What is the first step towards cracking CLAT?
Analysing the past year papers and figuring what CLAT is all about.
The first and the founding step towards preparing for the exam is to understand the pattern of the exam which you plan to take. It is supremely important to understand exactly the kind of questions which will be asked in the paper.
An aspirant should start right from the papers of 2008 CLAT.
Analyzing the past year papers is the first step towards cracking CLAT. The question, How to crack CLAT in 40 days is tough to explain and answer, however, getting to know the exam pattern is the first step.
CLAT aspirants should realise the fundamentals of the questions and also the level of understanding of subjects expected from them. This realisation can only be attained from analyzing the past year papers.
How do you analyze the past years’ papers?
Catch hold of a sheet, a pen and divide the sheets into five columns and try demarcating the types of questions asked in each section.
In the GK section try to look for the questions asked in both Current Affairs and Static GK. In Static GK , further analyse the number of questions asked from Constitutional History, Geography, Science et al.
Apply this step in every section and try figuring the chapters in each section to emphasize more upon. You, also, will get a fair idea of what is expected out of the CLAT paper.
You will take around 3 hours to evaluate one CLAT paper. Therefore, it will take 30 hours to evaluate all the past years’ papers for CLAT and another 25 hours to evaluate all the AILET papers.
This can be wrapped up in the first five days of your CLAT prep.
This is the first and an incredibly important step towards cracking CLAT in 30 days.
Realizing the amount of time you have in hand.
With such less an amount of time in your hand, you need to realize the importance of every hour which needs to be utilized optimally to excel in the exam. You only have a few days and none could be spared in vain. Every day, every minute, every hour counts. Thus, the second step is explained as follows;
RUN! RUN! RUN! NO TIME TO STOP AND LOOK BACK.
How to go about attempting the subjects? Understanding how many hours you will have to give to particular subjects.
This is the most crucial part. An aspirant needs to realize their strength and weaknesses. This will help you in understanding the quantum of efforts you will be making in each subject.
We should realize that the CLAT paper demands three important skills
- Time management
- The approach towards attempting questions
- Knowledge and how easily you can you tackle unfavorable situation (All the CLAT 2015 takers can understand this point)
An aspirant from Science background might find Mathematics section relatively easier than other sections. Therefore, they can devote the time they should be allocating to Mathematics to General Knowledge which most of Science aspirants find comparatively difficult.
For an aspirant from Humanities background, what should the approach be to crack CLAT?
Usually, most students from Humanities find the General Knowledge section to be relatively easier than other sections. Therefore, they might allocate the time they will be allocating to GK to other sections which they find more difficult.
You need to understand that you cannot afford to ignore any section. Every section is equally important and requires smart work and presence of mind.
You not only need to work hard but need to work smart as well!
Section wise analysis. How much time to give to each section.
Before beginning with this part, as a clarification, this is just a sample time-table which is a standard method for every CLAT aspirant. An aspirant should choose the number of hours to devote to each section as per their own strengths and weaknesses.
General Knowledge
GK has always been a scary prospect for the majority of CLAT aspirants.
GK has two components:
- Current Affairs
- Static GK
Current Affairs
How a month’s current event is 7 hours play?
This is the way to attempt the current event.
- Firstly, focus on first 10 ten days events. Give a thorough read to every event. (This will take 45 minutes.)
- Second, jot down the important event of those 10 days. (Another 30 minutes)
- Finally, before moving towards the next 10 days current event, give a glimpse view again to all the happening of first 10 days. (Hardly 10 minutes).
- Continue the same for next 10 days and thereafter, for the next 10 days. In this manner, a month’s current event will get done thoroughly within 7 hours.
A TOTAL OF 7X 12 = 84 HOURS FOR CURRENT EVENTS. (MAXIMUM 5 DAYS)
Static GK
Take any good book on static GK. Focus on chapters such as History, Geography, Constitution, and Miscellaneous. Please understand that static GK can be anything under the Sun. Therefore, an aspirant should make a smart attempt. Focus only on those sections from GK which is heavily tested in CLAT.
Mathematics
Again the same principle as is applied in Static GK applies in Maths section too. There are in total, 10-12 Chapters which are heavily tested in CLAT papers. These include Profit loss, Time Speed and Distance, Percentage, Number System, Fractions, Probability, Averages, Time and Work, Ratio and Proportion, Simple and compound interest (those banking questions).
FOLLOW ANY GOOD BANKING LEVEL BOOKS AND PRACTICE THESE SECTIONS. THESE 10-12 CHAPTERS CAN BE GET DONE WITH, WITHIN 7 DAYS.
Legal Reasoning
Legal reasoning is the most scoring part of all the sections. It is a combination of Reading Comprehension and few legal principles where your own knowledge is of no use. It boils down entirely to the amount of practice you decide to infuse into your CLAT Preparation process.
You, as an aspirant, need to understand the legal principles asked in the legal reasoning part. You need to acquaint yourselves with the fundamentals of laws such as torts, crime, constitution.
After going through these laws, an aspirant will have more clear understanding of the principles asked in the legal reasoning section.
Logical Reasoning
Logical reasoning, especially Analytical Reasoning, is the simpler version of Mathematics. There are few chapters such as Blood Relationship, Puzzles, Syllogism, mostly analytical reasoning part, which are heavily tested in CLAT. An aspirant can get the Logical reasoning section done along with Mathematics within 10 days.
Critical Reasoning is a tricky space and your own knowledge matters here. It requires an immense amount of practice to do well in this section.
English
Practice reading comprehension, para jumble- sentences, and devote an hour a day.
Attempting Mock
Without attempting the mocks, all your efforts will go in vain. In 30 days, an aspirant must take a maximum number of mocks possible. Without Mock tests, no amount of effort will work.
Mock helps you in analyzing and structuring your preparatory process with where you are going wrong and how to fix the problems. It also gives a fair idea of your standing with other fellow competitors. A minimum number of 60 mocks must be attempted.
Compartmentalizing your time while attempting the mocks
- 200 questions in 120 minutes.
- 50 GK questions can be attempted within 10 minutes.
- Therefore, 150 questions left in 110 minutes.
- 20 questions from Mathematics section – an aspirant can get over with it within another 20 minutes (maximum).
- Thereafter, 40 questions from English will hardly take 25 minutes. What we are left is 90 question unanswered and 65 minutes.
- 50 questions from the Legal Reasoning section must be finished within 35 minutes. Logic must be finished within 30 minutes.
Read Current Affairs for CLAT 2018 HERE
Find our experts’ Preference List for CLAT 2018 HERE
Learn about improving your speed in CLAT and being able to finish the paper before everybody else HERE
