CLAT 2015 AIR 1 Topper shares Prep Tips: Maths & Legal Reasoning are deciding factors

CLAT 2015 was full of surprises and experts feel that in the coming year also the test would be challenging for candidates.

Thus, to help aspirants fare well in Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), Shiksha got talking to Akash Jain, AIR 1 holder in CLAT exam. Akash scored 143.75 in CLAT 2015. In the exam, his score in Maths was 16.5, GK was 43.5 and Legal was 36.5.

An alumnus of Kendriya Vidyalaya Shivpuri (STATE), Akash belongs to a middle class family and he shares that, although his family could not help him academically but they always motivated and encouraged him to reach his potential. “They were the pillars of my success”, shared Akash.

CLAT is a difficult exam to crack and Akash advises aspirants to take frequent breaks and always study with a fresh mind. He also revealed whenever he felt exhausted from studying he used to go on outings with his friends.

Read this interview Shiksha.com had with Akash Jain and formulate your CLAT exam prep strategy by taking tips from his success mantra.

1. Did you expect to be the topper in CLAT 2015?

I was not sure of getting rank 1 but was confident that I would get into NLSIU.

2. How did you prepare for the exam?

I joined a coaching institute after giving exams for class 12^th and I got AIR 590 last year but I decided to drop a year and prepare again for CLAT 2015 and then secured AIR 1.

3. When should one start preparing for the exam?

I think 4 months preparation is more than enough for cracking CLAT and getting into National Law University (NLU).

4. How long did you prepare for the exam and how many hours did you study in a day?

I started my preparation from October 2014 only. I used to study for about 5-6 hours per day.

5. What are the important books you referred to for covering the syllabus?

I read the material provided by my coaching centre. Apart from that, I solved Quantitative Aptitude by R S Agarwal for mathematics and books by the same author for logical reasoning.

6. Are there any important topics to score well in CLAT?

I think Maths and logical reasoning are the areas where one should focus attention on. These are the sections where you can attempt almost every question with cent percent accuracy.

These sections also help in improving the score as well as rank. Apart from this, I think a student should prepare for general knowledge and current affairs daily since you can attempt all 50 questions in 7-8 minutes.

7. Any study tips basis your experience?

The key to cracking CLAT is working hard as well as smartly. A student should go through the questions of past years and understand the pattern of CLAT question paper and what type of questions are asked and then prepare accordingly. Try to give as many tests as possible because the full length mock tests help in understanding one’s weaknesses and strengths.

8. What as per you are the mistakes one should avoid while preparing for the exam?

As the exam is conducted online, I think few candidates may have difficulty in attempting maths and logical reasoning as you need to look the question on screen and then solve the question on the rough paper that is provided to you, it might consume a bit more time. Also, it might be problematic to attempt reading comprehension since you cannot underline important lines in the paragraph. So, in order to overcome these problems, one should do ample amount of practice and solve as many tests as possible, online.

9. How did you prepare for different sections of the exam?

For most of the subjects I referred to material provided by my coaching centre. Apart from that, for English I prepared from a book of CAT preparation. For maths and logical reasoning I referred books by RS Agarwal. For GK, I read from different sources on the internet. For legal reasoning, I solved past years’ papers.

10. When did you start revising the syllabus?

I used to revise parts of the syllabus daily. It was in mid-April that I started revising the whole syllabus. 

11. How did you manage time while giving the exam?

I used to attempt every mock test with a strategy. I had earmarked time for each section. I knew when I had wasted a lot of time on any given section and so I would skip it and then jump to next section.

12. Which as per you was the most difficult section in the exam?

This might differ from student to student. For me, I found puzzles in logical reasoning problematic.

13. Is there any section that plays the “deciding factor” for securing good ranks in the exam?

I think it is maths as well as legal reasoning that can be a deciding factor.

14. Any advice for aspirants who will be taking the exam this year?

Give as many tests as possible. Understand the areas where you can score well and work on them. Find you weaknesses and work hard on them. Solve a good number of mock tests online. Don't be discouraged if you get less mark in a particular test. Understand your mistakes and try not to repeat them ever.  

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