The Time Flies Away… And I Don’t Have Wings!

By Praveen Dwivedi -
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Manasi Gandhi, a high level environmental activist and a IInd semester student of NALSAR, is here with her first article. You must have noticed that a few of your queries since a few days are being answered by her. If you have any sort of problem with non-academic part of CLAT like confidence building, time management etc., do mail her at panic@clatgyan.com. You’ll always love reading her replies!

Hey!!

Mock tests have started and I receive a lot of emails everyday from panicky kids who can’t seem to finish their paper on time. So this article is especially dedicated to those who seem to think two hours is a very short time limit to finish the paper.

First, it’s ok to not finish your first mock paper; it’s ok to not get a rank below 100 in your first couple of mocks. This is what mocks are for- to teach you, to help you learn. So, for your next mock, take a deep breath and relax. Give the paper because you enjoy the subjects and not because you have to get a 56 rank. If you don’t have fun while giving these mocks, you will not like law school. Trust me on this because I talk from experience. I Love law school simply because I loved logic and legal reasoning. Have fun, enjoy the tests.

As to time management, the mock tests are supposed to be harder than the average CLAT paper just so that you are prepared for the worst. They will be lengthy and at times it’s ok to curse the person who set such an annoying paper. (Inside story, I once gave a mock where the legal reasoning question was an unbelievably twisted episode from FRIENDS. It was hellishly long!) So, just deal with it.Timeflies

I’d suggest you divide the two hours and allocate time to each subject. Pick your strong points and do them first. Leave the hardest for the last because if you don’t know it and you don’t answer it, the chances of you losing marks on it are lower because you might have answered it wrong in any case. (I personally did that with Math. I hated it.)

This is the ideal time for each section :

Maths in 15 minutes.

Logic in 35 minutes.

Legal Reasoning in 35 minutes.

English in 25 minutes.

General Knowledge in 15 minutes.

You won’t be able to think properly when you’re running out of time. So, the section which doesn’t need much thinking should go at the end. Generally, it’s GK where you don’t have to put your mind to use much. So, I suggest you to end with GK. And start with something which needs a lot of mind work. And generally, it’s Maths. The above sequence is what most of use followed. Make your own if you aren’t comfortable with this one.

One more thing I found useful was that whenever I got my results, I would see the percentage I got in each subject. That tells you what you are good at and what you are bad at. Analyse and scrutinize your results.

I hope you do well.

Manasi Gandhi,
Counsellor,
CLATGyan.

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37 COMMENTS

    • Hey Saumya,
      Yes, practice is the only way to improve speed. This is because there is only a definite number of type of questions. The variables change but the basic answer remains the same. So, if you have practiced enough, the answer will just come to you because the logic is so obvious to you.

      Manasi…

  5. Hey Manasi!
    Great article, time management is really important. I’ll try to keep these things in mind.

    And yes I remember the 3 page passage on the FRIENDS episode from a particular LST mock. It was tiresome!

    Panicky Kid
    🙂

  6. Hi, I read ur article. it was so good for us but maam please suggest a ideal or good time table for daily routine of a clat appearing student. Thank you. Best, UMAKANT

    • Hey Umakant,
      I can’t give you a time table because everyone has their own method and way of learning. While some are fast at a few subjects, others are extremely slow at the same. So, you have to figure that out for yourself.

      Manasi…

  8. hiiiiii,,thnx a lot for the ur guidance on time management.i m going to follow the same although sequences wil vary.but i m really confused how to manage time for filling OMR sheet and for bubbles of answers?????

  9. Please throw some light on the OMR aspect. I felt it was the quickest when I had written all the answers first in the question booklet (a) (b) (c) and so on, and then went on filling the OMR sheet recalling 5-6 answers at once.

    The other time I marked each bubble as I solved the question, I guess the combined hand movements make you take more time. But then, you’re on the safer side if you choose this method.

    One might wonder why I’m all concerned about the OMR sheet, but I believe it takes up about a good 10-15 minutes of your time. Boy if I could size that down to 5….

    Give me the magic blue pill!

    • EXACTLY!
      I have also tried both the methods and always wondered which one was better.
      Though I personally feel that filling the OMR sheet afterwards is better.
      Doing it side by side gets a little tedious.

      I would like to know what you guys think is better.
      Last CLAT was not that lengthy. So it didn’t matter what method you chose.
      But what about this time?
      Please guide!

      Also,
      How good do you think putting a simple dot (and not COMPLETELY darkening the circle) side by side, and later encircling it completely is?

      • Again, this seems like the motion study of a factory worker, but if you’re going to put dots and then encircle again at the end, I think it’ll take more time. Reason being you’re making hand movements 200 extra times. Whereas otherwise you’d just have to move your eyes 😛

    • I wouldn’t do it. SUPPOSE you missed the time. You forgot all about it. Or took too much time in solving. Then? Yessir. Thou art S.C.R.E.W.E.D big time.
      The best, as I’ve figured out in these two years of preps and mocks(including ALL the afore mentioned shitty one’s like the FRIENDS and RDB ones), is to simply keep the question paper an answer sheet in a position where you can see both at the same time. And can mark on the OMR as well. Something like copying notes. That way, at the end, you’d be sure to have marked something atleast, even if you run short of time.

      But again, it’s an individual’s take.

  12. all this is ok…wht things r not at all happening am still not able to wrk out specially with maths n a bit og gk :'( the worst prt is i dont have tym as on sunday am having my entrance tst for CLAT

  13. Hey.manshi.I just want to know that whether the NLUs are going to conduct any Group discussions and personal interview for the admissions this year.

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