CLAT syllabus is important to look at during the preparation of the entrance exam to all law programs available in the different National Law Universities or NLUs. The eligibility criteria to appear for the CLAT is the completion of 10+2 or an equivalent examination from a recognized board with English as one of the subjects. Preparing for the CLAT exam is quite tough if you have no clue as to how to go about it. This article will help you to understand the syllabus as well as give you a few preparation tips for each section.
CLAT Syllabus
CLAT question papers are divided into five parts:
- English
- General knowledge and Current Affairs
- Legal Reasoning
- Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Techniques
The table given below will give you an idea of what topics need to be covered in each subject of the CLAT syllabus:
| Section | Syllabus |
| English | Reading Comprehension, Synonyms & Antonyms, Fill in the blanks, Para-jumbles, One-word Substitutions, Sentence Correction, Idioms and Phrases, Proverbs and Prepositions, Parts of Speech, Analogy. |
| General knowledge and Current Affairs | Geography, Economics, History, Politics, Current Affairs, Science, Computers, Books and Authors, Awards and Winners, Sports, Technology, Eminent Personalities, Taglines, Mergers, and Acquisitions, etc. |
| Logical Reasoning | Analogy, Series, DirectionsNon-verbal reasoning, Series, Syllogism, Order and Ranking, Blood relations, Statement and Inference, Clock, Coding and Decoding, Data Sufficiency, Sitting Arrangement, Puzzles, Inequality, etc. |
| Quantitative Techniques | Number System, Profit and loss, ratio and proportion, Data Interpretation, Time and Work, Simple and Compound Interest, Percentage, Average and Allegation, Functions, Limits and Continuity, Logarithm, Trigonometry, Probability, Permutation and Combination, Binomial Theorem, Calculus, Complex Numbers, Complex Numbers, Coordinate Geometry, etc. |
The section Legal reasoning does not have a prescribed syllabus. It checks your basic knowledge in legal matters.
Section-wise Preparation Tips for CLAT
There are a few things you can do to prepare yourself for each section of the CLAT syllabus. Given below are tips regarding each section of the exam, that will help you to be the maximum productive while preparing for the exam:
1.English Language
This is the section in CLAT where you can score the most. Revise all grammar concepts you learned in school and keep reading extra books when you have time in order to get acquainted with how the language is used. You can also use the following books:
- High School English Grammar & Composition Revised Edition by Wren and Martin
- Objective General English by S.P. Bakshi
- Pearson’s English
2.General Knowledge and Current Affairs
To prepare for the CLAT syllabus of this section, make sure that you know what is going on in the world. Read newspapers daily and stay updated on events around the world. You can also subscribe to internet quizzing apps or sites so that you can learn wherever you are, whether you have a book or not. Make use of good studying guides like the following:
- Manorama Yearbook
- Pratiyogita Darpan
- Lucent’s GK
3.Logical Reasoning
You can focus on Logical Reasoning the last since the only way of preparing for this section is practicing continuously, even though this is an easy mark-fetching section. You can come back to it whenever you feel like taking a break from studying other sections since the questions are puzzle-like and would freshen you up a bit. The following are a few books that can be of help:
- Verbal Reasoning Book by RS Agarwal
- 501 Challenging Logical reasoning Practice Book
- A New Approach to Reasoning Verbal and Non-Verbal by B.S. Sijwali and Indu Sijwali
4.Quantitative Techniques
The two important concerns when it comes to preparation using the CLAT syllabus of this section are the number of questions you get right and the time you take to answer them. In order to prepare for this section, refresh your memory on the basic concepts of math you learned in school. You would also have to constantly practice solving questions in order to improve your speed. Try to understand the different ways a single question can be asked. During the exam, make sure to not linger long on a particular question if you don’t know how to solve it. Come back to the difficult ones after answering everything else, to save time.
You can use the following books for preparations:
- 10 and 11 NCERT Math textbooks.
- Quantitative Aptitude by RS Aggarwal
- 30 Days Wonder Maths by S Chand
5.Legal Reasoning
This section is different from all others. There is no syllabus prescribed as it tests your basic knowledge in legal matters. Read up on basic constitutional and legal knowledge for this section and try to get to know the major legal battles that have happened in the country.
In addition, make sure to attempt CLAT mock tests and check your scores after testing yourself on CLAT previous year question papers. You can thus analyse which subjects you need to give more attention to. Try to devise a strategy to minimize your negative marks in these sections. Once you’re done preparing using the CLAT syllabus, you are all set to write CLAT. To check out further details about the preparation strategy for CLAT, take a look here.
