CLAT full form: What is CLAT Exam, Eligibility Criteria, syllabus
CLAT full form is the “Common Law Admission Test”. Candidates have to appear for CLAT to gain admission into 5-year LLB and LLM programmes of participating NLUs. There are 24 national law universities (NLUs) participating in CLAT 2025. Being a national-level law entrance exam, the scores of CLAT are also accepted by over 60 law schools in the country. The upcoming CLAT 2025 will be held on December 1, 2024, in offline mode.CLAT Full Form: Eligibility Criteria, Participating Universities, Syllabus.
Over 60,000 candidates are expected to appear in the CLAT exam and it will be held in over 140 exam centres across the country. The CLAT exam is for admission into the integrated law programmes and post-graduate law programmes of the participating NLUs.
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CLAT Full Form – Highlights
| Particulars | Details |
| CLAT full form | Common Law Admission Test |
| Mode of exam | Offline mode |
| Medium of exam | English |
| Participating NLUs | 24 NLUs |
| Level of exam | National level |
| Frequency of conduct | Once every year |
| Courses offered | 5-year LLB and 1-year LLM |
CLAT full form: What is the CLAT Exam?
To understand CLAT’s meaning and its purpose, it’s good to look at a brief history of the exam. The National Law Universities (NLUs) were created on the lines of IITs and IIMs to redefine the legal education system in the country. India is the only country to have universities solely focused on providing legal education. The National Law School of India University, Bangalore set up in 1987, was the first NLU in the country. Today, there are 26 such National Law Universities.
Earlier, each university conducted its entrance test. This practice was challenged in court through a PIL filed by one parent.
The PIL sought to introduce a single entrance exam for gaining admission into various national law universities. Subsequently, 7 NLUs joined hands, and in 2008 conducted the first ever Common Law Admission Test, the full form of CLAT. Subsequently, the number of universities that are part of the CLAT has risen to 24. Other universities such as the National Law University, Delhi still conduct their entrance exam.
CLAT Exam Details – Participating Universities
Given below are the participating universities in CLAT 2024. From last year, RPNLU Prayagraj also started accepting admissions into BA LLB programme based on CLAT scores.
| Participating NLUs | |||
| 1 | NLSIU Bengaluru | 13 | NUALS Kochi |
| 2 | NALSAR Hyderabad | 14 | NLUO, Odisha, Cuttack |
| 3 | NLIU Bhopal | 15 | NUSRL Ranchi |
| 4 | WBNUJS Kolkata | 16 | NLUJA Assam, Guwahati |
| 5 | NLU Jodhpur | 17 | DSNLU Visakhapatnam |
| 6 | HNLU Raipur | 18 | TNNLU Tiruchirapalli |
| 7 | GNLU Gandhinagar | 19 | MNLU Mumbai |
| 8 | GNLU Silvassa Campus | 20 | MNLU Aurangabad |
| 9 | RMLNLU Lucknow | 21 | HPNLU Shimla |
| 10 | RGNUL Patiala | 22 | DNLU Jabalpur |
| 11. | CNLU Patna | 23 | DBRANLU, Sonipat, Haryana |
| 12 | NLUT Agartala | 24 | MNLU Nagpur |
| 25 | RPNLU Prayagraj | ||
CLAT Exam – What is Consortium of National Law Universities?
The Consortium of National Law Universities was founded on August 19, 2017, to raise the standard of legal education in India, and also improve the justice system by providing quality legal education and producing capable future lawyers and judges. The consortium is a legal entity registered under the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, at Bengaluru.
The group seeks to promote better coordination between the national law schools to deliver the highest quality of legal education in the country.
CLAT Exam Eligibility
The Consortium of NLUs has detailed the CLAT eligibility criteria for various UG and PG programmes on its official website. Any candidate desirous of taking the Common Law Admission Test should thoroughly go through the same. Further, candidates must also go through the individual websites of the colleges they wish to apply to to check their eligibility. The eligibility criteria include details about age, and minimum qualification, among other things.
CLAT UG Eligibility Criteria
| Particulars | Details |
| Educational qualification | 10+2 or equivalent. Candidates appearing in their qualifying exams are also eligible to apply. |
| Minimum passing marks | 45% for General / OBC / PWD / NRI / PIO / OCI categories
40% for SC/ST categories |
| Age limit | No age limit |
CLAT PG Eligibility Criteria
| Particulars | Details |
| Educational Qualification | 3-year LLB or 5-year LLB. Candidates appearing in their qualifying exams are also eligible to apply. |
| Minimum passing marks | 50% for General/OBC/PWD/NRI/PIO/OCI categories
45% for SC/ST categories |
| Age Limit | No age limit |
CLAT full form: CLAT Syllabus
Let’s explore the undergraduate and postgraduate CLAT exam syllabus one by one.
CLAT UG Exam Syllabus
The CLAT UG exam syllabus covers 5 different sections namely English Language, Current Affairs, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques. There will be 120 questions in the CLAT UG paper, each worth one mark. For each incorrect response, 0.25 marks will be deducted from the final score. The duration of the exam is two hours.
CLAT UG Syllabus 2025
| Subject Area | Number of Questions (New Pattern) |
| English Language | 22-26 questions |
| Current Affairs with General Knowledge | 28-32 questions |
| Legal Reasoning | 28-32 questions |
| Logical Reasoning | 22-26 questions |
| Quantitative Techniques | 10-14 questions |
PG – CLAT Exam Syllabus
The syllabus for the postgraduate course focuses on the subject expertise of the aspiring candidates. The CLAT LLM Exam syllabus will test the candidate’s proficiency in matters concerning different laws that are specified in the table below.
| CLAT PG Syllabus 2025 | |
| Criminal law | Constitutional law |
| Jurisprudence | Property law |
| Constitutional law | Public international law |
| Administrative law | Tax law |
| Family law | Labour and International law |
| Law of contract | Environmental law |
| Company law | Torts |
The PG-CLAT exam pattern consists of 120 questions, and the candidate will get a total of 120 minutes to attempt the questions. Each question carries one mark while there is a negative marking of 0.25 for every incorrect response.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What is the full from CLAT?
The full form of CLAT is the Common Law Admission Test which is an entrance exam conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities for admission into UG and PG programmes offered by participating universities.
- For which courses can one gain admission through CLAT exam?
The CLAT exam is conducted for admitting students to the 5 year BA LLB programme and 1 Year LLM programme.
- Do all NLUs admit students through CLAT?
Some NLUs such as the National Law University, Delhi conduct their own entrance exam.
- When is the next CLAT exam?
As per the notification issued by the Consortium of NLU the upcoming CLAT 2025 will be conducted on December 1, 2024.
- What is CLAT exam eligibility?
Candidates must have cleared or appearing for the 12th grade exam to be eligible for CLAT UG while CLAT PG is open to LLB graduates.