CLAT-UG : Preparation Tips for Legal Reasoning
As we all know Consortium of NLUs came up with a new CLAT Exam Pattern last year. Therefore, you must approach the Legal Reasoning section a little differently because the passages will have to be comprehended in order to look for facts and applicable rules.
The questions in the Legal Reasoning section are designed to test your legal reasoning, research aptitude, and problem-solving ability of the legal issues. Three types of questions will be asked from this section: Legal Reasoning, Legal Facts and Legal GK.
You should aim to solve a legal reasoning question in 45 seconds and a legal knowledge question in 12 seconds.
Remember, this section can make a massive difference in CLAT ranking.
Are you worried about how to enhance your legal reasoning skills?
Well, no need to worry!
To help ease out your legal Reasoning preparation, experts at CLATATHON (India’s Advanced Online Platform for CLAT Preparation) have shared some tips and strategies in this article. Following the tips provided by us would definitely help clear this section easily.
What are the Topics under CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning Syllabus ?
Before starting the preparation, it is important to be aware of the CLAT-UG Syllabus & Guide as this will help you know the important topics from the exam point of view.
As we told you earlier that three type of question you will be asked from Legal Reasoning section.
• Legal Reasoning: This section tests your legal aptitude skills. You must apply legal principles to the factual situation. Also, your knowledge in the study of law, research aptitude, and problem-solving ability is also judged through this section. Important topics in this section include the Indian Penal Code, Law of Torts, Law of Contract.
• Legal Facts: This section is based on knowledge of judgments and amendments. Some of the major topics focussed in this section are Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, Preamble, Important Amendments, Important Judgments, Recommendations & Chairpersons of law commissions.
• Legal GK: This is completely based on general awareness and current affairs.
Important topics asked in CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning section:
Legal GK and Awareness |
Current Affairs |
Important Supreme Court Judgments |
Important Acts and Amendments of the Legislature |
Legal Maxims |
Indian Constitution |
Law of Torts |
Strict Liability |
Law of Crimes |
Vicarious Liability |
Law of Contracts |
International Law |
Intellectual Property Rights |
Constitutional Law |
CLAT-UG Exam Pattern: Legal Reasoning
CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning section has passage-based objective questions. Candidates will be required to read a few paragraphs of 450 words, each of which will be followed by a sequence of 3 to 5 questions and answer the questions according to their legal experience.
Given below is the exam pattern for CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning section:
Total Weightage |
25% |
Type of Questions |
Соmрrehensiоn-Type Pаssаge-bаsed Questions |
Total Marks |
35-39 (depending on questions) |
Type of Questions |
Multiple-choice |
Total Questions |
35-39 Questions |
Difficulty Level |
Easy to Moderate |
CLAT-UG: Preparation Books for Legal Reasoning
The following CLAT-UG Preparation Books can be helpful to prepare the legal reasoning section.
Important CLAT Books for Legal Reasoning |
|
Legal Awareness Legal Reasoning |
AP Bhardwaj |
Legal Aptitude for the CLAT and other Law Entrance Examinations |
AP Bhardwaj |
Universal’s CLAT Guide |
Universal |
Legal Aptitude |
RK Gupta,Lexis Nexis |
Universal's Constitution of India Bare Act with Short Notes |
Universal |
How to Answer CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning Questions ?
Here are few CLAT Legal Aptitude Preparation Tips you can follow to answer all the questions asked in Legal Aptitude section easily.
• From this year onwards, facts and principles will not be given separately in the question, make sure to read the passage as well as the Legal Aptitude questions thoroughly to identify the principles.
• You do not have much time to spend reading questions again and again. So, make sure you read it with a focus on the first time.
• After a thorough reading, try to relate the facts drawn with the question and analyze if they support/justify the argument fully without any assumptions.
• Pay attention to all the small details and identify all the principles and their roles in the passage clearly.
• Beware of the small tweaks given in the statements or questions. Hence, paying attention to detail is key here.
• Try to keep your assumptions outside the principle facts and stick to the theories that the principle is always right.
• Do not waste more time on a single question if you are not able to identify the correct answer.
Solve CLAT Legal Reasoning Questions to know which type of questions can be asked and its difficulty level.
CLAT-UG : Legal Reasoning Preparation Strategy ?
• You can easily crack this section with enough practice
• Read new paper daily to enhance your current affair knowledge.
• Allocate at least 2-3 hours of your daily time table for legal reasoning section.
• You must begin with the theory first and then move on to practice questions.
• Focus on improving your language skills.
• Read legal theory: torts, constitutional law, and criminal laws.
• Prepare well on legal terminologies and foreign phrases.
• Rrevision to remember whatever you have studied.
• Follow the order like Principle-Fact-Option-Double check language of correct option with principle and mark for solving questions.
• Solve as many previous year question papers as possible and try to improve in weak areas.
• Manage your time with practicing more MCQs.
CLAT-UG : Legal Reasoning Preparation Tips
Legal Reasoning is an important section when attempting CLAT-UG. In case of tie-breaking situations, marks from the legal reasoning section are used to break the tie. Hence, preparing for this section is of utmost importance.
Here are some Tips to follow while preparing for the CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning section:
♦ Enhancing Reading Skills: One of the most important things to do while studying for CLAT is to read. The time it takes to solve the problems will be dramatically reduced if you have good reading abilities. The complete paper will be made up of numerous portions, so it will have an equal impact on all sections. Aspirants will be required to use comprehension, reasoning, legal knowledge and reading skills in this section. So using exercises to practise ways to enhance these skills will help the Aspirants in the long run.
♦ Read more: Aspirants must make sure that they train themselves to read faster and accurately. This skill is extremely important since the Aspirants will be using the information they retain when reading to write the answers. Reading more newspapers and magazines will also develop the Aspirant’s awareness of current event and more.
♦ Practise: Aspirants should practise using Mock Tests, Sample Papers and Question Papper from the Previous year, so, that they are familiar with the kind of questions they will be asked. This will be beneficial. Not only that this should help them during the exam.
♦ Prepare Thoroughly for the Relevant Topics: Have a thorough understanding of tort law, contract law, the Indian Penal Code, and legal maxims. It is not necessary to memorise it; but, having a basic understanding of how the law operates is sufficient. Remember that the exam isn't about your legal knowledge; it's about your ability to apply it. In addition, any and all relevant information.
♦ Communicate: The spirit of the law is to deliver information. Have nice and spirited talks with your friends or classmates who are also preparing for CLAT regarding the rules you are reading about. Form a viewpoint and learn how to communicate it. If you don't have any CLAT-preparation friends, join telegram groups, discord servers, or other online forums.
♦ Time Management Tips: For questions that involve reasoning, each question should take no more than 45-55 seconds to complete, and legal knowledge questions should take no more than 10 seconds. This nitpicking is important in order to complete all of the questions, however it can be time consuming at times.
How Can I Improve My Time Management Skills for Legal Reasoning Preparation?
Time management is the most crucial factor while solving the legal aptitude section in the CLAT exam. The following CLAT-UG Time Management Tips will help your legal reasoning preparation.
Step 1: The first thing you do is allocate 2-3 hours daily for the legal aptitude section.
Step 2: Collect the required study material from Legal Edge or any proper online resources.
Step 3: Make a timetable for each topic and try to complete all the topics within the fixed time.
Step 4: Set aside the time-consuming topics and revise them at the end of the day.
Step 5: Improve your legal vocabulary by reading the newspaper or watching the news.
Step 6: Try to attempt more and more questions from the CLAT-UG Question Papers regularly to know the difficulty level and the type of questions asked from the legal aptitude section
Step 7: Use the order like Principle - Fact - Option while answering the legal fact questions.
Step 8: Practice mock tests to improve your speed and accuracy
How to Score 30+ marks in CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning Section ?
• Firstly, understand the legal principles in a quick way
• You must know how to apply the facts in the situations and arguments
• Practice Short-Cut Techniques, too. But we would suggest not to ever rely on them. Go through them for knowledge and new ideas.
• Try to understand the concepts. Do not go for cramming.
• Allocate at least 2-3 hours of your daily time for the legal aptitude section.
• Good Reading speed is very important to crack this section.
• Try to read law magazines and have a more legal perspective on issues.
• Practice more and more questions from the previous year’s papers.
• Solve as many mock tests as possible to build your confidence levels.
Sample Question for CLAT-UG Legal Reasoning
FAQs
Q. How long before CLAT should I prepare for Legal Reasoning?
Candidates should prepare for legal reasoning at least one year in advance so they can be familiar with the terms and practices. Within this time frame, candidates should have enough time to revise their subject as well.
Q. Will I be able to attend CLAT Legal Reasoning with one month of preparation?
With only one month of preparation time, attending CLAT will be an extremely difficult task. Candidates should leave enough time to tackle all sections of the exam so as to not fall behind.
Q. How should I answer questions of CLAT Logical Reasoning Preparations?
Candidates should first read the passage carefully, understand it, deduce the answer with their analytical skills and provide a conclusion. Candidates should make sure that the conclusion has adequate arguments.
Q. Is CLAT Legal Reasoning section important during preparation?
Yes, CLAT 2022 Legal Reasoning is the most important part of the exam. Candidates ability to use their knowledge to deduce and solve issues is mostly judged in this section.
Q. What kind of questions should I expect during CLAT Legal Reasoning Preparation?
Candidates should expect more passage-based questions. The questions will be multiple choice objective questions and will be based on the passage given.
Q. Are there any changes to CLAT Legal Reasoning Preparations?
No changes to CLAT 2022 Legal Reasoning Preparations have been announced yet. Any new changes will be made public with the CLAT 2022 Exam Notification.
Q. What changes were made to the CLAT Legal Reasoning Preparations?
In 2020, CLAT exam was revised with the legal reasoning section originally having 50 questions instead of 38-39 questions. Some questions for the previous syllabus were subjective as well.
Q. Is CLAT Legal Reasoning Preparations hard?
Learning legal terminology and rules can be hard and difficult when starting out. However, with continued practice and hard work, candidates will be able to work on learning the basics which are required for the exam.