Law Entrance Exam Preparation Guides
CLAT is the gateway to 24 National Law Universities — India's most prestigious law schools. With 80,000+ applicants for ~3,700 seats, it demands reading speed, legal reasoning, and argument analysis above rote memorisation.
CLAT Preparation Guide 2025
Common Law Admission Test — National Law Universities (NLUs)
CLAT is the single gateway to 24 National Law Universities in India — the most prestigious law schools in the country. With 80,000+ applicants for ~3,700 seats, it demands reading comprehension speed, legal reasoning, and logical analysis above rote memorisation.
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AILET Preparation Guide 2025
All India Law Entrance Test — National Law University Delhi
AILET is the gateway to NLU Delhi — consistently India's #2 law school in NIRF rankings. With ~50,000 applicants for ~110 seats, it is India's most selective law entrance exam. Unlike CLAT's comprehension-heavy format, AILET tests direct knowledge in Legal Aptitude, a Mathematics section, and objective English — rewarding accurate fast recall over reading speed.
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Why law entrance exams are different from JEE and NEET
Reading speed, not memory
CLAT is 120 questions in 120 minutes — all passage-based. Unlike JEE or NEET, there are no formulas to recall. The skill being tested is how fast and accurately you read and reason. A candidate who reads 3 editorials daily for 6 months consistently outperforms one who has memorised legal textbooks.
Principle-fact application
CLAT Legal Reasoning gives you a legal principle and asks you to apply it to a factual scenario — mechanically, without external legal knowledge. Most students fail this section by bringing in what they know about law instead of applying only what the question provides. This is a reasoning test, not a law test.
Legal current affairs dominate GK
CLAT GK is not general knowledge — it is legal general knowledge. Supreme Court judgements, new legislation, constitutional amendments, and government legal policies form 60–70% of GK questions. Candidates who read LiveLaw daily for 3 months consistently outperform those who use standard GK books.
NLU tiers — what rank gets you where
| Tier | NLUs | CLAT AIR Required | Score (approx) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, NUJS Kolkata, NLU Delhi | Top 50–300 (general) | 105+/120 |
| Tier 2 | NLIU Bhopal, NLU Jodhpur, HNLU Raipur, RMLNLU Lucknow | 300–800 | 95–105/120 |
| Tier 3 | Remaining 16 NLUs + private law colleges accepting CLAT | 800–3,700 | 80–95/120 |
* Ranks vary year-to-year with applicant pool size. SC/ST/OBC categories have separate cutoffs with lower rank requirements.
CLAT vs AILET vs LSAT India
CLAT
Primary target. 24 NLUs, ~3,700 seats. Consortium-conducted, passage-based format since 2020. Negative marking (-0.25). Most competitive but highest value — prepare CLAT first, others follow naturally.
AILET
NLU Delhi only. ~110 seats. Slightly harder Legal Reasoning, no negative marking (post-2023 format change). Conducted separately — many CLAT toppers also appear for AILET as NLU Delhi's location and ranking justify the extra attempt.
LSAT India
LSAC (USA) format. Accepted by Jindal, UPES, Symbiosis, and 80+ private colleges. Different question style (analytical reasoning, logical reasoning games). Easier than CLAT but accepted by fewer top institutions. Useful as a backup.
Prepare for CLAT with a mentor who has cleared it
Legal reasoning approach, reading speed targets, and GK source selection are fastest to learn from someone who has already navigated CLAT — a mentor can show you exactly which question types to master and which GK topics are actually tested.