CLAT 2020 Syllabus, Exam Date and registration

WHAT IS CLAT?

Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a national level entrance examination taken by law aspirants in the country. CLAT is conducted, on a rotational basis, by the 22 National Law Schools/Universities, as per the establishment seniority order. The exam is conducted on an annual basis and is the most important entrance level test for students willing to secure admissions to top NLUs and Law Schools in the country for undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in law.

Every year, The Consortium of National Law Universities releases the syllabus for CLAT examination to be held concurrently. The Consortium also releases the Law Entrance exam date and initiates the application process online, after making live the official website for CLAT. Established on 19th August, 2017, The Consortium of National Law Universities envisioned raising the benchmark of legal education by having a streamlined approach towards conducting all India law entrance examination. It has its headquarters in NLSIU, Bangalore.

In addition to the coveted NLUs, CLAT score is accepted by a wide range of other prestigious and top ranking private colleges like ICFAI University, Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida, Symbiosis Law School, Noida, UPES, Dehradun, Amity University, etc. Many private colleges also conduct their own entrance exams like Lloyd Entrance Test (LET), conducted by Lloyd Law College, SET Law, by Symbiosis Law School, Noida, etc.

CLAT 2020

This year CLAT 2020 is being conducted by the National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi. All the necessary information regarding CLAT 2020 has been officially made available in the public domain by The Consortium on its authorized website (https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2020/). As mentioned on the site,

the schedule for CLAT 2020 is as follows:

Applications begin: january 01, 2020

Application closes: march 31, 2020

Clat 2020 exam date: may 10, 2020

Answr key uploading: may 11, 2020

Time for raising objections: may 12, 2020

Deadline for submitting objections: may 15, 2020

Notification of final answer key: may 18, 2020

Declaration of results: may 24, 2020

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (UG PROGRAMMES)

In order to be able to appear in CLAT 2020 examination, the candidates must have the following set of pre-requisite educational qualifications:

For UR/OBC/SAP (Specially Abled Persons) and other categories: A minimum of 45% in the qualifying examination of class 10+2, from any recognized board in the country or equivalent

A minimum of 45% in the qualifying examination of class 10+2, from any recognized board in the country or equivalent For SC/ST: A minimum of 40% in the qualifying examination of class 10+2, from any recognized board in the country or equivalent.

AGE LIMIT : There is no upper age limit mentioned or prescribed for candidates appearing for CLAT 2020. The students who will be appearing for class 12th board examinations in the months of March/April 2020 would also be eligible to take this exam. The only condition is their ability to produce the result of their board examination post qualifying the exam; at the time of admission. Any failure to comply with the same would amount to rejection of their candidature and consequent cancellation of their admission.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (PG PROGRAMS)

Educational Qualification: Applicant is required to have an LLB or equivalent degree from a recognized university with the following minimum percentage:

For UR/OBC/SAP NRI/PIO/OCI: A minimum of 55% or its equivalent.

A minimum of 55% or its equivalent. For SC/ST: A minimum of 50% or its equivalent.

AGE LIMIT : No upper cap is imposed on the age limit for the candidates. Candidates sitting for qualifying examinations in the months of April/May 2020 are also eligible to apply.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The application form for CLAT 2020 for candidates interested in applying for the undergraduate law courses is available on the website of The Consortium. The applicants are required to create a login account to be able to access the application form. In addition to this, all the candidates with a registered account, and who have initiated application procedure, will also have access to the first sample paper of CLAT 2020 available on the website.

Following are the steps to fill up CLAT 2020 application form:

STEP 1: Registration

The first step requires you to visit the official site https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2020/. Click on the ‘Register’ tab on the top right hand corner of the home page. Fill the necessary credentials like, name, date of birth, phone number, e-mail address and your login password. After submitting the required information and confirming the same, you would proceed to the next step of activating your account.

Account activation can be done by entering the registered mobile number and the OTP received on the same, during the process of registration. Post confirming the creation of your account, it will be activated for the further process of filling up the application form.

Post confirming the creation of your account, it will be activated for the further process of filling up the application form. After the activation of your account, you are supposed to log in by entering your registered mobile number and set password. This will redirect you to a page consisting of the general instructions for filling up the CLAT 2020 form. Click on the ‘Apply for CLAT 2020' button to start the application process.

STEP 2: Filling the CLAT 2020 Application Form

The CLAT 2020 application form consists of Personal details, Communication details, Academic qualification details, Course selection, Category Details and Exam Centre as well the NLU preferences. After filling in all the details and cross checking for their authenticity, click on the ‘Submit’ button.

STEP 3: Upload Documents

You further need to upload the following documents:

Passport size photograph on a plan background (Format: JPEG, Maximum size: 500 KB)

Signature (Format: JPEG, Maximum size: 100 KB)

Domicile Certificate (Format: PDF, Maximum size: 2 MB)

STEP 4: Application Fee

Application fee can be paid via debit card/ credit card/ net banking or by generating a bank challan in the offline mode. The application fee is non-refundable. The registration fee is as follows:

UR/OBC/SAP/NRI/PIO/OCI: Rs 4,000

SC/ST/BPL: Rs 3,500

To be able to access the past year CLAT paper, you need to pay an amount of Rs 500, over and above the application fee. Post the successful completion of all the aforementioned steps, you will receive a confirmation email/ SMS, acknowledging the receipt of your application form.

Certain Important things regarding CLAT 2020 Application form:

Preference of NLUs once marked in the chosen order cannot be changed in future.

Hard copy of the form is not required to be sent to the Consortium office by post.

In case of furnishing of false information in the application form on your end, your form is liable to rejection.

In case of filling up of more than one form, the latest submitted form will be finally considered.

No correction facility after final submission is available for the CLAT applicable form.

SYLLABUS

As per the press release on The Consortium website, the pattern of the question paper and the syllabus for the exam shall bear in mind the average competence of class 12th level students sitting for the exam. CLAT 2020 will be conducted in offline mode where the candidates will have to answer a set of 150 multiple choice questions in 120 minutes. The questions would cover the following subject areas:

For BALL.B Program:

English Language: Comprehension and basic high school grammar.

Comprehension and basic high school grammar. Current Affairs including Static General Knowledge: national affairs, history, geography, environment, art and culture and international relations.

including Static General Knowledge: national affairs, history, geography, environment, art and culture and international relations. Quantitative Aptitude: Elementary mathematics up to class 10 th .

Elementary mathematics up to class 10 . Legal Reasoning: problem solving ability, current legal issues, research aptitude, and hypothetical situation based questions.

problem solving ability, current legal issues, research aptitude, and hypothetical situation based questions. Logical Reasoning: Syllogism and analytical reasoning

For LLB Program:

Constitutional Law

Other Law Subjects like Contract, Torts, Criminal Law, International Law, IPR and Jurisprudence.

REVISED EXAM PATTERN FOR CLAT 2020:

CLAT 2020 question paper will consist of 150 MCQ type questions instead of 200 for BALL.B courses and 100 MCQs (1 mark each) and two subjective) questions (25 marks each) for the post graduate (LL.M) courses. Each question will carry 1 mark and a negative making of -0.25 will be done against every wrong answer. UG paper will not include any subjective questions. For PG applicants, a mixed pattern of MCQ and subjective questions will be there, as per the aforementioned information. For evaluation purpose of PG candidates, as specified in the press release, those securing 40% (35% in case of SC, ST & PWD) marks in the objective type test will only be eligible for assessment of descriptive answers.

Author

Ms. Sakshi Dhaulta

Assistant Professor