Preparation Tips for CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Section

The Common Law Admission Test, also known as CLAT, is one of the most popular law entrance exams in India which is conducted every year to give students admission to both undergraduate and postgraduate law programmes such as BA LLB, B Sc LLB, B.Com LLB, BBA LLB, and LLM.

CLAT 2023 is scheduled to be held on December 18, 2022 from 2 pm to 4 pm. The examination will be conducted in pen and paper format. Around 70,000 law aspirants appear for CLAT every year to get into the top law colleges in India. CLAT is one of the most competitive law entrance exams as students who will clear CLAT with high scores can get into the top NLUs. National Law Universities are the most popular and top law institutes for candidates who want to start their legal careers. Therefore, to get a good score in CLAT 2023, students must have a wholesome preparation in the Legal Reasoning section as it is one of the scoring sections. 

How to prepare for CLAT depends upon the time left until the day of the exam. Before jumping to any other study material, candidates must always focus on being thorough with the best book(s) available.

The Legal Reasoning section of CLAT 2023 evaluates the candidate's legal acumen to the highest level. In order to not just crack CLAT 2023 but also obtain a good score, CLAT aspirants must first understand what legal reasoning is and why preparation for the same is significant. This article provides all the important information regarding the Legal Reasoning section of CLAT and how to prepare for it.

What is Legal Reasoning?

There are ways how a candidate can score in the Legal Reasoning section but let us first understand what is Legal Reasoning.

The Legal Reasoning section of CLAT checks your legal reasoning rather than legal knowledge. However, legal laws could also be a part of this section. The section is based on current events, legal facts and principles of law. The motive of the section is to judge a candidate's legal aptitude, problem-solving ability and research aptitude. Till 2019, Legal Aptitude used to be a separate section in the exam. However, from 2020 onwards, the exam does not have a separate Legal Aptitude section.

The Legal Reasoning paper will ask the candidates to read passages of approximately 450 words each which will relate to fact situations or scenarios. The questions will include legal matters, moral-philosophical enquiries and public policy questions. The candidates can take benefit of the fact that prior knowledge of the law is not required to ace this section. General awareness of contemporary legal and moral issues would be enough to be able to apply general propositions or principles to the fact scenarios given.

CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Question Pattern

The CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning questions will include a few passages, each of which would be based on:

• Recognizing and inferring the principles and directions given in the passage.
• Applying such principles and rules to different factual situations.
• Understanding how changes to the principles or rules may make amends in their application to different fact situations.
• Candidates must avoid questions that they are not familiar with to not waste much time in thinking and avoid negative marking. 

Also Read: Top 20 Law Universities in India Accepting CLAT, LSAT, SLAT Scores

Top 8 Tips to Prepare for CLAT Legal Reasoning 2023

Some of the important tips that candidates can include in their CLAT preparation strategy for the section on Legal Reasoning are provided here. These tips can prove to be quite beneficial in the overall preparation.

• Refer to only the best books for CLAT Legal Reasoning Paper 2023 like LST's Legal Reasoning Module, and Analytical Aptitude E-book by R S Agarwal. Find more about the best books for CLAT 2023 in the CollegeDekho exam section.
• Legal Reasoning is the most important section, marks-wise and a diverse section like this demands candidates to have a fair knowledge of the basics. Practising regularly is the key to acing this section.
• For this section, the candidate must ensure that they first understand the question and then go about attempting it. As candidates have to attempt 150 questions in 120 minutes, they should make certain that they manage their speed and accuracy simultaneously.
• Revise previous years' question papers or sample question papers to get an impression of the real exam environment. These sample papers will help fuel the preparation for the exam. Download CLAT 2023 sample paper.
• Application of principle must be a factor a candidate needs to focus on before attempting the question.
• Think logically while attempting questions in this section.
• Make generous use of the internet and search for practice papers that would help you with the legal reasoning section.
• Create the perfect plan of action for this section. This may vary from candidate to candidate and with the apt plan of action, you are good to go.

CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Syllabus 

CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning section will include passages. The passages might be based on scenarios or fact situations based on public policy questions, legal matters or moral philosophical investigations. Without prior knowledge of the law, candidates can easily answer questions/passages in this section. Some of the important topics from the Legal Reasoning section are:

CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Section Overview

Let’s take a quick look at the Legal Reasoning section of CLAT 2023.

• Approximately 35-39 questions are asked from the Legal Reasoning section.
• The questions will be based on legal comprehension where passages would mostly be on static or current legal issues. 
• For every correct answer +1 will be awarded and -0.25 for every incorrect answer.
• The questions asked in this section are quite straightforward.
• The question paper may include hypothetical situations where students have to resolve the case by applying legal knowledge given in the question. 
• The straightforward questions asked in the paper will judge the students based on the conclusion or supporting argument that they put forward for the legal issue. To answer such questions, students will need excellent but unbiased comprehending skills.

How to Prepare for CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Section?

With the change in the CLAT exam pattern, the Legal Reasoning section is getting a bit longer to complete within the stipulated time. With fast reading speed, candidates can finish this section on time. Try to read as much as you can.

• CLAT 2023 application is going on and the exam will be conducted in December 2022. Not much time is left for the CLAT exam, therefore students must dedicate at least 2-3 hours to reading newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc. Newspapers like The Hindu and Economic Times are the best to start with. 
• Read the editorial section along with other articles in the newspaper to get enough information that will help you in your Legal Reasoning section preparation. 
• Try reading blogs that are available on the internet to improve your reading skills. 

CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Section Preparation- Previous Paper Analysis

CLAT 2023 aspirants must check out the previous year's question paper analysis to prepare themselves for the exam accordingly. 

• Focus Area: Questions were mostly asked from traditional law subjects.
• Passage Type: The types of passages that were asked are:

1. Passage 1: Constitution: Fundamental Rights and Reasonable Restrictions- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Easy)
2. Passage 2: Special Marriage Law- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Moderate)
3. Passage 3: Contract Law: Void and Voidable Contracts- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Difficult)
4. Passage 4: Environmental Jurisprudence: Doctrines- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Very easy)
5. Passage 5: Public International Law: Theories of Relationship between International Law and Municipal Law- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Moderate)
6. Passage 6: Law of Writs (Constitutional)- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Easy)
7. Passage 7: Penal Law and Personal Laws related to Bigamy- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Moderate)
8. Passage 8: Constitution: Levy of Taxes on Religious Denominations (Mentions the theme of secularism)- 5 questions (Difficulty level: Difficult)

• Difficulty Level: Moderate
• Good Number of Attempts: 34-35 questions

Important Books for CLAT 2023 Legal Reasoning Section

For CLAT 2023, the legal aptitude section is one of the most important sections. To answer questions from this section, an individual must carefully read and understand the passage. With the best books, you move one step closer to getting a good score.

Section-Wise CLAT 2022 Preparation Tips

Click on the below-mentioned links to check out the preparation tips for the rest of the sections of CLAT 2022:

Also Read:CLAT 2023 Important Dates​

CLAT 2023 Exam Pattern

Before going about preparing for the entrance, one must have a fair idea of the pattern of the exam. CLAT 2023 exam pattern for both UG and PG levels have been revised with a few major changes. The new exam pattern for CLAT 2023 UG and PG have been provided below:

New Exam Pattern for CLAT UG 2023

The exam pattern of CLAT was changed in November 2019. Check out the changes made in the exam pattern for CLAT UG 2020 onwards:

Earlier, the CLAT UG paper used to have a total of 200 questions. The number of questions has now been reduced to 150.

CLAT UG 2023 will have the below-mentioned sections:

• English Language
• Current Affairs and General Knowledge
• Legal Reasoning
• Logical Reasoning
• Quantitative Techniques

New Exam Pattern for CLAT PG 2023

Let's now walk you through the new exam pattern of CLAT PG 2023:

• CLAT PG 2023 will comprise objective and subjective questions. The section was removed in CLAT PG 2020 and CLAT PG 2021 because of the COVID outbreak but it will be reinstated in future.
• Cut-off marks are introduced for the LL.M programme when CLAT PG also has a subjective section.
• The candidate's subjective section in CLAT PG will be evaluated only if he/ she clears the cutoff of the objective section.
• Sections like Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Contract, International Law, IPR, International Law and Jurisprudence have been incorporated in CLAT PG 2023.
• The descriptive portion of the exam was cancelled for 2020 and 2021.

CLAT UG 2023 Paper Format

Check out the detailed CLAT UG 2023 paper structure and pattern below.

Also Read:Difference Between CLAT, AILET and LSAT

With the correct methods and preparation techniques and lots of practice, it is quite easy to score well in the Legal Reasoning of CLAT entrance exam. Aspirants need to figure out their weaknesses and work upon them in order to be comfortable with the exam. 

CLAT is an integral exam that offers admission to NLUs as well as Non-NLUs. To explore your options and get admission to a law college, feel free to give a call on 1800-572-9877 or fill the Common Application Form. You can also write your queries in the QnA zone of CollegeDekho.

All the Best!