CLAT 2020 Exam Analysis

The paper was lengthy but moderately easy. There is no need to consider the past trends, since the entire paper was based on the new pattern. But one thing was common. Like previous online CLATs, there were a few centres where the students faced technical issues.

CLAT 2020 had a total of 150 questions to be attempted in 120 minutes. The negative marking scheme was there; however, considering the difficulty level of the paper, which was easy, the marking scheme should not act as much of a deterrent to the students.

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

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Section-wise Analysis

Reading Comprehension

The section contained a mix of passages in terms of themes. There were book extracts, excerpts from short stories, and passages on topics of current relevance. The passages were based on:

• Passage 1: Climate change and its impact on the developing countries
• Passage 2: The recent Instagram scandal of ‘Bois Locker Room’. (Editorial, The Times of India, May 2020)
• Passage 3: An excerpt from the short story, titled The Cat by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
• Passage 4: An excerpt from the short story A Reflection by Kate Chopin
• Passage 5: An excerpt from Graham Greene’s The Case for the Defence
• Passage 6: The use of telemedicine during the current COVID pandemic (Editorial, The Hindu, April 2020)

The section was moderately difficult; and needed around 27-30 minutes to attempt and complete in its entirety. There were 6 passages; with 5 questions each. The questions were a mix of fact based, inferential, and vocabulary/grammar based. These were standard reading-comprehension questions. A good attempt would be somewhere around 25-26 questions.

General Knowledge

The general feedback from the student is “weird”. Why? Well, for any student who has been reading newspapers diligently, this section would have been very easy. And all of us at CL-LST have been urging you to do exactly that for the past one year! Infact, the timeline of the questions asked was June 2020 - September 2020. There were around 7 passages with a total of 36 questions. And it was important to read a passage before answering any of the questions. Overall, the section was moderately difficult. A score of 20+, with an ideal attempt of 29-30, could be considered good for this section. Following is the list of topics from which questions were asked in this section:

• National Infrastructure Policy, Hindustan Times (Aug. 15, 2020)
• Rupee Appreciation and Forex Reserves, Print.in (Sept. 2, 2020)
• Rafale Delivery, NDTV (July 27, 2020)
• Lipulekh (India-Nepal Issue), brookings.edu (June 11, 2020)
• National Education Policy, downtoearth.org
• SCO Summit (India-Pak Issue), The Hindu (Sept. 17, 2020)
• UAE-Israel Mediation by Trump, Economic Times (Aug. 16, 2020)

Legal Reasoning

With a total of 39 questions from 8 passages, this section could be regarded as the easiest one this year. Most of the topics were those that the students were already aware of. The following topics constituted this section:

• Force Majeure in Contract, Business Today (April 17, 2020)
• Regina vs Hicklin/Common Standard Tests (Obscenity)
• LG Polymer Gas Link (Strict and Absolute Liability)
• Principles of Natural Justice, blog.ipleaders.in (June 12, 2019)
• Palghar Mob Lynching, The Hindu (April 22, 2020)
• Arnab Goswami vs. Union of India (May 19, 2020)
• Common Intention and Similar Intention
• Article 20 & Ex Post Facto Laws

The second-last topic, i.e., Common Intention and Similar Intention, could be regarded as a bit difficult, but the rest of the passages were easy. A score of 28-29, with an ideal attempt of 34-35 questions, could be regarded as a good score. Due to the length of the section, the time needed was somewhere around 35-37 minutes.

Logical Reasoning

This is the section in which time management is always the key. The section was again neither too difficult nor too easy. With a total of 30 questions, the passages were based on the following topics:

• COVID-19 & Institutionalised Education, The Indian Express (18 April)
• Crisis in news media, The Hindu (10 August)
• Anti-alcohol campaign in Soviet Union, The Indian Express (7 May)
• CBSE Result, The Times of India Editorial (15 July)
• COVID-19, downtoearth.org (17 August)

A score of 22+, with an ideal attempt of 25-27 questions, could be considered as good—provided, you were able to allocate 30 minutes to this section.

Quantitative Techniques

There were 3 sets and a total of 15 questions. The first set was comparatively easy for students who are comfortable with maths. The remaining two sets were a bit difficult. Any student who would have avoided skipping this section entirely; and attempted at least the first set would have easily scored 5 marks. The rest of the two sets would depend on the time that you allocated to this section. Overall, the section was moderately difficult; and a score of 8 could be considered a good score.

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CLAT 2020 Expected Cut-Offs

• Top 3 NLUs: 103+
• Top 10 NLUs: 95+
• Any NLU: 85+

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key, and scores is based on independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher (CL-LST). We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken based on this information.

Best wishes.
Team CL-LST