CRACKING CLAT PG: INSIDERS TIPS FOR LLM ASPIRANTS -

INTRODUCTION:

CLAT PG is an entrance exam to join national law Universities and other top ranked law college in India. Many law students dream is to join National law University and pursue LLM programs. To join they have to clear the CLAT exam with top scores. It is a gateway to achieve the dreams of thousands of law graduates.

LLM:

LLM stands for masters of law. LLM is a two/one year course which offered In many universities and colleges for in-depth knowledge in specific field and analytical and intensive research on that specific field.

LLM is a postgraduate course which basically has 4 semester course curriculum but differs in some courses and in-depth learning of specific subject. Many students pursue LLM programs to specialize in a specific field which helps them to acquire a job in that field

VARIOUS ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS:

There are various entrance exams conducted in India to join several universities to pursue LLM. Some are,

CLAT PG
CUET LLM
AILET LLM
LSAT LLM
ILI LLM
IIT KGP LLM
TISS NET LLM

These are some entrance exams conducted in India to do LLM. The First and foremost option for every law student is to do a LLM course is National law Universities in India. To join National law Universities one has to clear CLAT PG which is conducted by national test agency.

CLAT PG:

CLAT PG Stands for Common Law Admission test of master in law. CLAT PG is an entrance exam to admit in post graduate program in 24 national law Universities.

CLAT is organized by the Consortium of National Law Universities, comprising representative universities. Several affiliate universities and organizations also use the CLAT exam for admissions and recruitment respectively.

The CLAT was first conducted in 2008, after the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) issued a notification in 2007, making it mandatory for all NLUs to conduct a common entrance test for admission to their five-year integrated courses.
The CLAT is a computer-based test, and is conducted at various test centers across India. The results of the CLAT are declared online.

The CLAT is a highly competitive exam to join law course in India. But with consistency, hard work and through proper guidance one can crack it.

List of universities that come under consortium of NLUs as of 2024:

Other colleges accepting CLAT scores are ARMY INSTITUTE OF LAW, SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL, JINDAL GLOBAL LAW SCHOOL, LLOYD LAW COLLEGE is considered as the best among all.

CLAT PG ELIGIBILITY:

An LL.B. Degree or an equivalent examination with a minimum of

General/OBC/PWD/NRI/PIO/OCIcategories–50%

SC/ST categories – 45%

Candidates appearing for their qualifying examination in April/May are also eligible to apply.
There is no upper age limit for appearing.

CLAT PG EXAM FORMAT:

SYLLABUS for CLAT PG:

Constitutional Law
Jurisprudence
Administrative Law
Law of Contract, Torts
Family Law
Criminal Law
Property Law
Company Law
Public International Law
Tax Law
Environmental Law
Labour & Industrial Law

BOOKS TO REFER:

All in one Books-

Universal’s Guide To LL.M. Entrance Examination, Including Previous Years Solved Papers
Singhal Law Publications 9^th Edition 2021 of Solved Papers of LL.M. Entrance Examinations.

Constitutional law -M P Jain Indian Constitutional Law by M.P. Jain Constitution of India by V. N. Shukla by Mahendra Pal Singh.

IMPORTANT TOPICS:

Constitutional Law:

Constitutional law has the highest weightage in CLAT LLM. One should first understand the constitution of India. They should refer bare acts and should refer various books and articles, lectures and blogs for great understanding.

Fundamental rights
Fundamental duties
Supreme Court, High Court, District Court, and Tribunals (Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Bodies)
Rights and Duties
Official Languages
Panchayat Raj Acts
Legislative Assembly
Election of President
Vice President etc.,

Jurisprudence:

Jurisprudence is considered as philosophy of law. The philosophers gave various thought and there are various schools of jurisprudence. Understanding the subject and should make notes will be helpful.

Morality in the Rule of Law
The Common Law Model
The Realism Model
Legal Institutions in the Society, Role of Legal Systems
Legal Theory
Nature and Role of Legal Systems, etc.

Criminal Law:

The Criminal Law Section of the CLAT PG exam may contain some tricky Reasoning questions. Aspirants must brush up on the basics of this subject and prepare thoroughly. You can check the list of important topics in this subject concerning the CLAT PG 2021 exam.

General Principles
Conspiracy, Offenses, Liability
Punishments and Criminal Conceptions, etc.

Law of Torts:

This topic covers some of the high weightage questions from the Law of Tort section of the CLAT PG 2021 paper.

Types of Liability (Focus on Strict and Absolute Liability)
Definitions and Basic Concepts of Torts Law
Tort Feasors, Conspiracy, False Imprisonment
Malicious Prosecution and Remedies & Negligence

Law of Contracts:

The Law of Contracts can be a very competitive section in the CLAT PG Exam, due to its syllabus content. The major topics that students should focus on in their Preparation for this section are as follows:

Agency Contracts
Insurance Guarantee
Contracts Formation
Contracts Discharge
Quasi Contracts
Void, and Illegal Contracts, etc.

These are not conclusive.

PREPERATION TIPS:

Seven Final Exam
Strategies for Success
Create a Study Schedule.
Study with a Positive
Attitude and ClearDirection.
Utilize the Resources Available to You.
Explain What You Are Studying to Another Person.
Avoid Distractions.
Prepare, Prepare, and Prepare Some More.
Early learning.
If exams are just approaching, leave out any new chapters because it will create a lot of Stress and anyway you cannot master it enough for the examBasics should be cleared through standard books of class.
Take 15 minutes break between two subjects.
Always remember the deadline
Always keep you hydrated
Avoid unnecessary distractions (recommended).
Manage your whole day study.
Always keeps you refreshed
Always stay focused

STRATEGIES:

Time Management. Time management is a crucial factor to crack and ace every competitiveExam.
Focus on syllabus
Focus on exam pattern
Make your own notes
Study according to you weakness and strength. Practice more on your weakness
Practice with Previous Year Papers.
Read Newspapers Daily
Practice with mock test.

TOPPERS INTERVIEW ON CLAT PG:

Aayush Singhal Rank 1 CLAT PG 2018

Preparation Time: Early start is best
Jurisprudence:
He spent his maximum time on reading and preparing notes on Jurisprudence in Detail.
He preferred combination of textbook (VD Mahajan) and LLM guides to prepare for This subject.
Constitution:
Focus on bare acts .
Apart from this any standard book can be used to shore up knowledge on certain Dimensions.
sources like Live law and other blogs for this purpose.
Other Law subjects:
It is important to know that apart from a few subjects like law of contract, tort, Criminal law and international law, it is nearly impossible to predict what questions Will be asked in this section.
He initially focused on these areas using bare acts and LLM guide available in the Market.
He relied on notes/articles discovered on the internet for other disciplines such as IPR, Family Law, and so on.

Amber Jain CLAT 2019

Preparation:

He suggested to concentrate more on objective part because that part is little tricky, Whereas subjective part is easy and contains a contemporary issues and other legal Topics.
He also suggested to start preparing for CLAT in last semester.
He relied on simple acts and online documents, as well as Juris edge materials that are Concise, clear, and helpful.

Books List:

Jurisprudence – N.V. Paranjape and Ak singh
Criminal Law – he only studied IPC
International Law – S.K. Kapoor and AK singh
Law Contract – online sources and juris edge materials for revision.
He strongly suggested Juris edge to CLAT aspirants.

Sashidharan AIR 2 CLAT 2019

1. Preparation:

He began studying for the CLAT in April of 2019 year.
His strategy was, he prepared his own notes with simple points in bulletin.
He read all his case laws (except major constitution cases) and essay points through Legal blogs and websites.
Revise notes frequently.
He also allocated difficult subjects to weekends.

2. Books:

He relied on a combination of guidebooks, bare acts and selected text books for MCQs and read online blogs for the essay questions.
He recommends people to work on general awareness through newspapers as was Evident in the essay questions of the CLAT.
He recommends Universal’s Guide to LLM by Gaurav Mehta especially for mock test and questions.
For Jurisprudence, he used a combination of ‘Jurisprudence: The Legal Theory’ and ‘Studies in Jurisprudence’ by Dr. NV Paranjape.
For constitution, he used constitution bare act and for case laws he relied on the M.P. Jain text book.
For other subjects, he used bare acts, and as per requirement he referred textbooks or Online essays.
He prepared for exams and simultaneously gave mock tests and questions, according

To the subject he was preparing Mock Tests:

He practiced mock tests and simultaneously while preparing for the exams, according
To the subject he was revising. He practiced the 10 years question paper sets of CLAT on weekends as they required Time to assess and focus
Aside from that, I attempted a significant number of mock questions/MCQs from the guidebook and internet questions on a daily basis, ranging from 50 to 100 Questions each day, depending on how much time he had.
For the main subjects of constitution and jurisprudence. He would attempt 20-30 MCQs every day to ensure that I had good command on them.

Tips for LLM aspirants:

His advice to future LLM aspirants is practice, practice and practice.
Hard yet smart work, discipline and oodles of general awareness comprise the pre-Exam strategy.
During exams, one must be focused and accept that there may be questions to which May not have answers.
Your strategy must be to attempt only questions with 100% surety and write decent Essays.
He himself skipped a few questions which were not strengths as he was aware of Negative marking and this strategy worked well for him.

SECRET TO SCORE HIGH SCORE:

Understand the structure of the exam :

The first and foremost step to acing the CLAT LLM exam is to understand its structure. The exam is divided into various sections The sections include Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, Contract Law, Criminal Law, and more. It is crucial to familiarize yourself with the syllabus and weightage of each section to plan your preparation effectively.

Create a study schedule:

Plan your study sessions in advance and allocate specific time slots for each subject. This will help you to stay organized and ensure that you cover all the necessary topics in time.

Practice, practice, practice:

Practice is the key for success. Solve as many sample papers and previous year question papers as possible and do many mock tests This will not only familiarize you with the exam pattern and helps to analyse your weal areas.

Seek guidance:

Seek a proper guidance through any medium. One of the medium is joining a coaching institute. They will give you proper guidance and proper way to study and helps to analyse the weakness also.

Mock test:

Do as many as mock exams this will help you to examine your preparations and helps to strengthen it.

Previous year question paper:

Practice with many previous year questions And analyse the weightage given to each subjects. This is the best way to analyse the preparedness of you and helps to know about the subjects which you have to concentrate more.

Time management:

Time management is the key aspects and control mechanism for all. Every aspirant should allocate the time schedule for reading and practice and as well as has to manage the exam within the time duration. One should know their strength and weakness and allocate the time according to them. There is no universal method because every persons method of studying is differ from another. So everyone should plan according to them.

SOME WORDS BY TOPPERS:

Rajesh Sharma, CLAT LLM 2020 Topper: “Consistency is key. Make a study schedule and stick to it religiously. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help or seek guidance when needed.”
Ananya Singh, CLAT LLM 2019 Topper: “Practice time management from the beginning of your preparation. This will help you get accustomed to the exam pattern and improve your speed.”
Rahul Mehta, CLAT LLM 2018 Topper: “Focus on understanding the concepts rather than memorizing them. This will help you apply your knowledge effectively in the exam.”

CONCLUSION:

Pursuing LLM in NLUs is considered as a dream for many law students. As they see NLUs a gateway to join in top tier firms and PSUs. And also the NLUs teaching is ranked world class. CLAT PG is not just an entrance exam to admit in NLUs and top colleges it considers as a gateway to success and quality education in law.

When there is a will ; there is a way

CRACKING CLAT PG: INSIDERS TIPS FOR LLM ASPIRANTS