CLAT 2019: Check question paper analysis, expected cutoff here

CLAT 2019, conducted this year by the CLAT Consortium of NLUs headed by NLSIU, was held on May 26, 2019 between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm. The paper was largely on expected lines. The pattern of the paper was quite similar to that of last year. However, the LOD made it very similar to CLAT 2016, thus indicating that the cut-off for the top 3 NLUs is likely to be around the 155-157 mark.

The paper had a total of 200 questions spread across five sections - English, GK, Elementary Mathematics, Logical Reasoning and Legal Aptitude. There was negative marking of one-fourth of a mark for each incorrect attempt.

Given below is the section-wise breakup of the paper and the expected cutoff for the top 3 NLUs:

Elementary Mathematics

As always, this section of the paper had 20 questions. This is, generally, a section that students like to stay away from, however, that would have been a disaster this year. It was the easiest QA section over the last three years. Students could have easily attempted about 12-14 questions in 10 minutes, in this section. Arithmetic, as always, ruled the roost in this section.

Logical Reasoning

This section was very easy but a couple of errors might have stymied the speed of a few candidates. The entire section was dominated by Analytical Reasoning. Questions from Arrangements, Directions, Blood Relations, Series and coding decoding appeared in the section. Analogies, Syllogisms, Odd one out and Connectives comprised the Verbal reasoning part. There were at least 2 errors in this section and CLAT authorities should, ideally, not consider those questions

English

English turned out to be the easiest section in a paper that can be categorized as ‘easy’ overall. The RC and sentence correction questions consisted 20 questions that could have been answered in about 10 minutes. The only tricky part of this section were the foreign words but even there 2-3 were easily attemptable

General Knowledge

The General Knowledge section in this year’s paper was dominated by current affairs, just like the last few years. Most of the questions were from the events that have folded in India and abroad over the course of the last 6 months. Students who have taken at least 15 LST CLAT Mocks and gone through the Manthan would have easily attempted around 40 questions in this section.

Legal Aptitude

The legal aptitude section was perhaps the most difficult section this year – this wasn’t because the section was difficult to understand or that the questions were difficult. It was mainly because the wording of the Principals and/or Facts were tricky. A section that had only 50 Legal Reasoning questions, this year’s Legal Aptitude would have required candidates to spend time on reading the principals minutely to ensure that no silly errors were made. The LST bootcamp and the Legal Reasoning sheets would have been a saving grace as pointed out by many students. There were quite a few questions from previous year papers with minute changes, as well.

(The author is Gauatam Bawa,Vice President, Career Launcher. Views expressed)