Kazi Ashique, a classroom student in CLATapult, fetched an AIR 284 CLAT 2018. This is the third year in a row that CLATapult has had such terrific results, after the splendid performances in CLAT 2016 and 2017 by Sreeja Pal and Anindya Kanan (their interviews are HERE and HERE respectively).

Seven students who qualified for NUJS from CLATapult in CLAT 2018 are Ishan Mazumder, Yashashwini Santuka, Agniva Chakrabarti, Kazi Ashique, Mayukh Mandal, Istela Jameel and Ankita Biswas.

In this Interview, Kazi talks about his journey from his decision to start preparing for CLAT after Class XIIth to the outstanding news of fetching such an amazing rank in CLAT 2018.

What prompted you to choose law? 

A movie – as odd as it may sound but a movie named Shahid (on the life of Shahid Azmi) is what truly inspired me and showed me how much a person can do as a lawyer. I always had an inclination towards Science but after higher secondary there came a moment when I was not sure if it was the correct choice anymore. So, after a lot of thought I decided to go for law.

 

When did you start preparing for the exam? Take us through how you prepared for each subject in CLAT.
 
Although I took a year off, I should have started from day one itself. But without any proper guidance, I was just going through the content in a heedless manner. 
It was only after I joined CLATapult in October that I got direction as to where to put my efforts.

I never studied in a systematic manner and it was rather haphazard. Although everyone told me to do the past years’ papers, I delayed it quite a bit which wasn’t the best of ideas.
Coming to each subject;
Mathematics – As a Science student, it was my strength but I still had to look up for some tricks (from quicker mathematics by M Tyra) to do the sums as quickly as possible.
English –  I practiced from past years’ papers/ CLATapult coaching materials/online. Norman Lewis suffices for vocabulary and if one can get his/her hand on The Hindu (which was not possible for me), it will definitely be a lot helpful.
GK – My Achilles Heel. Although I could cope up with the Current Affairs through different sources (newspaper/gk today/CLATapult materials) but couldn’t even bring myself to try to read through the static GK portion.

 

You had taken a year off before CLAT 2018. How did you go about that year in between? 

 

It got quite boring sometimes but had to go on if I was to get into my dream NLU. Mocks, GK (although I hated it but it is what kept me busy) and a whole lot of sitcoms is what kept me going.
There were also teachers at CLATapult, especially Aditya Sir with his daily dose of motivation and at times funny talks that inspired me to keep progressing.Coming to your incredible CLAT score – what was your initial reaction to it? 

Honestly, I was both happy and disappointed – happy because I wasn’t expecting it after the exam went, let’s say, not so well,  but disappointed because I had prepared for it a whole year and was expecting more 

 

How did CLATapult contribute to this?  

When I talk about CLATapult, I talk about the teachers who have guided me through everything throughout the year and are the greatest contributors to my score.

 

Which skills and abilities do you consider important to do well in CLAT? 

If someone had asked me this question a day before the exam, my answer would be being logical, smart and hard work, but now the only answer I have is temperament and being level-headed which I was not that costed me quite a few marks. 

 

Your strengths and weaknesses – how did you deal with them? 

Strengths – Reading – I don’t mean to say that I was a bibliophile but could spend the whole day reading random stuff which was good both for my reading skill and GK (although nothing from what I read came in the test). Maths was my favorite subject so no sweat there either although it also didn’t help in the exam much.

Weakness – GK – I had studied current affairs day and night the month before exam and it still had surprises up its pocket.  
Static GK – I wasn’t much a fan but had still studied some of it with the help of Rohit sir who at times seemed more dedicated than us, the students 

 

What do you think might have been the ‘special ingredients’ in your strategy that put your score so high up the scale? 

I wouldn’t call my score very high but if I were to name one special ingredient – it would be smart work rather than hard work.

 

 

Any words of advice for the aspirants?

Do not ever doubt yourselves. Even if you are at the rock bottom, remember, just a little work and it can be the opposite . Work Hard but smart. Work on your weakness and stay focused.
Believe you can and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt