CLAT Vs Other Law Entrances

CLAT Vs Other Law Entrances: Which is easier, know all about them

Law has emerged as one of the most sought career option after 12th more so with plethora of lucrative opportunities available in various top law firms in the country. Emergence of world class national law universities have made legal field all the more attractive where the brightest minds of the country study and explore the world of law with new lenses. Law is no more only litigating in a court with black robes but a degree in law from a premier institute opens a lot of opportunities for a successful career. Those interested in making a good career in this field strive to be part of prestigious national law universities that provides them with great faculty, world class infrastructure, accomplished alumni base, facilitates good internships and most importantly provides lucrative placements. However to get into one of the top national National Universities a candidate has to compete with cream interested in this field and write a very popular exam called Common Law Admission test (CLAT). Those writing CLAT also appear for other law entrance exams to make sure they end up in a decent law university with the same level of preparation.

Earlier newly formed NLUs used to have their own entrance examinations that proved very successful however lately a common platform has been created that gives the option to get one of the 24 NLUs offered by CLAT. Around 60K candidates appear for CLAT(UG) to get admissions into 5 five year integrated program in law from Various NLU Campuses. Top Preferred NLUs are the ones in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Jodhpur, Gandhinagar and the list continues as per the hierarchy. Higher the rank of the candidate better the chances of landing into the NLU of his preference.

Other Law entrance examinations apart from CLAT are several. One is AILET for admission into National Law University of Delhi which is one of the most prestigious and higher ranked NLU with the geographical advantage of the Capital with Supreme Court, High Court and most top Law Firms situated in Delhi thereby facilitating internships and placements and giving great exposure. Those writing CLAT and AILET also write other exams like SLAT which is for Symbiosis Law School, again a very reputed law. There is also an Exam called MHCET which is for admissions into law colleges situated in Maharashtra which is also quite popular because some of the legendary colleges like GLC Bombay and ILS Pune are part of MHCET that has produced some of the greatest lawyers and judges in India. Then there are state level entrance examinations of various states like Kerala law entrance examinations and also some prestigious universities offering BA LLB courses like Benaras Hindu University.

Talking about the syllabus and pattern, it is more or less the same for all entrance examinations. Since a candidate is an aspiring lawyer his English language, verbal ability and vocabulary should be strong as he will be reading and analysing judgements and books. So English language is a common component in all these entrance examinations. Other area that is tested is legal reasoning. Although a 12th class student is not expected to know the intricacies of Law as they have not studied it in schools but it s tested to some extent in all the above mentioned entrance tests. CLAT expressly mentions that outside knowledge of law is not required but a passage will be provided and the candidate has to understand and interpret the passage to arrive at the right answer with the help of information supplied in the passage itself. A good reading habit of newspaper helps in both these sections i.e English and Legal Reasoning as by reading editorials from mainstream newspapers a candidate get exposed to good vocabulary and comes across legal news that helps him comprehend the same. Newspaper reading also helps in Current affairs and GK section tested in all the above-mentioned entrance tests so a candidate should be aware of the national and international events happened at least till 7-8 months before the candidate appearing for the paper CLAT or otherwise. Basic level Mathematics is also tested which is easily doable as 10th level maths questions are asked and it has the least weightage in all the papers. Last year there were only 15 questions of Quant out of 150 in CLAT. Another most important component of paper is Logical reasoning that tests a candidate’s critical and analytical reasoning ability and could be done through practice and common sense.

Talking about the difficulty level since CLAT has the maximum number of candidates, the competition is always neck to neck where a single mark can take one’s rank from top to bottom. However CLAT has 24 NLUs participating while AILET has only one NLU for which all candidates participate so chances of getting NLU Delhi is more bleak than getting any decent NLU through CLAT. Also the difficulty level of AILET paper is usually higher than that of CLAT. For SLAT and MHCET the competition is also tough but relatively lesser number of candidates appear. For BHU a candidate has to write CUET exam.

With more of less common pattern and syllabus for all the law entrance examinations a candidate can choose to try his luck in multiple examinations with the amount of time and effort he puts for one examination say CLAT. Ambition should be to get the best NLU but one should be prepared for a back up option and give his best in all the exams that he appears for a great five year of campus life and a successful career in law ahead.