What is the full form of CLAT?

The full form of CLAT is the Common Law Admission Test. CLAT is a centralized national-level government entrance test for admissions to 22 national law universities in India. Most self-financed and private law schools in India also use these scores for admissions to the law. Indian public sector companies such as Coal India, ONGC, BHEL, the Indian Steel Authority, Oil India, etc. also use CLAT Postgraduate scores to fill company legal positions. The test is carried out in law schools after the 12th grade or Higher Secondary Examination for admission to integrated U.G. programs and after graduation in law LLM (Law for Master of Laws) in law schools.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be an Indian citizen or NRI may appear at the exam.
• Foreign nationals who wish to enrol in any program at any of the participating Law Universities can approach the College directly with several seats available for foreigners.
• For U.G. course Senior Secondary School or Intermediate (12th) or its corresponding credential from a recognized board with an aggregate mark of not less than 45 per cent. Whereas for S.C. and S.T. applicants aggregate marks is more than 40 per cent.
• No upper age limit for the examination.
• For P.G. course B.L. or L.L. B University degree or a similar degree from a recognized University with an aggregate mark of not less than 55 per cent, whereas for S.C. and S.T. candidates aggregate score is 50%.
• Applicants who have passed the qualifying assessment by supplementary and repeat attempts are also entitled to participate in the test.

CLAT Exam pattern

This law entrance exam has a duration of 120 minutes. The CLAT question paper is composed of 150 questions of multiple choice. CLAT examination paper includes five parts where students need to answer questions from topics such as

• G.K.
• Legal GK
• Current affair
• Elementary Mathematics which is based on Numerical Ability.
• Legal Aptitude
• Syllogism
• English including Comprehension
• Quantitative Aptitude
• Legal Reasoning

All the questions starting with CLAT 2020 will be focused on paragraphs. 5-6 questions will carry on from one paragraph. Overall, the score breakdown is as shown below.

• English – 30 marks
• G.K. questions – 37 marks
• Mathematics -15 marks
• Logical Reasoning – 30 marks
• Legal Aptitude – 38 marks

The marking system is for each correct answer, one mark is given to the candidates and 0.25 marks are deducted from their total score for each wrong answer.

National Law Universities list

As of CLAT 2020, 22 law schools are attending. 37 Other partner law schools can use the scores, but other law schools can use the scores as well. Moreover, many institutions in the public sector, including Oil India and Oil and Natural Gas Company, are likely to use CLAT PG scores for candidates. list of few national law universities are

• Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat, Haryana
• Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur
• National Law University, Delhi
• Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
• Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
• Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
• National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi
• National Law School and Judicial Academy, Assam, Guwahati
• Tamil Nadu National Law University, Trichy
• The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
• National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi
• National Law University, Odisha, Cuttack, etc.