[Aristotle said that there are three dimensions to persuasion – Logos (logic), Pathos (emotions), and Ethos (credibility of the speaker). For the last one decade, CLATGyan has attempted to create a fine mixture of these three. While there is no dearth of the first two, no one can create Ethos as large as Rank 1 of CLAT. That’s because, when things are said by any other person, it is ‘gyan’. But when they are said by Rank 1, they are an inspiration.
We are, hence, very happy that Saumya has agreed to write for CLATGyan. We hope his words sharpen your swords. – CLATGyan]
Hey guys!
I hope your preparation is going well. For CLAT aspirants, there are often spells of confusion during and after this time of the year. There seems to be too much to do, and too little time in comparison. If you are in that phrase right now, don’t worry! All of us who have managed to crack CLAT have been there. This piece is aimed at telling you a few things that’ll stand you in good stead at times such as these.
Some of you might not even have started preparation as of now, and might be wondering if this is the ‘right’ time to start and whether you’re already too late. I faced a similar conundrum, though my dilemma was the opposite. I began my CLAT journey when I was in Class 11th, in June 2017 and for a significant part of my 11th, I was in two minds about whether I had started at the ‘right’ time. Most of the articles I’d come across were from people who’d prepared seriously for one year at the maximum because preparing hammer and tongs for two years seemed unnecessary and possibly unsustainable. It was only later that I realized that there is NO right time for beginning CLAT preparation. There are people who have failed to make it to the top two colleges despite having prepared seriously for two years and there are also people who have made it with barely a month of preparation. In an aptitude exam like CLAT, what matters is where you start from and how exactly you manage your time after starting. Of course, preparing for a longer period of time does have its own advantages. I’ve always viewed one’s performance in CLAT as a product of both luck and effort. To some extent, no matter how much effort you put in, there is always some role of luck in where you end up after CLAT. Putting in consistent effort over an above average amount of time (two years, in my case) ensures that you have more than enough time to work on your strengths and weaknesses and this helps minimize the role of luck on your result. Believe me, no serious CLAT aspirant ever runs out of things to do – anyone who claims to have completed the ‘syllabus’ is, according to me, overconfident. So, there is no such thing as starting too early for CLAT. On the flip side, even if you feel that you were too late in starting your preparation, use the time you have left to the fullest because you still have the chance of making it to your dream college.
CLAT preparation is fundamentally different from any other exam preparation that you might have undertaken until now. The difference lies in the fact that there’s no end point; the entire point of preparation is not to reach a state of perfection but to keep improving your skills and turning your weaknesses into strengths. As a consequence, you will always have something or the other to do, no matter how much time you decide to put into preparation. I’d prepared all guns blazing even when I was in the 11th grade, and as a result had managed to cover a decent amount of the “so-called syllabus” before I entered 12th. However, I found myself facing the same conundrum around this time of the year: there seemed to be too many things to do and too little time. I never managed to finish all that I’d planned to do but that’s the entire point. You don’t need to complete every single book that you lay your eyes on or those that your coaching mentors say are ‘essential’ for cracking CLAT. What you DO need to do, however, is to plan what to cover smartly and to stick to what you’ve decided. Go through the past year papers and get a good amount of practice for the topics asked in the decreasing order of importance. Identify your weaknesses and strengths by taking regular mocks and work on every single one of your weaknesses till it becomes your strength. However, do not ignore your strengths because they are the parts which will help you create the gap between yourself and the rest of the aspirants. Keep revising the topics you consider your strengths too, so as not to lose practice. Above all, remember to try to do your best instead of doing everything perfectly because the latter doesn’t ever happen.
Talking about mocks, they’re hands-down the most important part of your CLAT preparation. There are a lot of benefits of taking mocks that you must have read about endless times by now. All of us repeat the same things for a reason: we think mocks to be really important. After taking mocks, spend 1-2 hours analysing them. Do a section-wise SWOT analysis and make sure none of your weaknesses go unnoticed. Focus on your sectional scores instead of focussing too much on the aggregate and work on the sections where you tend to score low. Much of what you study, especially in the later part of your preparation, will be dependent on your mock analyses. Make sure not to cut corners.
There will be times when you’ll score low in mocks. It’s not a big deal. There’s no point rueing over getting a low score or rank in mocks. Ideally, you should be consistent in mocks, especially the rank part (assuming that the ranks you end up getting are genuine, which is seldom the case). Above everything else, CLAT is about consistency; if your performance fluctuates a lot, there’s nothing stopping you from screwing up CLAT in one of such phases. However, a low score/rank is not a problem as long as you’re able to find a genuine reason behind it and work on it so that it doesn’t affect your CLAT. In any case, I’ve seen people with really good ranks and scores in mocks not make it to a decent college; on the other hand, people who didn’t perform all too well in mocks ended up making it to their dream colleges.
Always remember that all of your preparation for CLAT comprises only half of your score; the other half depends on your confidence level. I don’t think any reasonable person can be confident of getting into NLSIU, no matter how well he/she has prepared. I wasn’t, despite having got a rank worthy of NLSIU in my previous attempt. There are just too many factors at play, and not everything is in your control. However, just in case things go wrong, you can be sure of getting a reasonably good college, even if it’s not one of the top two. And daunting as the possibility may sound now, there are few opportunities that you’ll miss merely because of not being in the top two NLUs. A relatively bad rank in CLAT is not the end of one’s career; to a very large extent, the latter is determined by what one does after reaching the college one gets. Keep this in mind, and prepare with a positive mindset. Of course you’ll have to make sacrifices; everyone who has managed to get a decent rank in CLAT has made them. Parties will have to go unattended, your friends will have to do without your company on their outings (which seem to happen with increasing frequency right when you decide to renounce them!). However, this doesn’t mean that you need to put your life on hold till May 12. Try to make time for the things you like to do. I myself played Badminton and watched anime almost throughout my preparation. Talk to your friends and family for a while; believe me, it helps. Take care of your health, and if you have issues, take the adequate measures instead of putting CLAT preparation on the forefront and ignoring everything else. Remember, your academics are important but YOU are more important.
Focus on the process, and I’m sure the desired outcome will follow.
Saumya Singh,
Batch of 2024 – NLSIU.
Such a noteworthy line, “YOU are more important.”
Thanks a ton mate!!!!!!!
inspiring indeed 🙂