Hello everyone, I am Devansh Bhadoriya, a student at NLSIU Bangalore. In today’s Blog, we will talk about how to prepare for CLAT by yourself, without any offline or online coaching. I’ll be covering everything you need to know, from which books to use, to how to analyze your performance and stay updated with current affairs.
Before we dive in, here is a quick announcement: if you’re looking for more content related to CLAT, I’ve launched a separate channel called “Smartkeeda” You can find the link in the description. There, you’ll discover section-wise preparation plans and concept videos on subjects like legal reasoning and maths. Additionally, I regularly take
live sessions on Telegram and Instagram to solve your doubts, and you can find my IDs in the description.b
If you’re interested in a more personalized approach, I’ve also launched a mentorship batch called “CLAT Individual Mentorship Program,” where we can work together through one-on-one video sessions, mock analysis, and more. Now, let’s get started with our self-study guide.
Understanding CLAT 2025
CLAT is a competitive exam for admission to India’s top national law universities for a 5-year B.A.LL.B. degree. The exam typically takes place in December and consists of 120 questions to be completed in 120 minutes. These questions are divided into five sections: Reading Comprehension (RC), Critical Reasoning (CR), Legal Reasoning, General Knowledge (GK), and Maths.
General Preparation Tips
- Reading Newspapers: It’s crucial to read newspapers daily for two main reasons:
- Current Affairs: Staying updated with what’s happening around you, which is particularly important for the GK section.
- Reading Speed: Enhances your reading speed, which is beneficial for the RC section.
Essential Books: While I’ll suggest section-wise books later, one book you must have is the “Oswal CLAT Book” which contains 10 years of previous years’ questions (PYQs). This book provides a strategy-wise plan for each section and a detailed analysis of the types of questions asked in CLAT. - Practice and Analysis: Practice is key, but equally important is analyzing your performance. You need to understand your mistakes and work on them.
Section-wise Preparation
Reading Comprehension (RC)
- Daily Newspaper Reading: Improves both your general knowledge and reading speed.
- Practice Passages: Use various sources available on Telegram for practice passages.
- Books: If you prefer a dedicated book, “Arun Sharma’s Verbal Ability” can be useful.
- Theory: Focus on understanding figures of speech, parts of speech, themes, and tones of passages.
- Analysis: After practicing, analyze your mistakes and improve.
Critical Reasoning (CR)
- Theory: Complete the theory topics like conclusion, inference, assumption, premise, main idea, and flaws in arguments.
- Books: The “Manhattan Guide for GMAT” is an excellent resource available on Telegram.
- Practice: Solve individual questions, then move to passage-based questions.
- Analysis: Analyze each mistake and understand why it happened.
Legal Reasoning - Topics: Focus on Law of Torts, Crime, Family Law, Constitutional Law, IP Law, Foreign Law, Miscellaneous Law, and Current Legal Knowledge.
- Books: The “LALR” book is a good resource, and its PDF is available on my Telegram channel.
- Practice: First, understand principles and facts questions, then solve passage-based questions.
- Analysis: Analyze your performance in sectional and mock tests.
General Knowledge (GK)
- Newspapers: Read them daily but don’t make notes from them.
- Monthly Compendiums: Use resources like CLATPost or LAW Ex available on Youtube.
- Websites: Use Drishti IAS, Vision IAS, Study IQ IAS, Live Law, and Bar & Bench for current legal knowledge.
- Notes: Make topic-wise notes divided into genres like National, International, Defense, Sports, Science & Tech, etc.
Maths
- Focus Topics: Make sure you are strong in average, ratio, and percentage. These topics are crucial.
- Books: “R.S. Aggarwal’s Quantitative Aptitude” is a good resource if you need a book.
- Practice: Solve questions and take sectional tests regularly.
Mock Tests and Analysis - Start Now: Begin giving mock tests from today if you haven’t already. Start with one mock test per week for the first month, then gradually increase.
- Sectional Tests: Aim to give two sectional tests per subject each week.
- Analysis: After every mock and sectional test, spend time analyzing your mistakes and learning from them.
Conclusion
There’s no significant difference between coaching and self-study as long as you are disciplined and follow a structured plan. Practice, analysis, and staying updated with current affairs are key to cracking CLAT. If you have any doubts or need further guidance, feel free to reach out to me through my Telegram or Instagram, or join my mentorship program for personalized support.