CLAT (Common Law Admission Test)
Consortium of NLUs
Complete guide to passing the CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) exam on your first attempt.
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Complete Overview
The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a national admission test run by the Consortium of National Law Universities for entry into the five-year integrated LL.B. and one-year LL.M. programmes at 26 National Law Universities in India. The application fee is INR 4,000 for General and OBC candidates and INR 3,500 for SC, ST, BPL and PwD candidates, paid online only, and it is non-refundable.
CLAT UG is a two-hour paper with 120 multiple-choice questions worth one mark each. Every wrong answer costs 0.25 marks, so the paper rewards controlled attempting rather than blanket guessing. The Consortium runs CLAT in offline pen-and-paper mode on OMR sheets. CLAT 2027 is scheduled for Sunday, 6 December 2026, from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M., with eligible PwD candidates given until 4:40 P.M.
The paper is built entirely around passages. English Language draws passages of about 450 words from contemporary and historically significant fiction and non-fiction, pitched so that a Class 12 student can read one in five to seven minutes. Current Affairs including General Knowledge uses passages of up to 450 words taken from news and journalistic sources. Legal Reasoning uses passages of around 450 words describing fact situations, public policy questions or moral philosophical enquiries, and the Consortium states plainly that no prior knowledge of law is required. Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques follow the same passage-first design, with the quantitative section presenting short sets of facts or textual representations of numerical information.
Eligibility for the UG paper is narrow in one respect and open in another. There is no upper age limit. Candidates need 45 percent in 10+2 or an equivalent examination, or 40 percent for SC, ST and PwD candidates. Students sitting their board examinations in March or April 2027 may apply, but they must produce the passing certificate at admission. Only Indian nationals and NRIs may sit CLAT; foreign nationals apply directly to individual NLUs.
The Consortium does not publish an applicant-to-seat ratio or a selection rate, and intake varies by university, so the only reliable seat figures are the ones in the Information Brochure, which carries the intake, reservation policy, courses and fee structure of all 26 NLUs. CLAT has no pass mark. The Consortium releases a rank list, and admission depends on where your score places you relative to everyone else in your category. Ties are broken first by the Legal Reasoning score, then by higher age, then by a computerised draw of lots. That tie-break rule alone tells you which section to invest in first.
Applications for CLAT 2027 opened on 3 August 2026 and close on 31 October 2026 at 11:59 P.M. Previous years' question papers are sold separately by the Consortium for INR 500 and are not bundled into the application fee.
Why Get CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) Certified?
CLAT is the single gateway to 26 National Law Universities, so one INR 4,000 application covers every participating NLU instead of separate entrance tests and separate fees for each.
The five-year integrated LL.B. lets you begin law immediately after Class 12 and finish a law degree at roughly 22 or 23, several years earlier than the three-year LL.B. route after a bachelor's degree.
NIRF 2025 data for NLSIU Bengaluru reports a median package of INR 16 lakh per year for its five-year UG batch, which is the top end of what CLAT admission can lead to.
The Consortium states that no prior legal knowledge is needed for the Legal Reasoning section, so a science or commerce student starts on the same footing as a humanities student.
CLAT scores are also used by several affiliate universities and by some recruiters, which extends the value of a single score beyond the 26 NLUs.
There is no upper age limit for the UG paper, so a candidate who takes a drop year or switches from another degree track is not shut out by an age bar.
The one-year LL.M. through CLAT PG feeds directly into judicial services coaching, NLU teaching posts and doctoral programmes, and it uses the same 120-question two-hour format.
Exam Format & Structure
Duration
2 hours (2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. for CLAT 2027; eligible PwD candidates get until 4:40 P.M.)
Questions
120 multiple-choice questions, 120 maximum marks, for both the UG and PG papers
Passing Score
No passing score. CLAT produces a rank list, and admission depends on category rank against available seats at each NLU. Marking is +1 for a correct answer and -0.25 for a wrong answer.
Question Types
- Passage-based multiple-choice questions, four options each
- English Language comprehension questions on passages of about 450 words
- Current Affairs questions attached to news and journalistic passages of up to 450 words
- Legal Reasoning questions applying stated principles to fact situations of around 450 words
- Logical Reasoning questions on short argumentative passages of about 450 words
- Quantitative Techniques questions derived from short sets of facts or textual numerical information
Delivery Method
Offline pen-and-paper examination on OMR sheets at allotted test centres. The Consortium confirms CLAT 2027 will be in offline mode.
Exam Domains & Topics
The Consortium allots 28 to 32 questions here, roughly a quarter of the paper. Passages of up to 450 words come from news and journalistic sources, and questions test awareness of national and international events, arts and culture, and legal developments. The Consortium states there is no fixed time window for the current affairs covered, so the reading horizon is open-ended.
Key Topics to Master:
- Contemporary events of significance in India and the wider world
- Arts and culture stories that reach mainstream news coverage
- International affairs, treaties and multilateral bodies
- Historical events of continuing importance
- Legal news, including major Supreme Court and High Court judgments
- Government schemes, budget announcements and economic policy news
- Awards, appointments, sports results and summits
- Reading news passages for information that is stated versus implied
This section carries 28 to 32 questions and doubles as the first tie-break criterion in the CLAT rank list. Passages of around 450 words present fact situations, public policy questions or moral philosophical enquiries. The Consortium is explicit that no prior knowledge of law is required, though general awareness of contemporary legal and moral debates helps you apply principles faster under time pressure.
Key Topics to Master:
- Identifying the rule or principle stated inside the passage
- Applying a stated principle to a changed set of facts
- Recognising when a principle does not cover the facts given
- Torts style scenarios on negligence, nuisance and liability
- Contract style scenarios on offer, acceptance and consideration
- Criminal law style scenarios on intention, consent and defences
- Constitutional themes such as fundamental rights and reasonable restrictions
- Public policy and moral philosophy passages with competing principles
- Handling passages where two principles conflict in the same fact pattern
Between 22 and 26 questions test comprehension and language skills on passages of about 450 words drawn from contemporary or historically significant fiction and non-fiction. The Consortium benchmarks these at a level a Class 12 student can read in five to seven minutes. Questions ask you to draw inferences, summarise, compare viewpoints and work out the meaning of words from context.
Key Topics to Master:
- Drawing inferences and conclusions from a passage
- Summarising a passage in your own terms
- Comparing and contrasting arguments made within a passage
- Identifying the author's tone, stance and purpose
- Meaning of words and phrases from surrounding context
- Distinguishing main idea from supporting detail
- Fiction passages where narrative voice differs from author view
- Non-fiction argumentative passages with layered claims
Between 22 and 26 questions follow short passages of about 450 words. The work is argument analysis rather than puzzle solving: recognise the argument and its premises, identify the conclusion, spot the assumption, and judge how new information strengthens or weakens the case. Some questions ask you to draw a relationship or analogy between the argument and a parallel situation.
Key Topics to Master:
- Identifying premises and conclusions inside a written argument
- Detecting unstated assumptions
- Strengthening and weakening an argument with new facts
- Analogous reasoning and parallel argument structures
- Evaluating inferences that the passage does or does not support
- Recognising logical flaws such as circular reasoning
- Drawing conclusions from a set of stated relationships
- Applying an argument's logic to a new scenario
The smallest section carries 10 to 14 questions. The Consortium presents short sets of facts, propositions, or textual representations of numerical information, and asks you to derive data from them and apply mathematical operations. The arithmetic itself stays near Class 10 level, so the difficulty comes from extracting the right numbers from prose and tables quickly.
Key Topics to Master:
- Ratios and proportions applied to data in a passage
- Percentages, percentage change and successive change
- Averages and weighted averages from tabulated information
- Simple and compound interest
- Profit, loss and discount problems set inside a scenario
- Reading bar charts, pie charts and tables embedded in the passage
- Time, speed, distance and work as scenario questions
- Basic mensuration and algebra used inside a fact set
Recommended Study Plan
- 1Read the Consortium's UG syllabus and UG question format pages end to end and write down the 22-26 / 28-32 / 28-32 / 22-26 / 10-14 question spread
- 2Sit one full past CLAT paper from the Consortium's previous years' papers set in exactly two hours with an OMR sheet
- 3Score it with the +1 and -0.25 rule applied honestly and record section-wise accuracy
- 4Start a daily habit of reading The Hindu or Indian Express editorial pages for 30 minutes
- 5Buy or borrow one legal reasoning book and one vocabulary book so material hunting stops after this week
- 1Time yourself on ten non-fiction passages of about 450 words and push the read to under six minutes without losing detail
- 2Practise 40 English Language questions on inference, main idea and tone
- 3Maintain a current affairs notebook with one page per week of news, grouped as national, international, legal and awards
- 4Read one Supreme Court judgment summary a day from LiveLaw or Bar and Bench
- 5Revise 100 words from Word Power Made Easy using them in written sentences, not flashcard recall alone
- 1Work through torts principles: negligence, duty of care, nuisance, strict liability, and solve 40 principle-fact questions
- 2Do 30 legal reasoning questions where the principle deliberately does not cover the facts
- 3Revisit the tie-break rule and set a personal target of 26 or more correct in Legal Reasoning
- 4Continue daily editorial reading and add the legal news column to the notebook
- 5Take a 30-question sectional test on Legal Reasoning under a 30-minute cap
- 1Practise 50 assumption, strengthen and weaken questions from a CLAT-pattern book
- 2Write out the premise and conclusion for 20 editorial paragraphs by hand
- 3Do 30 analogy and parallel reasoning questions
- 4Take the second full mock in the 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. slot to match exam timing
- 5Log every wrong answer with the reason: misread passage, wrong option shortlist, or time pressure
- 1Revise percentages, ratio, average, interest and profit-loss at Class 10 level
- 2Solve 60 data-in-passage questions where the numbers must be pulled out of prose or a table
- 3Time a 12-question quantitative set to under 12 minutes
- 4Decide your personal rule for skipping quantitative questions and write it down
- 5Continue the current affairs notebook and revise weeks 1 to 4 of it
- 1Study offer, acceptance, consideration, free consent and void agreements as principle statements
- 2Study intention, knowledge, consent, private defence and general exceptions in criminal scenarios
- 3Solve 60 legal reasoning questions across both areas
- 4Take a full mock and compare Legal Reasoning accuracy against week 3
- 5Revise the current affairs notebook by category rather than by date
- 1Read fundamental rights, directive principles and reasonable restrictions as a set of principles rather than as case law
- 2Solve 40 constitutional and public policy legal reasoning questions
- 3Do 30 moral philosophy passages where two principles conflict
- 4Take a full mock and reconcile your OMR marking speed against the two-hour cap
- 5Add six months of legal news to the notebook in one consolidated sweep
- 1Run three sectional tests where you may attempt only questions you would defend out loud
- 2Compute your net score at 60, 80, 100 and 120 attempts using the -0.25 penalty to find your optimal attempt band
- 3Practise 50 English Language questions focused on vocabulary in context
- 4Take a full mock and cap attempts at your computed band
- 5Rewrite the error log into three recurring failure patterns
- 1Take two full mocks this week, both in the afternoon slot
- 2Analyse each for at least 90 minutes before touching the next one
- 3Redo every legal reasoning question you got wrong in the last four mocks
- 4Revise the current affairs notebook for the most recent four months
- 5Practise filling an OMR sheet in blocks of ten to reduce marking errors
- 1Test two different section orders across two mocks and keep the one with the higher net score
- 2Fix a per-section time budget that leaves eight minutes of buffer at the end
- 3Solve 60 mixed passage questions with a hard 90-second per question ceiling
- 4Revise quantitative formulas in a single two-page sheet
- 5Review the CLAT 2027 admit card instructions on the Consortium site
- 1Sit three past CLAT papers from the Consortium's official set under strict timing
- 2Compare your section splits against the official 25 / 25 / 20 / 20 / 10 weightage
- 3Revise the whole current affairs notebook in two passes
- 4Cut new material entirely and work only from your own error log
- 5Confirm test city, centre and reporting time from the admit card
- 1Take one final full mock early in the week, then stop mocks
- 2Revise legal principles as a single condensed list of statements
- 3Do 30 light questions a day to hold rhythm without fatigue
- 4Pack admit card printout, valid photo ID, blue or black ballpoint pens and passport photographs
- 5Sleep on the 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. schedule so peak alertness lands in the exam window
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Best Study Resources
Consortium of NLUs CLAT 2027 official site
Official websiteThe authoritative source for the question format, syllabus, eligibility, instructions, application dates and admit card. The UG question format page gives the exact section-wise question ranges and negative marking rule.
Free
Official CLAT previous years' question papers
Official past papersThe Consortium sells past papers as a paid add-on during the application process. These are the only papers guaranteed to match the real passage lengths, option style and difficulty calibration.
INR 500, sold separately from the application fee
CLAT UG syllabus page
Official syllabusSets out what each of the five sections actually tests, including the 450-word passage length and the five to seven minute reading benchmark for the English section. Read it before buying any coaching material.
Free
The Hindu or Indian Express editorial pages
Daily newspaperBoth papers publish argumentative editorials of roughly the length and register CLAT uses for its Current Affairs and English passages. Daily reading builds both the news base and the reading speed at once.
Free online with limits, or a paid subscription
LiveLaw and Bar and Bench
Legal news websitesBoth publish plain-language summaries of Supreme Court and High Court judgments. They cover the legal developments that turn up in the Current Affairs section without requiring you to read full judgments.
Free, with paid tiers
Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
BookA long-standing vocabulary book organised by root and theme rather than alphabetically. It fits CLAT because the English section tests meaning in context rather than isolated word lists.
Around INR 200 to 400
Universal's Guide to CLAT and LL.B. Entrance Examinations (LexisNexis)
BookA single-volume guide covering all five CLAT sections with past-paper style practice. Useful mainly for the legal reasoning principle sets and the quantitative revision chapters.
Around INR 800 to 1,200
A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal
BookBroad reasoning drill book. Use the argument, assumption, statement-conclusion and analogy chapters and skip the non-verbal figure sections, which CLAT does not test.
Around INR 400 to 700
Coaching mock test series from Career Launcher, LawPrep Tutorial or Legal Edge
Paid mock test seriesThe main value is volume and a national percentile comparison across thousands of candidates. Treat their difficulty calibration as indicative only and always anchor your judgement to official past papers.
Roughly INR 3,000 to 12,000 depending on the package
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Treating Legal Reasoning as a law knowledge test and memorising bare acts, sections and case names.
The Consortium says in writing that no prior knowledge of law is needed. Every principle you need is printed inside the passage. Practise applying a stated principle faithfully even when it produces an answer you consider unjust, because the marked answer follows the principle, not your sense of fairness.
Attempting all 120 questions because the paper feels doable, then losing 8 to 12 marks to the 0.25 penalty.
Compute your own break-even. At 50 percent accuracy on guessed questions you gain nothing. Run three mocks capping attempts at 95, 105 and 115, compare net scores, and lock the band that maximises the net figure rather than the attempt count.
Ignoring the Legal Reasoning tie-break rule and treating all 120 marks as interchangeable.
The Consortium breaks ties first on the Legal Reasoning score, then on higher age, then by a computerised draw of lots. Two candidates on the same total will be separated by that one section. Push Legal Reasoning accuracy above your other sections deliberately, not incidentally.
Preparing current affairs from a compiled monthly PDF only, then finding the passage-based questions unanswerable.
CLAT attaches its Current Affairs questions to a 450-word news passage. Bullet-list memorisation does not build the reading habit those passages assume. Read the actual news pieces daily and keep the compilation as a revision layer on top, not as the whole preparation.
Practising on a screen all year, then meeting an OMR sheet and a physical booklet for the first time on exam day.
CLAT 2027 is offline pen-and-paper. Print or buy blank OMR sheets and use them for every full mock. Practise marking in blocks of ten so a single misaligned bubble does not cascade down the sheet.
Restricting current affairs revision to the last three or four months before the exam.
The Consortium states there is no specific time frame for the Current Affairs including General Knowledge section. Maintain a notebook covering the full 12 months before the exam, organised by theme, and revise it by category rather than chronologically.
Skipping Quantitative Techniques entirely because it is only 10 percent of the paper.
Those 10 to 14 marks are the cheapest on the paper because the arithmetic sits near Class 10 level and the difficulty is only in pulling numbers out of prose. At the ranks where NLSIU and NALSAR seats are decided, four or five marks move hundreds of positions.
Reading 450-word passages twice before looking at the questions.
The Consortium benchmarks these passages at a five to seven minute read for a Class 12 student, and every one of the five sections is passage-led, so a second full read is unaffordable inside 120 minutes. Read once with intent, then return to specific lines only when a question sends you there.
Submitting the application with a name spelled differently from the certificates, or picking the wrong category.
The Consortium warns that any change or alteration in name spelling may disqualify the candidature, and that program, category and BPL fields cannot be changed once the form is paid. Check the spelling against your Class 10 certificate before payment, not after.
Exam Day Tips
- 1
CLAT 2027 runs from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. on Sunday 6 December 2026. Eligible PwD candidates get compensatory time until 4:40 P.M. Plan your travel, meal and caffeine timing around an afternoon start, not a morning one.
- 2
Carry the downloaded admit card printout and a valid original photo identity document. The admit card is available only by logging into your CLAT account, so download and print it days in advance rather than the night before.
- 3
Bring blue or black ballpoint pens, at least two. This is an OMR examination and a pen failing at minute 70 with no spare is a self-inflicted loss.
- 4
Fill the OMR bubbles completely and check the question number against the bubble row every ten questions. A one-row shift on an OMR sheet can cost dozens of marks with no recovery.
- 5
Do not carry electronic items. Calculators, phones, smartwatches and digital watches are not permitted in CLAT halls, and the quantitative section is designed for mental and pen-and-paper arithmetic.
- 6
Decide your section order before you enter the hall and do not improvise. Most candidates open with the section they score highest in to bank marks, and leave Quantitative Techniques for a fixed 12-minute block.
- 7
Track the 0.25 penalty live. Mark uncertain questions in the booklet with a symbol, move on, and return only if time allows. Do not leave uncertain answers bubbled in as placeholders.
- 8
Keep eight minutes at the end untouched for OMR verification. Use it to confirm your roll number, booklet series and that every intended answer is actually darkened.
- 9
If a passage looks unfamiliar or technical, remember the Consortium's own framing: everything needed to answer is inside the passage. Do not abandon a legal reasoning set just because the subject area is new to you.
- 10
Report at the reporting time on the admit card, not at the exam start time. Centres close entry before 2:00 P.M. and the Consortium reserves the right to shift candidates between centres, so verify your allotted centre on the admit card rather than assuming last year's location.
Career Paths & Salary Ranges
Corporate law firm associate
Entry role at firms handling mergers, capital markets, banking and general corporate work. Recruitment usually happens through day-zero campus interviews in the penultimate or final year at the higher-ranked NLUs, so rank at admission still shapes access years later.
NIRF 2025 reports a median package of INR 16 lakh per year for the NLSIU Bengaluru five-year UG batch
Litigating advocate
Independent practice or a junior position in a senior advocate's chambers, appearing before trial courts, High Courts or the Supreme Court. Income is low and irregular in the early years and depends heavily on the reputation of the chamber you join.
Chamber stipends vary widely by city and senior counsel; no central body publishes them
Judicial services officer
Entry as Civil Judge (Junior Division) through a state judicial service examination, which usually requires an LL.B. and in many states a minimum age of 21. An NLU degree gives no direct advantage in the exam itself, but the curriculum overlaps heavily with its syllabus.
Set by state judicial service rules following the Second National Judicial Pay Commission; no single national figure applies
In-house counsel
Legal roles inside banks, technology companies, manufacturers and consultancies, handling contracts, compliance, regulatory filings and disputes. Many NLU graduates move in-house after three to six years in a law firm rather than joining directly.
Company-specific; not published by any central authority
Policy and regulatory analyst
Work at think tanks, regulators, parliamentary research offices and international organisations, drafting policy briefs and analysing legislation. The CLAT skill set of reading dense material and applying stated principles maps closely onto this work.
Varies by institution; think tanks and regulators do not publish comparable figures
Legal academic and researcher
Teaching and research posts at NLUs and other law schools, usually after an LL.M. and a doctorate. CLAT PG at 120 questions in two hours is the entry point for the one-year LL.M. at participating NLUs.
University pay scales are set by UGC regulations for eligible institutions
Prerequisites & Requirements
- For CLAT UG: a pass in 10+2 or an equivalent examination with at least 45 percent marks, or 40 percent for candidates in the SC, ST and PwD categories.
- Candidates appearing for the qualifying examination in March or April 2027 may apply, but must produce evidence of passing at the time of admission or lose the right to be considered.
- There is no upper age limit for the CLAT UG programme.
- Only Indian nationals and NRIs may appear for CLAT. Foreign nationals are not eligible and must approach individual NLUs directly.
- Registration requires a personal mobile number and email address, validated by OTP, on the Consortium website.
- Documents to upload with the application: a recent front-facing passport-size photograph on a plain background, the candidate's signature, and category certificates for SC, ST, OBC, PwD or BPL claims, all in PDF format.
- The application fee must be paid online: INR 4,000 for General and OBC candidates, INR 3,500 for SC, ST, BPL and PwD candidates, plus bank transaction charges borne by the candidate.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many questions are on CLAT and how long is the paper?
CLAT UG has 120 multiple-choice questions worth one mark each, to be answered in two hours. CLAT PG uses the same structure: 120 questions, 120 maximum marks, two hours. Both papers apply a 0.25 mark deduction for every wrong answer.
What is the passing score for CLAT?
There is no passing score. CLAT produces a rank list rather than a pass or fail result, and admission depends on your category rank against the seats available at each participating NLU. Cutoff ranks differ every year and differ sharply between NLSIU Bengaluru and newer NLUs.
How much does CLAT cost?
The CLAT 2027 application fee is INR 4,000 for General and OBC candidates and INR 3,500 for SC, ST, BPL and PwD candidates. Payment is online only and the fee is non-refundable and non-adjustable. Bank transaction charges are additional and are borne by the candidate. Previous years' question papers cost a further INR 500 and are not included in the application fee.
What happens if I do not get a seat, and can I retake CLAT?
You can retake CLAT the following year, because there is no upper age limit and no cap on attempts for the UG programme. CLAT is held once a year, so a retake means a full 12-month wait and a fresh application with a fresh fee. Many candidates use the gap year to prepare while also sitting AILET for NLU Delhi and state-level law entrances.
Is CLAT computer-based or pen-and-paper?
CLAT 2027 will be conducted in offline mode, which means a printed question booklet and an OMR answer sheet at an allotted physical test centre. This is confirmed on the Consortium's own instructions page. Practise on physical OMR sheets rather than only on a screen.
Am I allowed a calculator in the CLAT exam hall?
No. Calculators and electronic devices are not permitted in CLAT examination halls. The Quantitative Techniques section is designed around short sets of facts and Class 10 level arithmetic that can be handled mentally or with rough work on the question booklet.
Do I need to know law before taking CLAT?
No. The Consortium states in its published UG syllabus that the Legal Reasoning section requires no prior knowledge of the law, because every principle needed is contained in the passage. A general awareness of contemporary legal and moral issues helps you work faster, but it is not a knowledge test.
What identity documents do I need on exam day?
You need the CLAT admit card downloaded and printed from your Consortium account, together with a valid original photo identity document. The admit card is released on a date announced on the CLAT website and is available only through your login, so download it well ahead of the exam.
How is a tie in CLAT scores resolved?
Ties are broken in three steps. First, the candidate with higher marks in the Legal Aptitude component of CLAT wins. If still tied, the older candidate wins. If a tie survives both, the Consortium uses a computerised draw of lots. This makes the Legal Reasoning section worth more than its 25 percent weight suggests.
Can I challenge the CLAT answer key?
Yes. The Consortium publishes a provisional answer key after the exam and opens a window for candidates to submit objections against a per-question fee that it announces each cycle. Objections that are upheld lead to a revised final answer key, and the fee is refunded for successful challenges. Check the exact fee and window dates on the Consortium website, since they change from year to year.
How long do CLAT results take?
The Consortium releases the provisional answer key within days of the exam, opens the objection window, and then publishes the final answer key and results. The Consortium FAQ page places counselling in the December and January immediately following the exam, which puts results within weeks of the 6 December 2026 exam date rather than months. The Consortium has not published dated result or objection-window schedules for CLAT 2027.
Are accommodations available for candidates with disabilities?
Yes. Eligible candidates in the PwD category receive compensatory time: the CLAT 2027 UG paper runs from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. for other candidates and until 4:40 P.M. for eligible PwD candidates. You must upload a certificate issued by the competent authority with your application to claim the PwD category, and the PwD application fee is the reduced INR 3,500.
How does CLAT compare to AILET?
CLAT is run by the Consortium of NLUs for admission to 26 National Law Universities, while AILET is run separately by National Law University Delhi for its own programmes. NLU Delhi does not admit through CLAT. Most serious candidates sit both, since the reasoning-and-comprehension skill set overlaps heavily even though the papers differ in length and question style.
How does CLAT UG differ from CLAT PG?
CLAT UG tests aptitude across English, Current Affairs, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques, with no legal knowledge assumed. CLAT PG is a knowledge test in law, covering Constitutional Law plus Jurisprudence, Administrative Law, Contract, Torts, Family Law, Criminal Law, Property Law, Company Law, Public International Law, Tax Law, Environmental Law and Labour and Industrial Law. Both are 120 questions in two hours with the same 0.25 negative marking.
Can I change my category or programme after submitting the form?
No. The Consortium states that once the application is submitted and paid, you cannot change the programme, the category or the BPL field. Requests for such changes will not be entertained. If you submit more than one form, only the last one is considered and the fee for the earlier form is not refunded.
What is the CLAT 2027 application timeline?
Online enrolment for CLAT 2027 opened on 3 August 2026 and closes on 31 October 2026 at 11:59 P.M. The completed and paid application must be submitted by that deadline, and updates to the form are not accepted after the closing date. The exam is scheduled for Sunday 6 December 2026.
Do foreign nationals or NRI candidates take CLAT?
NRIs may appear for CLAT, but foreign nationals may not. Foreign national applicants must approach the individual NLUs directly for admission. For NRI and NRI-sponsored seats, the Consortium does not allot seats, and candidates should read the e-brochures and websites of the individual NLUs.
Is there any recertification or validity period for a CLAT score?
A CLAT score is valid only for the admission cycle in which it was obtained. There is no recertification, no continuing education requirement and no way to carry a score forward. A CLAT 2027 score applies to admissions for the academic year 2027-2028 and nothing beyond it.
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