How I faced my first ever competitive exam, CLAT: Full of Excitement & Fear

By: Abhishek Singh

Start preparation early for any competitive exam like CLAT to avoid stress in the last month of preparation. The key is to know the syllabus and practise as many mock tests as possible to understand the concepts. Revise these concepts to clear the exam.

Every year many aspirants appear for the CLAT Examination. This year, the CLAT Examination is scheduled to be conducted on May 24. In this article, I am going to share my experience with the preparation of CLAT Examination. At this stage, some students would be assured of writing CLAT. However, there might be some students who find they are lacking in preparation, confidence, accuracy, and so on. Each aspirant must give the CLAT Examination, even if they are not prepared for the same.

I started preparing for CLAT Examination during Class 12 with the least possible interest in law. When I was in Class 9, none of the subjects was difficult, but, when I was in Class 10, Physics and Biology were making things difficult for me at every step. Hence, opting Physics or Biology in Class 11 was totally out of question. Therefore, I chose Commerce.

During Class 11, someone suggested that I should go for CLAT. I considered appearing for CLAT examination after a lot of research.

I was excited about studying a new subject and at the same time, I feared not being able to clear the exam.

For the first three to four months, I was calm as I knew that I still have seven to eight months in hand to prepare for the exam. It hit me hard when I realised that only three to four months are left for the CLAT exam and I did not even start my preparation. This led to confusion and stress for me. I decided to start the preparation without further wasting any time.  

I began with going through the toppers’ videos, online lecture; this made me realise that I could do much better than I think. I started practising several mock tests and solving all the previous year papers exhaustively with a focus on securing high marks in CLAT exam.

To prepare for the Class 12 exam, I took a break of one month. This would give me only one month to prepare for CLAT. Thus, during last month, my only strategy was to practise as many mock tests as I could and revise the material as well as short notes which were prepared during preparation.

Basic tips to prepare for CLAT examination in the limited time

1) Go through the updated syllabus and create a timetable

2) Do not compare with anyone

3) Always maintain a healthy diet, especially during last month and last day.

4) During last month, only practise mock tests along with past year papers

5) Last month is about 3 things, i.e.

a) Revise updated & previous current affairs

b) Practise maximum mock tests

c) Revise all the short notes

About the Author:

Abhishek Singh is a law student at Hidayatullah National Law University and a public policy enthusiast. He has a keen interest in writing papers and mooting along with participating and organising conferences/seminars. He also has a vision of doing something extraordinary for the future generations.