CLAT stands for Common Law Admissions Test. It is an all India entrance examination conducted by the Consortium of NLUs for admissions to the under-graduate and post graduate degree programmes (LL. B & LL.M) of 22 National Law Universities in India. CLAT this year has been exceptional in many ways as it saw a sweeping change in the exam pattern, total no of questions, multiple reschedules owing to Covid-19, and controversy even when NLSIU Bangalore, just a couple of weeks before the CLAT, decided to conduct their own separate exam - NLAT. Although the Hon’ble Supreme Court later scrapped the NLAT and ordered NLSIU to accept CLAT 2020 score only. 

Then the day arrived finally, and every nay-sayer was laid to rest in peace. The consortium conducted the CLAT 2020 successfully from 2 PM to 4 PM on 28th September. The exam this year was originally slated to be conducted in Paper & Pencil mode but due to several postponements already it was conducted in the Computer based Test format. Many students heaved a sigh of relief as the exam has been due for quite some time.

A total of 75,183 candidates applied for CLAT-2020 out of which 68,833 candidates had downloaded the admit cards. Of those who had downloaded the admit cards, 86.20% appeared for the test.

Given below is the pattern and the section wise breakup of the paper.

Let us look at each of the areas in detail:

English

• Level: Moderate but lengthy
• No of passages: Six
• A brief description is as below:
• Climate Change
• Bois Locker Room controversy - Editorial Published in Times of India, dated 6 May 2020
• Excerpts from a Short story, “The Cat” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
• The night came slowly - Short Story by Kate Chopin
• Excerpts from “The Case for the Defence” by Graham Greene
• Telemedicine and Covid-19 - Editorial published in “The Hindu” on April 17, 2020
• No. of recommended attempts: 21+

Current Affairs including GK 

• Level: Moderate
• No of passages: Seven
•  A brief description is as below:
• Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan: National Infrastructure Pipeline - Excerpt from Hindustan Times, written by Rajeev Jayaswal. (Dated 15th August 2020)
• RBI’s Forex Management Strategy - Excerpt taken from the Print.in, written by Manojit Saha. (Dated 2nd September 2020)
• The Rafael Deal - Excerpt taken from the NDTV, reported by Vishnu Som, Edited by Shylaja Varma. (Dated – 27th July 2020)
• Indo-Nepal Relations (The Lipulekh Pass) - Excerpt from the brookings.edu, written by Dr. Constantino Xavier. (Dated- 11th June 2020)
• National Policy on Education - Excerpt taken from downtoearth.org.in, written by Nitin Mehta & Gagan Mehta. (Dated 14th August 2020)
• SAARC - Excerpt taken from The Hindu, written by Suhasini Haider. (Dated 17th September 2020.)
• UAE-Israel Relations - Excerpt from the Economic Times, written by Indrani Bagchi. (Dated – 16th August 2020)

• No. of recommended attempts: 23+

Logical Reasoning

• Level: Moderate-Tough
• No of passages: Five (with 25 questions)
• A brief description of the passages:
• Digital transformation of the news media - Excerpt from an Article by A.S. Panneerselvan, The Hindu, dated August 10, 2020
• Anti-alcohol campaign in the then USSR - Excerpt from an Opinion by Bhanu Pratap Mehta, The Indian Express, May 7, 2020
• The Class XII CBSE pass result in the wake of pandemic - TOI Edit, Times of India Editorials, Dated July 15, 2020
• Work from Home - Excerpt from „Down to Earth‟ Magazine, Blog authored by Sugeet Grover, August 17, 2020
• Online Classes - Excerpt from an Article by Sneha Saha, The Indian Express, dated April 18, 2020
• No of standalone questions: Five with four questions based on Critical Reasoning and one on Coding-decoding
• No. of recommended attempts: 20+

Quantitative Techniques

• Level: Easy-Moderate
• Total no of passages: Three
• A brief description of the passages is as below:
• Cases of Japanese Encephalitis in five states of India – A combination of Bar-Graph and Table
• Set based on the dimensions of a room – Tabular data 
• Set based on Geometry/Mensuration
• No. of recommended attempts: 8+

Legal Reasoning

• Level: Moderate
• Total no of passages: Eight
• A brief description of the passages is as below:
• Covid-19 - Excerpt from Business Today, by Ranjana Roy Gawai, April 17, 2020
• The issue of Obscenity
• Leakage of Styrene gas in LG Polymers, Visakhapatnam
• Principle of Natural Justice - Excerpt taken from blog.ipleaders.in (Dated - 12th June 2019
• Palghar Mob Lynching - Excerpt from The Hindu, written by Alok Deshpande (22/04/2020)
• Republic TV Editor in-Chief Arnab Goswami for alleged defamatory news show telecast on April 21 in connection with the Palghar mob-lynching case - Excerpt from Arnab Ranjan Goswami vs Union of India on 19 May 2020
• Common intention
• Article 20(1) of the Indian Constitution and Ex Post Facto laws
• No. of recommended attempts: 26+

Overall Analysis

With the exam pattern being substantially different than the last year’s and completely based on comprehension, the cut-offs for the Top 3 NLUs is expected to be around 93(+/-)2. There is no sectional cut-off

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by T.I.M.E. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information

All the best
Team T.I.M.E.