demonstrate their skills in inferential reasoning. The students will be given two hours to complete the exam.

Eligibility Criteria

● Age no bar

● The candidates appearing for the CLAT exam must have passed 10th and 12th from a recognized board. The candidates who have secured at least 45% marks in their exams can appear for this exam (general category)

● 40% marks (reserved category).

● The students who are giving the qualifying exam in March/April 2020 are also allowed to give CLAT exam.

UG Programme

● Age Limit: No upper age limit for UG program in CLAT 2020.

● Qualifying Exam: The candidates must have completed the class 12th by securing the minimum mark from a recognized board or university.

● Percentage: At least 45% marks is required, however, it is 40% in case the candidates belong to SC or ST categories.

● Appearing candidates: The candidates who are giving final year exam in March/April 2020 are permitted to give CLAT 2020. However, they need to show evidence of the passing of their qualifying examination at the time of admission, failing to which will result in the cancellation of their seat.

PG Programme:

● Age limit: No upper age limit for CLAT 2020.

● Qualifying Exam: The candidate must have secured at least the minimum passing percentage marks in the qualifying examination that is LL.B or any other equivalent exam.

● Minimum Marks: 55% marks for the candidates belonging to general category, 50% marks in case he/she belongs to SC/ST.

● Appearing Candidates: The candidates giving the final year exam are allowed to appear in the CLAT 2020 exam.

CLAT Exam Pattern 2020

Some of the highlights of the revised exam pattern of the CLAT are mentioned in the tabular data beneath:

Features — Details

Exam mode: Pen-paper mode only

Exam duration: 20 minutes

Test language: English

Type of questions: Multiple choice-based questions

Subjects: Five subjects

Total questions: Undergraduate Exam (BA LLB) — 150 objective type questions; Postgraduate Exam (LLM) — 100 objective and 2 subjective questions

Subjective questions: No descriptive questions will be asked in CLAT UG paper

Also Read: Why IIM graduates prefer tech roles over investment banking?

Total Marks: UG — 150 marks; PG — 150 marks

CLAT 2020 Sectional Weightage

As per the revised pattern, total 150 questions will be asked in the CLAT and the section-wise allotment is as under:

Sections — Questions per section — Marks per section

English including Comprehension: 28-32 MCQs; 28-32 MCQs

Current Affairs including General Knowledge: 35-39 MCQs; 35-39 MCQs

Quantitative Techniques (Elementary mathematics up to class 10th standard): 35-39 MCQs; 35-39 MCQs

Legal Reasoning: 28-32 MCQs; 28-32 MCQs

Logical Reasoning: 13-17 MCQs; 13-17 MCQs

Detailed Information regarding the changes in CLAT 2020 Exam Pattern is mentioned below:

Reduction in a total number of questions: In the upcoming CLAT examination, there will be fewer questions asked from the students as compared to the previous years. As per the revised pattern, now 150 questions will be asked in the exam.

Changes in the Quant Aptitude: Ad per the revised pattern, the questions that will be asked on the quantitative aptitude will be of class 10th standard.

Increase in Comprehension based questions: CLAT 2020 exam will include more comprehension based questions in all sections for both UG and PG programs. The comprehension based questions will be asked from the sections including Quantitative Techniques, English, Current Affairs, Deductive Reasoning and Logical Reasoning.

Minimum cut-off: For LLM paper, the candidates giving the exam need to secure a minimum of 40% marks (35% for SC/ ST) out of the total 100 objective types of questions to be qualified for ‘Descriptive paper’. The evaluation of descriptive/essay type paper will be based on the candidate’s qualification status in the objective test paper. The percentage marks which the candidates have secured in the exam will be considered for the evaluation of the subjective paper.

The candidates appearing in CLAT PG need to pen down that the conducting body has introduced cut off marks in CLAT 2020 LLM.

CLAT 2020 Marking Scheme

There are no changes in the marking scheme of CLAT, it will remain the same as earlier.

● For every right attempt, the candidates will get one mark each.

● For every incorrect answer, 0.25 marks will be deducted from their total score.

● No marks will be awarded or deducted in case the student has not attempted any question.

The exam will be conducted in offline mode on May 10 in pen-paper based mode, so all the candidates giving the exam must focus on their studies and study as per the revised pattern.

What is the importance of the CLAT 2020 Exam Pattern?

To achieve professional goals in life, one needs to adopt a more systematic plan and stick to it while preparing for the CLAT exam. The following will justify the importance of knowing an exam pattern.

It saves time: Candidates will learn to become time-efficient while preparing for CLAT, preparing according to the revised CLAT 2020 exam pattern will help them in cracking the exam within the time.

Makes you systematic: Once the candidates know the exam pattern, they can become more systematic and can structure their preparation accordingly. The candidates can easily analyse their weaknesses and can look for the ways to overcome the same.

CLAT 2020 exam is organised for selecting the eligible candidates for UG and PG degree programs of law, the candidates on clearing the exam can get admission in various universities in all over India.