Monday, Jan 26, 2009
For preparing to take a test like CLAT, it is important to study judiciously rather than just mugging up from study material

Law as a course to study has undergone a sea-change over the years with establishment of National Law Schools and the corporatisation of the placements in top law schools. Last year, National Law Schools decided to conduct a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for admissions to various undergraduate and graduate study programmes.

For preparing to take a test like CLAT, it is very important to study judiciously rather than just mugging up from study material readily available in the market. Aspirants should maintain a fine and a judicious balance in preparing for CLAT and their boards. If you are a CLAT aspirant, you will need to know what portions of the syllabus you should be sticking on to now and how much time you ought to allot for them, where the time allotment itself would vary from student to student depending on their understanding skills.

Time management
Aspirants should proportionately allot the available time and resources to cover topics such as General Knowledge, English, Mathematical & Logical Reasoning and Legal Aptitude.

Go through the newspaper everyday. Most aspirants sometimes start skipping the newspaper sometime in February thinking that they can manage the skipped portion after the boards; however, it is better to study on a daily basis. For example, there is continuous change in posts and ranks in many government departments, new amendments in the laws, etc. Instead of piling it all up, it is better to be informed on a regular basis. This is the time where your focus on GK must be restricted to areas which you can grasp and recall easily. Don’t sit hard intending to finish your module by February, rather just brush through it a certain number of times when you are strained from studying for your board examinations. Again, do the part that you can grasp easily.

Focus on the vocabulary section, in tandem with reading the newspaper, by picking out words that you don’t know. As far as grammar and comprehension go, try doing it on the weekends, but if you are not too confident about English, give an hour or two more per week to this section.

Mathematics & Logical Reasoning are the most strenuous of all, as they require relatively more analytical understanding. Concentrate more on GK and English. Try doing 5-10 questions from a particular topic every alternate day.

Do problems in the sections that are pretty simple and enjoyable. Remember, the range of marks that one set of students (like top 100 or 100-200 students) score in the difficult sections is usually the same (like 16-20 or 18-24 out of 26 for 13 * 2 questions); at times, these simple sections can turn the whole paper around.

Legal Aptitude
The idea in this section is not to understand the law but to know how to apply it to the given facts. As it turns out, it’s more of logical reasoning with a tinge of legal principles and jargons.

Make sure you go through the ‘Legal Knowledge” portion on your weekends. Try this until the end of February; after that it’s better to restrict yourself to the newspaper (GK on alternate days, brush through it when you are watching TV or during your tea break) and English and, occasionally, other sections. Don’t push yourself too hard. ‘Work smart, not hard’ is the key.

Legal knowledge has always been an integral part of the curriculum, and requires you to go through the updates happening in the legal field such as the recent judgments.

Examiners can be really cruel when it comes to creating options, and would try their best to confuse you. This brings us to the question, “how does one gain more clarity on concepts?”

Answer: Read. Next Question: How to read? Our advice is to always read things in detail. Whenever you are reading an article, read it carefully and completely and not just go through a summary or skim through a bunch of prepared points.

For example, if you happen to read about Rajiv Gandhi, browsing through a few points will tell you that ‘He was the youngest Prime Minister’ and ‘A militant outfit called LTTE killed him.’

But what you can and will miss out and what the National Law Schools will test you upon is ‘where was he killed’ or ‘what policies did he adopt in India? ‘what were the landmark moves taken by him?,’ ‘what was his tenure?’ You could be asked about the importance of these events.

Eligibility
Under-graduate: Academics: 10+2 examination or equivalent with not less than 50 per cent marks for General and 45 marks for SC/ST, OBC and persons with disability (students taking qualifying examination in March/April 2009 are also eligible).

Age limit: Not more than 20 years in case of General and 22 years in case of SC / ST / OBC.

Post-graduate (except for NLU, Jodhpur): Academics: 55 per cent marks in aggregate in LL.B. / B.L., 50 per cent marks in case of SC/ST/OBC and persons with disability. Application form can be obtained from the designated branches of State Bank of India or any of the National Law Schools against the payment of Rs. 2,500 (Rs.,2,000 in case of SC/ST). Candidates can get further information by sending mail to info@lawentrance.com or by visiting www.lawentrance.com