CLAT
Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a centralized national level entrance test for admissions to twenty two National Law Universities (NLU) in India. Most private and self-financed law schools in India also use these scores for law admissions. Public sector undertakings in India like ONGC, Coal India, BHEL, Steel Authority of India, Oil India etc. use CLAT Post Graduation ( CLAT PG) scores for recruitment of legal positions in the companies.
The test is taken after the Higher Secondary Examination or the 12th grade for admission to integrated under-graduate degree in Law (BA LL.B) and after Graduation in Law for Master of Laws (LL.M) programs offered by these law schools.
Acronym
Type
Developer /
administrator
Knowledge /
skills tested
CLAT
Pen and Paper based
CLAT Consortium; Bar Council of India
Legal Reasoning, Legal General Knowledge, Logical reasoning, English Comprehension, General knowledge, Quantitative Techniques & Mathematics, Current Affairs
Purpose
Duration of
Exam
Year started
Score / grade range
Score / grade validity
Entrance to National Law Universities, Self-financed law colleges and PSUs
2 hours
2008
-37.5 to 150
1 year
Exam Pattern
This law entrance exam is of two hours duration. The CLAT question paper consists of 150 multiple-choice questions. There are five sections in CLAT exam paper which are:
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English including Comprehension
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Current affairs including General Knowledge
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Legal Reasoning
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Logical Reasoning
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Quantitative Techniques (Mathematics)
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All the questions will be paragraph based starting from CLAT 2020. One paragraph will be followed by 5-6 questions. The break up of marks is generally as follows - English 30, Current Affairs including General Knowledge:37, Quantitative Techniques:15, Logical Reasoning:30 and Legal Reasoning:38.
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Marking Scheme: For every correct answer, aspirants are given one mark and for each wrong answer 0.25 marks are deducted from their total score.
Offered
Restrictions
None
on attempts
Countries / regions
Languages
Annual number of test takers
Prerequisites / eligibility criteria
Fee
Scores / grades used by
Qualification rate
Website
English
77,000 (approx.)
Senior Secondary Exam [High School] in any stream (for UG courses)
Graduation in law ( for PG courses)
4000 INR
National Law Universities, Private Law Colleges, PSU's
3%
Eligibility
Only Indian nationals and NRIs can appear in the test. The foreign nationals desirous of taking admission to any course in any of the participating Law Universities may directly contact the concerned University having seats for foreign nationals.
The eligibility requirements are as follows:
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Under-Graduate Courses
Senior Secondary School/Intermediate (10+2) or its equivalent certificate from a recognized Board with not less than 45% marks in aggregate (40% in case of SC and ST candidates). There is no upper age restriction for the test.
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Post-Graduate Courses
LL. B/B. L. Degree or an equivalent degree from a recognized University with not less than 50% marks in aggregate (45% in case of SC and ST candidates). The candidates who have passed the qualifying degree examination through supplementary/ compartment and repeat attempts are also eligible for appearing in the test and taking Admission provided that such candidates will have to produce the proof of having passed the qualifying examination with fifty-five/fifty percent marks, as the case may be, on the date of their admission or within the time allowed by the respective universities.
List of National Law Universities
The list of National Law Universities in India according to their year of establishment :
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National Law School of India University, Bangalore
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NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
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National Law Institute University, Bhopal
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The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
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National Law University, Jodhpur, Jodhpur
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Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
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Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
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Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow
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National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi
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Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
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Chanakya National Law University, Patna
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National Law University Odisha, Cuttack
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Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Vishakhapatnam
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National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi
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National Law School and Judicial Academy, Guwahati
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Tamil Nadu National Law University, Trichy
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Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai
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Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur
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Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad
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Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla
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Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur
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Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat