CLAT 2020 Exam Analysis | National Law Universities NLU

Endeavor Careers Posted on September 27, 2020

In this weird year of 2020 when all plans are getting upset and shocks and surprises waiting for us at every corner. We have one less thing to worry about as CLAT 2020 became the first glitch-free online CLAT paper. 75,183 students registered and 59,334 appeared in this year’s CLAT edition. This year a new exam pattern was introduced.

CLAT 2020 Exam Format and Paper Pattern:

Exam Date: 28^th September (Finally)
Eligibility: 45% in HSC or equivalent (40% for SC/ST)
Format: Social Distancing Computer-based Objective Test
Marking System: +1 and -0.25 Negative Marking
Duration: 120 min

S. No.	Section	No. of Questions
1	English including Comprehension	28-32
2	Logical Reasoning	28-32
3	Quantitative Techniques (Numerical Ability)	13-17
4	General Knowledge and Current Affairs	35-39
5	Legal Aptitude (Tie Breaker)	35-39
		150

Let’s check out the section-wise analysis of CLAT 2020.

Section 1: Quant

Number of questions: 15
Level of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

There were 3 sets each having 5 questions; one on Bar Graph, second on Tabular data, and third on Maths based. The one on Bar Graph was very easy to crack. It had details about the disease in various states of India and also the ratio of males and females was given. The one on Tabular data was a bit calculation oriented but was not time-consuming. In fact, it was based on one of the sets which were shared in the sample paper by the CLAT consortium. The third set which was based on Mensuration that deals with calculating areas of the basic figure was completely wrong as the answer option didn’t match with the correct answer.

Ideal Time: 13 minutes
Good Attempts: 9
Good Score: 6.5+

Section 2: Current Affairs including GK

Total questions – 36

There was no major surprise in the GK section in CLAT 2020. Staying true to the official CLAT notification, the GK section comprised completely of current affairs questions. Also, the questions did not test a students’ fact-memorizing skill. There were 7 passages and 36 questions. All the passages were based on current affairs of 2020. Average length of topics were 200-250 words. The topics chosen were predictable e.g. National Education Policy, India-Nepal border dispute, Rafale deal, etc. However, some of the questions in each passage were tricky. The questions were not direct and tested students on their overall understanding of the topic. Instead of simple facts, there were questions based on causes and impacts of the events e.g. – “direct cause of border dispute between India and Nepal” or “a strategically significant impact of Rafale deal on India-France relation”.

Hence, in terms of the overall level of difficulty, the GK section can be described as moderate to tough. For a student following current affairs regularly & thoroughly, 28+ attempts with a 24+ score is easily achievable.

Ideal Time – 21 minutes
Good Attempts – 28+
Good Score – 24+

Section 3: Legal Aptitude

Total Passages: 8
Total Questions: 39

This section was moderately difficult and lengthy for this year’s test-takers. The legal aptitude section was comprised of 8 passages followed by a set of questions (3*5 Q & 1*4 Q) questions. Most of the questions were from recent legal developments and news viz. Palghar Mob Lynching, Vizag LG Gas Leak, Arnab Goswami Case, etc. No question required prior legal knowledge but some questions were quite lengthy and tricky to attempt and hence prior knowledge of the issue would have greatly helped. These questions would have demanded a lot of patience to read and understand the questions in the limited amount of time. This new format of the paper will leave a bittersweet after taste for many.

Overall, section was lengthy and of Moderate difficulty level, a good attempt would be around 30 questions in 35 minutes with a good score of 24+.

Good attempts: 30+
Good score: 24+

Section 4: Logical Reasoning

This section had 2 questions on Analytical Reasoning which were based on coding and decoding. Both the questions could have been solved in 2 minutes. There were 28 questions of Critical Reasoning and Logical Reasoning. This was surprising as it was expected that there would be a few more Analytical Reasoning questions. There were 5 passage-based critical reasoning questions. Each passage was about 300 words in length. The questions of these 5 passages included the Main Idea, Strengthen, Weaken, Assumption, Inference, Further Application, and Specific Detail. The passage topics were:

Technology & Media: Digital Transformation of news media
Public Policy: Anti-Alcohol Campaign
Education: Grade Inflation not a reflection of improved skills & competition
COVID 19: Work from home culture
Online Education: Merits and Demerits

Each passage carried 5 questions. While the last 3 passages were easier to understand and had easier questions, the first 2 (Digital Transformation of news media, and Public Policy: Anti-Alcohol Campaign) were slightly more dense passages, making their questions difficult to answer.

The lone Statement-Assumption question was easy and a familiar one for Endeavorians, and the 2 paragraph-based critical reasoning questions (Assumption and Main Idea) were also easy.

Overall, this section can be called difficult and could have been allocated for about 30 minutes.

Good attempts: 25+
Good score: 20+

Section 5: English Language

This section was perhaps the easiest of all, with the passages being easy to read and the questions being fairly direct. The English Language had 6 RCs with 5 questions each as expected. Each passage was about 450 words in length. The RC topics were:

Environment: Adaptation to Climate Change
Technology & Socially Deviant Behaviour
Fiction: Narrative (Excerpt from a Short Story)
Fiction: Narrative (Excerpt from a Short Story)
Fiction: Narrative (Excerpt from a Short Story)
COVID 19 and Telemedicine

The question types varied from the Main Idea, Specific Detail, Inference, Vocab-based, Phrase-based, Figures of Speech, and Tone. The 3 Figure of Speech-based questions were a surprise. There was 1 Vocab-based question in every passage.

Overall, the sectional can be called Easy, and could have been allocated 25 to 30 mins.

Good attempts: 26+
Good score: 21+

OVERALL CLAT 2020 Exam Analysis

SECTION	NO OF QUESTIONS	SUGGESTED TIME (IN Min)	DIFFICULTY LEVEL	GOOD ATTEMPTS	GOOD SCORE
Quantitative Techniques	15	13 -15	Moderate to Tough	9	6.5+
Legal Aptitude	39	35	Moderate	30+	24+
Logical Reasoning	30	30	Difficult	25+	20+
English & Comprehension	30	30	Easy	26+	21+
General Knowledge & Current Affairs	36	20	Moderate	28+	24+
Total	200	120	Easy to Moderate	118+	95.5+

CLAT 2020 Expected Cut Offs

Predicted scores for	Total Score
Top 50 Rank	105
Top 100 Rank	99.25
Top 200 Rank	97.5
Top 300 Rank	95.75
Top 400 Rank	92.25
Top 500 Rank	89
Top 600 Rank	87.25
Top 700 Rank	85.5
Top 800 Rank	83.5
Top 900 Rank	81
Top 1000 Rank	79.25
Top 1200 Rank	77.75
Top 1500 Rank	74.5
Top 1800 Rank	73.25
Top 2000 Rank	71
Top 2500 Rank	67.75
Top 3000 Rank	64.5
Top 3500 Rank	62.75
Top 4000 Rank	60.5
Top 4500 Rank	58
Top 5000 Rank	57.5