CLAT Exam Analysis 2026 (Live CLAT 2026 Analysis): Check Answer Key, Difficulty Level, & Expected Cut Off
The CLAT exam analysis 2026 includes section- difficulty, expected cutoffs, answer key and section-wise breakdowns. Mostly, the difficulty level of CLAT was moderate and its structure was predictable. In students’ opinion, the sections were similar to last year’s paper.
Key Takeaways for CLAT 2026 Analysis:
- The CLAT exam consisted of 120 questions and the questions were divided into five sections: English, Current Affairs (including General Knowledge), Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques.
- In English section, most of the questions were inference based with easy level. Also, some questions had close options that were able to consume more time of students.
- In Quant section, questions in both the sets were based on only percentage.
- The current affairs were extremely easy and answers were in the passage itself.
- The legal reasoning section was overall an easy paper.
- There will be a negative marking of 0.25 for every incorrect answer, and each correct answer will get +1 marks.
However, many students reported that Arithmetical Reasoning dominated the Logical Reasoning section, making it more time-consuming than expected. Quantitative Techniques was moderate with standard DI and arithmetic sets.
IMS Get.Set.Law presents a real-time after exam analysis of CLAT 2026 based on expert reviews and the first reactions from students.
CLAT Exam Analysis 2026: Overall Analysis
Following are the key highlights of CLAT exam 2026
| Section | No. of Questions | Number of Passages | Ideal Attempts | Level of Difficulty |
| English Language | 24 | 5 | 22 | Easy- Moderate |
| Current Affairs, including General Knowledge | 28 | 5 | 26 | Easy |
| Legal Reasoning | 30 | 5 | 28 | Easy |
| Logical Reasoning | 26 | 4 | 16 | Moderate |
| Quantitative Techniques | 12 | 2 | 7 | Moderate |
- Overall the exam was easy except the logical reasoning section, which came as a surprise.
- All the questions in the Logical reasoning section were analytical reasoning based. Passages were not lengthy and could be easily comprehended.
- The current affairs were extremely easy and answers could easily be found in the passage itself.
- 100+ attempts to be considered as good attempts and surely will take the cut off for tier 1 NLUs very high.
Watch expert video on CLAT 2026 Exam Analysis:
CLAT Exam Analysis 2026 – CLAT Sectional analysis
CLAT has 5 sections, each one designed to test specific skills relevant to graduate law study. Let’s take a look at our CLAT exam analysis for each section:
English Language CLAT 2026 analysis:
| English Language | |||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||
| No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty |
| 24 | 2 passage – easy 3 passage – easy to moderate |
24 | Easy | 24 | Easy | 30 | Medium |
Section Highlights
- All the passages were easy to read and comprehend.
- Most of the questions were inference based but easy some questions had close options. Also, some questions had close options.
- If you would have been an avid reader it would have helped.
- Good Attempt: 22; Good Score: 21-22.
CLAT Logical Reasoning Analysis Highlights:
| Logical Reasoning | |||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||
| No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty |
| 26 | 2 passages easy 1 – moderate 1 – difficult |
24 | Easy to Moderate | 24 | Easy to Moderate | 30 | Medium |
Section Highlights
- All the passages were from Analytical Reasoning.
- One passage was based on a tournament and had greater difficulty level.
- One passage was based on case analysis.
- The renaming questions were easy and straightforward.
- Good Attempt: 18 – 20; Good Score: 16 – 18
CLAT Legal Reasoning Analysis 2026:
| Legal Reasoning | |||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||
| No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty |
| 30 | Easy Passages – 5
Moderate Passages – 1 |
32 | Easy Passages – 4
Moderate Passages – 1 |
32 | Easy Passages – 5
Moderate Passages – 1 |
40
(8 Passages) |
Easy Passages: 3 Average: 3 Difficult Passages:2 |
CLAT Legal Reasoning Highlights
- Legal reasoning was overall an easy paper.
- The length of the passages were moderate.
- Ideal attempts would be 28+.
- Few options were based on your understanding of the passage.
CLAT General Knowledge (GK) & Current Affairs Analysis:
| Current Affairs (Including General Knowledge) |
|||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
||||
| No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty |
| 28 | Easy Passages – 3
Moderate Passages – 2 |
28 | Easy Passages – 4
Moderate Passages – 1 |
35 | Easy Passages – 5
Moderate Passages – 0 |
35 | Easy Passage: 1 Moderate Passage: 2 Difficult Passage: 2 |
CLAT Current Affairs Highlights
- The overall section was easy.
- Out of 5 passages 3 were predictable and the other 2 passages though not predictable but were easy
- The questions asked were such that they could be answered via reading the passage.
CLAT 2026 Quantitative Techniques (QT) Analysis:
| Quantitative Techniques | |||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||
| No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty | No. of Questions | Level of Difficulty |
| 12 | Moderate – 2 | 12 | Easy | 12 | Easy | 15 (3 Passages) | Medium (All 3 passages of medium |
CLAT Quantitative Techniques Analysis 2026 – Highlights
- The first set was lengthy. The questions were calculation oriented.
- The second set was very easy and less calculation oriented.
- Questions in both these sets were based on only percentage.
- A good Score would be 7.
Also read: What is Good CLAT Score?
CLAT Exam Analysis 2026– Expected Cutoff Scores and Ranks
The expected CLAT cutoff marks for 2026 are as below:
| NLU Tiers | CLAT cutoff 2026 (Expected score) | CLAT cutoff 2026 (Expected Closing Rank) |
| Top tier NLUs | 90 and above | 1-500 |
| Tier 2 NLUs | 78-89 | 501-1200 |
| New NLUs | Below 60 | Above 3200 |
How Many Students Appeared In CLAT 2026 Exam
CLAT 2026 was held on December 7, 2025, in offline mode. Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2026 was held smoothly and securely across 156 centres in 25 States, 93 cities, and 4 Union Territories.The consortium released a notification a few days before the entrance exam announcing that over 1 lakh students expressed interest in the CLAT exam. This number translated into a total of 92,344 candidates applied for the examination and this year there is an increase of 17% more applications. Among them, 75,009 candidates registered for the Undergraduate (UG) programme, while 17,335 candidates applied for the Postgraduate (PG) programme. The overall male–female ratio stands at approximately 0.72:1.
| Exam name | Registered for CLAT 2026 | Appeared in CLAT 2026 |
| CLAT UG | 75,009 | 72,000 |
| CLAT PG | 17,335 | 15,948 |
| Total | 92,344 | 87,948 |
Conclusion
The CLAT exam analysis 2026 is based on expert reviews done by our mentors. The expected cutoffs are subjective and will continue to be evaluated as further data pours in. What cannot be doubted is that the paper was considerably easy, and the CLAT cutoffs will continue to climb higher as thousands of students vie for a few hundred seats.
Also Check Past CLAT Exam Analysis
FAQ’s
What is the overall difficulty level of CLAT 2026?
Overall the CLAT exam was easy except the logical reasoning section which came as a surprise. It was manageable with as no major surprises were given. The sectional difficulty was easy to moderate. All the questions in the Logical reasoning section were Analytical reasoning based, which would decrease the overall scores of the students. The sections of LR & QT were slightly time-consuming.
Is CLAT 2026 tougher than CLAT 2025?
Yes. Overall, CLAT 2026 was tougher compared to CLAT 2025. The difficulty spiked mainly due to unexpected Analytical Reasoning–based questions in the Logical Reasoning section and the presence of Legal GK–oriented questions in Legal Reasoning. Additionally, the Quantitative Techniques section was more time-consuming, with lengthy calculations that reduced overall attempts for many students.
How was QT section in CLAT 2026? Was CLAT QT section difficult?
The questions were comparatively easy. However, the complex calculation in one set made it moderately difficult.
What is a safe score in CLAT 2026 to get into NLU?
The good score range is around 88 to 95 to get into Top Tier NLUs
How was the legal section in CLAT 2026?
The Legal Reasoning section was comparatively easy as the passages and questions were easily doable. The question length was also less. Very less factual based questions were asked.
When will IMS release the final CLAT 2026 analysis?
The CLAT 2026 Overall Analysis is released.
