The Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) conducts a national-level entrance test Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) for admissions to 22 National level Law Universities in India for both Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses. The CLAT Exam Pattern for the year 2023 has been released by the Consortium for all law courses. Candidates applying for the Undergraduate (UG) Law courses will be evaluated in five sections comprising English, Current Affairs, Reasoning (Legal and Logical), and Quantitative Aptitude. The evaluation for the Postgraduate (PG) law courses will be done based on subjects in the Bachelor of Legislative Law (LLB) programme.

• The CLAT exam is conducted once every year, however, CLAT 2023 exam will also be conducted this year.

• The CLAT Exam Pattern is different for Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) courses.

•  The UG CLAT syllabus is mainly based on comprehension and reasoning skills whereas the PG CLAT syllabus is based on mandatory undergraduate law subjects.

• The UG-CLAT 2023 Exam will consist of five sections whereas the PG-CLAT 2023 exam will consist of only one section.

Keep reading to know more about the CLAT-2023 Exam Pattern.

The knowledge of the exam pattern helps a candidate to design the perfect strategy for focussing on the important topics. The candidates can follow the under-mentioned details regarding the CLAT Exam pattern 2023 and plan their studies accordingly. Get CLAT Best Books for Preparation here.

CLAT 2023 Exam Pattern

The CLAT 2023 Exam has only one offline pen-paper-based round for both Bachelor of Legislative Law(LLB) Undergraduate and Master of Legislative Law(LLM) postgraduate admissions. The result is declared in online mode within a few weeks of the completion of the exam. Candidates who clear the cutoff are then invited for centralized, online CLAT counseling and seats in various colleges are allotted to them.

CLAT Exam Pattern 2023 for UG Courses

The UG-CLAT 2023 Exam is held for admissions in the following Bachelor of Legislative Law (LLB) courses:

• Bachelor of Arts LLB (BA LLB) 
• Bachelor of Science LLB (BSc LLB)
• Bachelor of Commerce LLB (BCom LLB) 
• Bachelor of Business Administration LLB (BBA LLB) 
• Bachelor of Social Work (BSW LLB)

The CLAT UG 2023 Exam consists of the following five sections:

The UG-CLAT 2023 Syllabus and the Exam Pattern are the same for all the above Undergraduate Courses. 

The CLAT UG Exam Pattern for the 2023 exam is:

• The exam will consist of 150 multiple-choice questions (MCQs). 
• All the questions will be comprehension based.
• The exam duration will be 2 hours (120 minutes).
• The maximum marks for the exam are 150.
• The candidate will get 1 mark for each correct answer.
• 0.25 marks will be deducted for every wrong answer.

The following table illustrates the number of questions and maximum marks for each section based on the previous year's UG-CLAT examinations: 

Geli List of Colleges Accepting CLAT Score here.

CLAT Exam Pattern 2023 for PG Courses

The PG-CLAT 2023 exam is held for admissions in the following course:

• Master of Legislative Law (LLM)

The CLAT PG 2023 Exam consists of only one section based on the major subjects in LLB mentioned in the table below:

The PG-CLAT 2023 Syllabus consists of the major subjects taught in Undergraduate Law courses. The following table illustrates the number of questions and maximum marks for each subject based on previous year’s PG-CLAT Examinations:

• The exam will consist of 120 multiple-choice questions (MCQs). 
• All the questions will be comprehension based.
• The exam duration will be 2 hours (120 minutes).
• The maximum marks for the exam are 120.
• The candidate will get 1 mark for each correct answer.
• 0.25 marks will be deducted for every wrong answer.

CLAT 2023 Marking Scheme

The marking scheme for the CLAT 2023 is the same for both UG and PG exams. Both the exams consist of objective-type questions. The exam also consists of negative marking in case of wrong answers selected by the candidate. The marking scheme as applicable to both UG and PG CLAT 2023 in detail below:

• +1 mark for every correct answer
• -0.25 marks for every incorrect answer

The candidates thus need to be careful while marking their answers. 

Know about CLAT Cut Off here.

CLAT 2023 Exam Pattern: Language Option

The CLAT 2023 Exam for both the UG and PG courses will be conducted only in the English language. The exam will be purely comprehension-based. The candidate, therefore, needs to have a strong command of the English language and should be a quick reader to ace this exam. 

Check CLAT Previous Year Question Paper, here

CLAT 2023 Syllabus With Weightage

The candidate needs to have a thorough understanding of the CLAT Exam Syllabus to identify the topics that are most frequently asked in the examination. The UG and PG Syllabus for the CLAT 2023 Exam is mentioned below.

Know how to get CLAT Answer Key here.

CLAT Syllabus for UG Exam 

The CLAT UG Syllabus 2023 is divided into five sections. The UG Exam Syllabus as mentioned on the official website is presented below for the candidates' reference:

The following table illustrates the weightage for each section based on the previous year's UG-CLAT Examinations: 

CLAT Syllabus for PG Exam

The PG-CLAT 2023 Syllabus exam is based on the major law subjects of the LLB level. The candidate will be provided extracts from primary legal materials such as important court decisions in various fields of law, statutes or regulations.

The questions will test the candidate for:

• Ability to read and comprehend the issues discussed in the passage, as well as any arguments and viewpoints discussed or set out in the passage
• Awareness of the issues discussed in the passage, as well as of legal issues and facts related to and arising out of the passage and the judgment or statute from which it is extracted
• Summarize the passage and 
• Ability to apply knowledge of the fields of law discussed in the passage. 

The PG Exam Syllabus along with the important topics is presented below for the candidates' reference:

The following table illustrates the weightage for each section based on the previous year's PG-CLAT Examinations:

Know important CLAT Exam Date here.

CLAT 2023 Paper Analysis

The official website for the CLAT 2023 exam details out the following information regarding the paper:

• Comprehension-Based Questions - Passages of 300-400 words each and questions based on them.
• Quantitative Techniques: Numerical questions based on short pieces of paragraphs and diagrammatic information. 
• Candidate’s knowledge level: The Undergraduate exam will be of 10+2 standard and candidates are expected to have basic legal knowledge.
• Skills tested - The paper will test the candidate on their reading ability, and critical and analytical thinking.
• The total number of questions are 150 objective-type questions for CLAT UG, and 120 questions for CLAT PG.

We hope this article successfully provided you with the necessary information regarding the CLAT exam pattern 2023. We at Testbook provide information regarding entrance, state-level, and national-level exams to all aspiring candidates. The Testbook App offers high-quality resources, test series, video lessons, and live classes for your exam preparation.