How to Prepare for CLAT in 3 Months?

The CLAT is a challenging exam that requires dedicated preparation to crack. While most candidates study for at least a year, some end up studying only for a few months. If you are one of them and are plagued by the question – how to prepare for CLAT in 3 months – then you are at the right place. This blog will cover an active three-month plan to help you condense the entire year-long preparation into three months. While it sounds challenging, with the right strategy and hard work, scoring 100+ in CLAT with just three months of prep is possible. 

First, we’ll cover the CLAT exam pattern in detail, along with the topics that will be asked. After that, we’ll delve into the three-month plan, where you’ll learn how to divide the coursework across the three months while managing mock tests and revision.

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How to prepare for CLAT in 3 months – Understanding the new updated CLAT exam pattern

Assessing the paper pattern before you begin your prep will put you on the right track. This is especially true of CLAT 2025 because significant changes in the exam pattern have been introduced.

1. Instead of the usual 150 questions, CLAT 2025 will only contain 120 questions.
2. The 120 questions will be divided into five categories: English, Current Affairs and GK, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques.
3. Each correct answer will be awarded one mark, and each wrong answer will get -0.25.
4. The difficulty level of the questions will hover around the level of 12th standard NCERT.
5. The total time duration to write the paper will be 120 minutes.

How to prepare for CLAT in 3 months – The topics you need to study

While CLAT is majorly an aptitude test designed to test your reasoning, analytical, and communication skills, focusing on crucial recurring topics can give you an edge. This list of topics will come in especially handy if you are worrying about how to prepare for CLAT in 3 months. After all, a condensed study plan needs to be highly focused on the most relevant topics.

CLAT English language important topics

In this section, you’ll be expected to go through multiple 450-word essays and answer the questions that follow them. Sourced from contemporary works, historical fiction, and relevant non-fiction, these passages will be at a normal 12th-standard course level. Here are the topics and types of questions you will face:

• Read and comprehend the main point discussed in the passage, as well as any arguments and viewpoints discussed or set out in the passage
• Draw inferences and conclusions based on the passage
• Summarise the passage
• Compare and contrast the different arguments or viewpoints set out in the passage
• Understand the meaning of various words and phrases in the context that they are used in the passage

CLAT current affairs and GK important topics

You’ll be asked to read 450-word passages sourced from journalistic pieces and other news items. The goal is to assess your general awareness of legal information, current affairs, and other significant events from Indian history. But rest assured, you won’t need any additional knowledge beyond the information presented in the passages to answer the proceeding questions. These are the topics that your prep should cover:

• Contemporary events of significance from India and the world
• Arts and Culture
• International affairs
• Historical events of continuing significance

CLAT legal reasoning important topics

This is one of the most exciting and challenging sections of CLAT. The 450-word passages focus on legal material, philosophical enquiries, and public policy issues. While the exam-conducting body of CLAT has made it clear that students require no prior legal knowledge, our mentors suggest that a basic understanding of contemporary legal and moral issues can be of great help. It’ll help you better apply your ideas to the given legal scenarios. The broad overview of the most essential topics looks like this:

• Identify and infer the rules and principles set out in the passage
• Apply such rules and principles to various fact situations
• Understand how changes to the rules or principles may alter their application to different fact situations

CLAT logical reasoning important topics

In this section, you’ll be tested on your ability to analyse the presented 450-word passages critically, identify the central theme, pick out cogent arguments and supporting evidence, and draw rational conclusions. Here are the different types of questions you can expect:

• Recognise an argument, its premises and conclusions
• Read and identify the arguments set out in the passage
• Critically analyse patterns of reasoning and assess how conclusions may depend on particular premises or evidence and how conclusions may be strengthened or weakened as a consequence of an alteration in premises or supporting facts
• Infer what follows from the passage and apply these inferences to new situations
• Draw relationships and analogies, identify contradictions and equivalence, and assess the effectiveness of arguments

CLAT quantitative techniques important topics

This section will specifically test your mathematical and computing skills. The passages will contain word problems, data points, and graphs that you’ll have to translate into the correct mathematical equations to solve them accurately. The mathematical operations that you might need to conduct to get to the answer will be based on the 10th NCERT level. Here are the kinds of questions you should prepare for:

• Derive, infer, and manipulate numerical information set out in such passages
• Apply various 10th-standard mathematical operations on such information, including from areas such as ratios and proportions, basic algebra, mensuration and statistical estimation

How to prepare for CLAT in 3 months – A detailed study plan

While creating this calendar, we divided the first month into two parts with different targets. The second and third months were divided into three parts of 10 days each. As you move ahead with the calendar, you’ll notice that it gets more rigorous before shifting the focus to CLAT mock tests. This is to help you acclimate to the material, build a solid foundation, and then give mock tests to assess your progress.

First Month (1st to 15th)

1. The goal is to ease you into the entire curriculum. So, you’ll begin with brushing up on your GK. You need to read pertinent GK questions related to International events, important historical events, and the UN and all its constituent organisations.
2. Also, build the habit of reading newspapers and magazines regularly. If you can’t access the paper versions, download them onto your phone or laptop and browse through all the major headlines daily.
3. For your theoretical work, start with studying the basic principles of criminal law and constitutional procedure. This will help you create a strong foundation for your legal reasoning portion.

First Month (16th to 30th)

1. Revise all your notes from the first 15 days to remain abreast with the information.
2. Once you’re done with criminal and constitutional law, you can move on to topics such as legal, legal maxims, contact act, and law of torte.
3. Expand your GK studies to include facts about law, literature, art, and geography. Create notes and flashcards for quick revisions.
4. Do not stop reading newspapers. Take in the top headlines and brief descriptions. Also, read the editorial section of leading newspapers such as The Hindu, Indian Express, and Telegraph.

Second Month (1st to 10th)

1. During the first ten days of the second month, you should pick up the most essential topics from the quantitative aptitude section. Practise problems on basic maths, age calculations, averages, ratios, speed and distance, time, fractions, percentages, profit and loss, work and energy, and simple and compound interest.
2. This is also the right time to give your first mock test. Time yourself and analyse your performance properly. List out the topics that you’re weak on. You’ll focus on these topics in the last two weeks of your CLAT preparation.

Second Month (10th to 20th)

1. Now, it’s time to work on your verbal ability. Pick up your Wren and Martin and brush up on grammar topics, including direct-indirect speech, active-passive voice, spotting errors, sentence formation, word substitution, idioms and phrases, comprehension, jumbled paragraphs, and clauses. Spend the days practising and solidifying your verbal concepts.
2. Give another CLAT mock test and see if your performance has improved in your studied sections. 
3. Continue to revise the GK, current affairs, and law topics you’ve already studied so you don’t lose your grip on them.

Second Month (20th to 30th)

1. In logical reasoning, you should direct your time towards questions from puzzles, syllogism, logical education, coding/decoding, cause/effect, statement/assumption/conclusion, blood relations, directions, analogies, inferences/judgements, clocks, calendars, and strengthening/weakening arguments.
2. You should also start talking to your mentors to devise exam-day test-taking strategies that maximise your strengths during this period.

Third Month (1st to 15th)

1. This month, we start revising everything we have learned in the past two months. Start timing your practice sessions and aim for less than 2 minutes per question.
2. Go through all your notes, flashcards, and other materials to quickly reinforce the concepts and facts in your mind.
3. You can also choose to create lists of vital mathematical formulae for quant and read through them daily.
4. Pick up four past years’ papers and solve them while timing yourself. Aim to improve your score with every attempt.

Third Month (16th to 30th)

1. Increase the pace of your mock tests. Finish one every two days. Spend the second day understanding your mistakes and finding ways to improve.
2. If there are topics that you’re struggling with, allot specific days to work on them. While your target score depends on your target college, most top NLUs require a score of 95+.
3. On the last day, put your books down and simply rest. Don’t stress yourself out a day before the exam.

Scoring 100+ on CLAT in just three months is no small feat, but it’s also not impossible. Our ‘How to prepare for CLAT in 3 months’ strategy will guide your preparation process and help you direct your efforts toward the right topics. But, your preparation will remain incomplete without access to the best mock tests. Sign up for the IMS Get.Set.Law 2024 test series. Leading CLAT experts designed each test, giving you access to almost identical CLAT questions. The tests include detailed video solutions, performance analytics, and national-level benchmarking against your peers. This test series will ensure you get the best out of your 3-month preparation strategy.