Exam Pattern
CLAT Exam Pattern
CLAT (Common Law Admission Test)
Quantitative Techniques is 12 questions of 120 and attracts far more worry than its weight deserves. The UG paper runs on reading: Legal Reasoning 30 questions, Current Affairs and General Knowledge 28, Logical Reasoning 26, English Language 24, so 108 of the 120 questions reward comprehension and judgement rather than calculation. The PG paper is a different shape entirely, 120 questions of legal comprehension in a single undivided section. Both run two hours with 0.25 deducted against 1, putting break-even at one in five.
The CLAT exam pattern below is checked stage by stage, so one stage cannot inherit another stage's scoring rules.
English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques
Official 2026 pattern| Questions | 120 |
| Total marks | 120 |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.25 per wrong answer |
| Sections | English Language, Current Affairs and General Knowledge, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Techniques |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 24 | 24 |
| Current Affairs and General Knowledge | 28 | 28 |
| Legal Reasoning | 30 | 30 |
| Logical Reasoning | 26 | 26 |
| Quantitative Techniques | 12 | 12 |
The official CLAT UG written test has 120 questions for 120 marks in 2 hours, 1 mark per correct answer and 0.25 marks deducted per wrong answer, across five sections: English Language (24 questions), Current Affairs and General Knowledge (28 questions), Legal Reasoning (30 questions), Logical Reasoning (26 questions), and Quantitative Techniques (12 questions). This mock covers English Language, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Techniques, in close to the same proportion: 30 questions (8 English, 10 Legal Reasoning, 8 Logical Reasoning, 4 Quantitative Techniques) in 30 minutes. Every Legal Reasoning question here states its own legal principle and facts in the passage, so it can be answered from the passage alone, with no prior knowledge of law required, matching the official CLAT format. Current Affairs and General Knowledge is not covered, since it depends on facts that carry higher correctness risk for self-authored content.
Official source · checked 16 August 2026The CLAT English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques exam pattern is 120 questions carrying 120 marks, to be answered in 120 minutes. That works out to about 60 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 5 sections are English Language, Current Affairs and General Knowledge, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques. Legal Reasoning carries the most, 30 marks of the 120 or about 25%, against 12 marks for Quantitative Techniques. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
CLAT English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1 mark.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.25 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 20% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. A blind guess between four options is right 25% of the time, which is already above that line, so an educated guess is worth making rather than leaving the question blank.
- Worked example: attempt 96 of the 120 questions and get 72 right and 24 wrong, and you score 66 out of 120.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 60 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free CLAT mock test to see where your time actually goes.
Postgraduate (LL.M.)
Official 2026 pattern| Questions | 120 |
| Total marks | 120 |
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.25 per wrong answer |
| Sections | PG Legal Comprehension |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| PG Legal Comprehension | 120 | 120 |
Timing: Single composite 120-minute timer for the Full Mock; no sectional lock, representing the official CLAT PG offline written test.
CLAT PG (LL.M.) is a separate offline written test from CLAT UG, with 120 questions for 120 marks in 2 hours, +1 correct and -0.25 wrong. Every question here is a newly authored, self-contained passage stating its own legal principle and facts, so it can be answered from the passage alone with no prior doctrinal knowledge required, the same safe format used for CLAT UG's Legal Reasoning section. The actual CLAT 2026 PG paper had one question withdrawn from evaluation, so the real result was scored out of 119; this mock keeps the full nominal 120-question shell.
Official source · checked 31 August 2026The CLAT Postgraduate (LL.M.) exam pattern is 120 questions carrying 120 marks, to be answered in 120 minutes. That works out to about 60 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. It is a single PG Legal Comprehension paper.
CLAT Postgraduate (LL.M.) marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1 mark.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.25 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 20% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. A blind guess between four options is right 25% of the time, which is already above that line, so an educated guess is worth making rather than leaving the question blank.
- Worked example: attempt 96 of the 120 questions and get 72 right and 24 wrong, and you score 66 out of 120.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 60 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free CLAT mock test to see where your time actually goes.
CLAT exam pattern: frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in CLAT?
CLAT English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques deducts 0.25 marks for a wrong answer; CLAT Postgraduate (LL.M.) deducts 0.25 marks for a wrong answer. An unattempted question always scores zero, so the choice is only ever between guessing and leaving it blank.
How many questions are there in CLAT?
CLAT English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques has 120 questions, CLAT Postgraduate (LL.M.) has 120 questions. That leaves about 60 seconds per question in CLAT English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques and 60 seconds per question in CLAT Postgraduate (LL.M.).
What are the total marks in CLAT?
CLAT English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques is out of 120 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question, CLAT Postgraduate (LL.M.) is out of 120 marks, which works out at 1 mark a question.
How long is the CLAT exam?
CLAT English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques runs for 120 minutes, CLAT Postgraduate (LL.M.) runs for 120 minutes.
Does CLAT have a sectional time limit?
No. CLAT runs every section on one composite timer, so you can move between sections freely and give the slower ones more of your time.
How many stages does CLAT have?
This site covers 2 objective stages: English, Legal Reasoning, Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Techniques, Postgraduate (LL.M.). Each stage is checked against the official notification separately, because scoring rules routinely differ between stages of the same exam.