The syllabus for the Common Law Admissions Test (CLAT syllabus) has been prescribed by the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) for the year 2023. The CLAT syllabus 2023 has been revised from last year’s exam.
Comprising 150 questions in total, the UG CLAT will be for a duration of 2 hours. The CLAT syllabus prescribed for the exam is as follows:
- English Language
- Current Affairs comprising General Knowledge
- Legal Reasoning
- Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Techniques
English Language
Candidates will be given passages of 400–450 words, ranging in themes from fiction to contemporary history; these take anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes to read. Each passage is followed by questions meant to determine the comprehension and reading skills of the candidates. The candidates are expected to:
- Read the passage carefully and understand the main theme (or story), arguments and opinions,
- Come to conclusions from the passage and answer the questions that follow,
- Summarise the entire story,
- Decode the meaning of difficult phrases and words used in the passage.
Some of the important English Language sections of the revised CLAT Syllabus 2023 include:
- Synonyms and Antonyms
- Idioms and Phrases
- Definition of words
- Spelling Correction
- Finding errors in sentences
- Substitution (One word)
- Analogies
- Homonyms
- Comprehension
- Adjectives
- Conjunction and Articles
- Nouns and Pronouns
- Fill in the blanks
- Errors in speech
- Voice
- Spotting grammatical mistakes
Current Affairs Including General Knowledge
This section will aim to test the candidates’ general awareness and their knowledge regarding the current affairs of India as well as the world. General knowledge questions can range from Indian history and geography to contemporary world history. Candidates may have to read passages that test their knowledge-absorbing capacity. This section includes:
- The latest global and national events
- Questions on culture and arts of different communities
- International and national political affairs
- Significant events that changed the course of history.
Legal Reasoning
This section will also contain passages of about 400–450 words, which will be centred around legal matters or government policies. The passages will be such that a candidate need not have any prior knowledge of the law. The questions that follow the passage will be testing the moral and philosophical thinking capacities of the candidates. Candidates should prepare themselves accordingly to be able to apply their moral thinking capabilities and propose answers to the scenarios given in the passage.
The questions that follow will require the candidate to:
- Identify the principles that have been taken up in the passage
- Ability to alter the rules as per the situations
Some of the core Legal Reasoning parts of the new CLAT syllabus are listed below:
- Legal Maxims
- Constitution of India
- Indian Penal Code
- Family Law
- Basics of legal principles and terms
- Information on the landmark cases and judgements of the Supreme Court
- Law of Torts
Logical Reasoning
The Logical Reasoning section of UG-CLAT 2023 will consist of comparatively shorter passages of about 300 words each. The passages will test the logical reasoning skills and argument analysis capabilities. They will also be testing candidates’ ability to read and understand facts and scenarios and apply them to new situations based on their reading of the previous passages.
The passages will be followed by questions that will test the candidate’s ability to:
- Identify arguments and their premises and draw conclusions from them
- Determine the arguments in the passage
- Understand the conclusions given in the passage or draw their own conclusions to the passage and be ready with the answers
- Learn what the passage is trying to convey and apply it to new situations according to the questions
Some of the important topics that are covered in the Logical Reasoning section of the CLAT Syllabus 2023 are given below:
- Arguments and statements
- Assumptions and statements
- Numerical test
- Coding and Decoding
- Ranking Data
- Conclusions based on statements
- Actions and Statements
- Analogy
- Syllogism
- Blood Relationships
- Distance test and Direction
Quantitative Techniques
For testing the quantitative aptitude of the candidates, they will be given graphs, propositions, and numerical details. The candidates will have to answer questions based on the information provided in them. They must be able to calculate the values based on the information and find the answer by applying mathematical techniques and operations. The questions will be based on:
- Ratios and Proportion
- Statistical prediction
- Basic Algebra
- Mensuration: Area and Volume
- Data Interpretation of charts and graphs
- Clocks and Calendars
- Permutation and Combination
- Profit and Loss
- Percentage
- Interest
- HCF
- LCM
- Average
- Time and Work
- Decimals and Fractions
- Logarithms and Functions
- Number system
- Roots and Indices
After completing the registration for UG CLAT 2023, the Consortium of National Law Universities will provide candidates with links and access to study materials that will help them prepare for the exam. Also, candidates are advised to practice reading to improve their speed and comprehension capacity so that they can answer multiple questions without wasting much time. The candidates must keep themselves acquainted with recent affairs and news using different modes of news media. For the quantitative aptitude part, candidates will have to work on their speed of calculation. They are advised to practice maths from CBSE classes VII to X.
