CLAT 2026: What to Study in Each Section, Subject-Wise Syllabus, Marking Scheme

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Update on Aug 14 2025, 12:30 PM IST

CLAT 2026 will be conducted on Sunday, December 7, 2025, from 2 PM to 4 PM in offline (pen-and-paper) mode. The CLAT 2026 Application window is open from August 1 to October 31, 2025, through the Consortium of NLUs’ official website.

 

The CLAT 2026 Exam will have a total of 120 multiple-choice questions, and candidates will get 120 minutes to attempt them. The question paper will be divided into 5 sections: English Language, Current Affairs including General Knowledge, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques. Candidates will be given one mark for every right answer, and for every wrong response, 0.25 marks will be deducted from the total marks scored.

 

For the CLAT PG 2026 exam, the exam pattern is the same in terms of question count and duration, with 120 questions in 120 minutes, focusing on Constitutional Law and other core law subjects. The same +1/-0.25 marking scheme applies.

 

After making some scoring changes in CLAT 2025, the Consortium has confirmed that the CLAT 2026 Exam Pattern will remain unchanged. Any new changes, if announced, will be shared on the official website.

 

Table of Contents
  1. CLAT 2026: What to Study in Each Section
  2. Detailed Syllabus for Each CLAT 2026 Section
  3. CLAT 2026: Subject-wise Weightage

 

CLAT 2026: What to Study in Each Section

Knowing exactly what to study from the CLAT 2026 Syllabus helps candidates in planning time, setting priorities, and avoiding last-minute confusion. Each section has a clear set of topics and skills that the exam tests, and focusing on these will make preparation more targeted and effective.

Section

Details

English Language

  • Read at least one editorial or feature article daily from quality newspapers and magazines.
  • Practise reading 450-word passages and summarising them in a few sentences to build speed and retention.
  • Work on vocabulary by noting down unfamiliar words from passages and learning their meanings in context.
  • Solve passage-based comprehension questions regularly to improve inference and conclusion-drawing skills.
  • Revise grammar basics such as tenses, sentence correction, active–passive voice, and idioms.

Current Affairs including General Knowledge

  • Follow a reliable daily news source and focus on both national and international events.
  • Maintain a monthly notebook of important events, awards, conferences, and legal developments.
  • Read about topics in arts, culture, science, and history that have current relevance.
  • Use weekly or monthly current affairs compilations to revise in a structured way.
  • Practise passage-based GK questions to get used to CLAT’s format, where answers are drawn from the passage as well as prior knowledge.

Legal Reasoning

  • Read short articles, case summaries, and legal news reports to get familiar with legal language.
  • Learn basic concepts of law, such as contracts, torts, constitutional provisions, and criminal law, even though prior legal knowledge is not required.
  • Practise applying principles to different fact situations without making assumptions.
  • Develop the ability to identify rules in a passage and see how changes to them affect their application.
  • Use previous years’ CLAT legal reasoning questions to improve speed and accuracy.

Logical Reasoning

  • Solve puzzles, critical reasoning exercises, and analytical reasoning questions daily.
  • Work on identifying premises, assumptions, and conclusions in an argument.
  • Learn to spot flaws, contradictions, and weak links in reasoning.
  • Practise drawing analogies and relationships between ideas presented in passages.
  • Attempt time-bound logical reasoning mock sets to improve speed under exam conditions.

Quantitative Techniques

  • Revise Class 10-level maths topics such as ratios, percentages, averages, profit and loss, mensuration, and basic algebra.
  • Focus on data interpretation from tables, graphs, and charts, as these form the basis of many CLAT maths questions.
  • Practise solving without a calculator to build mental calculation speed.
  • Break down each question step by step to avoid errors in applying formulas.
  • Allocate a short, consistent daily slot for maths so that numerical skills stay fresh.

 

Detailed Syllabus for Each CLAT 2026 Section

As mentioned already, CLAT 2026 Exam Pattern will have 120 multiple-choice questions across five sections: English, Current Affairs & GK, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques. Each section has a set weightage between 10% and 25%. Most sections use 450-word passages, while the Quantitative Techniques section is based on numerical data. Knowing the topics, question count, and skills tested in each section makes preparation more focused.

Subject

Topics Covered

Current Affairs & General Knowledge

  • National & international current events
  • Arts and culture
  • International affairs
  • Historical events of continuing significance

English Language

  • Correcting grammatical errors- Synonyms & Antonyms
  • Tenses
  • Fill in the blanks
  • Spotting errors
  • Active & Passive voice

Logical Reasoning

  • Analogies
  • Relationships
  • Syllogism
  • Cause and effect
  • Premises & conclusions
  • Inferences

Quantitative Techniques

  • Basic arithmetic operations (ratio, proportion)
  • Algebra basics
  • Mensuration
  • Statistical estimation
  • Graph interpretation

Legal Reasoning

  • Legal maxims
  • Important Supreme Court judgments
  • Indian Constitution basics
  • Important Acts and amendments
  • Legal general knowledge

 

CLAT 2026: Subject-wise Weightage

The CLAT 2026 question paper gives different weightage to each section. Understanding the number of questions and marks allotted to every subject helps in deciding how much time to dedicate to each area during preparation.

Section

Questions

Marks

Current Affairs including General Knowledge

28 to 32

35

Quantitative Techniques

10 to 14

13

Legal Reasoning

28 to 32

35

English Language

22 to 26

28

Logical Reasoning

22 to 26

28

Total

120

CLAT 2026 is all about how well the candidates prepare and use their time. Legal Reasoning and Current Affairs carry the most marks, but English, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques can still make a big difference. Most questions are based on passages, so being able to read quickly and understand them clearly is important. Knowing the weightage, practising regularly, and revising on time can help the candidates score better. So, basically, every mark counts and can have a significant impact on the ranking.

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