CLAT Toppers Strategy – 7 Tips from CLAT Toppers to Ace CLAT 2025

07 February, 2024
parthiva mewawala

60,000 students and 26 NLUs – that’s the story for all aspiring lawyers in India. The competition is intense, but don’t let it scare you. After all, dedicated hard work, perseverance, and a strategic approach is all you need to score well and get into a top NLU. We’ve compiled this list of the 7 pillars of every CLAT toppers strategy to give you the decisive edge you need to crack CLAT.

Employ these topper’s tips to direct your CLAT prep and you’ll be right on track to ace the exam. 

The 7 aspects of every CLAT toppers strategy 

1. Begin your CLAT prep as early as possible

How long does CLAT prep take? How many months should you devote to CLAT training? While there is no straight answer to this question – each student has a different pace of learning – it is best to start as early as possible. Most CLAT toppers began their coaching from Class 11th itself. A few started at the beginning of Class 12th.

With more time on your hands, you’ll be able to give proper attention to all the topics and shore up your weaknesses. You can also allocate ample breaks in between the prep to rejuvenate and destress yourself without missing out on precious preparation. 

2. Begin your CLAT prep by first improving conceptual strength 

In the beginning of your CLAT study schedule, make sure to add more sessions for theoretical learning and conceptual understanding. 

Fill out your schedule with dedicated lessons on legal aptitude, logical thinking, and numeracy. Grasp the nuances and question-solving methodologies of the different topics. 

Another point to keep in mind is to set aside extra time to practise your weaker sections. Read, review, and practise questions that stump you until you’ve figured them out. 

3. After your concepts are clear, work on your speed and accuracy 

After gaining conceptual depth, now it’s time to focus on the application of all the knowledge. 

Create a strict revision schedule that consists of daily timed practice, regular mocks, and exam-day techniques to build the right test-taking skills. 

CLAT is an exam that perfectly balances question difficulty with speed and accuracy – missing out on any of the three will result in lower your potential score. 

4. Work on your reading, comprehension, and vocabulary 

Many students often become preoccupied with the theoretical syllabus of CLAT and end up neglecting other parts of the CLAT framework. Your approach to CLAT must account for its emphasis on reading comprehension. 

The long passage-based questions are designed to probe your critical thinking skills. But without reading practice, you’ll end up spending too much time on each passage. Your reading speed and comprehension capabilities should be up to par with the exam’s high bar. 

Here’s how you can improve in these areas:

  • Reading and comprehension – Read the editorial sections of The Hindu, The Telegraph, and The Statesman to become better acquainted with the academic socio-political style of writing. 

Many students also recommend signing up for law-focused blogs such as barandbench.com and livelaw.in.

  • Vocabulary – Two comprehensive vocabulary books by Normal Lewis, namely, ‘Word Power Made Easy’ and ’30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary’ are all that you need to get better. 

5. Join a leading CLAT coaching center and learn from the best

Even though each CLAT topper had a different strategy, one thing remained the same – they all underwent rigorous coaching as part of their CLAT strategy. Many students opt for self-study but find it hard to build a step-by-step plan to build up the skills required to crack CLAT. 

Most leading CLAT coaching centers near you won’t just give you study material but also access to experienced mentors and guided doubt sessions. With the rise of online CLAT coaching classes, aspirants can learn right from the comfort of their homes without wasting time on travel. 

6. Have these recommended CLAT study materials in your arsenal

We got the CLAT toppers to list out the books they referred to during their CLAT preparation. 

  • Logical reasoning 
  1. Analytical Reasoning by MK Pandey
  2. A Modern Approach to Logical Reasoning by RS Aggarwal
  • Elementary mathematics 
  1. Quantitative Aptitude by RS Aggarwal 
  • GK and current affairs
  1. GKToday
  2. AffairsCloud
  3. The Hind
  • Legal Aptitude 
  1. CLAT past years’ papers
  2. Section-wise question papers for the Legal Reasoning section. 
  • English
  1. English is Easy by Chetananand Singh
  2. Objective General English by SP Bakshi
  3. English Grammar and Composition by Wren and Martin

  7. Solve and analyse 50-100 CLAT mock tests to boost your time management skills

Answering 150 questions in just 120 minutes is a tall task – without proper time management techniques, you’ll be lost in the paper. The goal isn’t just to answer the questions correctly, but also to answer as many questions as possible. 

But time management for CLAT can only be learned when you’re familiar with the exam pattern, syllabus, topics, and question types. For that, you need to spend a lot of time giving real-time CLAT mock tests and solving previous years’ papers. The toppers gave between 50 to 100 mock tests to ingrain the paper and identify ways to save time. Moreover, regular mock tests also improve your speed and accuracy, giving you a better chance to do well on the actual exam. 

At IMS Get.Set.Law, we’ve developed a comprehensive CLAT classroom course that is designed to take you from a complete beginner to the top of the CLAT rank lists. Our mentors, with their first-hand experience of CLAT and the NLU admission process, are perfectly positioned to train you to do the same. We offer both offline and online courses. You can request a callback here to talk to our counsellors and learn more about the IMS Get.Set.Law program.