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CAREERS360

ALL ABOUT CLAT

ALL ABOUT CLAT

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Foreword 3

Common Law Admission Test – An Introduction 4

Who conducts CLAT? 6

CLAT Seat Intake 7

CLAT Eligibility 9

CLAT Exam Pattern 10

CLAT Timeline 11

CLAT History 12

CONTENTS

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Eagerly waiting for the next session of undergraduate law admissions? After qualifying Class 12th, you have a number of gateways to pursue undergraduate law admissions.

Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is the most sought after gateways to five-year integrated law programmes in National Law Universities.

‘All about CLAT’ E-book compiled and designed by Careers360 brings you an overview of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), the courses offered, participating institutes and their fees.

The E-Book also outlines the history of the coveted law entrance exam and controversies embroiled.

Let us now begin!

FOREWORD

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Common Law Admission Test abbreviated as CLAT was started in 2008 as a common entrance test for admissions to participating National Law Universities (NLUs).

The first CLAT was conducted on May 11, 2008 by National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore. In 2008, as many as seven NLUs partici-pated in the law entrance test and collectively offered a total of 1037 seats for under graduate admissions. Over the last 6 years, eight more NLUs have joined the law admission test committee as participating institutes of CLAT. As of 2015 admission year, only two NLUs (NLU Delhi & NLU Maharashtra) conduct their own entrance exams.

The participating NLUs and CLAT Committee offer admissions on the basis of admission test score.

These participating NLUs conduct a common

COMMON LAW ADMISSION TEST – AN INTRODUCTIONcounselling for admissions to their five-year integrated undergraduate law programmes.

Over the last 7 years, number of candidates apply-ing for CLAT has increased four-folds, where a total of 11000 candidates registered for the first CLAT in 2008, the 2015 registration almost quadruplicated with 45140 registrations. Below is the year-wise registration numbers for CLAT since 2008.

Year UG Registration Numbers2015 39686

2014 31231

2013 30915

2012 25769

2011 24256

2010 18375

2009 15000

2008 11000

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Besides NLU’s many private

law institutes also accept CLAT

scores for admissions to their

undergraduate law programmes.

Interestingly, National Law Univer-

sity Delhi (NLU-D) and Maharash-

tra National Law University Mumbai

(MNLU) are the only National Law

Universities which don’t participate

in CLAT and admit students after con-

ducting their respective entrances,

All India Law Entrance Test (AILET)

and Maharashtra National Law Uni-

versity Admission Test (MNLUAT)

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WHO CONDUCTS CLAT?

In 2008, for the very first time Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for admissions to five-year integrated law pro-grammes in participating NLUs was conducted by National Law School of India University Bangalore.

Since then the test is being conducted by the different NLUs based on rotation process. The participating NLUs of CLAT are the members of the CLAT committee. The table below brings you year-wise name of CLAT conducting NLUs.

Year CLAT conducting National Law University (NLU)2016 Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law Patiala*

2015 Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University Lucknow

2014 Gujarat National Law University Gandhinagar

2013 Hidayatullah National Law University Raipur

2012 National Law University Jodhpur

2011 West Bengal National University of Juridical Universities Kolkata

2010 National Law Institute University Bhopal

2009 NALSAR University of Law Hyderabad

2008 National Law School of India University Bangalore

* RGNUL Patiala to conduct CLAT 2016

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There are more than 2000 seats at different NLUs, which are filled by CLAT. We here bring you seat statistics with institute-wise break-up in different NLUs (2015-20 admission session).

CLAT SEAT INTAKE

National Law Universities (NLUs) UG SeatsNLSIU Bangalore 80

NALSAR Hyderabad 115

NLIU Bhopal 128

WBNUJS Kolkata 116

NLU Jodhpur 115

HNLU Raipur 185

GNLU Gandhinagar 187

RMLNLU Lucknow 176

RGNUL Patiala 196

CNLU Patna 140

NUALS Kochi 120

NLUO Cuttack 120

NUSRL Ranchi 120

NLUJAA Guwahati 60

DSNLU Vishakhapatnam 132

TNNLS Tiruchirappalli 200

Total 2190

OTHER LAW INSTITUTIONS ACCEPTING CLAT SCORES –In addition to the above 16 National Law Universities (NLUs), following are some of the other institutes which participate in CLAT and accept scores of the Common Law Admission Test.

Law Schools accepting CLAT Scores

Nirma University – Institute of Law

UPES College of Legal Studies, Dehradun

SRM University, Tamil Nadu

N.A. Global Law School

Galgotias University, Greater Noida

Alliance University, Bangalore

SRM University, Haryana

Altius Institute of Universal Studies, Indore

Manipal University

Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida

ITM University, Gurgaon

IAMR Law College, Ghaziabad

Raffles University, Rajasthan

SGT University, Gurgaon

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Academic QualificationYou need to have qualified Higher Secondary School/ Intermediate or equivalent examination from 10+2 education system.

You need to secure at least 45% marks in aggre-gate of the total marks and if belonging to SC/ST category, need to secure at least 40% marks.

Age BarAs per the March 27, 2015 Supreme Court order, there is no upper age limit for applying and appear-ing in CLAT. Earlier, the upper age limit was 20 years. Therefore with no age bar, any one irrespective of the age can apply for CLAT 2016.

Who else are eligible for CLAT?Candidates who are appearing in their Class 12th or any other equivalent examination will also be consid-ered eligible for applying for CLAT, subjected to mini-mum marks required for the common law admission test.

Candidates will need to submit their proof of quali-fying and mark-sheet at the time of admission.

CLAT ELIGIBILITY

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CLAT EXAM PATTERN

Exam Mode – Online

Exam Duration – 2 Hours

Number of Questions – 200 Questions

Total Marks – 200 Marks

Marking Scheme – Each question will have four options provided against it. You are required to mark the most appropriate option among the four given.While each correct answer will be awarded 1 mark, for every incorrect answer, 0.25 marks will be deducted from the total scored marks following a system of

negative marking. In any case if you respond any question with more than one answer, it’ll be regarded as wrong, even if one of the marked options is correct and negative marking will be applicable to the very question.

Subjects – The online paper will comprise the ques-tions from the following subjects –

l English (including Comprehension)l General Knowledge & Current Affairsl Elementary Mathematics (Numerical Ability)l Legal Aptitudel Logical Reasoning

Subject-wise distribution of Questions

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CLAT TIMELINE

The CLAT Committee issues notification of Com-mon Law Admission Test (CLAT) usually in the month of December and announces applica-tions from the first week of January.

The applications are invited in online mode and the window closes by the second week of April.

You can download the admit card of CLAT from third week of April as the admission test is usually scheduled to be held in the second week of May.

CLAT Results are announced by the last week of May and is followed by a central-ized online counselling from first week of June.

CLAT Committee organizes the counselling and seat allotment for as many as 4 rounds, as the admis-sion process is closed by second week of July.

Given are the important events of the Com-mon Law Admission Test along with the dates

Notification Last week of Decem-ber 2015

Application Form First week of January – Second week of April 2016

Admit Card Third week of April 2016

Online Exam Second week of May 2016

Result and Rank List Last week of May 2016

1st Seat Allotment List First week of June 2016

Payment of counselling fee Till second week of June 2016

2nd Seat Allotment List Second week of June 2016

Payment of counselling fee Till third week of June 2016

3rd Seat Allotment List Third week of June 2016

Payment of counselling fee Till fourth week of June 2016

4th Seat Allotment List Fourth week of June 2016

Payment of counselling fee Till first week of July 2016

Closure of admission process

Till Second week of July 2016

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CLAT 2016 – Rajiv Gandhi National Univer-sity of Law, Patiala is to conduct the most sought after law entrance exam for a total of 2190 seats distributed among 16 participat-

ing National Law Universities (NLUs). Some petitioners have approached the Supreme Court of India appeal-ing for the formation of a permanent CLAT conducting body with an objective to improve the exam system.

CLAT 2015 – The year gave a nightmare to both the examinees and the conducting body, Dr. Ram Mano-har National Law University (RMLNLU). The Common Law Admission Test was embroiled in a number of controversies including alleged erroneous questions and wrong merit lists. However, there were some news worth rejoice too. While the exam was conducted in online mode for the very first time, the Supreme Court ordered the CLAT Committee to lift age bar for appli-cations.

CLAT 2014 – This year the exam was conducted by Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) and for the very first time counselling was held in centralized online mode. CLAT 2014 was also marred in controversies including mismatch of answer-sheets.

CLAT 2013 – When CLAT 2013 was conducted by Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur; the test takers got surprised with the introduction of the new marking system. As per the negative marking system, for every wrong answer, a deduction of 0.25 marks (one-fourth) was made from the total marks secured by the examinee.

CLAT 2012 – National Law University Jodhpur had conducted the exam and this year CLAT was marred

CLAT HISTORYby several controversies. The test takers alleged that the several of the questions were set out of syllabus and the pattern was entirely changed. Moreover errors crept in the published rank list and a fresh rank list was put up in place of the wrong one.

CLAT 2011 – The coveted law entrance exam was conducted by WBNUJS Kolkata. The law aspirants were disappointed with the standard of the examina-tion. Moreover some of the answers of various ques-tions were even underlined due to the negligence of the organizers.

CLAT 2010 - NLIU Bhopal conducted the law entrance exam for a total of 11 participating NLUs.

CLAT 2009 – The conducting body, NALSAR Hyderabad had to re-schedule the May 17 exam to May 31 as the question papers got leaked.

CLAT 2008 – Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), a common but most sought after exam for law aspirants was conducted for the first time. In 2008, the CLAT Committee was headed by NLSIU Bangalore and as many as seven NLUs participated in the common entrance test for a total of 1037 seats.

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