Last Month’s Strategy: An Opinion

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We get a lot of questions with regard to the dilemma some people are in.

“Is one month of studies good enough to crack CLAT?”

“Do you think I will make it if I take the LST crash course?”

“How do I go about studying after my boards?”

I understand the heightened sense of purpose and urgency that most people feel at this juncture. So here I am again trying to give you a little gyan on CG as to how to go about preparing this last month and a half that you would have before CLAT.

For those of you who are writing your boards this year please get over fast with your drinking bouts and binges and get into the groove for studying. So how exactly do you study?

The vital thing is to brush up on all your concepts. Read all the Legal concepts. Glance through the various tips and tricks for maths and logic. Only once when your base is strong can you build on it. Remember the foundation of a building is the most important part of the construction. Be clear with your concepts. Read your GK. Compendiums should be revised and try to have a cogent train of thought connecting events and news.revision-timetable_o_1276033

The Past, Present and the Future

The next step is to solve all the past papers. Time yourself and get hold of an OMR sheet from somewhere. If you cannot, then write in to me and I shall send you one. Practise the ‘art of bubbling’. Believe me, it does help. A simple trick here is to start from the centre of the bubble and draw concentric circles around it. This has been proven to be faster and more accurate than other methods. When you solve past papers and you find yourself unsure of a concept read on it as soon as you are don’t with your paper. That’s a full-proof way to cover all subjects. Once you do all NALSAR NLS WBNUJS NLUD and CLAT papers you will have done at least all the various types of questions that can be conceived of.

Psychology of the Individual, a Wodehousean concept.

When you read a particular concept try to think if you were setting the paper then what different angles could you question on. Try to find out the various bends and corners in a topic. There, you have the key to the examiner’s psychology. PG Wodehouse always said through Jeeves that it is of the essence to understand the “psychology of the individual”. If you know the examiner’s psychology you are already a step ahead of him. It may not work always, like our illustrious Professor Dhanda says, “Don’t try to second guess me, ‘cause I will change my mind.”

Attacking the Paper: Formulating a strategy

Don’t try mindlessly ‘bubbling’ as soon as you get the paper in hand. You must have a strategy in hand as to how to go about ‘attacking’ the paper.

Sun Tzu said: “The art of war is of vital importance :

It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry

which can on no account be neglected.”

Thus have your own strategy in hand as to the order or sequence in which you shall go about answering the paper– which section will you attempt first. This is something which if you have not figured out by now, then in the month ahead, while doing all the practice papers try to figure it out. There is no one size fits all theory in this regard. It has to be based on your strengths and weaknesses.

Remember the last leg of the race is the most important. It is the deciding factor whether you shall come out with flying colours or be in the ranks of ‘also rans’.

“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles a thousand victories.”

-Sun Tzu, “Art of War”

Best.

Sandipan De.

sandipan@clatgyan.com

22 COMMENTS

  1. It IS possible to crack the CLAT with just two-four weeks of work. Most people here are crash-course products, and they will tell you how focussed study during the last month helps a great deal.

  2. From the caps in your type, I understand that you are losing sleep over last-minute English prep. Let me make it simple for you – – –
    1. Practice reading comprehensions. Reading comprehensions = about 15 questions, and RC’s are the place you can score full marks! Why? Because the answer is in the questions paper itself! Practice about 50-100 RC’s (as much as you are comfortable doing), and get the speed one needs.
    Parajumbles – this area also needs practice. One usually spots 5-7 parajumbles in the ideal CLAT paper.
    Sentence corrections – Practice Practice Practice! The thing about parajumbles and SC’s are, I cannot give you any other advice but to practice like your English tail’s on fire.
    Grammar-based – – Go through that old, dusty school book you used call Wren and Martin. Or any grammar book, for that matter. I used one authored by Jayakaran.
    Basically, if you give 1.5 hours of post-boards time a day for Angrezi, you could make this your strongest CLAT subject.

  3. So we SHOULD go through the legal concepts? ( since CLAT said it’d test our prescence of mind..)

    P.s: When it comes to the last month, almost all the aspirants are at an equal footing, I believe. A month’s board break and the current affairs are ‘blowin’ in the wind’.

  4. Personally at this point I should make it clear that Karthik’s opinions are his own and I do not subscribe to them nor is it the official CG policy guidelines. Just a disclaimer, you know what law schooites are. 😉
    Also for grammar I suggest Nesfield since in my view Wren and Martin is utter bull, unless you have the original British publication and not the usual edited S.Chand publication. You must know legal concepts. Presence of mind will hardly get you through to Nalsar NLS or that law school somewhere in my hometown.
    Cheers!

  5. could you plz upload an article covering full details regarding all the controversies,issues,suggestions etc raised last year regarding the bar council entry level exam.NUJS has actively participated in it and hence i consider this to be a very imp issue for clat this year.

    • I do not think it is that relevant for you to know the entire controversy regarding the AIBE including the deliberations over the V Sudheer judgement. You can follow it Legallyindia if you want otherwise we shall upload a small piece on what the crux of the matter is.

  6. kindly upload whatever you think is VERY IMP regarding the matter…which can be asked in the current affairs section.

  7. GREAT TIPS !!
    IM CURRENTLY IN 12 TH N WILL BE APPEARING FOR CLAT 2012 HOW SHOULD I PREPARE FOR D EXAM ALONG WID MY BOARDS IDO HAV A LOT OF STUDY MATERIAL BUT HOW TO GO ABT PREPARING IT ??

  8. hello frns it s very esy to crack clat bt u hve to concentrate at least 2mnths very sincerly and give ur best

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