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CLAT guidance: how the paper is cracked, from your own numbers
Common Law Admission Test (UG) — 5-year integrated LL.B.. Conducted by Consortium of National Law Universities. Aditi knows this paper from the site's own pattern pages — and reads your scores, your mocks and what you haven't touched before saying a word.
CLAT guidance · Plan my weeksAditi · AI guide · has read your profile
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Aditi · AI guideEnglish
On the table
Carries the marks · English LanguageReading comprehension — the passage methodQs in paper all Open the chapter
The paper · CLAT120 questions, 120 marksWrong answers cost marks
Aditi“Before we plan anything: when do you sit CLAT, and how many hours a day do you really have?”
Talk TypeEnd & get my plan06:12
Ends in a plan
Stages
3
The paper
120 questions, 120 marks
Marking
Wrong answers cost marks
Your guide
Aditi, free
How it's decided
CLAT, stage by stage
Once a year (application ~Aug–Oct; exam on the first Sunday of December). Offline, pen-and-paper (OMR) — 120 comprehension-based MCQs.
CLAT examYour entire score
25 per wrong answer. There is no separate qualifying stage — this single score is your rank, so no section is 'just a gate'.
All-India Rank & merit listRanking
Your raw score (after negative marking) becomes an All-India Rank and a category rank. The Consortium publishes the merit list directly — CLAT UG has no interview or group discussion.
Counselling & seat allotmentAdmission
Register for centralised counselling, lock your NLU + programme preferences and pay the fee. Seats are allotted across five rounds by rank, preference and category to 24 NLUs + IIULER Goa.
The paper
What you sit, and how it is marked
CLAT UG — single comprehension-based paper
120 questions120 marks2 hoursNegative marking
Merit — this one paper decides your rank
Marking: −0.25 per wrong answer
English LanguageCurrent Affairs incl. General KnowledgeLegal ReasoningLogical ReasoningQuantitative Techniques
Every question carries 1 mark and is tied to a passage. There are NO sectional time limits — the 120 minutes are yours to allocate. Legal Reasoning and Current Affairs are the two biggest sections (28–32 questions each), together nearly half the paper.
Where the marks come from
Where your 120 marks come from
CLAT is a single paper — unlike a two-stage recruitment exam, every one of the 120 marks counts straight toward your All-India Rank. There is no qualifying gate and no interview.
Legal Reasoning30 marks · 25%
28–32 questions. Pure principle-application — no prior law needed. The most learnable big block; toppers bank it near 90%.
Current Affairs incl. GK30 marks · 25%
28–32 questions off news-based passages. Zero calculation, but needs a year-long reading habit — the cheapest marks if you're current.
English Language24 marks · 20%
22–26 questions from 3–4 passages. Speed and inference here free up time for every other section.
Logical Reasoning24 marks · 20%
22–26 questions of critical reasoning — arguments, assumptions, inferences. A skill you drill, not facts you memorise.
Quantitative Techniques12 marks · 10%
10–14 questions of Class-10 maths on data caselets. Smallest section — but easy, high-accuracy marks if you don't panic.
What changed this cycle
Things last year's advice gets wrong
The paper was shortened from 150 to 120 questions (still 1 mark each, still 2 hours). Fewer questions in the same time slightly eases the clock, but every question now carries more weight.
Every section is comprehension-based: you read a ~450-word passage and answer 4–6 questions on it. Standalone one-line GK, grammar or maths questions are gone — application beats rote recall.
There are no sectional time limits and no sectional cut-offs. You budget the full 120 minutes across all five sections yourself, so passage-reading speed is decisive.
25 per wrong answer. With no sectional locks, smart section-order and disciplined skipping of genuine unknowns matter more than raw attempts.
The chapters that carry the marks
Where a plan for CLAT usually starts
The highest-weight chapters in each subject, linked to their notes. Weights are estimates from previous papers where the conducting body publishes none. Your guide weighs these against your own scores.
CAT, XAT, CLAT and CUET: selection over speed, and reading the paper before it reads you. Pick one to start, or just talk — Aditi has read your profile either way.
CLAT UG — single comprehension-based paper: 120 questions, 120 marks, 2 hours (120 min). Marking: −0.25 per wrong answer
Is there negative marking in CLAT?
Yes. −0.25 per wrong answer
What decides the final merit in CLAT?
CLAT is a single paper — unlike a two-stage recruitment exam, every one of the 120 marks counts straight toward your All-India Rank. There is no qualifying gate and no interview.
What has changed in CLAT recently?
The paper was shortened from 150 to 120 questions (still 1 mark each, still 2 hours). Fewer questions in the same time slightly eases the clock, but every question now carries more weight.
What does the CLAT guide know about me?
Only what you have done on the site: your scores by subject and chapter for CLAT, what you have never been tested on, the kinds of mistake you make across topics, your mocks, your projected score, your error book, your last two weeks and your goals. You can open the exact page Aditi reads before you start.
Is it free?
Talking to Aditi, the AI guide, is free — up to four talks a day. Real guides who have cleared or teach CLAT set their own prices, and many offer a free call or a short demo.
Every fact on this page comes from the exam's blueprint on this site. How the guide uses it: how Guidance works.
