Major Changes Planned for CLAT Exam: How Will It Affect Students?

An expert committee constituted by the Consortium of National Law Universities—the body that conducts the exam—has recommended changes to the exam pattern, syllabus, and the method of questioning.

CLAT Pattern: Preparations are underway for significant changes to the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), the country's largest law entrance exam. An expert committee formed by the Consortium of National Law Universities has recommended alterations to the exam pattern, syllabus, and question format. However, these proposed changes have raised various questions among students; the Consortium has clarified that there is no need for immediate panic, as CLAT 2027 will be conducted based on the existing pattern, with major changes being considered for 2028 onwards.

Notably, last year, the Supreme Court made strong observations regarding errors in certain questions and answer keys in the CLAT exam, questioning the manner in which the examination was conducted. Subsequently, an advisory board headed by former Supreme Court Justice Indu Malhotra constituted a five-member expert committee. The committee has prepared and submitted its report to the Consortium. This report has now been made public, and suggestions have been invited from students, teachers, and legal experts until August 31, 2026.

In a meeting held on July 18, 2026, the Consortium's governing body decided that the CLAT UG and PG 2027 examinations would be conducted according to the existing syllabus and exam pattern. This means candidates will not need to alter their preparation strategy. While the paper-setting team may make limited improvements to question quality and formatting—taking into account some of the expert committee's recommendations—the fundamental structure of the exam will remain unchanged.

Candidates appearing for the exams next year will encounter the same old pattern. The exam will be computer-based with a duration of two hours, and the question paper will consist of 120 multiple-choice questions (MCQs). One mark will be awarded for a correct answer, while a negative marking of 0.25 marks will apply for incorrect answers. Questions in the exam will cover five areas: English Language, Current Affairs, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques.

The committee notes that the current CLAT exam often includes questions where the answers are directly available within the passage. This tests a student's ability to locate information rather than their analytical skills. Additionally, the General Knowledge section sometimes relies on either very basic facts or overly complex ones, which undermines the exam's objective. For this reason, the committee has proposed a new structure for the CLAT UG exam.

The most significant change proposed by the committee is the complete removal of the General Knowledge and Current Affairs section. It has also recommended transforming the existing English Language section into a 'Language and Comprehension' section to better evaluate candidates' language comprehension and effective communication skills.

Furthermore, the report suggests merging Legal Reasoning and Logical Reasoning to create a new aptitude section. The committee recommends limiting each section to just 10–15 questions. This would reduce the pressure on students to solve a large number of questions in a short time and allow for a better assessment of their analytical abilities.

The report also proposes introducing a subjective essay component to the exam for the first time, enabling an evaluation of candidates' writing skills, reasoning capabilities, and powers of expression.