UG tests school-level English, current affairs, legal and logical reasoning and quantitative techniques. PG tests law subjects at graduate depth. Current affairs narrows to what matters in law: recent Supreme Court rulings, new legislation and constitutional developments.
Knowing the law won’t be enough. Here’s what CLAT PG really tests.
CLAT PG is one paper of 120 passage-based questions in 120 minutes. It rewards the graduate who can read fast, find the rule and apply it, not just the one who remembers the most cases. Here is how it differs from every exam you have already sat, and the traps that cost good candidates marks.
120questions in one paper, no sections
~1 minper question, passage reading included
−0.25for every wrong answer
0penalty for leaving a question blank
Try one in 60 seconds
Read the passage, pick an answer, then see which trap each wrong option is built on.
Passage
Under the rule described in this passage, a promise to give a gift, made without anything given in return, binds the promisor only if it is in writing and signed. An oral promise of a gift creates no legal obligation, however sincerely it was made or however much the other person relied on it.
QuestionMeera orally promises her friend Anita ₹50,000 as a wedding gift. Anita books a venue relying on this promise. Meera now refuses to pay. Based only on the passage, which of the following is correct?
Practice-style example with an invented rule. Not a past-paper question.
Trap: correct in law, wrong in the passage. Some legal systems let reliance matter (promissory estoppel). This passage says reliance changes nothing, and the question says “based only on the passage”.
Trap: the “fair” answer. It feels just, but it ignores the rule laid down. Exams test the rule, not your sense of fairness.
Correct. It applies the stated rule (oral, and no return) to the facts. Nothing more, nothing less.
Trap: too absolute. “Never” and “any” go far beyond the passage, which says a signed, written promise would bind.
How it differs from the exams you have already cracked
Different exams reward different habits. Carrying the wrong habit into CLAT PG is the most common reason strong students underperform.
University papers reward long answers and recall. CLAT PG asks you to recognise, eliminate and apply under time pressure, across the whole LLB syllabus. A subject you skipped can show up as an entire passage.
Many judiciary exams add descriptive mains papers and lean on bare-act detail. CLAT PG is objective only. You rarely need an exact section number, but you often need to know what a provision does and why a case matters.
NET combines a teaching and research aptitude paper with a wide Law (058) paper. CLAT PG is a single, law-only paper built around passages, so reading speed and precision matter as much as recall.
How a CLAT PG question is built
Questions sit under a passage: a judgment extract, a statutory provision or a legal situation. Expect these six kinds.
“According to the passage, the court held that…”
“Which principle can be drawn from the extract?”
A fresh fact situation. Apply the passage’s rule to it.
Assertion and reason, or “which statements are correct”.
The passage names a doctrine. You must know its scope and exceptions.
Pick what the passage best supports, not what is merely true.
Correct in law is not always correct according to the passage.
Many stems tell you to answer from the passage. If it states a position that differs from what you remember, the exam wants the passage’s version unless told otherwise. Read the instruction in every stem.
Constitutional Law is consistently the heaviest subject, and Jurisprudence is widely treated as a priority. Criminal law (now the BNS, BNSS and BSA), contract, torts, property, family and administrative law appear steadily. Lighter subjects can still arrive as a full passage, so do not skip any.
What the paper expects from you
- Concepts with their exceptions, provisos and “unless” clauses
- Landmark cases by principle, not just name and year
- Key tests: basic structure, pith and substance, reasonable classification, proportionality
- Recent changes, including the BNS, BNSS and BSA against the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act
- Read dense legal prose fast and retain the logic
- Eliminate two options quickly, then choose between the last two
- Map a rule to the exact fact that triggers it
- Know when to abandon a passage
- Comfortable when two options both look right
- Calm under negative marking
- Steady for a full two hours
12 traps, and how to spot each
These are patterns that turn up again and again in objective law papers. Learn their shapes and they stop working on you.
- The “too absolute” option. Always, never, only, all and none are usually wrong in a subject full of exceptions. Unless the passage itself is absolute.
- True but irrelevant. A correct statement of law that does not answer the question asked.
- The reversed holding. Almost the same words as the passage, with the opposite meaning.
- The half-true option. The first half is right and the last clause quietly breaks it. Read to the final word.
- Look-alike doctrines. Void and voidable, cognizable and non-cognizable, bailment and pledge, easement and licence, mens rea and motive.
- The outdated-law trap. Right under the IPC or CrPC, wrong under the BNS or BNSS.
Show the other 6 traps
- The one-fact twist. A change in age, consent, timing or “written versus oral” flips the answer.
- Borrowed case names. The right principle attached to the wrong case, or two cases blended.
- Long passage, short answer. Most of it is context. The answer often sits in one or two lines.
- Negative stems. “NOT”, “EXCEPT” and “LEAST likely” are easy to misread when rushed. Underline them.
- An exception inside an exception. A rule, its exception and a limit on that exception, all in one passage.
- The “fair” answer. It feels just but ignores the rule laid down. Law exams test rules, not fairness instincts.
Mistakes that quietly cost ranks
- Cramming case names without their principles
- Polishing minor subjects while Constitutional Law is shaky
- Collecting ten sources and finishing none
- Skipping bare Acts, then struggling with statutory passages
- Learning the BNS, BNSS and BSA without comparing them to the old codes
- Rereading instead of testing yourself
- Never practising passage sets, so the real paper’s reading load is a shock
- Reading every passage word by word
- Staying too long on a passage because you “almost have it”
- Misreading NOT, EXCEPT and LEAST
- Bringing outside knowledge into a passage-bound question
- OMR slips: wrong bubble, skipped number, shifted row
- No time checkpoints, so the last 20 questions get rushed
- Taking mocks but not analysing them. The analysis is where you learn
- Tracking only the total score, not accuracy by subject and question type
- Practising in relaxed conditions instead of timed, on paper, in the 2:00 to 4:00 PM slot
Make notes the exam rewards
Every landmark case gets four lines. A case without its principle is nearly useless in this paper.
Example
Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973)
- Facts
- Challenge to Kerala land-reform laws and the constitutional amendments that shielded them.
- Issue
- Does Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution reach every part of it?
- Held
- Parliament can amend the Constitution but cannot destroy its basic structure (13-judge bench).
- Principle
- Basic structure doctrine. Later applied in Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975) and Minerva Mills (1980).
Keep three layers
- Full notes for reference
- One page per subject for quick revision
- Flashcards of must-know cases and doctrines for the final stretch
- Changes log: new laws, amendments and bench judgments, each dated
- Mistake log: every wrong mock answer, with the reason (knowledge gap, misread, trap or time)
Your exam-day game plan
Suggested checkpoints, to adjust to your pace. They leave a buffer at the end instead of using all 120 minutes on a first pass.
30questions by minute 26
60questions by minute 52
90questions by minute 79
105minutes: first pass done, 15 left to revisit and check your OMR
- Skim the questions first, then read the passage with them in mind.
- Mark and move. If a passage has not given way in a couple of minutes, skip it and return.
- Eliminate before you choose. Strike out the too-absolute, irrelevant and reversed options first.
- Underline the instruction in the stem: “based on the passage”, NOT, EXCEPT, most appropriate.
- Start with your strongest subjects to bank marks and confidence.
- Eliminate first, guess second. A blind guess is worth only about +0.06 marks on average, and every option you rule out raises that.
- Check the OMR row against the question number every few questions.
These patterns come from past-paper trends and common exam practice, not from an official Consortium list. The Consortium of NLUs sets the pattern each year, so confirm it in the official CLAT 2027 PG instructions.
Now plan the time you have.
The right plan depends on how many days are left. Pick your pathway, or read the FAQ first.