Frequently Asked Questions

Hello! this is Antara. I have just completed my 12th grade board examinations. My stream was humanities and I studied in a school affiliated to CBSE board at Hyderabad. Alongside 12th grade, I also prepared for the Common Law Admission Test aka CLAT. My CLAT rank was 106 and I secured a seat in one of the most prestigious law schools of the country- National Academy of Legal Studies And Research (NALSAR) Hyderabad, Telangana.

The primary reason for writing this blog is to help the forthcoming CLAT aspirants. I have received some common questions and concerns from my juniors who are currently preparing for the exam and will try to address some through this blog post.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS FROM MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND I AM NOT A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL TEACHER. THIS BLOG IS ONLY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CLAT AND NOT OTHER LAW ENTRANCE EXAMS.

1. I am facing anxiety and am often nervous when my mock scores aren't good. There is also a feeling of disappointment and a fear of failure.

Well, the fact that you are taking mocks regularly and seriously is half the battle won. This might sound a petty and almost philosophical solution, but here it is nonetheless- TAKE THE MOCK AS A PREPARATION TOOL. Here is the thing mocks are very often designed to be tougher than the actual examination. A simple analogy is comparing your school preboards of 10th Grade to the actual Board paper. The actual Board paper is simpler than the preboards. This is because the teachers are preparing you for the worst case scenario. Similarly a tough mock is just a way to prepare you for the most horrible of papers. 

Do not fear the mocks. Do these instead-

• Analyze your mocks.
• Note down the kind of mistakes you are making. Ex- Are you being careless? Are you making conceptual fallacies?
• Understand and learn from your mistakes.
• Revisit your mistakes especially in the General Knowledge and Quantitative Techniques section.

Disappointment and self doubt is a common feeling in this journey and it is a bumpy ride I admit. Just hold on and Don't Quiet Quit

2. I am afraid of / not good at math. Naturally Quantitative techniques is my weak zone.

Do not typecast yourself and your abilities. I have heard of cases wherein the paper was super easy and solvable, but just because the person had limited themselves to solving only 2 sets of DIs in mocks they didn't even attempt the third DI which could have easily fetched them 4 marks in an examination where every 0.25 marks counts. Practice mathematics regularly if you feel you are weak at it. Analyze the topics you are weak at. Draw out your previous mock papers and re-solve the DI sets.

Pro-tip: DO NOT IGNORE PERCENTAGES AND RATIO PROPRTIONS. These two topics are the most common concepts on which DIs are based. Do not restrict yourself to these but make these concepts super strong.

3. General knowledge is too vast and there are too many good sources. Where to start and where do I end?

Relax. This is coming from someone who has faced the same difficulty throughout her preparation journey. I will pass on the advise I received from my mentors during the preparation stage. 

• DON'T HAVE MORE THAN TWO SOURCES. More than two sources will just confuse you. If you are enrolled with any institution read their material thoroughly and look for one additional source that is comprehensive. 
• Alongside the two sources, read the newspaper daily. Try to opt for the Hindu or The Indian Express. 
• If you are preparing all by yourself, you are free to explore the plethora of choices available and select your top two. (You could check out telegram and discord, but I in no way am promoting plagiarism and copyright violations :) ) 
• Make your own hand written notes for important facts and figures. They will be helpful for last minute prep. In case you want a sample of these last minute notes I can provide a snapshot of mine. Please reach out to me via the comments.

4. How to increase my speed and number of attempts?

• Speed and accuracy are the pillars to any competitive examination. To increase speed/ number of attempts, PRACTICE IN A TIME BOUND MANNER. 
• Write your mocks dedicatedly and time them properly. Set a timer for two hours and write the mock in a proctored environment. Try to write offline mocks at Centres or with your peers. 
• Ensure you don't stop the timer for water or washroom breaks. 
• Try filling the OMR in the two hour time span. This aspect is Centre specific in the actual examination and it CAN'T BE GUARANTEED THAT YOU WILL BE GIVEN EXTRA TIME TO FILL YOUR DETAILS ON THE OMR SHEET. In Hyderabad, there were two Centres, at one extra time was given and at another extra time wasn't given. 
• DO NOT TAKE UNECESSARY RISKS. 
• Plan your section timings and order you sections in a way that suits you the best. For example- I started the paper with the Legal Reasoning section because at the peak of the concentration levels I preferred solving legal passages. I followed it up by General Knowledge and Quantitative techniques. Finally I took up logical reasoning and English. This worked well for me. A different combination may suit you. Try alternating between a draining section and a light/ easy section.
• This is how I timed my sections.

5. How to manage School and CLAT prep together?

Well, I faced a hard time too. My optional subject was Applied Mathematics and needless to say I couldn't give it as much time it deserved. As a result, my scores were poorer than the other subjects. The other subjects are very much manageable. I had Sociology, Political science and Economics as my other major subjects. These subjects can be managed well if you regularly attend classes and devote a week or two before school exams. However, since CBSE has changed its pattern of conducting exams this year I am not sure if the advise I have is going to be relevant. Personally, I studied for school exams a week before the exams and attended school regularly. One month before CLAT I took a study leave for myself. Since I didn't skip school frequently throughout the year, my attendance was also maintained at a decent 85% plus. After CLAT I got a decent amount of time to focus on my school studies and projects as well.

 It is hard to toggle between school and competitive exam preparation especially when what you learn at school is not very relevant in the competitive exam prep. But this struggle definitely yields sweet results. 

I am now on a well deserved three month long vacation, whereas my friends are slogging hard for CUET. So thanks to the consortium I guess.

The main idea is not to give up and keep working persistently. You are already halfway there. All the best for the second half.

Do not hesitate to reach out to me via comments on any doubts or queries you might have :)