In about 70 days, another edition of CLAT would have come to pass with a brand new set of students signing their fate, based on whatever they’ve marked on the oh-so-precious OMR sheet (If you missed our article on how to tackle the offline mode, do read it here!). Almost every year, the competitive examination has been mired in controversy and the best bet for all CLAT aspirants would be to tread carefully in these troubled waters and identify your comfort zones.
2012 was a year of absolute surprise when the CLAT Committee decided to only ask Reading Comprehension based questions in the English section. This twist caught most aspirants off-guard because everyone assumed that their comprehension faculties would be tested on a single passage and it would be a breeze. But what happened in the examination centres across India was cataclysmic. Panic hit an all-time high and even those who you thought would have definitely aced the test (based on their flawless performances in mocks) were left in the lurch.
Now, I always talk about this particular year of CLAT whenever I want to stress on how important it is to be prepared for anything. You cannot assume that a particular pattern is going to be followed or that a type of frequently asked question might not have as much weightage as it did in the previous years. Making assumptions in competitive examinations is foolish and that is where your competition gets miles ahead of you, leaving you tangled up in these mind-boggling theories that get you nowhere.
One solid way to spend the remainder of the time left until CLAT 2019 is to go through the Previous Year Papers of CLAT as well as those past year papers of individual universities before the conception of CLAT. The perks behind going through these papers are aplenty and the most obvious one is familiarization to various patterns of the paper. It brings in a sense of confidence (don’t worry, it’s of the good kind) and you would be far more comfortable facing something like a 2012 paper because you would solve the previous year paper in a calmer situation as opposed to the perspiring atmosphere that exists on the D-Day.
Previous years’ papers can also give you an idea of what types of questions to focus on. These give you an almost precise idea on the topics that the CLAT Committee most often covers but do watch out for the possibility of some offbeat topic. And that is quite a reason for you to be thorough with the frequently asked or similarly framed questions.
Of the five sections in CLAT, Legal Aptitude is one such section where Previous Year Papers play a significant role. Under the Legal Reasoning part, the types of questions asked require you to have bare minimum knowledge of the law of the land because all you have to do is stick to the principle given and apply that principle to the set of facts that follow. The flipside of this part of the Legal Aptitude section is that it is extremely difficult to come across guides or books in bookstores that solely offer such types of questions and therefore, it becomes pertinent for you to solve the past year papers.
Apart from the commonly used books for Legal Aptitude by publishers like A.P. Bharadwaj, Lexis Nexus and Pearson’s, you could consider ordering the Legal PYQs book that was recently launched by Clat Possible. Unlike the aforementioned books, there are detailed explanations that follow in the answer key and these previous years’ questions are segregated topic-wise, covering around 28 years of legal aptitude questions. And fortunately, it is available for purchase without the unnecessary hassle of subscribing for an entire package of books pertaining to other sections. The book is, by far, the most comprehensive attempt at amalgamating material for the Legal Aptitude section and a must-have for every CLAT aspirant. Do check it out here!
What is the most common piece of advice that you come across in most of the articles written by toppers from the previous years? Them stressing on how important a role past year papers ended up playing during their preparation and the truckloads of help they (past year papers) offered. See for yourself by reading these articles – here, here and here!
You still have a solid ten weeks before CLAT 2019 is breathing down your neck and maybe – just maybe – solving the past year papers could turn the shape of your preparation for the better!
Zainab.
Do write to us at clatgyan@gmail.com for any preparatory tips and guidance.
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