Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs)
CLAT 2026
Important Dates
Eligibility
UG: Class 12 with 45% marks (40% for SC/ST/PwD). PG: LLB with 50% marks (45% for SC/ST/PwD). No upper age limit.
Syllabus
English Language, Current Affairs & GK, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Techniques — all passage-based
Official Links
What CLAT Is
CLAT — Common Law Admission Test — is the entrance exam for admissions to the 22 National Law Universities (NLUs) across India. If you want to study law at NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, NLU Delhi (through AILET separately), NUJS Kolkata, or any of the other NLUs, CLAT is how you get in.
The exam is conducted offline (pen and paper) by the Consortium of NLUs. For the 2026-27 academic year, CLAT 2026 was held on 7 December 2025 — the naming is slightly confusing, but "CLAT 2026" means admissions for the 2026-27 batch, with the exam in December 2025.
Two programmes are available:
- UG (5-year BA LLB / BBA LLB / B.Sc. LLB / B.Com LLB) — for Class 12 students
- PG (1-year LLM) — for LLB graduates
Eligibility
UG Programme:
- Class 12 (or equivalent) from a recognised board
- Minimum 45% marks aggregate (40% for SC/ST/PwD)
- Candidates appearing in Class 12 exams can apply provisionally
- No upper age limit
PG Programme:
- LLB degree or equivalent (3-year or 5-year)
- Minimum 50% marks (45% for SC/ST/PwD)
- No upper age limit
Exam Pattern
UG Exam
| Section | Questions | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 22–26 | 22–26 | 2 hours total |
| Current Affairs & General Knowledge | 28–32 | 28–32 | |
| Legal Reasoning | 35–39 | 35–39 | |
| Logical Reasoning | 28–32 | 28–32 | |
| Quantitative Techniques | 13–17 | 13–17 | |
| Total | ~120 | ~120 | 120 minutes |
- Negative marking: 0.25 marks per wrong answer
- Mode: Offline (OMR-based)
- Questions are passage-based — all sections present a paragraph and ask questions based on it
PG Exam
120 questions in 120 minutes covering Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, and other LLB subjects from a passage-based format.
Syllabus — What's Actually Tested
English Language (22–26 marks): Reading comprehension passages with questions on grammar, vocabulary, inference, and author's tone. No standalone grammar fill-in-the-blanks type questions — everything is passage-based. This rewards candidates who read regularly.
Current Affairs & GK (28–32 marks): News from the past 12 months — national, international, legal/constitutional developments, Supreme Court landmark judgments, government policies, science & environment. Static GK (history, geography, polity) also appears but in smaller proportion.
Legal Reasoning (35–39 marks): The highest-weightage section and the one that trips up many candidates. A legal principle is stated, a situation is given — you apply the principle to reach a conclusion. You don't need prior legal knowledge; you reason from what's given. But understanding basic legal concepts (offer, acceptance, negligence, mens rea, locus standi) helps significantly.
Logical Reasoning (28–32 marks): Argument analysis, assumption-premise-conclusion, strengthening/weakening arguments, inference-based questions — mostly critical reasoning, not the typical puzzle-based reasoning of other exams.
Quantitative Techniques (13–17 marks): Class 10 arithmetic — ratio, percentage, profit/loss, time-work, basic statistics. Minimal difficulty; the challenge is time, not concepts.
NLU Rankings — Where Your CLAT Score Gets You
Higher CLAT rank = access to better NLU campuses. Cutoffs shift every year, but a rough guide for UG General category:
| Approx. Rank | Likely Colleges |
|---|---|
| 1–200 | NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, NUJS Kolkata |
| 200–600 | NLU Jodhpur, GNLU Gandhinagar, RGNUL Patiala |
| 600–1500 | NLU Lucknow, HNLU Raipur, DSNLU Visakhapatnam |
| 1500–3000 | Several state NLUs |
SC/ST/PwD candidates get reservation (15%/7.5%/3% typically) and correspondingly lower cutoffs.
How to Apply
- Visit the Consortium of NLUs portal: consortiumofnlus.ac.in
- Register with email and mobile
- Fill in personal, academic, and programme details
- Pay fee: ₹4,000 (General/OBC/PwD), ₹3,500 (SC/ST/BPL)
- Download admit card when released
Preparation Tips
- Passage-based format is the key shift. CLAT doesn't test memorisation — it tests reading speed and reasoning. Start reading quality newspapers (The Hindu, Indian Express) and legal news sources daily for at least 3–4 months before the exam.
- Legal Reasoning is learnable without law school. Study the logic behind legal principles: offer-acceptance in contracts, mens rea-actus reus in criminal law, reasonable person standard in torts. You're applying principles, not recalling law.
- Current Affairs cannot be crammed. Build it over months, not the week before. Focus especially on Supreme Court judgments — at least 5–10 landmark decisions per year consistently appear.
- Quantitative Techniques: don't over-invest. Only 13–17 marks. Clear Class 10 basics, move on.
- Mock tests under timed conditions starting 8 weeks before the exam. CLAT mock series are available from multiple platforms; CLATGyan and CLAT Possible are widely used.
Common Questions
Does CLAT apply to NLU Delhi? No. NLU Delhi (NLUD) has its own separate exam called AILET. CLAT scores are not accepted there.
Can I apply to both CLAT and AILET in the same year? Yes. Many candidates appear for both. They have different exam dates.
Is there a limit on how many times I can appear for CLAT? No attempt limit. You can appear every year until you meet age/qualification requirements (which have no upper limit).
What happens if I miss the CLAT exam after registering? No refund of application fee. You can apply fresh next year.
Official Links
| CLAT Official Portal | consortiumofnlus.ac.in |
| Conducting Body | Consortium of National Law Universities |